Finishing

Let's face it--finishing is expensive (although it is worth every penny in my opinion) so we stitchers love finding finishing tutorials and self-finishing items. It saves money for us to spend in other areas:  threads and canvases and tools.   Susan treats us to an ornament finishing class on her blog and Needle Nicely shows off their self-finishing votive lights. They make it look easy!
http://sukylady.blogspot.com/2011/03/finishing-small-ornament.html

http://needlenicely.blogspot.com/2011/01/canvases-for-votive-candles.html

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

Chaparral Loves You

Chaparral has announced their newest monthly club for 2011--Love Letters. These are a set of ten Valentine card-themed canvases from a range of designers which they’ve had finished as a chair. The finishing is fascinating but of course you can do your love letters as separate items. You can see the finished chair here but do click on the photo to see each stitched love letter. These canvases are related by theme instead of being a set from one creative mind. It’s very clever of them to make up a series from many designers, don’t you think?  I noticed that many of the main stitches are either squares or diamonds, which also unites the series. Carolyn Hedge Baird is a very talented stitcher!
http://www.ndlpt.com/html/homeenl.html

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

Book Review: Spooky Stitches

Here's another book review of June McKnight's Spooky Stitches.  I've posted two reviews of this book already but each review seems to share more information, even if just in photographs of the inside, so I've linked to this one also.
http://stitchything.blogspot.com/2011/03/things-that-go-bump-in-night.html

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

Adding to the Monthly Club Choices

Adding to the monthly clubs for 2011, The French Knot has announced they are going to offer a Holiday Train club (Little Shoppe Canvas Company), Kelly Clark's Pears and also the Tassels clubs, a Nativity Series (Winnetka), and a Halloween Tree (from Collection of Designs).  Everything  but the Halloween Tree is on their website.  Don't miss their annual Petei Santa series (naturally).  By the way, right now Petei isn't adding new things to their line. If you have always wanted to do Petei Santas, don't delay.
http://www.thefrenchknot.com/current-series.htm

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

Newsletters and a New Alice Peterson

I am late reminding everyone that the newsletters for Needle Works and Amy Bunger are available on their websites.  Here they are, Amy first (alphabetical order).  In her newsletter you can see plenty of neat new products to aid the needlepointer as well as see Amy's terrific Halloween House framed.
http://www.amybunger.com/f/Amy_s_e-newsletter_March_2011.pdf

Needle Works has a great explanation of the differences between basketweave and continental in their newsletter (page four).  If you ever wondered about following the weave of a canvas for basketweave, you will see what is meant here.  The directions are for both right-handed and left-handed stitchers, too!
http://theneedleworks.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/201103newsletter.pdf

By the way, the email that announced Needle Work's March newsletter mentioned that Alice Peterson has a new website.  Alice Peterson is known especially for their stitch and zip products but they also have a great line of floral designs.
http://www.alicepetersoncompany.com/

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