Three Cute Finishes!

Some cute stuff to share today!  First up is my "Joy Cardinal" finished up with a cute berry sprig!  Thanks to Labors of Love Needlepoint Shop for the photo.

TJ always does a great job finishing my Christmas Star series, these were stitched by my friend Courtney M!

This is a custom name tag I painted for my friend Pat, stitched by her for our friend Vicky D.  Pat sent it to TJ for the basic finish, then she added the great beaded strap!

New Design Published in Needlepoint Now!

My latest design for Needlepoint Now magazine is Beaded Bargello, a pair of sparkling ornaments done in counted canvas using lots of bugle beads!  It is in the Jan/Feb 2019 issue, I hope you will enjoy it! 

Tweet Tweet! A New Club Series and My Trunk Show at Stitches In Time!

My EyeCandy Needleart trunk show is at Stitches in Time in Houston this month! I dropped it off myself yesterday, so there are TONS of stitched models for you to see! Also on display is my newest club series, "Tweet Tweet", with stitch guides by the shop's owner, Frances Jue! If you are in town this weekend for the ANG Encore classes, be sure to stop by, Stitches in Time is right in the middle of Houston's "Needlepoint District"!

This gorgeous peacock is part of the series, that starts this month!

Another Great In-Progress Canvas!

Here is another great piece being worked on over at Garden Gate Needlepoint!  This one is especially great because the stitcher has enlarged the design a bit by adding around the edges.  I am loving the choice of stitches and the great beading around the hearts!  Can't wait to see this one finished!

And Here's Another!

Add Polly V. to the list of finishers this week!  Looks great, love the beading on the ornaments! 

Hey, It's a Little Early for Christmas in July, Isn't It?

It is early to mention Christmas and holiday stuff, but since it's a class I thought probably earlier is better!   I will be teaching "Mod Merry" on September 12th at Fancy Stitches.  Ghosts are welcome if you can't make it there!  If you love bling and fun stitches, this is the class for you!

Finally Caught Up On Mod Ornaments!

So much has happened so far this year since my last post on the 1st to get you all caught up on!   I went to the TNNA trade show on the weekend of the 10th and it was a fabulous show where I got to hang out with my friends at Needlepoint Now and many others who I only get to see at these shows.  Unfortunately, I came home with more than just fond memories, I picked up the flu as well!  As bad as it was to spend the next week sick, I was more upset that I had broken a multi-year run of perfect health.  I have not even caught a cold since 2008, can you believe it?  I'm finally feeling a little better and have some stitching progress to show you.

Over the holidays I finally had a chance to get started stitching Mod Ornaments, the Sandra Arthur Mystery class that started last November.  Now that I'm actually stitching it, I can really appreciate all that Sandy has done with the design.  She offers you many, many options to personalize your canvas as you see fit, especially as it comes to one's preferred level of sparkle and bling!  I am definitely a more is better sort of person, so I took every option to add even more shine!

Here is my canvas so far, 95% done with Lessons 1 & 2, four ornaments are stitched as are the green beads:

For the pink ornament, Sandy had found the most perfect shade of pink seed bead for the body of the ornament-- it's gorgeous!  I changed it up a bit with my center band though, I only did two of the colors with the Herringbone stitch and filled in the orange area with cross stitches.  

For the orange ornament, I again took one of Sandy's options and stitched the body of the ornament in a mixture of silk and metallic rather than in the solid silk.  I also added more of those great pink seed beads to the pink bands.  I put green sequins behind the beads that dot the center band.

When it came time to add the Swarovski Margarita flowers to the green beads, I was surprised to find I didn't have the correct size crystal on hand!  I kind of look at these items as "staples" so it was kind of like going to the pantry and not finding any flour!  However, I did have them in the right size in Peridot Green AB oddly enough and so I used those:

Now I've mentioned I'm a "more is better" type, so I attached my crystals with a matching bead AND a 2.5mm green holographic sequin on top!  Yes, it did make it even more sparkly!

For the big pink ornament, I actually used less bling than Sandy did, she has Swarovski Crystal sequins on her center medallions,  I used some too but mine are smaller, I set them in the center of these great green leaf-shaped sequins.  The little blue dots are also pearlized finish sequins attached with beads.  

