Blogs are great places to post your opinions and receive feedback from others who care about the same things you do. These blog entries from other stitch-bloggers have important topics for us to read and ponder. First, here is what one new shop owner says about needlepoint magazines.
http://rittenhouseneedlepoint.blogspot.com/2009/05/new-issue-of-needlepoint-now.html
My new Needlepoint Now magazine just arrived. The new format is becoming clear. There are new columnists, a new emphasis on publishing stitch guides for painted canvases which one can buy in the local shop and then stitch via the printed guide, and guides to new products and books as usual. I am a bit wary of totally abandoning line drawn designs in favor of charted pieces (although the Carole Lake/Tony Gerdes design is very clever!) and stitch guides for painted canvases which folks have to buy, however beautiful (and that Melissa Shirley flower purse is to die for!). I like the free-form line drawings one can fill with any color or stitch as I think that encourages creativity.
Speaking of any stitch, here is a new designer's take on where the emphasis on fancy stitches is taking us.
http://needlepoint.storeblogs.com/2009/07/13/the-fancy-stitch-monster
UPDATE: Marianne explains herself more here.
http://needlepoint.storeblogs.com/2009/07/14/iconoclast-me
I love fancy stitches myself, although I did do a piece entirely in tent stitches last summer. Remember that? It is surprisingly hard to do an all basketweave piece with even tension if you are constantly changing colors and thread types. I think the fancy stitches are easier for novices to execute well, but maybe I'm wrong. When you are looking at NP from the perspective of 21 years' stitch experience, you are not really understanding the beginner's problems.
Does anyone else think that what Marianne and Stephen are talking about is a return to the basics in needlepoint? I do know that what we online needlepointers do often has no relationship to the bulk of needlepointers who haven't discovered the online world we live in. There are even shops which discourage the use of stretcher bars, using anything except plastic canvas for a beginning project, only sell Paternayan wool, etc. Of course there are stitchers who deliberately only tent stitch designs but that is their preference, not something imposed on them because they and their shop don't know anything else!
It dawned on me after reading Ruth Schmuff's blog entry (link below) that although I use a lot of tent stitches on projects, I also use a great many fancy (and expensive!) threads. A personal challenge may be for me to blog-stitch something entirely in DMC cotton, something that isn't expensive for a beginner to try. Something along the lines of the outlined Sundance lady in a shawl project I did three summers ago to show how to fake expensive overdyes using DMC cotton....
http://www.tistheseason.org/blog/2009/07/new-stitchers.html
Now, something we all can agree on--
http://needleprint.blogspot.com/2009/07/support-your-needlework-store.html
I'd love to hear your thoughts on any or all of the above!Jane, sending hugs to all stitchers everywhere from CH
UPDATE #2: The designer Barbara Bergsten adds her thoughts on her blog.
http://createneedlepoint.typepad.com/create_needlepoint/2009/07/decorative-needlepoint-stitches.html
UPDATE #3: Margaret adds her own thoughts to the discussion. Anyone else?
http://cranecottage.com/stitchingblog/?p=1136
Written by Jane/Chilly Hollow
Blogging at http://chillyhollownp.blogspot.com
Archived Yahoo 360 postings at http://profiles.yahoo.com/chillyhollow
