Fiber Talk: Interviewing New Shop Owners UPDATED

Gary and Christine interview Melissa, the new owner of The Wool and the Floss and Kim of Sassy Jack's Stitchery about starting your own stitching shop.  Follow the links to the shop websites if you want to explore more.
http://wetalkfiber.com/2017/08/06/fiber-talk-with-melissa-macleod-and-kim-young/

UPDATE:  Donna visited Sassy Jack's during the EGA seminar in Asheville, NC.  Here's her mini review.
http://majtravaux.blogspot.com/2017/08/tuesday.html

If you are a little curious about Marnie Ritter--one of my stitching heroes!—visit her website.
http://www.mritter.com

And if you want to know more about Michael Boren—a fabulous guy and a fellow Threadaholic—check out his website.
http://www.stitchplay.com

Written by Jane/Chilly Hollow
Blogging at http://chillyhollownp.blogspot.com
and at http://chstitchguides.blogspot.com
© Copyright August 7, 2017 Jane M. Wood. All rights reserved.

Elsa Williams Channelled by Marnie Ritter UPDATED

Ruth was lucky enough to take a class from Marnie Ritter at the EGA Seminar in Santa Fe, and shares some of her project and Marnie's ideas with us on her blog.
http://ruthsneedlework.blogspot.com/2012/11/been-to-santa-fe.html

I urge you to study the photographs carefully. Ruth has given us glimpses into Marnie's clever design ideas and how her mentor Elsa Williams approached embroidery.  I consider Marnie Ritter the most original needlepointer we have.  No one does original patterns the way Marnie does.  I treasure all my needlepoint magazines with her designs charted in them.  One day I'll stitch her original Aurora Borealis plate....
http://www.mritter.com/products.html

Thanks, Ruth.  This was very interesting and thought-provoking!

UPDATE:  Marie-Therese Baker just emailed me that Marnie's class "To Honor Elsa" is going to be repeated at Callaway in 2013.   You can see all the class listings and read about Marnie's class at the Calloway Gardens' School of Needle Arts page here.
http://www.callawaygardens.com/events/education-and-culture/callaway-gardens-school-of-needle-arts

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

More about Belleza's Background

Belleza's Background

An anonymous visitor to Blog left a comment about the purple background behind Belleza, asking what the subtle sparkle was.  The sparkle comes from tiny round silver beads that look like BBs, set among the empty spaces between rows of one of Marnie Ritter's Flat Variation stitches.  I am a huge fan of Marnie Ritter's unique stitches and am always happy when one of her complex creations is suitable for a canvas I'm stitching.  This particular Flat Variation is from her Canvas Patterns Book I.
http://www.mritter.com/products.html

The stitch is on a page with other flat variation stitches.  It does not have a name of its own.  In the photograph I have finished the background stitching and have started adding the beads.

I wanted a rough texture in the background, as if Belleza was standing against a rough plaster wall that had been painted, so I choose the very beautiful High Cotton "Periwinkle" 310.  Because I wanted the shading of the background paint to show, I used just one ply of the five that make up a strand of High Cotton.  The addition of the silver beads was serendipity.  I was considering using them elsewhere and put a few on the canvas to see how they would look.  One rolled onto the background where it was the perfect contrast with the matte texture.  They are all attached with one double ply of DMC cotton in a color that matched Periwinkle (DMC #333) as one ply of High Cotton is to thick to go through the size 15 silver beads.

One of Marnie Ritter's Flat Variation Stitches, diagram courtesy of Sheena James

This flat variation stitch is done in diagonal rows, each row interlocking with the previous row.  The bead goes in the empty space between rows.  The stitch diagram is courtesy of Sheena James, who charted it for me.

Sorry the photo of the background isn't better.   High Cotton Periwinkle is an exact match of the background color so the camera doesn't distinguish between painted canvas and thread well.  The tiny silver beads raise the canvas off the scanner bed just enough that I can't get a good scan either.  However, by looking at the photo and the stitch diagram you should be able to tell what I did for Belleza's background.

