The Blue Russian Has A Companion

Natasha and Ivan

Surprise! The Blue Russian has a companion piece!   Well, actually all the Russian Santas have companion designs.  Leigh Designs calls them The Winter Maidens.  There are eight Russian maidens, all the same size as the original Russian Santas (six inches on 18 count mono).  Leigh Designs just announced them on their website.  You can see all the new Winter Maiden designs here.
http://www.leighdesigns.com/ImgIdx01.html

The Snow Maiden has BLING

I stitched the Snow Maiden, who is the most like the Blue Russian Santa.  You can see her above, either by herself or paired with the finished photo of my Blue Russian.  Both models will be hanging out at the Leigh Designs booth at the January trade show for the shops to visit.  

My stitch guide for Snow Maiden will be available shortly.  Guides for Silver Bells (Pat Miller),  Pretty Poinsettia (Sandy Arthur) and Woodlane Belle (me)  are in the works and should be available by the January TNNA show.  

Written by Jane/Chilly Hollow
Blogging at http://chillyhollownp.blogspot.com
and at http://chstitchguides.blogspot.com
© Copyright November 3, 2014 Jane M. Wood. All rights reserved.

Winterthur Antique Needlepoint

Ann has been at Winterthur's Diligent Needle seminar, taking classes and ogling the antique needlework.  This posting (there are more, click on the header to read them all) shows 18th Century needlepoint pocketbooks in all their glory.  Click on the photos for a larger view.  Beautiful!
http://stitchingfoolishness.blogspot.com/2014/11/wintherthur-day-two.html

Written by Jane/Chilly Hollow
Blogging at http://chillyhollownp.blogspot.com
and at http://chstitchguides.blogspot.com
© Copyright November 3, 2014 Jane M. Wood. All rights reserved.

Like to Bead?

For those who love beading I've posted a link to the Silver Needle's site so you can see the Reflets de Soie of France beaded scissor cases kits.  You'll get the chart and the beads in the kit but will have to purchase the 35 count linen and threads to attach the beads in a half cross stitch (i.e., a tent stitch over two threads).  It looks like the scissors cases are meant to be finished with a zipper down one long side but it is hard to tell for certain.  These are very pretty but the beads are Japanese seed beads so they are probably small and the finished pouch will be fairly heavy.  I'd suggest you not use floss to add the beads if you plan to carry this instead of framing it, but substitute beading thread instead.  
http://www.thesilverneedle.com/reflets.html

At any rate, this is a slightly different project from a French designer that the dedicated header might like to try.

Written by Jane/Chilly Hollow
Blogging at http://chillyhollownp.blogspot.com
and at http://chstitchguides.blogspot.com
© Copyright October 28, 2014 Jane M. Wood. All rights reserved.

Choosing Colors for Sudoku

One of the members of the New Jersey Needle Artists Chapter of ANG is changing the colors for a guild project, the stitching of Marilyn Owen's "Sudoku."  She has written up how she changes colors for charted designs, which is something I've always wondered about.  Hopefully if you are contemplating changing colors for a design this will help you, too.  Thanks for sharing, Needle Artists!
http://blog.njneedleartists.org/2014/10/14/choosing-colors-for-sudoku/ 

Written by Jane/Chilly Hollow
Blogging at http://chillyhollownp.blogspot.com
and at http://chstitchguides.blogspot.com
© Copyright October 15, 2014 Jane M. Wood. All rights reserved.