Buttons, Beads and Charms

When the counted thread shop only 30 minutes from me put everything on sale as they closed, I realized just how many buttons, charms and beads that counted thread and cross stitch designers offer these days.

I knew about Just Another Button Company, but I had no idea their line was so large and varied!

http://www.justanotherbuttoncompany.com/catalog.php

My very favorite buttons come from Susan Clarke Originals.

http://www.susanclarkeoriginals.com/

Just Nan has a huge number of charms for her designs that work well anywhere.

http://www.justnan.com/charms.htm

The Sweetheart Tree has even more, many of them sterling silver, small and quite delicate. In fact, I own several packages of crystal clear paillettes and plan to use some on the wizard's clothes. My paillettes are very small (they cover about 3 threads on an 18 count canvas at most), faceted on the front like sequins but with flat backs covered in paper to help the metallic shine.

http://www.sweethearttree.com/cgi-bin/charm.pl

But more about that tomorrow!

Main blog at http://blog.360.yahoo.com/chillyhollow

Even More Monthly Clubs

I'm still reading my Needlepoint Now and still discovering more monthly clubs. We'll get NC Pat to spend $$ on one of these surely! LOL

Krazy Kat Fiberhaus is offering The Thirteen Days of Christmas from Renaissance Designs with the stitch guides from Pamela Harding. Only two of the canvases are shown, but if you click on the photo you'll get a much better view. The second link shows what are probably --but only maybe!-- all the designs from this set.

http://www.krazykatfiberhaus.com/?p=26

http://www.renaissanceneedlepoint.com/dozen/n144.html

Little Shoppe of Stitches is into baking in a big way. Their newest club is called Gingerbread Buddies. Click on the thumbnail and you can see 8 of the cookies all decorated for your stitching pleasure. Click on the second link for the whole set. Thumbnail photos there give an even better view of a single cookie. Yum!

http://store.littleshoppeofstitches.com/lishcacl.html

http://store.littleshoppeofstitches.com/gingerbreadmen.html

Needles and Threads of Ruxton has what they call "The Original Stitch and Bitch" club. It's all colorful canvases of dogs stitching (and one Siamese cat). Sadly there are no photos or information on their website but you can call and ask for photos.

http://www.needlesandthreadsofruxton.com/index.php

Needleworks in Austin has a Susan Roberts nutcracker series which is notable for the interesting clothing the nutcrackers wear and the fact that there are female nutcrackers, something I rarely see. Indulge your inner Nutcracker Ballet here.

https://secure.theneedleworks.com/new.html#2009

Old World Designs is going to start Melissa Shirley's little Christmas candy canes in October. They look good enough to eat! This is a class, not a monthly club, but you might talk them into selling you the stitch guide and the canvases for your own private club experience. This shop offers a lot of "canvas-to-go" projects which can be adapted to your own club as well (second link below).

http://oldworlddesigns.com/Candy_Canes.html

http://oldworlddesigns.com/classprojects.html

Stitches From the Heart has releaves sixteen small Jean Hilton Christmas ornaments in a set of two chart booklets. Again, this is not a monthly club per se, but you can easily do this as a monthly series at home using threads from your stash. It's like inviting Jean over once a month to talk about needlepoint! There are no pictures except in the ad so call for details. You can see other Jean Hilton designs here--and contact information is conveniently located at the top of the page. No excuses not to buy, Pat, in other words. LOL

http://www.stitches-heart.com/jeanhilton/


Main blog at http://blog.360.yahoo.com/chillyhollow

More Monthly Clubs

My new Needlepoint Now arrived last night and I discovered from reading the advertising that many shops are advertising new monthly clubs. Sign up for the series (and in many cases you can order only your favorites without having to do them all) and a kit with canvas, threads and instructions arrives each month. Some clubs have a 13th bonus canvas; some are smaller with fewer canvases for folks who don't want so many canvases to get done.

