Scandia Birds Club Starts This Fall!

I have a brand new club starting this Fall, exclusively at Bedecked & Beadazzled!  This seven piece set of Mid-Century Mod style birds has been a long time in the making and I'm so excited to share it here with you all!  For details on signing up, visit Ruth Schmuff's blog by clicking here!

A Little Bit of Finishing

I haven't shared finishing photos with you for a while, here's a few I received from Pat W. recently.  She stitched my Harvest Puzzle and found the best Vera Bradley tote to attach it to:

The color match to the bag is just perfect, I love it!

These two Atomic ornaments are stitched and now currently at the finishers, I'll show them off again when they come back.  In the meantime, you can get a good look at Pat's lovely stitching:

Great work Pat & thanks for sharing your photos with us!

A Christmas Story

Ruth Schmuff's blog post this morning made me smile; she introduced my newest canvases framed as a fairy tale.  But did you know that it is a TRUE fairy tale?  It actually is! One of my biggest fans and cheerleaders did indeed wish for a series of little girl elves for her daughter, "the Princess".  She wanted ornaments, but alas, inspiration took hold of me and I painted three big stand-ups instead! 

Her only specifications were that they be girl elves and that she would like one dressed in pink and purple.  Here she is busy gathering the candy that grows wild in the Christmas countryside:

Kringle Belle

"Gathering the Candy"

6.5 x 9.5 on 18ct.

Another elf was to wear bright green and red, she is the one delving the pretty packages to Santa's sleigh:

Kringle Belle

"Delivering the Gifts"

6.5 x 9.5 on 18ct.

The elf destined to wear the oh-so-trendy blue and green outfit is of course stylish enough to be in charge of the decorating: 

Kringle Belle

"Decorating the Tree"

6.5 x 9.5 on 18ct.

Hope you'll check back here soon to hear the rest of the tale, it doesn't end here! 

Winter Fox Finished!

Remember when I showed you this mouth watering photo of all four of my fox canvases with their stitch guides and threads, taken upon their arrival at this lucky stitcher's home?

Well, that stitcher got started stitchin' right away, starting with the Winter Fox:

And ta-da!!  She is all done-- doesn't he look great?  Love all the textures, from the sparkly snowflakes to the velvety fur!

And if that doesn't blow you away, look at this-- she has a fox magnet AND a fox Snap Tray!

And if that didn't blow your socks off, then this will (it did mine!)-- she made a fox dress to celebrate the finish!!!! OMG, I am in AWE, no joke! Caroline, you may be my favorite stitcher EVER!

Will she have a new Snap Tray and dress for the other three foxes as well?  Oh, I hope so!! If so, you WILL see it here, so be sure to check back again soon! 

Trunk Show at Fireside Stitchery!

My trunk show is available this month at Fireside Stitchery and they are offering some great deals for you!  The canvases are 20% off and if you order threads to go with a canvas, those will be 10% off-- great deal!   To go directly to their trunk show page, click here.

More Fox Stitch Guides!

Ruth Schmuff has written guides for and kitted up my other two fox designs too-- here is a look at the Summer Fox:

I am really loving those variegated silks on the bottom left-- someone hurry and stitch this one, I want to see what those will look like!!

Last but not least (and my personal favorite of the four) is the Spring Fox:

More gorgeous silks for this one, plus look at the silk ribbon/sequin combo for the flowers-- those will be gorgeous!

Meanwhile, at least one person is already stitching up a storm on the Winter Fox-- this is Caroline's progress so far:

I really like the fur, which is all in Very Velvet.  She's saving the best for last-- the snowflake embellishments!  Looks like she will be done in no time!  Stay tuned for updates, and Happy Stitching!

New Stitch Guides Available Now!

Ruth Schmuff has worked her stitching magic on all four of my new fox canvases!  Here is a look at the thread kit for Winter Fox:

The Very Velvet is going to make such nice fox fur, and of course Water N'Ice will make for a perfect snowbank as well.  Plus, look at all those sequins!!

Fall Fox is going to get the Boucle' treatment, along with some sparkles:

Here's a look at the whole goody box of all four canvases with kits and guides that just went out to a very enthusiastic customer:

Looks so yummy that I want to order one for myself! :)  

It's a Mystery-Mystery!

UPDATE!  It didn't take long to find out the identity of our mystery Mystery class stitcher-- this wonderful piece belongs to Mary Jane Jenkins!  Great job Mary Jane, thanks for sharing!

Mystery finishing, that is!  I am usually very good about documenting stitcher/finisher information for EyeCandy designs, but this one slipped through the cracks somehow.  Please take a look at this lovely version of my Garden Party Heart, which was a Ruth Schmuff Mystery class a couple years back (making it a mystery Mystery!) and if you are the stitcher or know who is, please leave your information in the comments. Thanks so much!

We Have a Winner!

Voting ended for the Stitching Games Viewer's Choice Award this weekend, and the winner was Nancy K. and her Bird Song canvas!  Congrats to you Nancy, we can't wait to hear what your prize will be! As I understand it, Ruth Schmuff is putting the prize together, so it's sure to be spectacular!