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

Marnie Does It Again

I love Marnie Ritter's designs. Her stitches are all unique and the combinations she comes up with are stunning. Pour yourself a cup and sit down with me and drool at these two purses from Needle Bug.
http://theneedlebug.com/2012/09/labor-day-2/

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

Watson and Pencils and Other Problems

Oops!  Damaged Background to Right of Owl

All sorts of things can go wrong with your needlepoint canvas.   I'm not talking stitch errors or thread dye lot problems--I'm thinking about accidental spills and marks.  Just listen to what happened to Perles Before Twine when stitching the charted face and hands of Gay Ann Roger's Queen Elizabeth I portrait.
http://www.perlebeforetwine.com/2012/pencil-on-canvas-a-cautionary-tale/

Something similar happened to me while stitching my Day of the Dead lady.  The photo above is the upper right corner of Belleza.  The white area you see is where I found dried dog slobber, courtesy of Watson the Wonder Dog, who is a big slobbering hound.  Belleza is always covered when I am not stitching her, so this is probably from a time I put her down in my stitching chair to answer the phone, etc.  I thought distilled water and a Q-tip would take the slobber off and it did--but the paint came off with it!  I consulted with Peggi of Tapestry Fair (Belleza's creator) who said she'd always suspected dog slobber would damage painted canvases.  Peggi uses high quality Liquitex or Golden Acrylic paints for her designs, too.  There were two ways we could handle the problem--Peggi could repaint the area or I could stitch the background with a full coverage stitch.


As you can see, I'd already chosen a lovely spot motif for Belleza's background.  The Southwestern style crosses are called zias after the Zia Pueblo Indians of the Southwest who use the sacred symbol on their pottery.  A zia decorates the flag of New Mexico and you often see the symbol used as a sun in Peter Ashe's Southwestern designs.  As much as I like my version of the zia, I had never been totally happy with it as the background, so I went back to my stitch books and came up with another background, a Flat Variation stitch from Marnie Ritter.

DMC 333 to the rescue!

But before I replaced one background stitch with another, I needed to rip out the zia shapes and do a little coverup on the white patch where dried dog slobber removed the paint.  Above you see my background thread (High Cotton in Periwinkle 310) and a matching skein of DMC #333 cotton floss.  With one ply of the DMC cotton, I basketweaved over the whiter area to help hide it once I stitch the area with my background stitch.  Here is what the background looks like when restitched with my new background stitch, one of Marnie Ritter's Flat Variation stitches, done right over the basketweave.

Background Restitched Over Basketweave

Can you see the slobber spot now?  In person it is a little more visible since there are empty holes among the various stitch motifs where the basketweave under-stitching is obvious, but I don't think a casual viewer would notice.

Marnie Ritter's Flat Variation, Diagrammed By Sheena James

Courtesy of Sheena James, I have my background stitch diagrammed so that you can see what I used better.  My High Cotton floss is a very close match to the background color, making good photographs difficult.  Note the two uncovered threads between each row.  To make sure to hide this flaw in the background, I added Plan B, which is to draw attention from the spot with something eye-catching.  I put small silver beads in the holes between stitch rows.

Look at the Beads, Not the Spot

I think only Blog readers will know where to look to find the dog slobber spot now, especially once the owl is stitched.  That will further draw attention away from the flaw in the background.  It will look like a shadow of the owl.  The moral is to keep your canvas covered at all times but that marks and damage can be hidden if you are clever.

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

They Finished Stars!

Tony Minieri's Stars for the New Millennium is one of the two iconic counted canvaswork pieces of the 20th Century. Jan and Liz have worked their way though the project and posted their final photos on their blogs. Make sure you check out Jan's inventive border touch that will avoid an expensive mat cut to fit the pointed shapes in the borders.
http://threadmedley.wordpress.com/2012/01/17/stars-of-the-new-millennium-finale/

http://lizartblog.blogspot.com/2012/01/stars-for-new-millenium-finished.html

This gorgeous Stars is being created by Donna, who might just have it done in time to show at the delayed Woodlawn Plantation show. Which means I might see it in person. Yeah!
http://majtravaux.blogspot.com/2012/01/seeing-stars.html

SL's working her Stars, too. It's my favorite colorways of all time because they are just so cheerful and happy together.
http://remedialstitcher.blogspot.com/2012/01/new-year-new-resolve.html

What's the other iconic counted piece, you asked?  Marnie Ritter's Aurora Borealis (which has a second version called Aurora Revisited).  Pat is working on that now.
http://needleartnut.blogspot.com/2012/01/aurora-borealis-pattern-7.html

