Summertime is Time for Learning NP

School's out and a lot of parents are trying to entertain their kids this summer with things that are not wildly expensive but fun. How about teaching someone young to needlepoint?

You can rummage in your stash and come up with a whole range of colors in a variety of thread textures, then sketch a simple design from a coloring book onto a small piece of canvas and let them go to town. That's pretty much what Needleartnut did with a cupcake canvas she is stitching as a present for a bride who is a baker and who loves cupcakes. Didn't it turn out great? And it wouldn't be too hard for a beginner. If you want to see this develop as it was stitched, click on Cupcake in the right hand column list of keywords.
http://needleartnut.blogspot.com/2009/06/final-touch.html

Another way to go would be with a simple painted canvas. How about Fish Your Stash from Finger Step Designs? The canvas comes with a booklet full of ideas and photos of various examples to unlock your creativity as you stitch this with a young friend.
http://store.apneedlearts.com/fish8.html

Whatever route you take, don't forget to pass our love of hand work along to someone this summer!

Jane/Chilly Hollow
Archived Yahoo 360 postings at http://profiles.yahoo.com/chillyhollow

Your Canvas Is In the Mail

What with pet guardian angels arriving from the other folks stitching them for the ANG Auction, Judie's surprise little hospitality stocking she sent me, and the canvas you see on the left arriving in my mailbox, well, it is pretty exciting to see the mail lady pull up the driveway in Chilly Hollow!

This is an Amanda Lawford design, the new Nutcracker Santa for 2009 which arrived about two weeks ago. Each year Amanda comes up with a new Santa theme for that year. There are a lot of them, one for every taste, on her website. Just click on the link below and browse.
http://www.amandalawford.com/products/santas1.html

They come in several heights (30", 15" and 9" tall). My Nutcracker Santa is the 15 inch one and is on 18 count canvas. He is really lovely! Here's another photo from the Needle Works blog. (If you get the annoying authentication window, just click Cancel to make it go away.)
http://theneedleworks.typepad.com/the_needle_works/2009/01/cant-sleep-1.html

I saw one of the larger sizes stitched at the ANG Seminar Exhibit in Baltimore in 2007. It won a ribbon, too! They work up beautifully, as you will see if you look about halfway down the page for Nancy Demko's Maroon Santa with Deer.
http://www.needlepoint.org/WhatIs/2007/index.php

I'd never seen an unpainted Amanda Lawford canvas in person before. I can report these are beautifully stitch painted in beautiful colors. If you have the time to tackle a large Christmas project, there just might be a Santa for you in her line.

If you don't, I'm happy to report that her son Derek is starting his own line of small, simple and affordable canvases. I got his e-newsletter with photos of his first designs and if you email me at chilly hollowat hot maildotcom I will forward it on to you to see.

By the way, I weighed down the canvas with a heavy coaster to take the photo but didn't cut that out of the picture so that you could see the canvas number and Amanda's lovely stylized signature. The coaster is what you see on the bottom. Sorry!

Jane/Chilly Hollow
Archived Yahoo 360 postings at http://profiles.yahoo.com/chillyhollow

More New Things

Some new items are showing up in the shops already. Amy Bunger's on-line store has started posting photos of new floral canvases here. The newest things are at the top of the page.
http://www.amybunger.com/flowers_fruits_vegs.html

Janet Perry clued me into a new strong magnet that is unusual in that it has a metal heart design on top. If you ever wished those decorative magnets were stronger or that the top didn't block the magnetic forces, this might be the set for you. A photo is on the left side of this article.
http://store.puffinco.com/servlet/-strse-33/Puffin-and-Company-Needle/Detail

Finally, Old World Designs has started to post photographs of their new club, The Twelve Days of California. Instead of a Christmas theme, the round ornaments all showcase California icons. Three designs are on their website now. You'll have to bookmark the site and check later to see them all.
http://www.oldworlddesigns.com/california.html

They also have a neat purse kit based on a Zecca canvas (a little more than halfway down this page) that is a sort of Country Style Goes Crazy. It looks like a really fun thing to stitch.
http://www.oldworlddesigns.com/classprojects.html

Jane/Chilly Hollow
Archived Yahoo 360 postings at http://profiles.yahoo.com/chillyhollow