I expect most of this year's participants will be joining in on the Games for next year too.  I know I am already picking a canvas from my stash for next year, the trouble is in narrowing it down to just one.  Hope some of you may decide to join in too!

Speaking of Stitcherie and our talented group of stitchers, this is my Chat Noir canvas as stitched by K.B., who is one of the masterminds behind the Stitching Games and a very fine stitcher too!  She did a  great job with this canvas, I am loving those background stitches!

That's it for now, hope your holiday season isn't too busy.  I am in the midst of painting new designs for the needlepoint market this January, but still trying to find time to stitch.  Currently, I am trying to get caught up on Ruth's latest Mystery Class, Silly Christmas Birds. Hopefully, Christmas will bring lots of extra stitching time for all of us! 

Things to Remember About Memory Thread

Reading the Bedecked and Beadazzled newsletter this month I was reminded of just how fun it is to work with DMC Memory Thread!  The "Technique of the Month" for November is applications with Memory Thread and you should definitely check it out (if you haven't already), click here. 

This is the first project where I used Memory Thread, on my Floating Hearts canvas.  This was a featured project in the May 2010 of Needlepoint Now. I needed to "clean up" the edges of my hearts because of all the compensated stitches and Memory Thread couched around the hearts fit the bill perfectly!  As you can see, you can couch it singly or with two or more strands side by side.  

It worked fabulously for the smaller companion design, Floating Flowers as well!

This is a detail of a flower from my Wedding Cake Slice, where I used Memory Thread for both the outside edge and for four of the petals too:

The Cake Slice as completed:

Leave it to Ruth Schmuff to find a really innovative use for Memory Thread rather than just outlining with it-- she used it to pad the candy canes on my CandyLand Christmas canvas.  Here is the first layer:

And here is the final layer with the Frosty Rays stitched over the top of the Memory Thread:
 

Great effect, right?  I love how it makes it both dimensional and gives it that nice, clean edge as well.  See more of the magic Ruth worked on this canvas here.

Hope this has been informational and inspirational too!  Until next time, Happy Stitching!

Are You Ready for Halloween??

I was just out shopping this morning, and yes, the Halloween stuff is already making it's appearance on the shelves!  With the back to school rush over with, the stores are pretty eager to move on to the next event.  No complaints from me, as I absolutely LOVE Halloween!  I have to say though, that after a few years of living up north, the early appearance of Halloween goodies was bittersweet as it really marked the end of blissful summer and reminded me of the dreaded upcoming winter (I am a warm-weather gal!).  Here in Houston I get to enjoy Halloween and the Fall season fully, with no real winter coming to dread, I am loving it!
  
Seeing the spooky goodies on the shelves today reminded me of two Halloween projects I wanted to share with you.  First off is my Halloween Night Collage, which is one of the canvases being stitched at Pocket Full of Stitches' upcoming Canvas Enhancement class with Robin King.  Here is the fabulous thread kit she has pulled for it:

I am hoping for some pictures of the stitching progress on this from the retreat, I know it is going to be fabulous!  Robin will have the stitch guide available for purchase after October 1st. 

Ruth Schmuff has also written a stitch guide and pulled a thread kit for my other Halloween Collage canvas and here it is:

Are those threads just mouth-watering or what??  I am especially loving those ribbons in the upper right hand corner.  

Hope I have gotten you in the mood to stitch one or both of these!  Be sure to share the photos with me and I'll make sure to show them off here on the blog.  Until next time, Happy Stitching! 

Join the Club!

Hi all!  I am back from a little summer hiatus after my birthday last week.  Since I have been stitching on some of my own older club series projects (as I didn't stitch the original models I'm stitching a few for myself to keep) I thought I would do a little EyeCandy club series retrospective today.

My very first club series was "Tickled Pink".  Ruth Schmuff did the stitch guides for these and they made their debut in her shop, Bedecked and Beadazzled.  These ornaments are very sentimental for me, as they gave me my start as a needlepoint designer.

I just recently finished stitching this one, it will be off to the finisher soon:

Only three more to go and I'll have the whole set of seventeen completed!

My next series was also a set of ornaments, this time with a retro theme, called Atomic Christmas.  Ruth  did the stitch guides for this set too.

I could not have been more excited when Cynthia Thomas contacted me regarding stitch guides she had done for three of my Vintage Halloween Pails.  After some consultation, we added three new designs to the original set of three and voila, my first Halloween club was created!  It made it's debut at the Chaparral in my current home town of Houston.

Cynthia did such a great job on this club, with both the stitch guides and the concept for the finishing. I'm just about done stitching the cat, then I'll have only two left to stitch.

For the next club, I changed direction completely from ornaments to a set of owl stand ups, complete with cute little wings and embellished bases. (Actually, the cute finishing was a result of Ruth and West Coast Finishing putting their heads together!) This series, called "Hoot! Hoot!" had a seasonal theme and I did the stitch guides and stitching.  