This is Aurora Borealis Revisited.  The original design, which is similar with softer colors is in the second link.  By the way, the newer version is spread out over several magazines but the original is all in that one issue.
http://www.needlepointnow.com/back_issues/2001/2001_05/2001_05_cover.html

http://www.etsy.com/listing/6787126/needlepoint-plus-magazine-1990-counted

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

And You Thought Sandy Arthur Just Wrote Books

Sandy Arthur's first book, Shapes of Needlepoint:  Circles, Squares, Triangles, Rectangles  isn't the only thing needlepoint related Sandy does.  Between preparing her next Shapes of Needlepoint volume (diamonds, hearts, octagons and stars) she also teaches and has cyber classes for distance learning.  Here are the current classes and how to sign up.  By the way, Shapes Volume Two is due out August 15th.
http://duodesignsinc.com/wpsite/cyber-classes-by-sandy-arthur

Janet Perry has done a review of this new book using a pre-publication copy.
http://www.nuts-about-needlepoint.com/shapes-of-needlepoint-series-ii-book-review/

Speaking of cyber classes, the deaadline for signing up for ANG's next cyber class by Marnie Ritter is coming up shortly.
http://needlepoint.org/CyberWorkshop/Exact/exact.php

If you are interested in any of these, act now.

By the way, Sandy reported on the June TNNA market on the home page of her website.  Read her take on the wholesale market here.
http://duodesignsinc.com/wpsite/

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

Influences, with Thanks

When I am running a background marathon, my mind often starts to wander. Last night I started to think about Jean Hilton's death, all the wonderful comments people posted to the ANG email list thanking her after she was gone, and the lady who wrote we should thank the folks who have made our needlepoint better, more fun, more skilled, more creative or just more MORE.

I should do that. But who do I thank? There are hundreds of stitchers who have influenced me via the Internet, especially ANG's email list. There are designers who have inspired me, books that have given me endless ideas, fellow stitchers who encourage and instruct me. How do I make a list? Ok, here goes--

The Internet has made a huge difference in my needlepoint life. I especially want to thank the folks on the ANG email list who pose questions, answers, and links and have eased my lonely stitching life no end. I also want to thank my fellow bloggers who are always interesting and who make the NP Blog-o-sphere of the last 3-4 years such a fun place.

When it comes to books, I have to thank TNNA whose little How to Needlepoint booklet opened the door to endless pleasure; Kaffe Fassett, the master of color, whose Glorious Needlepoint showed me what NP could be; Jo I. Christensen, who wrote the Needlepoint Bible I use almost weekly; and finally Brenda Hart, whose stitch dictionaries are always inspiring.

I want to thank Marnie Ritter, whose incredible plate designs in the old Needlepoint News and Needlepoint Plus magazine are as beautiful and relevant today as they were when published twenty years ago. She is still publishing gorgeous things in Needlepoint Now, using a multitude of threads and stitches she has created out of thin air. I can't tell her how much I love her work!

I want to thank three painted canvas designers who do the realistic, shaded pieces I so admire--Leigh, Mindy and SharonG. Your gorgeous designs make my fingers itch to stitch and my brain goes into overdrive, trying to come up with something that will add a new dimension to your works of art. Thank you all, and thank you for your willingness to share personal help, advice and stitching tidbits. These are really exceptional women, not just exceptional designers.

And finally, I want to thank the late Nina Goerres, who got me started writing about needlepoint on a regular basis, and blog readers, who keep me going because you keep coming back here.

The iris above is from my garden. It is a meagre thank you for all you've done for me. Now, who do you want to thank? Act now, while they can still hear your gratitude....

Jane/Chilly Hollow
Main blog at http://blog.360.yahoo.com/chillyhollow

Arrows for Wings

I made a little progress on my wings last night. This stitch seemed particularly hard for me to get the rhythm of, and I ripped out arrows several times before I was happy with the base line of three medium green arrows. The tops of the arrows are the acid yellow-green color. The gaps at the base of the wings are arrow tips like the acid green ones but turned to face the other way. I plan to do that area in dark green. The spaces between arrows is supposed to be a straight line and I'll probably use the thick Ultrasuede that makes up Holi's collar there. I looked carefully at my stitch diagram this morning and discovered there will be empty spaces that reveal the background between stitches. Somehow this failed to sink in when I choose this stitch but I like how it looks so much that I will do what I always do when faced with a problem--I'll plaster beads over the empty spots!

This stitch is a creation of the fabulously talented Marnie Ritter. She calls it Marnie's Interlocking Leaf-Diagonal and it is diagrammed in the March-April 1991 issue of Needlepoint Plus magazine.

Jane/Chilly Hollow
Main blog at http://blog.360.yahoo.com/chillyhollow