Tweet Tweet! A New Club Series and My Trunk Show at Stitches In Time!

My EyeCandy Needleart trunk show is at Stitches in Time in Houston this month! I dropped it off myself yesterday, so there are TONS of stitched models for you to see! Also on display is my newest club series, "Tweet Tweet", with stitch guides by the shop's owner, Frances Jue! If you are in town this weekend for the ANG Encore classes, be sure to stop by, Stitches in Time is right in the middle of Houston's "Needlepoint District"!

This gorgeous peacock is part of the series, that starts this month!

EyeCandy Needleart is Now on Instagram!

Please do click on my Instagram Widget box over on the top right and follow me on Instagram! --->

Look a Little Closer!

A more detailed look at all the new EyeCandy for 2018:

New Club Series "Stitch a Falling Star" Starts January 2016!

Big news today, I have a new club series!!  "Stitch a Falling Star" starts in January 2016 and is a shop exclusive club for Fancy Stitches.  This monthly series features the five canvases pictured below, each star is 5" on 18 count canvas.  This series is all about cute critters in their Christmas finery-- a the fox and the kitty are wearing their favorite scarves, the little birds have on their Santa hats, and the owls are decked out in their best argyle sweater vests!  And the cardinals are already naturally attired for festive winter holidays of course! 

Just give Fancy Stitches a call at 817 641 4761 to sign up or send them an email via their website www.fancystitches.com.  The club includes the canvas, threads and a full color stitch guide by Cynthia Pigg.  

I can't resist showing you a peek at one of the stitched ones, I wanted to wait until they are all back from the finishers, but I just can't because what Cynthia has done with them is just so wonderful!  And speaking of the finishing, just wait until you see what those Fancy Stitches gals have cooked up-- you'll be able to display these as ornaments, as stand ups or a combo of both! 

Cynthia's sweet fox:

Can't wait to show you the rest, come by again soon for more sneak peeks.  Be sure to email me here at the blog if you have any questions! 

More Mod Ornaments!

Here are are few more photos from the Mod Ornaments stitching group-- great work by Nathalie, Ann and Mary Ann!

Needlepoint Nation Nashville Retreat & Trunk Show!

I'm off tomorrow to enjoy a weekend stitching retreat at Nashville Needleworks!  Columbus Day weekend marks the annual get-together held at the shop for the members of the Needlepoint Group on Facebook, a.k.a.s. "Needlepoint Nation".  Really looking forward to this one as there will be as many new people to meet as there will be older ones that I haven't seen since the Austin NN retreat.  My trunk show will be there along with me, here's a photo of all the models that will be on display in the shop:

Hope some of you may be able to stop by and say hello!  The trunk show should be there until the end of the month.

Trunk Show at Fireside Stitchery!

My trunk show is available this month at Fireside Stitchery and they are offering some great deals for you!  The canvases are 20% off and if you order threads to go with a canvas, those will be 10% off-- great deal!   To go directly to their trunk show page, click here.

New Designs For Summer 2014

Here they are, my new canvases that I hinted about a few posts back!  As I mentioned then, foxes are everywhere lately, and here are mine-- a set of four designs with a seasonal theme and EyeCandy colors:

Spring Fox

Summer Fox

Winter Fox

Fall Fox

These foxy fellows are all 5.5" x 7.5" on 18 count canvas.  

Owls still continue to be popular, so I made an addition to my line of character owls-- here he is, the Cowboy Owl!   

Like the other owls in the collection, he is 4 x 7 on 18 count.  

Hope you all like these,  I will have more new designs for you come mid-summer!

EyeCandy Models on Display at The Needle Works in Austin, Texas

Recently I attended the second annual Needlepoint Nation Retreat in Austin, Texas.  Our host shop was the incomparable The Needle Works, owned by Colleen Church, who (despite having a VERY full plate already) said "yes" when I asked if I could bring my stitched models over for display in the shop.  The shop staff went out of their way to accommodate me, moving out older models and even printing up a sign with my new logo!  

Hope you may be able to stop by and see them while they are still there, and say "Hi!" for me to all the great gals at the shop! 

New EyeCandy on Your Newsstand-- "Flower Power" in the May issue of Cross-Stitch and Needlework!

When I was contacted by the editors of Cross-Stitch and Needlework to be their featured designer for May 2014,  I was surprised and honored.  I have been a contributor to their hardcover Christmas Annual in the past, but to be featured in the magazine was a dream come true.  I suppose that it's realizing that I've come full-circle in the needlework world, as I have been a subscriber to this magazine ever since the first issue, way back in the '90's, back when I first discovered cross stitch and my obsession with needlework began.  And I still have every single back issue, hoarded away in my stash, far too sentimental to ever consider parting with them! 

What a thrill when this arrived in my mail, to see my design had been chosen for the cover!

You may be wondering what a needlepoint canvas painter is doing in a cross stitch publication, but they often feature both painted and counted canvas designers in their magazine.  I was able to submit my design for the feature as a painted canvas and they converted it to cross stitch, entrusting it to one of their superb professional model stitchers to make the lovely cross stitch version seen on the cover.  

Here is a photo of the original painted canvas:

Not to worry if you prefer to stitch it as a needlepoint, as the magazine provides instructions for a needlepoint version as well, with a conversion chart for Perle cotton and additional instructions in a download from their website.  

I hope you will enjoy this design and the feature article.  Remember, if you stitch this in any version whatsoever, please share a photo with me, I'd love to see what you did! 

Stitching Games Progress

Is it really February already?  I just barely made it in time to get my canvas entered in the Stitching Games 2014 over on Stitcherie.  I posted my unstitched canvas "Witch's Garden Collage" in the Enter the Stitching Games forum, then got to work stitching for January's clue, which was "straight".

I'm one of those literal types with the clues, so I thought about stitching the straight elements on my canvas, in this case the flower stems.  But I really wanted a bigger start than that, having learned from last year's Games that only stitching teeny areas each month leaves you with a LOT of stitching to do come November's finish date!  So I decided to go "straight" to the area I really wanted to stitch, which was the kitty cats panel:

Those were an easy job of Basketweave in black Neon Rays, while the background is T-Stitch in Vineyard Silk.  

February's clue was announced today and it is "Samba".  My thought is that skirt and those shoes will be perfect for Samba dancing once they are stitched up with some fancy stitches and sparkly threads!  Hopefully, I might even get that stitched up today and posted, making me one of the monthly "McGraws", as in one of those "quick-draw" stitchers that get their clues stitched right away.  I'm almost always one of the last-minutes, posting my work on the last day of the month! 

This is not my only Stitcherie project right now, as we have a Challenge going on now called "What Does the Fox Say?" and it is an opportunity for all to bring out any animal-themed canvases that may have been languishing in your stash and get to work on them as part of a group.  I just happened to have this brand-new fox canvas on my drawing board so I finished him up and will be stitching away on him soon!  

 It's not too late to join is the Stitching Games if you want, as you can start at any time.  The Fox Challenge just started also, so there is time for that too-- hope to see you there! 

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year!

Hope you all are having a wonderful holiday season so far and that you will get everything on your stitching wish lists!  I am looking forward to a week or two at home, mixed in with a couple of overnight trips to San Antonio and Grapevine to see all the great Christmas lights in both cities.  Sort of the best of both worlds for me at Christmas time!

Please enjoy this gallery of some of my favorite CandyLand Christmas finishes, and I'll see you again next year!