Introducing a New Design-- Tropicana Cuff Bracelet!

I am proud to present my latest design for Needlepoint Now magazine, a cuff-style bracelet that I have named "Tropicana" for its warm and vibrant color scheme. However, this design is highly adaptable, so you could easily pick your own color scheme-- how about Sonoran? Aquatic? Preppy, maybe?  The sky's the limit!  You can find the instructions for this design in the current May/June 2014 issue.  

Here's a preview page, complete with list of materials you will need:

As always, I like to show more detailed project photos here on my blog, and I hope they will be both helpful and inspirational.  Here is a close up of the design, before finishing and flat:

And here again, post-finishing.  I added a trim of extra large metallic rick-rack along the edges.  Although I did finish this myself, unless you are an extremely confident self-finisher, I highly recommend sending this project out to a professional, it will greatly enhance the style options and the wearability.

For the clasp/closure of my bracelet, I experimented with using a needle magnet, which I think worked well.  Plus it is another way to show off the fantastic bling in our magnet collections, right?  This great "Smiley" magnet is a prize I won in the Stitching Games last year over on Stitcherie!

Hope you have enjoyed this preview and I hope you'll enjoy working this project as well.  As always, if you have any questions regarding this design, please contact me here on the blog.  Please do share photos of your work as well, I'd love to see some alternate color versions of this piece! 

**Update:  I've added additional detail photos to an album on my Facebook page, click here to see!

Market Week Miscellany!

Happy New Year!! Hope your holiday season was a great one!  Mine was pretty busy, since in addition to all the holiday activities I have been preparing for the upcoming TNNA market in San Diego, as well as trying to decide on a canvas for the 2014 Stitching Games over on Stitcherie.  Maybe things will slow down a little in February, I hope!

Before I get to that stuff, I have a cute finish to show off.  Linda from the blog "Split the Needles" posted her finished "Fred" recently and it came out super cute!  This is my Peeky Kitty canvas with a lot of creative enhancement by Linda and Susan Portra.  Great work ladies, and thanks for sharing!

Next, this is the canvas I am considering stitching for this year's Stitching Games.  It's one of my own designs, the Witch's Garden Collage.  I anticipate a busy year, so I thought I had better kill two birds and get some model stitching done at the same time!

Lastly, here is a sort-of preview of what will be new in my Winter 2014 collection.  My little "Cardinal Joy" canvas from last winter's collection was a big hit, so I'm adding three companion pieces, "Love", "Merry" and "Bright".  Pop in back here next week to check them out!

Until next time, Happy Stitching!

We Have a Winner!

Voting ended for the Stitching Games Viewer's Choice Award this weekend, and the winner was Nancy K. and her Bird Song canvas!  Congrats to you Nancy, we can't wait to hear what your prize will be! As I understand it, Ruth Schmuff is putting the prize together, so it's sure to be spectacular!

I expect most of this year's participants will be joining in on the Games for next year too.  I know I am already picking a canvas from my stash for next year, the trouble is in narrowing it down to just one.  Hope some of you may decide to join in too!

Speaking of Stitcherie and our talented group of stitchers, this is my Chat Noir canvas as stitched by K.B., who is one of the masterminds behind the Stitching Games and a very fine stitcher too!  She did a  great job with this canvas, I am loving those background stitches!

That's it for now, hope your holiday season isn't too busy.  I am in the midst of painting new designs for the needlepoint market this January, but still trying to find time to stitch.  Currently, I am trying to get caught up on Ruth's latest Mystery Class, Silly Christmas Birds. Hopefully, Christmas will bring lots of extra stitching time for all of us! 

Stitching Games Wrap Up, Vote for Viewer's Choice!

You may recall that it's been a while since I last updated you on the Stitching Games progress over on Stitcherie.  Lo and behold, we are now very close to the end, and do I have lots of great finishes to show you!  Actually, the official end is not until December 8th, so I am jumping the gun a bit.  There will no doubt be a few more posted by then, so I will update this post again.

It's important to note that from December 9th to the 15th, all posted finishes will be up for the Viewer's Choice award, so I would like to invite you all to come on over to Stitcherie to cast your vote.  You need not have participated in the Games in order to be able to vote, so do come see all the entries and pick your favorite!

