The Red Bitch has a Background

Pat has come up with a stylish and pretty background for her red and white Bitch canvas.
https://needleartnut.blogspot.com/2016/09/a-decision-made.html

Love the irony!

UPDATE:  Here is Pat's finished version.
https://needleartnut.blogspot.com/2017/03/profanity-is-finished.html


Written by Jane/Chilly Hollow
Blogging at http://chillyhollownp.blogspot.com
and at http://chstitchguides.blogspot.com
© Copyright September 14, 2016 Jane M. Wood. All rights reserved.

Canvas in a Box

Sue explains how to insert a needlepoint canvas into a box lid, starting with the choice of box and canvas, and ended up with the prefect present.
https://sudukc.wordpress.com/2016/06/29/lighthouse-in-a-box/

Written by Jane/Chilly Hollow
Blogging at http://chillyhollownp.blogspot.com
and at http://chstitchguides.blogspot.com
© Copyright June 29, 2016 Jane M. Wood. All rights reserved.

Breaking News: Jolly Red Has a New Website UPDATED

Jolly Red, the fun British tapestry kit company, has a new website! 
https://www.jollyred.co.uk

If you do a little exploring you'll see that Jolly Red is a traditional tapestry company, which means printed canvases kitted out with tapestry wool.  However, they have started selling canvases only, which is great for those of us who have enough leftover thread to start a shop of our own.  They also offer frames and magnets, just in case you need some supplies beyond their designs and want to order everything at once.  They also will make up your designs for you into pillows or stockings and an occasional tea cozy or tote bag.

UPDATE:  Needlepoint for Fun has written a brief profile of Jolly Red and its founder.
http://www.icontact-archive.com/3sPNpcHW2d6IBVeY4CRghF7XjspGUoa9?w=4

Written by Jane/Chilly Hollow
Blogging at http://chillyhollownp.blogspot.com
and at http://chstitchguides.blogspot.com
© Copyright September 13, 2016 Jane M. Wood. All rights reserved.

Finca Perle Cotton Sources UPDATED

Perle Cottons and Cotton Flosses for Bitch

I've gotten my threads together to stitch Bitch.  As you can see I have perle cotton from Finca and cotton floss skeins from DMC.  The colors are not all good matches to the lettering, but I am hoping to mix and match shades of lavender and lilac on the design.  The Finca perle cotton colors and sizes are (top to bottom):  2720 (size 16), 2711 (size 16), 2699 (size 8), and 2687 (size 12).  The DMC cotton flosses are (left to right):  240, 210 and 211.  In person the best match to the lilac paint on the painted canvas is the Finca 2699.

For those who aren't familiar with Finca perle cotton, it is Egyptian cotton from Prescencia SA in Spain that is available in five sizes-- 3, 5, 8, 12 and 16.  (The larger the number, the smaller the diameter of the thread).  Currently there are 122 solid colors and 33 variegated color sets for the perle.  Finca's Mouline Embroidery Floss is available in the same colors if you need a combination of perle and floss style threads.  Note that Mouline Embroidery Floss has over 300 colors, though.  So not every floss is available as perle cotton.   This thread is distributed in the USA by Colonial Needle.
http://colonialneedle.com/Perle-Cotton/

Although you can order straight from the Colonial Needle website, quite a few shops carry Finca perles.  Among the shops stocking Finca needlepointers are familiar with are Amy's Golden Strand, Come to the Point, KC Needlepoint, Needle in a Haystack (the one in Alameda, California) and Needlepoint Land.  Here are their websites (in alpha order).  If you know of other shops that carry Finca perle cottons, please let me know so I can add the shop to this listing.
http://www.amybunger.com/home.html

http://www.cometothepoint.com

https://www.kcneedlepoint.com

http://www.needlestack.com

https://needlepoint.land

Many thanks to the King of Threadaholics--Michael Boren--for help assembling the shop list above.  And now, I need to start thinking background and embellishments....

UPDATE:  Blog's readers have come up with additional good sources for Finca's perle cottons and flosses (and their metallics and more).  If you are Canadian, Erica says you can stock up using Sew Fancy.
http://www.sewfancy.com/threads-finca.htm

If you live close to Northern Virginia, Sara Leigh recommends a visit to Web Fabrics.  They carry all the colors of size 8 and 12 Finca perle cottons and she says their Cosmo embroidery floss is really silky and comes in 422 colors.
http://www.webfabrics.net/cgi-bin/Store/store.cgi?.s0&lastmenu=&menu=submenu-1100.html

Kathleen says Silk Road Needle Arts carries Finca. too.
http://www.silkroadneedle.com

Thanks folks!

Written by Jane/Chilly Hollow
Blogging at http://chillyhollownp.blogspot.com
and at http://chstitchguides.blogspot.com
© Copyright August 31, 2016 Jane M. Wood. All rights reserved.

Beautiful Thread Winders

Hands Across the Sea Samplers showed off some lovely antique thread winders on their Wordless Wednesday blog posting this week.  I think they are all 19th Century, although I am no expert. 
https://hands-across-the-sea-samplers.com/wordless-wednesday-15/

Thread winders are used more in cross stitch than needlepoint as far as I can tell from my stitching friends, but lovely tools are lovely tools, no matter how (or when) you stitch.  This little article about historical stitching tools is quite interesting.
http://wkneedle.bayrose.org/Articles/period_workbox.html

I found both modern and antique ones for sale on Etsy.
https://www.etsy.com/market/thread_winders

Enjoy dreaming of the perfect thread winder for your favorite silk....

Written by Jane/Chilly Hollow
Blogging at http://chillyhollownp.blogspot.com
and at http://chstitchguides.blogspot.com
© Copyright June 29, 2016 Jane M. Wood. All rights reserved.