My current club is Crazy Patch Boo-nanza and it is shipping right now to needlework stores nation-wide.  This one is also stitch guided by me.

You can still sign up for Crazy Patch at your local needlepoint shop.  All of my previous clubs are currently available as individual canvases with stitch guides, so you can pick and choose or get the whole set if you want!

One of the clubs that excited me most was one that Fancy Stitches in Cleburne Texas did with my set of Seasonal Tree canvases.  Their in-house stitch guide guru, Martha Johnson, stitched all four canvases and somehow managed to make the colors even more vivid than I did!! The results were fantabulous I think-- here is the Winter Tree:

So pretty!  I love how she added even more colors with the addition of the overdyed thread and ribbon.

So there you have it, hope you have enjoyed this little trip down memory lane with me.  My next club is currently "under construction" and I can't wait to share it here with you!

Catching Up In Summer (School)!

I am doing some "catch-up" stitching this summer, much as you might have to catch up on school work in summer school.  Not to sound like it's drudgery though, not at all!  Since I'm not working on stitching new models right now, I have a little time to go back and work on stitching on stuff that I get to keep for myself!  

I will probably finish stitching this Vintage Candy Pail this week and then I'll have four out of the set of six pails completed, yay!  Can't wait for the first Halloween when I'll have the whole set!

I finished the Palm Tree Heart last week, it will be number thirteen out of the seventeen ornaments from my Tickled Pink series that I have completed.  I am also looking forward to my first Christmas tree decorated with the whole set.  These ornaments are especially sentimental to me because they were some of my earliest designs and my very first club series.

Next up on the bars is the Palm Tree tree-- the trees are my favorites in the series.  No doubt, it's because of the cool finishing, gotta love the swirly hanger and the dangling base below.  

July has brought catch up stitching of all kinds-- the ongoing project that I'm working on for this year's Stitcherie group project got a lot of attention this month.  As fitting for the vacation season, KB didn't draw a clue for us this month, choosing instead to give us our "independence" and stitch any part of our canvas we wanted.  Again, I chose to get caught up on all the areas of my canvas I had started but not finished, such as the scarf and skirt, as well as make changes to areas already stitched, such as replacing the beads on her corset with cross stitches made of Fyre Werks.  

Summertime is also great for shopping and catching up on what's new in the stitchy world-- there are so many new thread colors out that I "needed" to get, plus some fabulous sequins as well.  I picked up all of these from one of my several local Houston shops.  Those two new shades of fuchsia pink Silk Lame' braid on the lower left are so gorgeous!  Those will undoubtedly be appearing on a new EyeCandy model soon! 

Hope you have enjoyed catching up with me today, and that you are having a terrific summer!

New Stitch Guides!

Ruth has cooked up a great stitch guide for my Witch's Garden Halloween Collage canvas-- just look at this yummy kit!

Robin King writes her stitch guides "on the fly"-- this is my original Halloween Collage that she's writing a guide for as she travels between teaching gigs.  This guide will be for a customer at Pocket Full of Stitches upcoming Fall retreat. 

The big summer TNNA needlepoint market is this week, so I thought I should give you a little peek at what is new and coming soon from me:

That's all I can show for now, the rest will be posted here real soon!  Thanks for stopping by!

Homecoming

I had a little "family reunion" of sorts last week when my distributor, Ruth Schmuff, sent me a box containing some of my older stitched models.  These guys have logged many a mile on the trunk show circuit, as well as quite a bit of time in Ruth's shop, Bedecked & Beadazzled.  I haven't seen these in person since I finished stitching them, years ago now.  It's nice to have them back to get reacquainted! 

These two are from my earliest set of Halloween designs, a collection of teardrop ornaments, stars and topiary trees.  Both pieces were finished by Marlene's, whose idea it was to make the Jack o' Lantern star into a magic wand.  It came out so cute!

My Halloween series right after this was a set of three Victorian-style candy cones.  This one is the "Witch's Accessories" cone, featuring her fancy red shoes.  Loading it up with selections from my Halloween doo-dad collection was lots of fun! 

I stayed with the witch theme in my next collection, which merged Halloween with my interest in stitching accessories.  The witch hat shape is such a natural choice for a scissor case.  This was also the first time I ever tried the technique of Basketweave Beading and I was very pleased with the way the little Jack o'Lantern motif came out.  I made the little witch scissor fob as well to round out the set.

Now for something different, this checkbook cover is called Floating Flowers.  This was designed for and published in Spool magazine, which is, sadly, no longer published which is a shame as it was a great magazine that appealed to every kind of stitcher.  The canvas and stitch guide however, are still available.  

Finally, this early Christmas Tree Forest canvas takes me way back to my very first collection!  This one was one of my very first stitched and finished models.  I was sequin-crazy back then, the embellishment pack for this very small design has almost 30 sequins and beads of various sizes and shapes. 

Hope you have enjoyed this little trip down my memory lane!  Thanks for looking and have a great weekend with plenty of stitching time!