Wednesday, August 20, 2025

DMC's Coton a Broder Versus DMC's Stranded Cotton Floss

Mary Corbet explains the difference between DMC's Coton a Broder and their stranded cotton floss in this interesting article.

It's easy to confuse the two if you just look at the labels, but stranded cotton is the normal six ply we are familiar with while Coton a Broder is a single stranded thread, sort of like a soft perle cotton.  If you want more information, Mary's included links to quite a few articles about cotton threads she has written over the years.  You can't go wrong listening to Mary!

Written by Jane/Chilly Hollow
Blogging at http://chillyhollownp.blogspot.com
and at http://chstitchguides.blogspot.com
© Copyright April 29, 2025 Jane M. Wood. All rights reserved.

Tuesday, August 19, 2025

How to Stitch a Diagonal Line

Poppy Monk has posted a way to stitch a diagonal line that slants from upper left to lower right without the stair step look you get from tent stitches.

Sometimes adding a reverse tent stitch \ on top of the regular tent stitch blends out the rough look.  You can also couch a thread or use stem or outline stitches or even back stitch to get that smooth look for your slanted line.

Written by Jane/Chilly Hollow
Blogging at http://chillyhollownp.blogspot.com
and at http://chstitchguides.blogspot.com
© Copyright June 15, 2025 Jane M. Wood. All rights reserved.

Monday, August 18, 2025

Auction of Needlework

Susan of SJ Designs stumbled across this auction of Wendy Jones Cartwright's framed needlework which happens August 29, 2025.

Most appears to be needlepoint, and some may be original designs.  You can browse the auction house's complete listing of Ms. Cartwright's handwork here--

Written by Jane/Chilly Hollow
Blogging at http://chillyhollownp.blogspot.com
and at http://chstitchguides.blogspot.com
© Copyright August 2, 2025 Jane M. Wood. All rights reserved.

Sunday, August 17, 2025

The Lego Stitch Mini Tutorial

The Minited Monogram presents--The Lego Stitch Mini Tutorial!

<LOL>

Written by Jane/Chilly Hollow
Blogging at http://chillyhollownp.blogspot.com
and at http://chstitchguides.blogspot.com
© Copyright June 14, 2025 Jane M. Wood. All rights reserved.

Saturday, August 16, 2025

A New Mystery UPDATED

Thanks to Diversions Needlepoint's June e-newsletter, I've learned about a new mystery set in a needlepoint store near Asheville, NC.  It's called One Sharp Stitch, by Allie Pleiter.  Ms. Pleiter has written mysteries centered on knitters and it looks like this is planned as a series as well.  

I read One Sharp Stitch last June and enjoyed it.  It's a great beach read, with a good cozy mystery obscuring who the killer is plus some interesting people, both important to the plot and peripheral to it.  The family relationships among the various characters are handled realistically and the author knows quite a bit about the social life of a needlepoint shop since she picked up needlepoint with the help of Stitchers Garden in Illinois, Two's Company in South Carolina and Po's Point in North Carolina (plus help from ANG's Queen Charlotte chapter.  If you can get this through your local library, it's worth checking out. I imagine more in the series is planned, and I'll be reading the second book when/if it comes out.

If you are intrigued, Lisa of BeStitched did an interview with Allie Pleiter on Facebook.

By the way, the fictional shop is called Nina's Nimble Needle, but it has no relationship to either Nimble Needle in New Jersey or Nimble Needle in Atlanta!

UPDATE:  Melita says there is a second book in the series.  It's called Two Purloined Pillows.

The third, which will be called Three Tangled Threads, is due to publish sometime in 2027.

Written by Jane/Chilly Hollow
Blogging at http://chillyhollownp.blogspot.com
and at http://chstitchguides.blogspot.com
© Copyright June 13, 2025 Jane M. Wood. All rights reserved.