For the little ornament in the corner, I again went with the "more sparkle" option by using one of the newest colors of FyreWerks for the smaller cross stitches.  Also, I thought the beads didn't stand out enough on their own, so I put these tiny 2mm flower shaped sequins behind them, definitely giving them more prescence without being too much.  

So now I'm on to the next Lesson, where we will be adding a Peyote stitched band to the big center ornament.  Sandy showed me a photo when we were at Market and I can tell you it is FABULOUS!  Here is a photo of my three colors of Delica beads, as well as the rest of my Margarita beads that I still need to attach:

That's all for now, I'll be back next week with some new finishing photos!

Texas Stitching

There has been a lot of Texas-themed stitching going on around here lately!  I recently completed my "Hey Y'all" ornament and taught it as a class here at 3 Stitches in Houston:

Also, another of my Texas ornament series, "Love Texas":

Here's a detail of the heart, I stitched it in Basketweave Beading and placed a JABC yellow rose button over the top of the beads:

This "Texas Home" ornament was very beautifully stitched by Beth over at Stitches in Time in Houston:

And the wonderful team over at Fancy Stitches in Cleburne, Texas stitched up my "Texas No Place Like Home" flag ornaments and had it framed:

Thanks so much for stopping by, hope you are all having a great holiday season so far!

New Design "Halloween Birdhouse"

I am very pleased to share my newest design, appearing in the September/October 2013 issue of Needlepoint Now.  This is my first foray into creating a line-drawn canvas design.  I have always enjoyed this type of design for it's "coloring book" appeal-- filling in the lines with fun colors and patterns, what could be more fun?  I hope you will enjoy stitching it as much as I did!

Here is the whole design, flat, before the finishing process:

And here it is finished!  As you may have noticed from the line of chain stitches surrounding the design, like my previous "Spring Garden" series, this one too is a project you can finish yourself should you choose.  I finished this one as a Cracker ornament, albeit it is a bit larger than most, the stitched area is 3" x 4, giving you a finished piece somewhere between Cracker and Roll Up in size.

Here's another little detail-- I put pom-poms into the ends to fluff out the ruffle and add a little surprise touch:

Here's a sneak peek at the materials list, courtesy of the magazine:

And here are detail photos for your stitching reference-- the center birdhouse:

And the little Witchy-bird, stitched in Kreinik's gorgeous peacock color metallic ribbon:

Detail of the roof and dormer.  Rainbow Gallery's FyreWerks makes for a great glass in the windows illusion:

Detail of the flowers, created with layered sequins, beads and metallics:

 The Jack O'Lantern is created with the Basketweave Beading technique using Delica beads:

Finishing details are included in the article, and couldn't be simpler!  Essentially, you are making a tube that will slide over another tube, made of fabric and stuffed like a little mini bolster pillow.  Afterwards, you can embellish them both as much as you would like!

Hope you have enjoyed this preview.  Please contact me if you have any questions about stitching or finishing this design and as always, Happy Stitching!

Friday Finishing!

I went away for a week to visit the Outer Banks area of North Carolina and then came home to a flood of finishing! What a nice treat, I'll have to try that more often! 

Do you recognize my Spring Garden Biscornu, pictured below?  It's amazing how different it looks stitched on a green canvas (rather than the pink I used) and with different threads and buttons.  Jana Bendawald stitched this gorgeous variation using her stash threads and her antique button collection.  Thank you so much for sharing Jana!

Here is the reverse side of Jana's biscornu:

The original design was published in the Nov/Dec 2012 issue of Needlepoint Now, available from your local needlework store or direct from the publisher.

Linda blogged last week about her finish of my Peeky Kitty canvas that she stitched using a Susan Portra stitch guide.  You may remember me posting a photo of this one half-finished just a couple of weeks ago-- I was so excited about it I couldn't wait until it was done!  It was worth the short wait, as I knew it would be, how gorgeous is that fish border??  Be sure to read more about it on Linda's blog, where you will get to see a photo of "Fred", who was the inspiration behind this piece!  Beautiful work Linda, thanks for posting your work!

And in yet another great blog posting from last week, Diane shared her experience with stitching my Fall Tree canvas.  She has posted lots of great detailed photos of her process as well as some great tips on stitching with DMC Memory Thread.  Here is a picture of her stitched canvas, which is now on it's way to the finisher:

Wonderful work, Diane, thanks for "taking the time" to write such a detailed and informative post! Will look forward to seeing this one again post-finishing.

