Updates to the Chilly Hollow Stitch Guides Blog

Yesterday I updated the Chilly Hollow Stitch Guides blog with a short article about the new Amy Bunger $15 stitch guides.  You have to buy either the canvas or the thread kit to be able to buy the guide, but this is a great price for one of Amy's stitch guides. They are usually 6-10 times this price and you still have to buy either the canvas or the threads for her to sell you a guide.

I've also added my two latest stitch guides (for Red Geisha and House of Koi) to the list of my guides available for purchase.  (The guide for Smilin' Jack the pumpkin will be available after the Baltimore trade show.)  Instead of giving you the link to the site to read about Amy and me, I'm going to do something new today.  If you look at Blog's right hand column, you'll see a photo of a flying carpet among the photos of the Canvas of the Day and my current projects.  Click on the flying carpet and you will automatically be redirected to the CH Stitch Guides blog.  Magic!

In other stitch guide news, several big name designers are building a stitch guide section on their website or making the one that was there more informative.  For example, Melissa Shirley is in the process of setting up a Stitch Guide Authors section on her site.
http://melissashirleydesigns.com/galcol/?col=123

Written by Jane/Chilly Hollow
Blogging at http://chillyhollownp.blogspot.com
and at http://chstitchguides.blogspot.com

Achieving Dimension in Needlepoint

We've talked some about how to make the background recede while making some of the bushes on cat topiary garden come forward while I worked on dede Odgen's cat topiary garden.  If you'd like more ideas on how to do this with your own painted canvases, Anne Stradal's latest lighthouse project will help.  Head over to her blog and starting with July 22, discover how the stitches and threads she choose make her lighthouse stand out against the sky and how she made some tree covered hills closer than others.
http://thecapestitcher.blogspot.com/

Written by Jane/Chilly Hollow
Blogging at http://chillyhollownp.blogspot.com
and at http://chstitchguides.blogspot.com

Crewel News and Tools

I've been happily reading Kathy's adventures as she takes a course on crewel embroidery at the Royal School and decided she's posted enough short little tidbits about her class for you to enjoy reading about them.  Remember, blog entries are the latest first.  Scroll down to the May 11th, 2011 listing and then work your way back to the top to learn what Kathy did to prepare for the class and how the days there are unfolding.
http://www.theunbrokenthread.com/blog/

Rittenhouse has some new crewel kits and a book by Wool and Hoop's Katherine Shaughnessy.  These look like a great introduction to the art!http://rittenhouseneedlepoint.blogspot.com/2011/08/focus-on-wool-hoop.html

A lot of traditional embroiderers use the prick and ponce method of transferring a design to their fabric.  Mary Corbet demonstrates how a block of fingernail emory makes the whole process easier.
http://www.needlenthread.com/2011/07/sanding-embroidery-patterns.html

Since we're talking tools now, this is a good place to mention the review Janet Perry did for a light gadget you wear around your neck to enable you to see your stitching better without disturbing other folks in the room.
http://www.nuts-about-needlepoint.com/beam-n-read-led-light-product-review

Written by Jane/Chilly Hollow
Blogging at http://chillyhollownp.blogspot.com
and at http://chstitchguides.blogspot.com