Finishing-- Oldies But Goodies!

Such a cute batch of finishing today! Pat T. has been keeping West Coast Finishing busy lately, check out this great finish of Santa Baby, part of my Cats in Hats holiday series:

FYI, both this one and a companion design, Witchie Poo, have stitch guides by Vicki DeAngelis!

That's not all Pat has been up to, she also has two more from my Pumpkin Patch series:

Love the way these came out!  Thanks so much to Pat for stitching these and to Sue Parsons at West Coast for sharing her photos.

Happy July 4th!!

A gallery of some of my favorite Americana designs for you this long weekend-- hope it's a great one!!

Patriot Owl

"Sammy" the 4th of July kitty

Stars & Stripes framed

Stars & Stripes pillow

New Designs For Fall and Winter 2013

Hi all!  I am proud to present to you today my newest designs, now available for order from your favorite needlework store.  

Inspired by my latest design for Needlepoint Now, these Holiday Birdhouses are the first two in a continuing series.  Both measure 4" x 6" on 18 count canvas.   

Halloween Birdhouse

Christmas Birdhouse

I've added two more designs to my Fairy Tales collection. The Princess and the Pea story as told by my favorite little black cat-- yes, she's crossed over from my Kitty collection category!  Measures 6.5" x 8.25" on 18 count.

"Princess" and the Pea

Rapunzel now has her own canvas too, she joins Snow White, Sleeping Beauty and Cinderella in the collection.  Measures 5.5" x 9.5" on 18 count.

Rapunzel

I've taken two of the ornaments from my large Mod Ornaments canvas and given them two new color schemes, one traditional and another more retro in feel.  Both measure 5.25 x 5.75 on 18.

Mod Ornaments Green

Mod Ornaments Aqua

And as companion pieces to the above, I have two round ornaments featuring yummy peppermints, in matching color schemes.  Both designs are 3.5" in diameter.

Peppermint Ornament Aqua

Peppermint Ornament Green

Thanks for stopping by, I hope you like the new additions!  It will be time for more "what's new" before you know it, as I am painting new stuff all the time.  Until then, Happy Stitching!  

Summer Stitching

Hi all!  Hope everyone had a fantastic July 4th weekend!  In keeping with the season and summer stitching, I'd like to share some of my summer holiday canvases and some fantastic stitching and finishing.

This is my "Uncle Sam's Happy Fourth" canvas.  It's part of a set of four designs all built around the major holidays.

The cutie pie below is "Sammy", who was last year's Summer Challenge canvas over on Stitcherie.  The group had so much fun stitching him, and everyone really made their canvas their own with lots of great personal touches.  This is Judy Gartman's Sammy-- she used such great stitches and her finished banner is so summery!

Palma Seljan's Sammy is also very fabulous, I love the buttons and the multi-color beach blanket!  Note each canvas has touches of "Ada's Rainbow" from Gloriana silks, my signature color.  Part of the challenge criteria was to use that color somewhere on the canvas.  Both ladies met that challenge very well!

This is "Stars N'Stripes", stitched by Judy Furie.  She and I both love glitz, I love all the beads, sequins and metallics she used here!

Last but not least is my Patriot Owl, part of the Hoot! Hoot! series.  This one is beautifully stitched and photographed by Angie Laube.  Note her matching magnet too!  Nice work Angie!

Hope this gets you in the mood for some summertime stitchin'!  Until next time, stay cool and stitch on! 

A Finish For Friday!

Just in time for the tail end of summer, Palma's Sammy from our May Stitcherie Challenge has returned home from the finisher!  Just wonderful,  I love a box finish, the opportunity it gives to add ribbon, trim, fabric and even more embellishments is right up my alley.  This really shows off Palma's fancy stitching style, she used the required threads and stitches to great effect.   I can't pick a favorite between the sand and the gorgeous multi-color beach blanket.  She used the new Sparkles braid from Sundance for the border and really raided her Susan Clarke and JABC button collection for further embellishing and general glitz.  I hope to see the other EyeCandy seasonal black cats sitting along side Sammy on Palma's counter someday soon too! 

Starting the Week with a Finish!

This week is off to a good start with lots of things being wrapped up in the finishing department!  The only thing better than putting that last stitch into a project is getting said project back from the finishers. That's when you really get the satisfaction of a job well done, whether you are gifting the piece or displaying it in your own home. 

Judy, who was among the first to finish her Sammy Challenge over on Stitcherie, is now the first to get him back from the finisher.  What a great job, I love the summery fabric chosen for this banner, it makes it perfect for hanging out the whole season long!  Congrats to you Judy! 

Here is yet another fabulous finish of a CandyLand Christmas Tree Farm, in yet another great fabric color option!  Am I going to be the very last one to finish stitching mine?  And will I ever be able to choose between the aqua version, the orange/pink option and now this terrific white/gold option??  I suppose I have a lot to think about while I work on getting it stitched.  Great work from West Coast Finishing once again. 

