Breaking News: Beth Robertson Is Gone UPDATED

Whether you ever met (or even heard of) Beth Robertson or not, your stitching is better because of her. She collaborated with Suzanne Howren on the Stitches for Effects books, with Ann Caswell on the Thread Thesaurus, and with Suzanne,  Meredith Willett and Tony Mineiri to create the Fab Four teaching team. She also was part of SHEAR Creations and the Thread Technique Team (T3).   I'm sad to say I've heard several places this evening that Beth has died. 
http://mostlyneedlepoint.com/how-do-you-say-goodbye/

Here is a bit more about Beth.
http://www.caron-net.com/featurefiles/featmar.html

http://www.caron-net.com/sep00files/sep00des.html

http://www.artistscollection.net/Shear_Creations_Gallery.html

If you have a Facebook account you might like to leave condolences on their SHEAR Creations page.
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Shear-Creations-LLC/170862862959444

UPDATE:  Online Obituaries
http://www.everlywheatley.com/obituaries/Elizabeth-Robertson5702381685/#!/Obituary

http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/washingtonpost/obituary.aspx?n=elizabeth-ann-robertson&pid=172523688&fhid=2192&eid=sp_shareobit

UPDATE:  Tony says goodbye.
http://www.tonyminieri.com/tonyblog/2014/8/12/ode-to-a-friend

Written by Jane/Chilly Hollow
Blogging at http://chillyhollownp.blogspot.com
and at http://chstitchguides.blogspot.com
© Copyright September 1, 2014 Jane M. Wood. All rights reserved.

Plant a Tree, Stitch a Pumpkin

Homestead Needle Arts urges you to stitch a forest with their monthly club of tree canvases from SHEAR Creations.
http://www.homesteadneedlearts.com/results.cfm?SubCategory=180

You can see individual photos of the trees at the Artists Collection website.  They are the distributors of SHEAR Creations.
http://www.artistscollection.net/Artists_Collection/Trees.html

If you prefer Halloween to Christmas when it comes to monthly clubs, check out the fun pumpkin ornaments from Cheryl Schaeffer that A Thread Garden offers.
http://thethreadgarden.com/Canvas_Shoppe/Pages/Boo_Whooo%21_Ornament_of_the_Month.html

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

And the Winner Is....

The Prize

This is it! I counted 19 people who entered in the drawing for the Mile High Princess Beach Angel kit, which comes with everything you need to stitch her except scissors, and also includes Ruth Dilt's Needlepoint 202 to help you figure out the next painted canvas.

The entrants range from an 11-year-old who wants to learn whose grandmother entered for her to a very experienced stitcher who collects painted canvases but is afraid to try them.  I wish I could give a kit to everyone.  I had no idea there were so many painted canvas novices lurking in my computer!

I went to random.org and used the true random number generator box on the right side of the page, asking for a number between 1 and 19.  The result was eight, so I went to my list of entrants and counted up from the bottom (the first person who entered) and found that SueStitch was the winner.

HURRAH!  Congratulations to Sue Stitch!

Please email me the mailing address and I'll get the package in the mail to you either today or tomorrow, depending on how quickly you get back to me.  I'm at chilly hollow athotmail dot com.

Many thanks to Dale at Canvases Be Gone for donating the kit, thanks to Mimi for donating the Dilts book, and thanks to Becky for letting me use photos of her finished Beach Angel to entice you guys into entering.  You guys are The Best!

For the rest of you, the only difference between you and me when it comes to painted canvases is that I am fearless.  I don't mind ripping out and trying again.  I don't mind looking like an idiot in public here in Blog.  I am fearless when it comes to stitching.

I don't climb mountains, I don't race motorcycles, I don't do marathons, I don't do deep sea diving.  My adventure is needlepoint.  Come join me.

