New Designs and Products UPDATED

The Internet is full of new products and news from the online world of needlepoint this week.  Lots of folks have photos of new designs or new products that have arrived at their shops.  Working more or less alphabetically, let's start with Patt and Lee's new dog canvas (shown above).  They are known for their cats so this is a welcome addition to their design portfolio.
http://pattandleedesigns.blogspot.com/2010/05/dog-just-finished.html

Squiggee is showing off her button faces that are paired with some of her new canvases.  It is a new and different way to embellish a painted canvas that I think will be very popular.
http://squiggeedesigns.blogspot.com/2010/05/heads.html

Nimble Needle has some neat new items in their shop.  I've never seen a pocket flask with a needlepoint panel before.  It would look great with a monograph on a plaid background!  They also have great photos of some of the watch band kits from L'Esprit de France.
http://thenimbleneedle.blogspot.com/

UPDATE:  Here's a second version of the pocket flask for your viewing pleasure.
http://blog.thepointofitallonline.com/2010/05/sip-and-stitch.html

Pocket Full of Stitches has posted many photos of new designs and new products in the last 3-4 entries of their blog.  Don't miss the needle tins, the new Elizabeth Bradley kits, photos of the threads that come with the Kelly Clark monthly pear club, and of course a sneak peak at the Ruth Schmuff hearts canvas that will be featured in the May Needlepoint Now magazine.  The Needle Index Book is just plain useful, too.
http://pocketfullofstitches.blogspot.com/

Finally, Ridgewood has posted photos of the Stitch n Zip Kindle covers. I've been dying to see these!
http://ridgewoodneedlepoint.blogspot.com/2010/05/kindle-covers.html

Truly, we are lucky to have such a huge number of needlepoint treats available to us.

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

Stars: Marlon's Wings

The four little pairs of triangles around the center are the next to last step for this quilt block.  They don't look like much, but they were a struggle for me because the thread choices Tony wanted used in this step didn't work for me.

The wings are made up of five horizontal lines covered by a series of short vertical lines arranged in a stitch one/skip one pattern.  You are supposed to use C8 (which is Flair for me) as your horizontal lines and top them with C5 (which is Impressions). C in my color scheme is terracotta.  You'll notice that my wings are violet instead and they are all in my A10 color of Wildflowers 6042.  I decided I wanted to tone down the Frosty Rays bow tie shapes which are very raised in my version of Stars by using another color than their terracotta.  My wings are textured and match the center light violet arrowhead shapes.

The last step is rice stitches around the perimeter of the design but the threads and color pattern seems to be different according to the shape the rice stitches fill (either little triangles or the corner squares). I expect to conquer most of this tonight and then work on finishing the two sashing sections underneath and to the right of Marlon Brando.  I probably will not work the outside black border until after the sashing is finished.

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

Stars: Marlon's Center

I managed to overcome my counting problem with the copper mirror image of the purple petal shapes yesterday.  The next step is to put bow tie shapes between the petals and mirror image of them and tie them down with another thread.  Then you fill the corners with a latticework tied down with cross stitches.

Now to the threads used--my colors are violet (A), black (B), terracotta (C) and copper metallic (D).  The bow ties are done in C6 which is a pale terracotta Frosty Rays #Y332 for me and tied down with B9 which is my black Neon Rays N01.  Tony has you bring up the tie down thread in the hole between the two mirror imaged petal areas, then put in the bow tie.  To end you sink the tie down thread in the same hole it came up it.  It's a neat way of helping you find the hole under the bow tie's middle.

The corner latticework is where I went off the rails, deviating from Tony's recommended threads of B10 and A1.  I wanted to use a thinner base thread so some of the bare canvas terracotta color shows, so I switched to B2 (Gold Rush 18 color #BD31C) for the framework underneath and tied it down with the A1 I am supposed to use (which is Impressions 6043, a darker violet than the center violet).

So far the Marlon block is more raised than the top layer of stitches, but Mr. Brando was a Big Boy, wasn't he?  I included as much of the top row as I could squeeze in so you see how the whole design looks so far.  There are two more steps to go but they both involve layers of stitches so I expect I will be working on this for 2-3 more days.

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

Books: Windows Into the Past--and Future

I don't know if you are a book collector like I am, but if you are, I have discovered a wonderful place to explore needlepoint books you once owned but have forgotten, to see books you never knew existed, and to read fascinating reviews.

Come with me to New Needlepoint and start to explore.
http://www.newneedlepoint.com/

The Featured Items on the home page always include several books, but the bulk of the books for sale are listed on the left navigation column by category, each with a color photo and an interesting review.  Marianne specializes in Bargello books but she has all kinds, recent and vintage.  The way she lists each book gives you a good glimpse into what it is like from the comfort of your own home.

Marianne talks further about many of the books she gets in to sell on her blog, including today's walk into 1970s needlepoint style.  Want to see a mini skirt in its natural habitat?  LOL
http://needlepointtalk.net/2010/05/11/70s-chic-more

I know one reader emailed Marianne to thank her for pointing out a good book which the reader bought very cheaply elsewhere.  Remember, you might get a cheaper copy elsewhere, but Marianne's books are guaranteed to be in good condition.  She won't sell a book that isn't in good shape.  Besides, if we don't buy from book lovers like Marianne, they will stop selling and we'll lose the great reviews about books from the past we never heard of that will help us become better stitchers in the future.

Or at least remind us not to have photos taken in mini skirts.

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

Stars: Marlon Brando

After I managed to finish the SharonG blue bow name tag without gluing myself to the dining room table, I picked up Stars and started on the next quilt block.  This block is named Marlon Brando and it is the first block on the left in the second row.   The center is several steps, the first of which is rather tricky if you don't pay attention to the diagram.  Not that I would *ever* do that, but I did have to pull it out twice before I got the count right....

As a reminder, my Stars colors are violet (A), black (B), terracotta (C) and copper metallic (D).  For the center the first step is black B9, Neon Rays N01, immediately covered by a woven sort of arrowhead shape using  violet A4, Impressions 6043.  The center has a partial copper Smyrna Cross (D3 Treasure Braid TR67) surrounded by lazy daisy stitches in the same thread that slip through the Smyrna Cross legs.  Then the rest of the Smyrna Cross is worked in the same D3 thread.  The middle of the lazy daisy stitches is just a long length of violet A1 Impressions 6042, which is slightly darker than the arrowhead shape's Impressions.  You end up with a raised cross that is quite striking.

The next step is to surround the center with what look like petals to me.  This is done in violet A8 (the nylon perle Patina PA267).  Then you do a mirror image of the petals using copper D3 (Treasure Braid TR67 again).  That's where I was in the photo above, just starting the mirror image of the inner purple petals in my copper thread.  I realized I was getting tired as the first copper petal didn't line up with the second so I started ripping out.  I'll try again when I am not so tired.

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