Thursday, December 27, 2018

Two Bargellos for Christmas



Here are 2 Bargellos I did over the past couple of months.
The one on the left, Bear Dance, went into a Sudberry House tray.  The one on the right, Button Up Your Overcoat, is a key rack (I couldn't put the hooks on or it wouldn't go back in its box!).  
Both were Christmas gifts, now delivered.

These patterns are based on musical notation, a technique I came up with many years ago, but have never written up.


Thursday, December 20, 2018

Retirement

Yes!  I am retired!  As of today, I have retired from the business side of needlepoint. 
From now on I stitch just for fun. 😊  Not that I haven't been having fun!!  Needlepoint is my passion and always will be, but no more deadlines, no more pressure (except for Christmas of course!).  Thank you all for your past business.  It has been a joy to see my designs come alive at your hands.

I have turned over my website to my dear friend, Rinda Just.  Some of you will know Rinda as past-president of ANG's online chapter, Cyberpointers.  Rinda is now your contact for my designs and will be handling orders, keeping the website going and my designs available.  Please continue to check the website from time to time!   www.lizartneedlepoint.com

Blog will continue, sporadically, as I get around to reporting in and taking photos of works in progress.  I will have lots to show you soon.

Monday, December 10, 2018

Bargello Mask

I have been stitching quite a lot, but can't show you 2 of the finished pieces until after Christmas!

This piece, my Bargello Mask, has been a WIP for many years.  I think I started it before I started this blog!  It was inspired by pictures of Balinese masks in a catalog.
The center square is all basketweave in floss and the Bargello is done in Orchidee wool tapestry yarn (which has been discontinued for a long time).  

It was a WIP forever because my original plan was to surround the center square with beads.  Bugle beads were my first choice, but they were too irregular in size to play nice!  Next I tried several rows of seed beads, but they were just not laying perfect enough to suit me.  
So it lay in the drawer.  

Now I am on a mission to complete these ancient WIPs.  I pulled this out, tried a few other bugle beads, but none of them were right.  They were even, but not long enough.  So, I decided to just satin stitch it with FyreWerks Soft Sheen, laid over a crocheted-type metallic for padding.  Voila!  DONE!  I'm happy and another WIP bites the dust.