Collaborative Art

The next time someone implies needlepoint is stitch by numbers, refer them here to see how designers, stitchers and finishers combine their talent to create little masterpieces.
http://theneedleworks.com/gallery/

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

More TNNA Painted Canvas Pictures

Vicky is home now but still posting, this time photos of Christmas and food-related canvases.
http://mostlyneedlepoint.com/06/15/still-shopping/

Ditto the Needle Bug.  Their Goddess and Sweet Dreams pillow photo is from Lani, and the pink collage pillow with the flower in the center might also be a Lani design.  The seahorse and fish are from dede Odgen and there is a closeup of coral at the base of her fish sculpture.  These are the sorts of things her new book That's Not Needlepoint teaches you to stitch.  I can't identify the bracelets or the wonderful Christmas ornaments used as purse designs.  I don't know who did the big cat tuffet, either, although Trubey has similar tuffet canvases.  Sorry.
http://theneedlebug.com/2011/06/back-and-unpacking/

By the way, Barbara Bergsten shows off her booth.  It's all gone now but the memories remain....
http://createneedlepoint.typepad.com/create_needlepoint/2011/06/bbd-tnna-columbus-2011-booth.html

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

The Strong Man and The Oracle

I'm sure with all the wonderful new canvases that will soon be arriving at our local shops, we are going to need new tools.  Needlepoint Tool Time has photos of the new accessories for the K's floor frame on their website.  The first photo (labeled "Iron Man pose") shows off the wide new arms you can get.  It's a good shot of the wide stance wooden feet, too.
http://stitchplaywithneedlepointtooltime.blogspot.com/2011/06/solution-for-stitching-on-large.html

Another interesting tool I stumbled across is the Bead Oracle, which is a little card that helps you figure out the size of your beads and has a beading wire conversion.  If you do a lot of beading on your NP canvases, you might want one.
http://www.redpandabeads.com/servlet/the-7232/BeadSmith-Bead-Oracle/Detail

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

Gotta Have It!

Ok, shop owners, time to dig around in old inventory and see if you have this discontinued Leigh Designs canvas of a red foo dog in stock.  You can see it here nearly at the bottom of the page.
http://www.caron-net.com/03janfiles/jan03fea.html

I gotta have it and you are my last hope!

Email me at chillyhollow at hotmail dot com and make me very happy....

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

Introducing Red Geisha

Now that Melissa Shirley's Red Geisha has made her debut at the TNNA show in Columbus, I can show you how she looked once she was finally finished.  

Red Geisha was designed to have a lot of surprises, like a real geisha should. The more you get to know her, the more you will see.   It'll take time to find the yellow beads in some of the flower centers, notice that there are three shades of metallic in her hair sticks, that she sports Swarkovski crystals on her kimono, that there are black beads in the folds of her wig as well as those gorgeous Sundance sequins sprinkled around.

And of course there is the tulle layer. The pearl hair ornaments and the white apple blossoms are the exact same shade of white. It's the plum tulle that makes the flowers a different color and subtly adds a pink flush to her white face. Her lip has a black shadow and there are 2 rows of floral background pattern just to the left of her cheek. You won't see anything flashy at first but gradually Red Geisha will reveal more, the more you look. She should have many admirers, just like any geisha.

Melissa herself calls Red Geisha "a bit haughty" but I think she is a real diva myself.  She's not the kind of purse that wants to go to the grocery store--you'd better plan on taking her to the opera, a swanky party or perhaps the White House or there will be trouble!

Red Geisha's stitch guide will be ready shortly.  Melissa herself will take photos of the finished piece and create the cover of the stitch guide, then I'll add photos to the text to help folks create their own haughty but charming geisha.

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