Anna Teaches Leaf Stitches UPDATED

Anna Scott has series of lovely articles on her blog about leaf stitches.  She is doing these on linen, but needlepointers can do them on needlepoint canvas.  You might need to use a sharp needle to pierce the canvas threads to get a stitch right where you want it, though.  I suggest practicing in the margin of your canvas to see what your leaf will be.

Anna's first stitch is fly stitch.  Once you do a few of these, the leaf will grow fast.

https://annascottembroidery.blogspot.com/2021/03/leaves.html

Anna loves Cretan stitch for narrow and long leaves.  The ridge down the middle is very pretty, too.

https://annascottembroidery.blogspot.com/2021/03/leaf-sampler-part-2-cretan-stitch-leaves.html

UPDATE: The latest leaf stitch is my personal favorite--fishbone!

https://annascottembroidery.blogspot.com/2021/04/leaf-sampler-part-3-fishbone-stitch.html

Written by Jane/Chilly Hollow

Blogging at http://chillyhollownp.blogspot.com

and at http://chstitchguides.blogspot.com

© Copyright March 22, 2021 Jane M. Wood. All rights reserved

Making Berries: A Tutorial

Anna Scott has posted a tutorial on making berries by covering large beads with silk.

https://annascottembroidery.blogspot.com/2014/04/wrapped-bead-berry.html

Aren't sure how these are used?  You can see Anna's latest projects, two Christmas ornaments, one with holly berries and one with mistletoe berries, here.

https://annascottembroidery.blogspot.com/2020/11/wearing-many-hats.html

Written by Jane/Chilly Hollow

Blogging at http://chillyhollownp.blogspot.com

and at http://chstitchguides.blogspot.com

© Copyright November 16, 2020 Jane M. Wood. All rights reserved.

Twisted Chain Stitch Tutorial

Ever need a dimensional outline on your canvas that is not too wide but more than just an outline? Consider the twisted chair stitch.  Anna Scott has a wonderful tutorial on how to create it.  Just remember she's working on linen instead of needlepoint canvas, so you may need to use a sharp needle instead of a blunt tapestry needle to get the stitch exactly where you want it.  I suggest a little practice in the margins first.
https://annascottembroidery.blogspot.com/2020/06/stitch-chat-twisted-chain-stitch.html

Written by Jane/Chilly Hollow
Blogging at http://chillyhollownp.blogspot.com
and at http://chstitchguides.blogspot.com
© Copyright June 26, 2020 Jane M. Wood. All rights reserved.

Learning To Create Perfect Padded Satin Stitch Circles

If you ever wanted to create a nice round circle on your canvas with padded satin stitch, Anna Scott has a lovely short tutorial on her website.
http://annascottembroidery.blogspot.com/2019/08/doodle-stitching-going-dotty-on-satin.html

Anna mostly does crewel on linen but if you use a sharp needle, you can replicate her circles on needlepoint canvas.

Written by Jane/Chilly Hollow
Blogging at http://chillyhollownp.blogspot.com
and at http://chstitchguides.blogspot.com
© Copyright August 21, 2019 Jane M. Wood. All rights reserved.

How to Pad a Strawberry with Felt

Anna Scott does a lot of embroidery, especially crewel, and was kind enough to explain how she created padded strawberries using felt in her latest blog posting.  It gives a very dimensional berry, something that needlepointers might want on one of their pieces.  Note her tips on attaching the felt layers in particular and notice that she has done a trellis stitch on top of the felt/satin stitch layers to finish the strawberry.  Nice work!
http://annascottembroidery.blogspot.com/2019/04/strawberry-feast-raised-embroidery-wip.html

Written by Jane/Chilly Hollow
Blogging at http://chillyhollownp.blogspot.com
and at http://chstitchguides.blogspot.com
© Copyright April 13, 2019 Jane M. Wood. All rights reserved.

Ribbed Leaves with Fly Stitch

Anna Scott has developed a highly textured ribbed leaf done with fly stitch and has instructions on her blog.  You can see the influence of crewel in this piece which is done with one strand of silk perle on linen.  If you use a sharp needle instead of a tapestry needle, this can easily be done on needlepoint canvas.  It would really add texture to a floral piece.
http://annascottembroidery.blogspot.com/2019/03/in-my-hoop.html

Written by Jane/Chilly Hollow
Blogging at http://chillyhollownp.blogspot.com
and at http://chstitchguides.blogspot.com
© Copyright March 15, 2019 Jane M. Wood. All rights reserved.

