Turquoise and The Punkin'

Barbara Elmore is getting ready to teach a wonderful pumpkin lady design at Needle Works in Austin, Texas.  Make sure you enlarge the photograph or you will miss the details of the beautiful turquoise crescent background, the darling tiny owl with sequin eyes, the 3-D broom, the pumpkin lady's curled brim hat and gorgeous gown, the vines twining in the background.  It's a gorgeous, gorgeous piece full of lovely stitches over a beautifully painted background, and it has special meaning for Barbara due to her family's pumpkin fanatic.
http://stitchpography.blogspot.com/2011/09/have-needlepoint-will-travel.html

Speaking of turquoise, Pocket Full of Stitches has a new model and stitch guide for one of Eye Candy's lovely geometric patterns.  Ruth Schmuff distributes Eye Candy but the stitch guide is done by PFOS.
http://pocketfullofstitches.blogspot.com/2011/09/megs-piece.html

Our shops do wonderful things for us, whether it is a special stitch guide or a terrific class.

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

Nimble Fingers Finishing

This week I stumbled across this fabulous shop website that showcases wonderful finished pieces.   Nimble Fingers is in Houston, so do stop by the next time you are in Texas so you can see some of these wonderful pieces in person before they go off to live at the homes of Nimble Fingers' customers.
http://www.nimblefingerstx.com/NimblefingersTx.com/Gallery.html

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

New Colors in Hot Wire

Miko Wears a Hot Wire Gold Hair Pin

Kreinik has just announced new colors in their Hot Wire, the metallic thread with a wire core so it can be shaped into anything you like, such as a gold hair pin in Miko's hair!

Here's a tiny photo of the new colors.
http://yarntree.typepad.com/needlework_news/2011/09/nine-new-hot-wire-colors-from-kreinik.html

Here are the current colors from the Kreinik website.
http://www.kreinik.com/kshop/product.php?productid=17207&cat=290&page=1

Here's how to attach Hot Wire to your canvas, courtesy of Robin King.
http://needlepointstudyhall.blogspot.com/2011/01/kreinik-hot-wire-catch-up.html

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

Longer and Shorter: Tips on Stitching Long and Short Stitch

Anyone who is intimidated by long and short stitch or who isn't happy with how their current attempts look will find Kathy's tips very useful the next time they are shading using this wonderful stitch.
http://www.theunbrokenthread.com/blog/2011/09/23/long-and-short-shading-going-deep-into-the-stitch/

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

Miko and Her Stitch Guide Are Finished

This morning I posted on the Chilly Hollow Stitch Guides blog about Miko and her stitch guide being finished.  She joins Smilin' Jack at Leigh Designs to serve as a model.  The header photo above shows the final touches, from her lips to her kimono collar.  There are better photos on the CH Stitch Guides blog here.
http://chstitchguides.blogspot.com/2011/09/my-miko-stitch-guide-is-now-available.html

I have one more Fash Insert piece to stitch for Leigh but that will wait a bit until I have the cat topiary garden finished.  I'm going to be stitching Tea House.  The link shows it and the rest of the series.
http://www.leighdesigns.com/Grp761x.html

However, I'm going to go a slightly different route with Tea House.  It struck me as I've made lists of threads for the stitch guides I've written this year just how expensive all those threads, beads and sequins are.  Generally speaking, if you buy a $65 canvas (which is typical for a smaller one these days) you can count on spending nearly that much again for threads unless you happen to have a huge stash of threads you can raid.  Of course the Universal Law of Stash says that no matter how big your stash, you will still not have everything you need and will have to buy at least 1-2 things!

All of a sudden in this economic climate, I want to do a Fash Insert that won't break the stitching budget.  Tea House is the perfect canvas to do in cotton floss and perle.  I can already tell I'll need one metallic to complete the piece properly, but I plan to use as ordinary a set of threads as I can on this piece, just to see if plain cottons and perhaps wools can create as elegant a piece as what I've done with Smilin' Jack and Miko, but minus the beads, silks, metallics and sequins.  Stay tuned to see how this stitching adventure unfolds....

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