Kelly Clark Demonstrates a Needle Felted Bee

Kelly Clark is stitching her bee skep club that shops are offering and she posted a lesson on how to create a needle felted bee for the fifth canvas (the bee skep in the stone wall) on her blog.
http://kellyclarkneedlepointhandbook.blogspot.com/2015/07/stumpwork-bumble-bees-needle-felting.html

It's a great tutorial on making bees and wings whether you are interested in her club or not.

Written by Jane/Chilly Hollow
Blogging at http://chillyhollownp.blogspot.com
and at http://chstitchguides.blogspot.com
© Copyright July 20, 2015 Jane M. Wood. All rights reserved.

A Belt Without a Background

Needle Paint experiments with belts whose motifs only are stitched.  No backgrounds!
http://www.needlepaint.com/blog/2015/07/09/quick-stitch-custom-needlepoint-belt-kits/

Written by Jane/Chilly Hollow
Blogging at http://chillyhollownp.blogspot.com
and at http://chstitchguides.blogspot.com
© Copyright July 9, 2015 Jane M. Wood. All rights reserved.

The Sheep Wore Overdyes

Lorraine of Colour Complements posted a photograph of some of her threads used in a Brenda Stofft design of a sheep.  Denise's stitching is wonderful and so is the original piece, so I knew you would want to see how she used some of the Colour Complements threads.
http://colourcomplements.com/2015/07/needlepoint-27.html

The full design can be seen on Brenda Stofft's website. It's "Sheep with Wreath,"  fourth row from the bottom.
http://www.brendastofftdesign.com/#!spring-and-easter/camp

If you are a threadaholic and must have some to play with, here is the Colour Complements website.  I have a few precious skeins in my stash waiting for a project I might get to next year. Lovely stuff!
http://colourcomplements.com/shop

Lorraine also has an Etsy store.  Please don't drool on your keyboard!
https://www.etsy.com/shop/colourcomplements?ref=em

Thanks for the share, Lorraine. I love Denise's sheep!

Written by Jane/Chilly Hollow
Blogging at http://chillyhollownp.blogspot.com
and at http://chstitchguides.blogspot.com
© Copyright July 20, 2015 Jane M. Wood. All rights reserved.

The Gadget Queen UPDATED

Danielle talks about her favorite gadgets.
http://stitcherista.blogspot.com/2015/07/gadgets.html

UPDATE:  More fun tools!
http://stitcherista.blogspot.com/2015/07/more-gadgets.html

If you are into tools the way Danielle is, check out the latest things available from Needlepoint Tool Time...
http://www.needlepointtooltime.com

...and from Needle Little More.
http://www.needlelittlemore.com/store/c1/Featured_Products.html

Plus if you need help collecting cool and useful things, Ruth's got a club for that.
http://www.notyourgrandmothersneedlepoint.com/2015/07/gadgets-gizmos-and-great-inventions.html

Written by Jane/Chilly Hollow
Blogging at http://chillyhollownp.blogspot.com
and at http://chstitchguides.blogspot.com
© Copyright July 9, 2015 Jane M. Wood. All rights reserved.

Copyright and Deviant Art

DeviantArt.com is a website devoted to art, so of course they are very interested in intellectual property rights and protecting an artist's works from theft of various kinds.  Recently they posted a discussion (with many links for further reading) about copyright and the Internet, and much of this pertains to needlepoint designs.  You can see their presentation here.
http://protectart.deviantart.com/journal/The-Art-Theft-Discussion-544490149

We all know the impact that cross stitch designers have felt from rampant copying and distribution of their work.  They have lost thousands (and even tens of thousands) of dollars from this practice, and it has driven many designers out of business.  Needlepoint designs have also been impacted by copyright violations but in a different way.  The most obvious similarities to what has happened to the cross stitch world are the copying of stitch guides and charts to be sold on eBay and Etsy or handed out among friends.  I think the rampant copyright violation of unlicensed logos and brand names may catch up with some painted canvas designers and cause them great financial harm eventually.  But that is my opinion only.  Needlepoint is under the radar to some extent and that may protect the law breakers from being noticed by those they are ripping off as long as they stay away from Disney and Harry Potter items.  (These companies are well known for having legal teams dedicated to protecting their intellectual property and prosecuting violators.)

Regardless of all that, it is smart for all of us to educate ourselves about copyright and what's legal and what isn't.  The best discussion of copyright I know that talks directly about copyright in the world of needlepoint in the United States is on the Needlepoint Now website.  If you haven't read this, you probably should.
https://www.needlepointnow.com/advertising/copyright/

Thanks for staying legal and ethical!

Written by Jane/Chilly Hollow
Blogging at http://chillyhollownp.blogspot.com
and at http://chstitchguides.blogspot.com
© Copyright July 20, 2015 Jane M. Wood. All rights reserved.