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

The Pirate Cat: For Beginners

Becky Myers' Beach Angel

I hope folks who have never tried stitching needlepoint canvases with the design already on them are tempted to try after watching me stitch Pirate Cat.  This stuff is not rocket science or brain surgery. Of course, having a good shop nearby helps when you are learning to embellish canvases.  They can answer your questions or help you when you are stuck for ideas.  A good guild functions in the same way.  Your fellow stitchers are a terrific resource.

But what if you don't have a shop or guild anywhere near you?  What if you don't even know another needlepointer in real life?  How on earth do you teach yourself to embellish canvases when there is no one to help answer questions?  In those situations, you cheat by working projects with stitch guides.

Becky's Easel Finishing Looks Great

You may be following project instructions in a copy of Needle Pointers or Needlepoint Now, the two magazines about needlepoint, or you may be working a free project from one of the thread companies' websites.  Or you may work a canvas that has a stitch guide.

The Giveaway

Stitch a couple of projects where everything is laid out for you and get your stitching legs, then try tackling something small on your own.  To help you to do this, Canvases Be Gone has contributed a canvas called Beach Angel by Mile High Princess that comes with a stitch guide by SHEAR Creations (that's the Stitches for Effects ladies) and all the threads you will need.  I'm going to give this canvas, the stitch guide, and the threads away to someone who wants to try embellishing canvases.  Canvases Be Gone is a website that sells folks' excess stash run by Dale Miller, a fabulous stitcher from Arizona who noticed many of her friends had canvases they'd never get around to stitching.  Dale and I are eager to give someone new to canvas embellishment a chance to try it for themselves.
http://www.canvasesbegone.com/

Becky Myers sent me the photos of her finished Beach Angel which she had finished as an easel so you can see how great this looks when worked up.  Canvases Be Gone has contributed everything you need to stitch Beach Angel, even needles, and she is already on stretcher bars, too.  Becky sends her moral support!  You can do this.  To help you, Mimi is donating a copy of Ruth Dilts' Needlepoint 202, which is intended to help folks understand how to embellish painted canvases by watching what Ruth does.

All you have to do is be a beginner at embellishing canvases and promise to stitch this to the best of your ability, then post a Comment below (or email me at chillyhollow at hotmaildotcom if commenting doesn't work for you).  I'm going pick a random commenter next Monday (October 4) to send the kit to.  Dale, Becky, Mimi and I think if you try a project where everything is laid out for you, you'll relax and have fun, and also feel more confident that you can do this totally on your own next time.

Many thanks to Dale of Canvases Be Gone and Becky and Mimi for their assistance and the donation of supplies!

By the way, when you have time, browse Becky's Internet pages to enjoy more of her fabulous stitching.
http://web.me.com/limin3/I_Love_Needlepoint/Welcome.html

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

Chilly Hollow Stitch Guides: Artists Collection

I've added a new entry to the CH Stitch Guides blog.  This time I'm writing about Artists Collection*, which represents three separate designers, all of whom offer stitch guides for some, many or all of their canvases.  You can visit my other blog by clicking here--
http://chstitchguides.blogspot.com/2010/08/collection-of-designs-with-guides.html

*Sorry, I mistakenly wrote A Collection of Designs. Palma caught it, so thank you very very much!

If you haven't voted on which Patt & Lee canvas I should stitch (see yesterday's entry for the choices), please either use the poll above or email your choice to me at chillyhollow at hotmaildotcom before you leave. Thanks!

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

New Stitch Guide Blog Articles

I've added two new articles to the CH Stitch Guides blog.  
http://www.chstitchguides.blogspot.com/

One talks about Pepita Needlepoint and the other Shear Creations.  These lesser known designers have some surprises up their sleeves:  Shear Creations is the brainchild of the authors of the Stitches for Effects books.  They specialize in small painted canvases perfect for embellishment, many of which come with stitch guides.  Pepita has amazing Judaica and also cute and quick ideas like self-finishing headbands.

The moral of the story is that you should not just use CH Stitch Guides as a resource to look up that popular designer you love.  Browse and you'll find all sorts of styles of painted canvases with their own stitch guides.

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