Rarely Seen Artists

Recently I stumbled across the Fleur de Paris website, the company that represents painted canvas designers like Trubey and Sandra Gilmore and dede Odgen.  I wouldn't have done anything more than use one of these rarely seen designers' pieces as a Canvas of the Day if I hadn't noticed several people have been looking for "La Femme" by Sandra Gilmore, which is the canvas you see above.  Below is the direct link for visitors who wanted to see more of this gorgeous Caribbean lady.  Everybody else, treat yourself to all of dede's designs or look carefully at Trubey's gorgeous work, or explore other designers by just using the links on the left side of the page.
http://www.fleurdeparis.com/products/10Expand.asp?ProductCode=SG-18-010

There is lots to see besides the designers mentioned above.  Janet Watson does beautiful florals and glorious Russian angels.  Tonya does lovely graphics with Jewish motifs. Fleur de Paris also is a major distributor of Zweigart canvases.  So tell your shop to add the Fleur canvas you have to have to their order for plain NP canvas.

I have also just discovered Colors of Praise by Marie Barber.  She is featured on Needleworks of Homewood, Alabama's website.  If you like designs featuring birds or fruit or flowers, this is the designer for you.  I particularly like her tiny bird canvases and her assorted peacock designs, some of which are on 18 count, some of which are on 13 count and one lovely example of which is on 10 count. Something for every peacock lover's eyes, in other words.
http://web.me.com/gritsnp/Site/Favorites/Pages/Colors_of_Praise.html#grid

Have fun exploring while I get back to even more tent stitched background!  (Don't miss Trubey's gorgeous Creche set!)

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

A Great Loss: Jennifer Ashley Taylor

I was shocked to read that Jennifer Ashley Taylor had died via a lovely obituary from Gay Ann Rogers.

http://gayannrogers.blogspot.com/2010/07/jennifer-taylor.html

I did not know her at all well but she was gracious and friendly when we met and she did the stitching world a great favor with her photography skills, her dedication to Japanese Embroidery and by setting up the Needle Artworks website to allow needlework teachers to reach a wider audience with their books, charts and designs.  The Stitch and Fiber of the month area on the site were essential to my learning when I first began to explore threads and stitches for needlepoint.
http://www.needleartworks.com/stm/sfindex.htm

I know she left many students of Japanese Embroidery and photography behind her as well as many instructional booklets for beautiful Japanese Embroidery such as the Gold 'n Robes piece shown above.  She also leaves me with good memories of time spent in her company.

In her honor I post one last link to her photo gallery of Japanese Embroidery from all over.  It was Jennifer's hope that this gallery inspire students of this art.  It's just an accident that it inspires me as well.
http://needleartworks.com/edu/je/gallery/gallery_list.htm

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

Cha's Wing

I actually finished Cha's left wing Sunday but since I needed to do more background last night I waited to post about it until this morning.

The left wing is done all in River Silks silk ribbon.   I am holding off deciding whether to do anything else to the left wing until I finish the right wing, but since I have plenty of background to do before I can start the other wing, I am going to leave you in suspense.

While I tent stitch you can read what the River Silks website says about starting/ending their ribbons.  It's very interesting and works quite well.
http://www.riversilks.com/stitch_instruction.html

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

Let's Talk About Things

Jennifer Pudney's Girl Talk

Two interesting articles appeared in the Blog-o-Sphere yesterday. I thought I'd post links here and we could talk about them.

First of all, Madonna adds her thoughts to the Why Buy A Stitch Guide? debate.  Of course since I sell stitch guides and promote them on the CH Stitch Guides blog, I am firmly in the Stitch Guides Are Good camp.  In my opinion a stitch guide is like a stitching friend who gives you advice when you are stuck, has suggestions for threads and stitches, and who generally lends a hand with your current piece.  Everybody needs a stitching friend, especially those of us who rarely see other needlepointers, much less get to stitch with them.  But what do you think?  A lot of folks think stitch guides discourage creativity and promote over-embellished design.
http://frontrangestitches.blogspot.com/2010/07/to-guide-or-not-to-guide.html

The other article is authored by the About.com guide to needlepoint.  Cheryl says she has gotten a lot of complaints lately about shops and has posted a poll asking for readers' comments about the shops they've visited.  So far only a few people have voted but the number who say they've visited shops that were ignorant of what they sell and/or were rude to customers is shockingly high.  Go vote and then those of you who travel a lot, please tell us if this is widespread.
http://needlepoint.about.com/b/2010/07/18/rate-your-recent-lns-experiences.htm#gB3

By the way, the illustration above is a Jennifer Pudney "postcard" design called Girl Talk.  Apologies to the men among us!  We know you are out there and are fabulous stitchers but I couldn't find any men/women talking canvases to illustrate this article.
http://www.needlepoint-for-fun.com/shop/Kits-/Jennifer-Pudney-Small-Kits/p/Girl-Talk.htm

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

New Stitch Guide Source and Sales

Julie Pischke's Sassy Sea Horse

Last night I--you guessed it--did more tent stitches in Cha's background.  Today I'll be able to continue stitching the left wing.  It just took a very long time to surround the area with tent stitches so that I wouldn't disturb the wing stitches by doing background next to them.  On the positive side, there is only about a quarter of the background left to stitch after this week's background stitch marathon. Look on the bright side, I always say!

I posted a new entry on the CH Stitch Guides blog this morning.  It's all about French Knot in Texas, their revamped website, and the huge number of stitch guides available from them.  You'll want to check it out to see if your favorite designer canvas has a guide from French Knot.
http://chstitchguides.blogspot.com/2010/07/stitch-guide-heaven-french-knot.html

I stumbled across a mention of Peacock Alley Needlepoint in Michigan's having a 20-40% off sale of everything in their store (except for their Shorebirds trunk show and the Michigan kits plus their threads are 10% off).  They specifically mention all the Lee leather goods being on sale as well as the HP lacquered boxes they have in stock. All in all, a good time to go shopping but remember that the sale ends July 31st.
http://www.peacockalleyneedlepoint.com/Peacock_Alley_Needlepoint/Home.html

Finally, Old World Designs in California is having a Julie Pischke trunk show this month as well as a special show of circus-themed canvases from many designers.  If you love summery beach canvases inspired by Key West or are a Big Tent fan (who isn't?) you will want to check these out in person the next time you can get to Menlo Park and the shop.  Sadly, there aren't many photos online, but if you want to explore Julie's website and then call the shop, check the second link.  Got a favorite circus canvas?  Email them to see if it is available and get the cost.
http://www.oldworlddesigns.com/

http://www.juliepischkedesigns.com/index.shtml

The Stitching Destashing Blog has just listed new items.  There are a lot of small Christmas-themed painted canvases and quite a few very nice counted thread projects.  Have a browse.
http://www.stitchingdestashing.blogspot.com/

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