Plunging the Ends to the Back Side

Anna Scott's latest embroidery use metal threads for accents, so she has to figure out how to plunge the ends of this rather fat thread to the back and secure them well.  I thought you'd find it interesting how she uses a loop to lasso the end to yank them to the back and then unwraps the metallic foil to secure the back side.  Personally I'd be very worried about unwrapping the thread on the back as it might start to unwrap on the front but all this is food for thought.  After all, we have wired threads and beading wire, not to mention goldwork threads, to handle in our stitching lives.
http://annascottembroidery.blogspot.com/2018/02/i-really-should-know-better.html

Written by Jane/Chilly Hollow
Blogging at http://chillyhollownp.blogspot.com
and at http://chstitchguides.blogspot.com
© Copyright February 22, 2018 Jane M. Wood. All rights reserved.

Shading with Stem Stitch

I use packed stem stitch a lot for things like tree trunks in my needlepoint, but I never thought about how to best shade a section that has stem stitches very close together. Fortunately Anna Scott has more imagination than me and has come up with an interesting way to blend colors when you are working packed stem stitch.
http://annascottembroidery.blogspot.com/2017/09/shaded-stem-stitch-filling.html

Written by Jane/Chilly Hollow
Blogging at http://chillyhollownp.blogspot.com
and at http://chstitchguides.blogspot.com
© Copyright  September 21, 2017 Jane M. Wood. All rights reserved.

Learning a Fine Raised Line from Anna Scott

Anna Scott teaches how to create a fine raised line for a stem in this blog posting.  Anna is working on a crewel design which means to recreate what she does you'll need to use a sharp needle so you can pierce the needlepoint canvas threads, but this technique will work nicely for plant stems, lettering or any fine line you want to emphasize in your needlepoint.
http://annascottembroidery.blogspot.com/2017/05/fine-raised-stems.html

Written by Jane/Chilly Hollow
Blogging at http://chillyhollownp.blogspot.com
and at http://chstitchguides.blogspot.com
© Copyright May 30, 2017 Jane M. Wood. All rights reserved.

How to Attach Kid Leather

I have to admit I've never been tempted to attach kid leather to any of my needlepoint, but in case I ever have the urge (or you do), this article by Anna Scott about her current goldwork design will help me understand how to go about it.  She makes it took easy, although it appears being careful and patient is very useful.
http://annascottembroidery.blogspot.com/2017/02/goldwork-wip-attaching-gold-kid-leather.html

Written by Jane/Chilly Hollow
Blogging at http://chillyhollownp.blogspot.com
and at http://chstitchguides.blogspot.com
© Copyright February 20, 2017 Jane M. Wood. All rights reserved.

A Little Stumpwork Padding

Anna Scott is starting to create a new embroidery design and talks about how she is going to build the central figure using stumpwork techniques on this blog entry.
http://annascottembroidery.blogspot.com/2016/08/body-building-drifting-on-breeze-wip.html

Now he's got socks and some pant legs.
http://annascottembroidery.blogspot.com/2016/08/dressing-drifting-on-breeze-wip.html

Now he's got a head and a scarf and some of his jacket is in place, too.
http://annascottembroidery.blogspot.com/2016/10/wip-drifting-on-breeze.html

We have a full jacket and clouds!
http://annascottembroidery.blogspot.com/2016/11/drifting-in-breeze-wip.html

Anna finishes off the scarf and gives her floating man a face--and a hat!
http://annascottembroidery.blogspot.com/2017/01/drifting-on-breeze.html

Many of the tips and techniques she uses are applicable to needlepoint that incorporates stumpwork.  And besides, it's just durn interesting!

I'll update this as Anna makes progress on Drifting on the Breeze.

Written by Jane/Chilly Hollow
Blogging at http://chillyhollownp.blogspot.com
and at http://chstitchguides.blogspot.com
© Copyright August 1, 2016 Jane M. Wood. All rights reserved.

