Trunk Show at Designer's Desk

The EyeCandy Trunk Show will be at Designer's Desk in Geneva, IL in June, do try to stop and see if you can!  Designer's Desk is a "destination" shop where you could easily spend an entire day (or more!) with three whole floors of needlework goodies to look through.  They probably have every thread known to mankind as well!  

If you can't stop by, be sure to give them a call as they do mail order-- 800 377 8087, and check out their online store too, click here.

Gardening Tips

Today I am sharing some extra photos of the Spring Garden Floss Tag, the third project in the set after the Humbug and the Biscornu.  This project appears in the current May/June issue of Needlepoint Now:

In my last post, I shared with you my source for the best way to do Chain Stitch, which is the technique I use for assembling all of the Spring Garden series projects. Here is a photo of the tag in the finishing process with one of the sides joined together:

Here is a photo of the Humbug, illustrating how the Chain stitch border is used to join the edges with Whip stitch, sliding the needle cleanly under the pair of Chain stitches:

This is a really easy way to self-finish small items-- I hope you will give it a try!

Speaking of Needlepoint Now projects, here is a close up photo of Prismatic Quartet, which is available as a reprint now that the original magazine issues it appeared in have sold out.

It was my hope when I designed this piece that it would inspire stitchers to raid their stash and put their own spin on the original design.  I was extremely happy to see this photo in a recent edition of the Needlepoint Now newsletter-- Ruth Wallis stitched her Prismatic Quartet as a Duet, using mostly stash threads and adding her own borders to the outside edges.  I love the result, it came out fantastic, don't you agree?  

Great work Ruth, thanks so much for sharing!  If anyone else out there has any photos of my designs, finished or not, please do send them on to me, I love showing off your work!  

Finally, I'd like to show off my ad in the recent issue of Needlepoint Now, wonderfully put together for me by my distributor, Ruth Schmuff. It features designs from my 2013 collection, Cardinal Joy, Mod Merry and Floral Collage:

That's it for now, next time I'll be back with some peeks at what will be new for Summer 2013!  Thanks for looking and Happy Stitching!

Spring Garden Bonus Project and More!

I am happy to announce that the May/June issue of Needlepoint Now features a bonus companion piece to my Spring Garden Biscornu and Humbug-- a fun little floss tag to round out this little sewing set:

The above is a preview from the actual issue, I will post some more detailed photos later on.  For those of you working on these projects, I would like to share here once again the best tutorial on working chain stitch.  All of these projects employ a fair amount of chain stitch as it is used for the finishing process on all three designs.  Chain stitch was always a difficult one for me to do, until I came across the technique of working it in reverse.  Not only is it now super easy to do, it also made it into a very utilitarian technique as well.  Read more about it here on the fabulous Sublime Stitching blog.

And in other Needlepoint Now related news, reprints are available for my Prismatic Quartet design published last year.  Some of those issues have sold out, so the magazine is offering it as a reprint booklet.  It is available both direct from the magazine and from Bedecked and Beadazzled. 

Thanks for stopping by and as always, Happy Stitching!

Traveling Shoes

This month is cut out to be an especially busy one for me, so I knew that if I was going to finish my Stitching Games clue for May, I had better change my last-minute ways and get it done first thing.  It didn't hurt that the clue for May was an easy one (at least for me it was!) "Road Trip" was our clue and I stitched my gal some traveling shoes--  since she doesn't have a broom, she'll be clicking those sparkly  heels together to do her road-tripping! 

And since we are on the subject of witches, here's a couple of nice photos of my Witch Hat Halloween Star from over on Kreinik's blog, where they used it for a demo of their fabulous new Easter Braid thread. (Yep, it's not just for Easter canvases!)

Thanks for looking, hope you all are having a wonderful (and stitchy) Spring!

Stitching Games Update & New Finishes

As you may remember from my last post, I was still wondering what I would stitch for my April Stitching Games clue, "The Seven ____".  Well, Harry Potter came to the rescue and filled in the blank with the "Seven Known Types of Spells", so of course then I stitched her magic wand!  I did it in Basketweave Beading using gold Delica beads and I like the look, but I think now I'll have to replace the beads on her corset as they clash with the beads on the wand.  I'm thinking an orange shade of Fyre Werks will do the trick!

My latest finishing shows offs are this CandyLand Christmas stitched by Marla Muth (check out those candy feet!)

And Judy Gartman has finished yet another Hoot! Hoot! owl, this one in the middle of a cross-country move, no less!  I recently moved halfway across the country and I wasn't even capable of flossing my teeth, let alone picking up a needle and thread, so kudos to you Judy!

Thanks for looking, hope to post again this weekend with some new project pictures, so please stand by!