I even did a little finishing of my own this week and no one is more surprised than me that I wrapped this one up pretty quickly!  Needlepoint Now returned my stitched model of Prismatic Quartet a couple weeks back and I immediately started procrastinating about getting it finished.  Since getting a sewing machine for Christmas last year, I now feel almost obligated to do some of my own finishing, so I set about making up this pillow, which I then hand-sewed the needlepoint to.  I expected to spend most of the weekend on this, but I was done with it by Friday, yippee!  

I also finished stitching Tahiti by Needle Delights Originals last week, so I popped it into this temporary frame for display while I decide on a permanent frame.  I like to keep a few "stock-size" frames handy just for this purpose, it keeps me from storing completed stitching away and out of sight, where it tends to languish.  This way I can enjoy it and hopefully it will speed along the process of getting it out to the actual framer!

In other news this week, the Black Eyed Susans Chapter of the ANG, located in Maryland, is getting ready to work on Prismatic Quartet.  Hope they will have as much fun with it as I did!  They will be meeting June 21 at The Meeting House, 5885 Robert Oliver Place in Columbia, MD at 7:15pm.  Contact them for more information at BlackEyedSusansChapter@needlepoint.org.  Hope you can join them!

Finally, I sent out a newsletter over the weekend regarding the new designs I will be releasing this month in time for the big Summer TNNA Needlework Market as well as upcoming classes.  If you would like to sign up for my newsletter please send me an email.  If you would like to see older edition newsletters, I have them archived on my Facebook page.

Wow, that's a lot of news for so early in the week!  Hope your week has gotten off to a good start as well-- until next time, Happy Stitching!  

Challenge Wrap Up

How could it be June already??  It seems like just yesterday that we started the Sammy Challenge-- time really does fly when you are having fun!  You can read all about how this Challenge got started here from my original post way back in March.  In the meantime, take a look below at our first two finishes:

Sammy by Judy G.

 Sammy by Palma S.

We'll have to wait a little bit to see the rest of in-progress Sammys-- Karen and Sheena both have quite a bit done on theirs (you can take a look at Sheena's over on her blog and Karen's over on Stitcherie.) We will also look forward to seeing these two again once they return from the finishers! Until then, Happy Stitching!

A Couple of Characters!

Here is the latest incarnation of Sammy, this one belongs to  Palma the Super Stitcher (as we all think of her over on Stitcherie!)  I like her sky very much, it's very dynamic.  She explained that she used a technique she learned from Ruth Schmuff where you concentrate a stitch in one area and make it more sparse in others.  This definitely makes for an interesting background that has a little movement as well.  Her addition of the kite button got all the other Challengers on the phone ordering kite buttons for themselves, myself included!  Such a nice touch!

That's one character, now let me introduce you to the other.  Last week you met my Pirate Mermaid, this week I give you my Lone Star Witch!  Hailing from Texas, my cowgirl sorceress has a holster for her magic wand, a tall black hat (yes, Stetson makes witch hats) and of course her big silver state of Texas belt buckle!  Big red boots, a bat bolo tie and her cute little pet armadillo complete her look.  I hope you like her, she will make her public debut in time for this June's TNNA needlepoint market.  Until then, happy stitching!

Stitcherie Challenge Update

After a fast and furious start, stitching for the current Stitcherie Challenge slowed down a bit in the latter half of March, so there has not been much to report. It's going to pick up again though as Judy posted the picture of her finished Sammy on the group's page last night. What a great job she did! I ticked through the list of Challenge rules and yep, she got them all in! She has said she really enjoyed the experience as working within the parameters of the rules really gets you thinking and you discover just how creative you can be. Having participated in the previous Challenge myself, I could not agree with you more, Judy! I cannot wait to see him again when he comes back from the finisher. A few of the Stitcherie gang are getting together in person later this month in Hilton Head, SC. This will be the first, but certainly not the last, Stitcherie meet up. Among the piles (literally!) of canvases the stitchers are planning to bring along is, of course, Sammy. We will have to wait and see how much they will get done in amongst the visiting, shopping, eating, admiring each other's projects and general hi-jinks! I'm hoping they will take tons of pictures and of course, I will share them here. In the meantime, Happy Stitching!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

May the luck of the Irish be with you and you find your pot of gold!

Challenge Updates and the Challenge to Come

Our Challenge stitchers over on Stitcherie were hard at work on Sammy over the weekend. Much progress was made and a great time had by all sharing photos, comments and suggestions, as well as just fun chatting, of course. We don't mind when the conversation goes "off topic"!

Here is Judy's canvas so far. We all had to talk her out of changing her water and it's a good thing too, I think it looks swell. (Pun intended!)
Karen is moving right along as well. She has done more stitching since this photo, but this one shows off her sand the best. The thread and stitch she chose really work nicely! She is currently a little frustrated with her sky though, she's listening to Don Quixote while stitching and says she feels like she's "tilting at windmills" herself. She made another good observation this morning when she said it may "take a village to stitch this canvas" and she's so right, Stitcherie really is a stitchy village!
Like the true stitchers we are, we are already planning the next Challenge even though we have just gotten started on this one. (And it is not too late to join in on this one, we have a few stitchers who won't get started until April so do join us if you want!) The next Challenge is due to start in June and our Challenge Master this time will be Colleen Church, owner of the fabulous needlepoint store The Needleworks in Austin, TX. We are all anxious to see what she will come up with for challenges, they are sure to be interesting as Colleen really knows her needlepoint. Plus, she is such a good sport that she agreed to come up with rules for two different canvases! This time, the voting was so close between two different designs it was decided to do both. (We are nothing if not flexible!) So this Challenge is going to be exceptional, I think as we are essentially doubling our fun with two canvases. What I'm wondering is will we have any stitchers intrepid or crazy enough to do both??? I hope so!

