Christmas in July UPDATE

Tanja Berlin's Fruit Still Life Goldwork

It's the first of July and you know what that means--shops start their July sales!  I Googled "needlepoint sales" and came up with several great deals.  If you know of others, post full information in the Comments section please!

Do you love K's frames?  Discount Needlework has several styles on sale and they are throwing in free shipping, a great boon when it comes to a heavier item.
http://discountneedlework.com/needlepoint/ks%20creations%20lap%20frames,%20scroll%20frames,%20floor%20frames/

Pasttimes Needlepoint in Texas is putting all their in stock canvases on sale at 20% off for July and August only.  This is a great time to pick up something you've lusted after on their site.
http://www.pasttimesneedlepoint.com/

Elaine Magnin has the best sale of all--their in stock items are on sale at 60-70% off!  Search using the search box, but remember, if there is no photo of the search results, the item isn't in stock so it isn't on sale.
http://www.elainemagnin.com/

The first of the month is when e-newsletters appear as well.  Amy Bunger's is up, full of great photos and tales from the Columbus TNNA show.  Fans of her stitch guides will be very interested in her new guide that tells you how to stitch three tiny canvases.  This is a very inexpensive way to study with Amy and a great new departure for her.
http://www.amybunger.com/f/Amy_s_e-newsletter_July_2010.pdf

Tanja Berlin has sent out her monthly email note.  In it she announced three new kits--a blackwork horse, a new threadpainted rabbit, and a fabulous goldwork fruit still life kit (pictured above).  You can read all about them here, plus see previous new items.
http://www.berlinembroidery.com/whatsnew.htm#stilllife

She also has two items on sale at excellent prices.  I'm lusting after the stiletto myself.
http://www.berlinembroidery.com/saleitems.htm

Check the Comments today for more sales.  If I get enough sale listings, I'll post another Christmas in July posting later this month.

UPDATE:  Pocket Full of Stitches has every in-stock AND special order canvas on sale at 20% off during July.
http://pocketfullofstitches.blogspot.com/2010/06/christmas-in-july-is-coming.html

Written by Jane/Chilly Hollow Blogging at http://chillyhollownp.blogspot.com Archived Yahoo 360 postings at http://profiles.yahoo.com/chillyhollow

Jane's Leafy Adventure: Part Two

Brenda Hart's Large Ribbons Stitch

After stitching the partial flower's leaves, I moved to the two leaves under the cluster of fruit.  These rather oval leaves have the toffee colored vein down the middle but one has a a feature none of the other leaves have--a patch of peach at the tip where it connects to the stem.  I tent stitched that area using the same peach colored thread used on the peach.  I also tent stitched the vein with Rainbow Linen.

I'd already settled on Brenda Hart's Large Ribbons Stitch (page 62 in her Favorite Stitches) for the bulk of the leaves.  You've already seen my test stitching of this near the large flower (see June 25's Let's Talk Green blog entry).  Large Ribbons is very similar to the stitch used on the flowers but it is larger in scale and doesn't have the skipped spots between stitch elements.  It also looks less rounded.

Check the photo above to see how I stitched the two leaves as a single area, letting the stitch flow from one leaf to the other and dividing each leaf into a dark half (where I used the medium green thread) and a light half (where I used the yellow-green overdyed thread).

Written by Jane/Chilly Hollow Blogging at http://chillyhollownp.blogspot.com Archived Yahoo 360 postings at http://profiles.yahoo.com/chillyhollow