The stitch guide for this canvas also appeared in Needlepoint Now in the Sept/Oct 2010 issue.

Thanks so much for stopping by, I hope you have enjoyed the photos!  Next week I will share some of my new designs for Summer 2013!

A Tale of Two Kitties

It would serve me right if you never read my blog again after making a pun this dreadful, but having two cute kitties to show you today, I just couldn't resist!  

First off, here is my Purr More, Hiss Less canvas, stitched by Ann LaPlante and finished by West Coast Finishing, who always seem to add the cutest little feet-- it's really getting to be their signature I think!  I love that glamorous black ruffle trim too.  Great job stitching Ann, and great job finishing Sue, thanks to you both for sharing your work with me!

I'm showing this one too, even though it is still in progress.  I saw this on the blog "Split the Needles" and was absolutely smitten!   I'm hoping that Linda, the blog author who's stitching this, will see and know that I am cheering her on to finish this one.  The fish border that she is adding to my Peek A Boo Kitty canvas is absolutely inspired.  Talk about adding your own personal touch to a canvas, this one is really her very own now.  I have seen this design stitched several times and I am amazed that so far no two are especially alike.  This one is for sure the most unique so far, so please do be sure to send me photo if you have your own version of this canvas you would like to show off.  

  

Hope you have enjoyed my very punny post today, thanks for stopping by! 

Stitching Games Update & New Finishes

As you may remember from my last post, I was still wondering what I would stitch for my April Stitching Games clue, "The Seven ____".  Well, Harry Potter came to the rescue and filled in the blank with the "Seven Known Types of Spells", so of course then I stitched her magic wand!  I did it in Basketweave Beading using gold Delica beads and I like the look, but I think now I'll have to replace the beads on her corset as they clash with the beads on the wand.  I'm thinking an orange shade of Fyre Werks will do the trick!

My latest finishing shows offs are this CandyLand Christmas stitched by Marla Muth (check out those candy feet!)

And Judy Gartman has finished yet another Hoot! Hoot! owl, this one in the middle of a cross-country move, no less!  I recently moved halfway across the country and I wasn't even capable of flossing my teeth, let alone picking up a needle and thread, so kudos to you Judy!

Thanks for looking, hope to post again this weekend with some new project pictures, so please stand by! 

Candy Time!

Time to share more from the Crazy Patch, presenting one of the two candy-themed Candy Corns!  This one features Halloween colored hard candy swirls, all decked out in beads:

The chartreuse green Holographic sequins come out to play once again, this time accenting the Horizontal Milanese stitch on the top band:

The center is a variation of Swirl Stitch in delicious shades of Silk Lame' Braid and Waterlilies silk:

The candies are made more dimensional with beading:

 Here is the canvas as unstitched.  All club canvases come with a full color, illustrated stitch guide.

Hope you like what you see!  Next week I'll show you the (very meta) "Candy Corn" Candy Corn! Until then, Happy Stitching!  

Halloween Ornaments

A while back, I painted a set of four Halloween teardrop-shaped ornaments inspired by the Christmas themed ones I had done for my first club series, Tickled Pink.  They feature motifs that had first appeared on my Halloween Sampler series and each has it's own color scheme.  I stitched the Black Cat ornament to serve as a model for the set:

More recently, Judith Furie stitched the other three designs in the set, choosing amazing stitches and threads for each.  Here is the Jack-O-Lantern ornament:

Isn't this great?  She did Basketweave Beading for the pumpkin, plus found a way to add both color and sparkle to even the teeniest rows!

The Witch Hat ornament-- again, just fabulous thread color selection and beads for the center motif:

 The threads Judy selected for the Bat ornament are just mouth-watering aren't they??

She also added a bit of dimension to this one with ruched RibbonFloss for the black and white borders.

Did you notice also that she hardly repeated any thread or stitch?  Judy is always so creative, plus you can count on great color, sparkle and bling!  Remember my Summer Stitching post from last July?  That was Judy again with my Stars 'N' Stripes canvas.  Keep 'em coming Judy, we love what you do!

Can you believe Halloween is tomorrow night?  I can't, mostly because I still have two full bags of candy that have not yet even been opened!  Usually by this time I've had to purchase a replacement bag (or two.)  Guess I really have been busy!  Next time I hope to have a new Halloween piece to share with you.  In the meantime, I hope you have a very Happy Halloween!