Sunday, December 29, 2019

Suitings framed

Suitings is finally truly finished. I decided to frame it after all and am pleased with the result. It is awfully small though. I have a wall going along the stairwell that is pretty much black/ white/ and red, so it is added to that.

Wednesday, November 6, 2019

Emma

"EMMA" is the companion to the "HOME" I posted last time.  Emma is the daughter of the recipient of Home.  They will get these tonight. 

I love these little prefinished pillows.  These are the last 2 that I had in my drawer.  Gradually using up stash.  Stitched with Silk & Ivory and Watercolours.  Used an Alphabet from a book and my favorite Bargello pattern.  I use a little fuseable webbing between the fabric and the needlepoint to hold everything in place.

Thursday, October 31, 2019

Quickie Gifts

This is a very small piece, about 3" x 5" that will go into a little prefinished pillow.  It is  a welcome "home" gift for a new resident to our neighborhood. I'm also making one for her daughter and will show them both to you soon I hope, and finished.

Wednesday, October 9, 2019

Suitings

It all began with a birthday plaid.  Right away there was trouble!  Instructions?  I don't need instructions, I've done tons of these.  Yes dear, said the little voice, but that was 20 years ago.  No problem I said and began to stitch.  Before long unintelligible mumblings could be heard, ending with where's that damned book.  My first effort at this was so bad I actually threw it away and started over!  I had the brilliant (NOT) idea of a little sampler type thing of men's suiting fabrics, all black & white with just a touch of red.  There sure are a lot of stitches in a 5" square!!
Anyway, it's finished now.  I think it will become a standup with easel back--all in red.   Yes, I see that the long threads in the red,black,white windowpane need to be straightened. 
My design, mostly floss and pearl cotton. 18-count. No, the pattern will not be available

Monday, September 2, 2019

Ornaments

 I can't believe how long its been since I posted!  Is there anyone left out there?  ; -)  In my neverending cleaning out of drawers, I came upon 2 of Laura Perin's Mini Mystery Monday free designs that I had not stitched.  So here they are, not only stitched but finished!  Of course, I changed all the colors, and some of the stitches.  These can be ornaments or door hangers.
The one on the right was from Sep 2012.  I changed it a lot  
The one below Feb 2013. Both worked in Watercolors and #5 pearl cotton and Kreinik.  Completely from stash.
I hung these at an angle so you could see the braid my finisher used around the edge.  I've used this before and it makes the perfect easy edging for ornaments.

Friday, June 28, 2019

A Surprise Jody House Design

I found this pattern languishing in the back of a file. It had apparently been there since approximately 1982.  Just what I needed:  A simple (wrong) little piece to relax (wrong again) with in front of the tv.  
This was meant to be worked entirely in floss.  Well we don't
do that these days much, so I gathered up a variety of threads, including floss, in my favorite colors and a piece of aqua canvas that was cut to a good size and settled down.
Well, let me warn you:  It isn't always easy to substitute just any old thread for floss!  
I used FyreWerks for the center and ripped it out over and over because it is so shiny I couldn't tell what I was doing!  And it went on from there.  I think I ripped more on this little 4" square Than on anything I've ever stitched!!
There was supposed to be another row of Double Leviathan all around, but I didn't want the extra size.
Anyway, it'll make a nice ornament.

Tuesday, June 11, 2019

Kintsugi

"Kintsugi is a Japanese art form in which breaks and repairs are treated as part of the object's history. Broken ceramics are carefully mended by artisans with a lacquer resin mixed with powdered gold, silver or platinum. The repairs are visible — yet somehow beautiful. Kintsugi means "golden joinery" in Japanese.May 7, 2015" from Wikipedia.

I recently learned how to do Kintsugi.  It is easy and fun and inspired me to create a needlepoint based on one of the pieces created by the teacher.



This was truly a free style piece, being worked way outside my box!  I quickly charted the heart/leaf shape, pulled out all my gold Kreiniks, and began stitching like a mad woman.  The legs I put in mostly as loose guides to make sections, but then decided to keep them and actually added a couple more. Since the legs were backstitched in varying lengths, I later "whipped" them to smooth them out a bit.  The white is all Medici wool which I found a bunch of in a drawer.  Stash begone!   Its about 5" square. The inspiration is pictured below. I'm happy with it and so was the teacher when I gifted it to her.

Tuesday, May 28, 2019

When Memories Fade

When Memories Fade is finished. It turned out ok I think although I didn't pay much attention to the the stitch guide.  Her very Velvet black hair doesn't show up very well, but it is a braid, twisted into an eight and left to,hang down. Stash coughed up the perfect little abalone shells for barrettes. Overall I'm pleased with this painted canvas, but still not a fan!

Wednesday, May 15, 2019

Don't Mess With Dragons

Dragons is finally finished.  He sure took a lot of beads!  The background and dragon are all done in Criss-Cross Hungarian, but the dragon is 2-ply floss  The dragon's  "Fill" is beads, where the background's is a single tent stitch, also the background is a pale green to match the sage-on-sage canvas.  Can't seem to win with the photos!  Its going to need some blocking before being framed.

Monday, March 18, 2019

When Memories Fade

This is what I've been working on lately.  When Memories Fade from Sundance,
stitch guide by Brenda Hart.
The background, in Woven stitch, is slow going. I have changed the colors quite a bit and have not followed the stitch guide very much.
I still don't know what I'll do with that pot. It won't be gray that's for sure. Her hair will be last as I will use Very Velvet. I'm thinking about adding a braid of some sort.
Anyway, this painted canvas has been in my drawer for several years and I'm feeling righteous to get it out and finish it!

Sunday, February 24, 2019

Debbie's Treat

I finally finished something. This is Debbie's Treat by Debbie Rowley. She offered this as a freebie a couple of years ago. Naturally I changed the colors. A LOT!  I wanted something calm, soothing and soft  and easy to stitch. I also wanted to try out one of the stitches for possible use elsewhere. Well, it wasn't as easy as I expected. Partly because of the threads I chose, partly because I had trouble following the directions, and partly because my eyes are older and tired-er than I realized!  But it's done now and it's a sweet little piece.


Thursday, January 17, 2019

Framed

Two more back from the framer.
Holiday Wreath by Laura Perin and River Dance by me.  Happy with them both!

(Blog refuses to put them side by side!)





Thursday, January 10, 2019

Cool Cat


 My husband plays guitar (really well!!) and we both love kitties, so when I saw Cool Cat by El Gato Gomez, I had to stitch him for DH for Xmas.  Here is the result.  Stitched on 18 with Petite Very Velvet, Silk & Ivory and Threadworx overdyed floss.
Inspiration


Sunday, January 6, 2019

Destashing

I am trying to destash.  A friend is listing some of my items on eBay for me.  Her eBay name is luvthatart.  Once you get to her listings, search on needlepoint.  She has lots of non-needlepoint stuff too.

Among other things:  Loretta Spears' Bargello Fantasy, Seven Fractal chart, a Nenah Stone canvas, Tony Minieri's Journey to Satchidanada.  

Thursday, January 3, 2019

Christmas Reindeer

This charmer was cross stitched by a friend and put into this very cool snow globe-y thingie.  Is this the cutest or what??
The design is available, for cross stitch or needlepoint, on the website.  You're on your own for the snow globe though 😊.