This is the canvas that had the most votes. It's called "In the Good Ole Summertime" by Dream House Ventures. Size 8 x 8 on 18 count.
This one was a very close second: Yellow Floral by Melissa Shirley, 9 x 11 on 13 count.
So we have a lot to look forward to for Summer stitching this year! Hope you will decide to join us-- remember, even if you decide not to stitch along, we have plenty of folks who "watch from the sidelines" and cheer the others on. Hope to see you there!

Prismatic Quartet and Beach Blanket Bingo!

I cannot believe how fast time flies!! I just received my preview copy of Needlepoint Now in the mail, featuring part 3 of my canvaswork design, Prismatic Quartet. To me, it seems like it was just yesterday that I mailed the finished canvas off to the editor-in-chief, Elizabeth Bozievich. I cannot believe this project is almost over already-- it seems like it took longer to stitch than it did to publish!

Here are parts 1 and 2 of the design, already published in the Nov/Dec 2011 and Jan/Feb 2012 issues:
And here is part 3, coming in the March/April 2012 issue:

The completed design, thanks to the Needlepoint Now team for their great photography!
It has been great working with the talented people at Needlepoint Now. Elizabeth wears many hats, in addition to being the editor, she also designs the terrific layouts. I have always been completely delighted by how she has presented my designs in the magazine-- she framed my Floating Hearts design from May/June 2010 with candies and made my Winter Tree look like it was part of Charlie Brown's Christmas tree lot, how could I not love that?! For Prismatic Quartet, I have had the extra added pleasure of working with Vicky De Angelis, who edits the projects as well as doing the meticulous charting work. Being a fabulous stitcher herself, she is great at her job and fun to work with too! Thanks so much, Team Needlepoint Now, it is an honor to be included in your pages!

Now, on to the Beach Blanket Bingo portion of our program! Karen has been hard at work on her Challenge canvas and shared her progress with the group this morning:
Is Sammy's beach blanket fabulous or what? Karen has thrown down a gauntlet for the other stitchers for sure, I cannot wait to see what other great beach blankies our other stitchers will do! Sheena has mentioned doing a bamboo-style mat, using the Sea Grass thread. If you haven't read the rules for this Challenge, one of them is to use Thread Gatherer's Sea Grass somewhere in the design and I assume Sheena may weave her's out of that, thus fulfilling two Challenges in one step, a woven stitch being another one of the rules. Clever Karen has ticked off 3 Challenges in just one step: she used the Blueberry Watercolors, the strongly overdyed thread and a Byzantine stitch all together for the blanket. Well done, Karen! I can't wait for more, our stitchers are pretty intrepid. There has even been talk of using the Sea Grass to "weave" a picnic basket for Sammy, so stay tuned!

Ready For a Challenge?

What sort of a challenge you ask? A needlepoint challenge, of course! While quilters have been doing challenges for a while, one of the intrepid stitchers over on Stitcherie (a social network site like Facebook, but with a focus on needlework) decided to organize a challenge for us needlepointers. The idea is that a group of stitchers cast votes for a specific painted canvas to work on, and then two "challenge masters" come up with a list of rules, or "challenges" one must follow while stitching the canvas. The challenge rules are to use certain threads and stitches-- for example, for our first challenge last year, we had a set of 6 threads and 6 stitches that had to be used somewhere on the canvas. One might think that that would insure that all the canvases would come out the same, but instead they could hardly be more different! Each stitcher decides where each stitch and thread will be used on the canvas and it turns out that everyone has a different idea for the placement of each.

Our current Challenge is Sammy, one of my very own kitty designs! I am extremely happy that our stitchers are wasting no time getting him started. Judy's Sammy, pictured below, has him Basketwoven in beautiful black DMC Floche. One of the challenge rules this time is to do some type of woven stitch, and she has decided to use this stitch for the sun. That's one challenge down, only 5 more to go! To see the complete list of rules for Sammy, see the Challenge page here.
Karen is off to a great start as well, she has used one of the challenge stitches, Criss Cross Hungarian, for her watermelon slice. Doesn't it look good enough to eat? By the way, it was Karen that we have to thank for bringing the challenge idea to Stitcherie. She is our main organizer and motivator (some say enabler!) Thanks Karen!
Hope I have intrigued you all enough to get you to join us for the next Stitcherie challenge (or for this one, we've only just started so you have plenty of time still!) We are currently compiling votes for the next Challenge, due to start this June, so do come take a look at the choices and cast your vote if you are up for a Stitcherie Challenge!