More fun with Sandy Arthur

My second winter market class was taught by Sandy Arthur and sponsored by Sundance Designs and others.

The coolest technique used on the Heart canvas was a pulled thread stitch.  We've all seen the section on pulled threads at the back of the needlepoint "Bible" written by Jo Ippolito Christensen, but I for one, have never used any of the stitches.  I'm not sure where I will use that technique again, but I am delighted to have put my toe into the M.N.A. (Master of Needlepoint Art) section of Jo's book.  (One of the best things about classes is being exposed to new things and opening your mind to new possibilities.  Duh.)

More of my favorite things...ironed Sparkles with added bling provided by Sundance beads and sequins; many wonderful border stitches, ruching and ruffled River Silks.  I see this canvas as a stand-up with feet for Valentine's glamor.

Sandy used Painter's Thread Ribbon Floss Cotton and Painter's Thread Pearl Cotton size 12 in the kit.  Good news about Painter's Thread--Threadnuts is distributing the entire diverse line of Painter's Threads and they are all in stock.  Hooray!

Next up--Susan Portra's "Vintage Bird Cage" hinged box by DJ Designs. 

October Heritage Ornament from Kelly Clark

Here's number 10 in Kelly Clark's heritage ornament series. I replaced the beads with Swarowski crystals for more bling.

I've enjoyed this respite from creating my own stitch guides, but I am itching to see what's new at market and see where the artists' visions can take my needle.  Tune in next week for news from Phoenix!

Creeps from Needle Deeva

As many of you know, the first canvas in "The Creeps" series by Needle Deeva has arrived. I saw all the finished models at the Columbus market, fell in love and will (selfishly) be stitching the complete set for myself. I had intended to show this as a new canvas in progress, in my stitching rotation, but I had so much fun I finished it in no time at all. The extremely talented Robin King wrote the stitch guides that come with each canvas. Her guides are always very clearly written and illustrated and I always learn something new--a new thread, a new stitch or a combination of the two. My favorites from the Pumpkin were the two composite stitches. The best part about this 9 month club is that you can pick and choose your canvases without signing up for all of them. And of course, you can always go "back in time" if you change your mind and pick up an already released canvas.

Bird and Worm canvas by Zecca

I so love taking classes from Robin King—her models are inspiring, her stitch guides are as close to perfect as humanly possible and she is just plain delightful to be with.  The beauty of her stitch guides is that even if it is 2 in the morning, you have such precise photos and directions that it’s like having Robin right there explain.

When I first saw the class canvas, I gave a little start because the canvas was so small compared to my mental image from the class promotion photo.  It didn’t take long to realize that Robin had packed that little whimsical canvas with lots and lots of fun stitches and threads.  The result is a doable project in bright cheery colors and enough different stitch and thread combinations that the project will stitch up like magic.

Santa Martini needlepoint by CBK

This is one of the canvases from the 4 classes I took at the Columbus market. Nothing quite like coming back from a trip with four more UFOs (UnFinished Objects).

The class, taught by the delightful SuZy Murphy, was called "Santa in a Martini Glass". The canvas was provided by CBK Needlepoint.

This was a breeze to stitch and will look great finished as a stand-up for our bar.

Since stitch guides are just that, guides, I made a couple of changes to SuZy's stitch guide.

SuZy stitched her glass with Water 'n Ice from Rainbow Gallery, which gave the glass a frosted effect. I decided to stay with the bright holiday colors and stitched my glass with Petite Frosty Rays to match the painted canvas. The base of the glass is painted a bright royal blue. Although I have seen martini glasses that are painted exactly that way, I had to agree with SuZy that no matter what thread you pull in blue, the base just screams "look at me first...and second...and third."

The second change I made was to use a darning stitch from Brenda Hart's book "Stitches for the Millennium". Appropriately enough, it's a martini glass pattern. I chose to stitch Lemon Drops instead o Appletiniis in honor of my stitching friend Linda B.