A New Things Post of Its Own

Two new things really deserve a posting of their own since I think they are really important. It can be overwhelming to read about more and more and more new things, many of which you might not really care about since you can't use them or they aren't your style. But if you don't look at any new items at all except these, you'll have hit the major high spots.

First of all, Melissa Shirley has pulled out all the stops and added dozens of new items. Some are extensions of new lines (the Valentine's Day antique postcards join Halloween and Christmas versions) and some are completely new (The Old Woman Who Lived in a Shoe and her kids made over in Halloween fashion) but they are all fascinating to view.

http://www.melissashirleydesigns.com/gallery/?bsn=1

Secondly, Needle in a Haystack has made their online thread cataolgue searchable. This is big news to those of us who don't have good shops nearby as this is the best place to see what new colors have been added to our favorite thread brands and to view new brands we've never seen. You can read about it here and click on the links to view the new colors available. It's a very useful tool for me and I hope you will find it useful also.

http://needlestack.typepad.com/whats_new/2009/01/searchable-thread-catalog-complete.html

Jane, promsing to stop posting any more today here in CH

Jane/Chilly Hollow
Main blog at http://blog.360.yahoo.com/chillyhollow

More New Things

Lots of people are posting new items on their websites and blogs. This morning Ruth Schmuff has put up photos of a new stocking that is a pair with her lady almost hidden by wrapped presents. She's right-this is the perfect stocking set for the sophisticated couple in your life.
http://www.tistheseason.org/blog/2009/01/santa-stockin.html

Ruth is also showcasing her new scissors and laying tool cases.
http://www.tistheseason.org/blog/2009/01/needlework-accessory-cases.html

Barbara Bernstein has finished her needlepoint belt. FAB!
http://createneedlepoint.typepad.com/create_needlepoint/2009/01/finished-needlepoint-belt.html

Summer Truswell has finished stitching the new ANG Workshop by Mail piece. It's a Marnie Ritter sampler and beautiful. Summer has links to where to order the design and notes she wrote up as she worked it. The original model is silver, peach and coral, judging from the photo on the ANG website.
http://www.summerlouise.com/2009/01/marnie-ritters-scotch-ya.html

Liz Morrow has just finished a turquoise and terracotta version of the fabulous Susan Reed piece Imperial Topaz. The original was pumpkin, copper and royal purple but this one is just as lovely in Southwestern colors.
http://lizartblog.blogspot.com/2009/01/imperial-topaz.html

Finally, Janet Perry has posted a summary of the TNNA market on her website. There are no photos but there are some URLs to use in hunting for photos.
http://www.nuts-about-needlepoint.com/?p=1475

Have fun browsing!

Jane/Chilly Hollow
Main blog at http://blog.360.yahoo.com/chillyhollow

The Needle Blended Robe

Recently Anne Stradal (ASB Designs) showed various ways of handling skies behind her lighthouse canvases on her blog.
http://thecapestitcher.blogspot.com/2009/01/needle-blending-sky.html

She was stitching her newest lighthouse and decided to needle blend the sky above.
http://thecapestitcher.blogspot.com/2009/01/painting-florida-sky.html

I was finishing up the bottom of the Baroque Fish's gown and looking at colors for the rest of this pet guardian angel. I have choosen a lovely pale green for the inset in her sleeve and the front of the lower hem and thought it might be lovely to use a green similar to the Caribbean blue I have used already. It struck me it might be nice to needle blend the colors so that the top half of the skirt slowly turned from blue to green. Then I could use the green for her blouse and sleeve and go back to the blue for the collar and cuffs. Mermaids are often a blend of blues and greens and I think of the Baroque Fish as a mermaid in disquise.

You can needle blend colors easily with flosses and I am using 4 plies of Splendor already, so I found a pretty green (Splendor S880) in the same brand of silk and started above the floral band with 3 plies of the green and one of blue. In traditional needle blending you have 4-6 plies and work with all the plies in color one, then add one ply of color two, and work the area adding a ply of one color and substracting a ply of the other until you move from solid color one to solid color two. I'm skipping some steps here as I don't have a great deal of space and each row is pretty broad. What you see in the photo above is 2 plies of blue with 2 of green. For the middle third of the upper skirt I will switch to three green plies and one blue ply, then the top near the waist will be all green. It is not going to be as subtle or natural as Anne's lighthouse sky, but what is subtle or natural about a fish in a long gown?

Jane, smiling and having fun in CH

Jane/Chilly Hollow
Main blog at http://blog.360.yahoo.com/chillyhollow