New Designs on Website

Just a quick note to let you all know that I have finally added two new designs for sale on my website, www.lizartneedlepoint.com.

12 Days of Christmas is a 4-way Bargello which uses an unusual pattern.
4-way Butterflies combines needlepoint and Bargello.
Please take a look. Both are listed at the bottom of the Bargello page.

4-Way Butterflies Bargello, Final & Finished

And here it is in all it's final glory! The Bargello background uses a Watercolor plus 2 Silk & Ivory colors from the overdye. I had originally planned to use a Hilton stitch, maybe layered Crescents or something, for the center, but I decided that would be too prominent and I didn't want that. So I settled for sort of Bargello diamond with a cross stitch at the very center. I really like the way it turned out.
Here is the framed piece:

4-Way Butterflies Bargello, Step 3

It took months and months, but finally the butterflies are finished. They are stitched with 2 colors of Waterlilies plus Kreinik Blending Filament in coordinating colors. As I'm sure you are aware, using Blending Filament with several strands of silk is not the most fun you've ever had, but I like the randomness of the result. I did not want a metallic showing on every stitch and did not want to "work" at achieving that effect by going over it later with the Blending Filament. So, I struggled with it all in the needle at once. I manipulated the overdyes just slightly to get lighter & darker areas and used mostly Tent and Slanted Gobelin stitches. The butterflies could also be done all the same color, or in several colors, lots of possibilities. I chose these 2 colors to coordinate with my friend's home.

4-Way Butterflies Bargello, Step 2

Stitching the outlines of all 4 butterflies, in Tent stitch, was quite a challenge and I messed up several times & had to rip out an entire butterfly, twice! The Kreinik #12 Braid worked really well and I'm glad I chose it for the bodies & outlining. Next up will be to fill in the wings.

4-Way Butterflies Bargello

I have been working on a design I call 4-Way Butterflies for nearly 6 months. It was to be a Christmas gift for LAST Christmas! I told the receipient I was stitching something for her for Christmas, but not to hold her breath till she got it! Well, it was handed over to her last weekend, so now I can tell you about it. I will post it over several days, as though I were just starting it.


This design has 4 butterflies in the center, symmetrically placed, and will have a Bargello background. I have the butterflies all charted out, but have no idea what the Bargello will be! I will turn my canvas 1/4 turn for each butterfly so that the stitches of each butterfly will "point" to a corner. This is what it looks like with just the little bodies stitched. Doesn't look like much does it?
The bodies and outlining will all be in Kreinik #12 Braid, black #005. Tomorrow I'll show you what it looks like with all the outlining completed.