Here are the new ones I've found out about, in alphabetical order:

Chandail is doing Halloween in a big way, with Melissa Shirley Halloween Lollipops and a second club of her Halloween Candy Canes. Look for the Monthly Club box in the upper right side of this page, then choose the club you are curious about from the links there.

http://www.chandailneedlework.com/

Homestead Needle Arts has a Thanksgiving themed series from Rebecca Wood and are branching out into a charm bracelet club. You pick the sterling silver stitch you want on your charm bracelet for each month. Different!

http://www.homesteadneedlearts.com/thelatest.html

Needle Nook of La Jolla is doing a mini stocking series by Kelly Clark. Nothing is up on their website about this yet but you can see the current clubs and keep an eye out for information here.

http://www.needlenookoflajolla.com/events/exclusive.html

Pocket Full of Stitches has a Twelve Days of Christmas series of pears from Kelly Clark.

http://www.pfos.com/ChristmasClubs/Kelly%20Clarks%2012%20Days/KellyClarkTwelveDays1.HTM

Threads in Charlottesville, VA is doing a charted geometric series by Edith Anderson Feisner called Stitching Steps which is based on the color wheel. It looks like you can buy just the instructions or get the chart pack with threads included. Charted monthly series are rare, so if this interests you, sign up now!

http://www.threadsinva.com/stitchingsteps.htm

What's the Point? Needlepoint in Ohio is adding to the current Kelly Clark basket of the month series they started this summer. (Are you seeing a theme here? Lots of Kelly Clark clubs are going on all over the country! ) They also have a nutcracker club and a cookie club.

http://www.whatsthepoint.biz/clubs.php

Main blog at http://blog.360.yahoo.com/chillyhollow

Labors of Love

Ever since I learned to read, I've had my nose in a book. I was just thinking last night how many canvases remind me of a favorite book. So this morning I did a little looking and I found the designer Labors of Love (distributed by JB Designs which is under Julia's Needleworks; I know it is confusing but telling your shop all these names helps you to order what you want).

http://www.juliasneedleworks.com/gallery2/gallery2embedded.php?g2_itemId=11&g2_page=1

Page one has perfume bottles and paper dolls and fairy canvases--three of my favorite things! And there's the Queen of Hearts from Alice in Wonderland, a book I read my baby brother when he was two.

Page two has Sheherazde from the Arabian Nights, one of my favorite books! Cleopatria keeps her company and there are matching frames for finishing. All those hours I read Egyptian history....

Page three has the 1930s style couple At the Ball (photo above) and At the Opera (think Lord Peter Whimsey and his posh friends), plus more characters from Alice in Wonderland. Wait a minute! Isn't that the same guy escorting two different women?!

Page four treats us to all the the Wizard of Oz characters! There's a darling Victorian angel, too.

Page five has the cutest Halloween canvases I've ever seen. The little devil-and cat-costumed kids and Dracula are hilarious and charming at the same time. The not-so-scary werewolf (I think it actually is a cat in a sweater pretending ferocity) and the cross-eyed Frankenstein crack me up.

Page six ends the show with the last of the Halloween characters, this time a little Victorian girl with her pumpkin. Good thing--Frankenstein is one of the most horrible books I've ever read.

What a show! Thanks, Labors of Love.

Main blog at http://blog.360.yahoo.com/chillyhollow

It's Fall, Isn't It?

It certainly is football season in the new Patriots football stadium canvas above by Julie Paukert which she designed for Wellesley Needlepoint. This isn't the first Boston-related sports canvas she has done for them. Check out Fenway Park here!

http://www.wellesleyneedlepoint.com/ExclusiveDesigns2.shtml

Then roam around the Wellesley NP website. Pay particular attention to other pages in their Exclusive Designs for their Boston Xmas train, the tree panel with Boston themes, etc. No other shop does such a nice job with exclusive regional designs unless it is some of the Arizona ones like The West, the Busy Needle, and Quail Run.

http://www.thewestinc.com/canvases.html

http://www.busyneedle.com/Themes/Southwest/index.htm

http://www.quailrun-inc.com/southwest.html

Hope everyone enjoys a virtual trip via needlepoint to The East Coast and The Old West! And go Pats!

Main blog at http://blog.360.yahoo.com/chillyhollow