Help Stitching Hair

Almost every needlepoint face is framed by hair--straight, curly, wavy, spiky, wild, or controlled.  So how do you stitch hair?  Let's ask the experts.  Here's a compilation of hair resources in various books, blogs, and videos.
http://chillyhollownp.blogspot.com/2011/05/hair-resources.html

Many folks have posted about how their created the specific hairstyle on their current project.  Maybe your hair puzzle can be solved by getting their help.  Want to try a wigmaker's knot?  Colleen has step-by-step instructions.
http://www.stitchinginthetexashillcountry.com/the_needle_works/2013/09/share-a-stitch-sunday-september-22.html

How about really really REALLY curly hair?  Sandy shows how easy it is to create.
http://sandyarthur.blogspot.com/2015/05/stumped-for-hairdo-here-is-recent.html

Do you need flowing but curly locks?  This stumpwork tutorial by Anna is a lot easier than you would think hearing the word "stumpwork."
http://annascottembroidery.blogspot.com/2014/06/curly-wild-hair.html

How about stylized wavy hair?  It's easier than you think if you use ideas from the great Amy Bunger like Steph did.
http://stephsstitching.blogspot.com/2014/08/straight-from-stephs-beauty-shop.html

Four years ago (My!  How time flies!) I posted about hair on Blog and asked folks for their ideas based on a series of portraits from A Collection of Designs.  Here is the collective wisdom of many stitches.  Make sure you read the Comments section below the main article.
http://chillyhollownp.blogspot.com/2011/05/brainstorming-hair.html

Ok, now we have hair, eye and skin ideas.  Now let's talk about stitches for faces next.

Written by Jane/Chilly Hollow
Blogging at http://chillyhollownp.blogspot.com
and at http://chstitchguides.blogspot.com
© Copyright September 12, 2015 Jane M. Wood. All rights reserved.

Monica Kinner's Master Class on Grasses

She does amazing trees, too!  The next time I have grasses and trees to stitch, I'm going to study these very closely.
https://www.flickr.com/search/?q=monika%20kinner 

Monica Kinner is a Canadian embroiderer.  I learned about her from Anna Scott's blog.  Monica has a blog and a Facebook page and she's well worth learning more about.  She teaches and sells her work and photographs, too.  Have fun exploring her work!
http://mysweetprairie.blogspot.com

Written by Jane/Chilly Hollow
Blogging at http://chillyhollownp.blogspot.com
and at http://chstitchguides.blogspot.com
© Copyright April 21, 2015 Jane M. Wood. All rights reserved.

Chips of Gold Thread

Gold work uses bits of metallic thread for chipping, which Anna Scott explains beautifully here.
http://annascottembroidery.blogspot.com/2015/02/chip-chip.html

Want to see some of these exotic metal threads?  Visit Hedgehog Handworks's site and explore the metal threads section.
http://www.hedgehoghandworks.com/catalog/metal_threads_index.php

Written by Jane/Chilly Hollow
Blogging at http://chillyhollownp.blogspot.com
and at http://chstitchguides.blogspot.com
© Copyright February 12, 2015 Jane M. Wood. All rights reserved.

Hair, long beautiful hair shining, gleaming, streaming, flaxen, waxen

Anyone remember the musical Hair?  I am not sure Anna Scott, who lives in Australia, was thinking of the lyrics as she came up with a way to create streaming hair for her stumpwork girl, but it applies!
http://annascottembroidery.blogspot.com/2014/06/curly-wild-hair.html

http://annascottembroidery.blogspot.com/2014/07/over-hills.html

The techniques Anna is using will work very nicely for needlepoint such as my newest acquisition--Hawaiian Girl with Fruit.  (She's 7x7 on 18 count and costs $85 as does her companion, Hawaiian Girl with Ukelele.  Email Gussie and ask her to get you one.)
http://needlepointetc.wordpress.com/2014/05/10/friday-may-9/

Written by Jane/Chilly Hollow
Blogging at http://chillyhollownp.blogspot.com
and at http://chstitchguides.blogspot.com
© Copyright June 19, 2014 Jane M. Wood. All rights reserved.

Stem Stitch Corners

Stem stitch is one of my favorite stitches, but it does have drawbacks, particularly on needlepoint canvas where you have to use a sharp needle to pierce threads to get all your stem stitches the same length.  And then there is how to get it to make a sharp corner without coming loose....
http://annascottembroidery.blogspot.com/2014/06/stem-stitch-corner.html

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

A Bead in a Berry

Anna Scott has posted a great tutorial on how to create berries by wrapping large beads with threads.  The real trick here is to use a very thin needle.
http://annascottembroidery.blogspot.com.au/2014/04/wrapped-bead-berry.html

Milliner's needles are perfect but threading that eye is not going to be easy.  This is the kind and size of needle Anna used.  Look at the eye and you'll see why threading up is a challenge.
http://www.amazon.com/Goldn-Glide-Milliners-Needles-Size/dp/B004KYW744

Written by Jane/Chilly Hollow
Blogging at http://chillyhollownp.blogspot.com
and at http://chstitchguides.blogspot.com
© Copyright April 11, 2014 Jane M. Wood. All rights reserved.