Here is my Stitching Games canvas, Ethel the Little Witch by Patti Paints:

Judy G.'s Asian Rider by JP Needlepoint:

Nancy K.'s Bird Song by Quail Run:

Kelly W.'s Bunny Cottage by Rebecca Wood:

Susan A.'s Cupcake by Mindy:

Mary T.'s Flying Sheep by Brenda Stofft:

Debra S.'s "Gustav" by Susan Roberts:

Judy F.'s Joan Thomasson Angel:

Karen H. (of Zecca Designs) Fan:

Lynne D.'s Merry Deer by Maggie:

Barbara B.'s Sea Life Collage by Mindy:

Melissa M.'s Model A by Raymond:

Pretty amazing work, right?  My fellow Games participants proved to be an amazingly talented group. I am already looking forward to stitching with them again next year!  Again, stop by to view and vote, and consider hanging around to join us for next year's Games. It is great fun and you will have a completed canvas by the end to boot, it's a win-win! 

Catching Up In Summer (School)!

I am doing some "catch-up" stitching this summer, much as you might have to catch up on school work in summer school.  Not to sound like it's drudgery though, not at all!  Since I'm not working on stitching new models right now, I have a little time to go back and work on stitching on stuff that I get to keep for myself!  

I will probably finish stitching this Vintage Candy Pail this week and then I'll have four out of the set of six pails completed, yay!  Can't wait for the first Halloween when I'll have the whole set!

I finished the Palm Tree Heart last week, it will be number thirteen out of the seventeen ornaments from my Tickled Pink series that I have completed.  I am also looking forward to my first Christmas tree decorated with the whole set.  These ornaments are especially sentimental to me because they were some of my earliest designs and my very first club series.

Next up on the bars is the Palm Tree tree-- the trees are my favorites in the series.  No doubt, it's because of the cool finishing, gotta love the swirly hanger and the dangling base below.  

July has brought catch up stitching of all kinds-- the ongoing project that I'm working on for this year's Stitcherie group project got a lot of attention this month.  As fitting for the vacation season, KB didn't draw a clue for us this month, choosing instead to give us our "independence" and stitch any part of our canvas we wanted.  Again, I chose to get caught up on all the areas of my canvas I had started but not finished, such as the scarf and skirt, as well as make changes to areas already stitched, such as replacing the beads on her corset with cross stitches made of Fyre Werks.  

Summertime is also great for shopping and catching up on what's new in the stitchy world-- there are so many new thread colors out that I "needed" to get, plus some fabulous sequins as well.  I picked up all of these from one of my several local Houston shops.  Those two new shades of fuchsia pink Silk Lame' braid on the lower left are so gorgeous!  Those will undoubtedly be appearing on a new EyeCandy model soon! 

Hope you have enjoyed catching up with me today, and that you are having a terrific summer!

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! 

Stitching Games Fun!

It's been a while since I've updated all the fun canvases being stitched over on Stitcherie as part of our year-long project, the Stitching Games.  If you recall from my original post, we are stitching along on our canvases, interpreting a different "clue" each month.  Last month's clue was "Pearl" and I stitched the skirt of my canvas, Patty Paint's "Little Witch" in a pearl color silk.  (I am not nearly as creative with my clues as my fellow stitchers are, as you will soon see!)

The clue for April is "The Seven _____".   Barbara's aquatic themed canvas was perfect for this clue, she stitched the wave portions of her canvas as a reference to the Seven Seas:

Mary stitched her landscape area, referencing the Seven Hills of Rome, each in a different stitch pattern:

Susan went with a literal interpretation, stitching the seven dots on either side of her yummy cupcake:

Judy has her Asian Rider traveling through the "Forest of the Seven Bamboos" (I told you we had some folks who are really creative with their clue interpretations!) 

The Games continue to evolve each month, becoming ever more fun!  We have a monthly participation prize, and the winner's name is drawn by none other than Ruth Schmuff's UPS man, Sterling!  This is him, drawing the name of the March winner, Kelly Clark (yes, THE Kelly Clark!) How fun is that?? 

That's just a few of the highlights for this month, come on over to Stitcherie if you want to see the rest of our canvases.  I need to get to work on my own canvas, but I seem to always be the "last minute" person, stitching frantically on the last night of the month!  Still not sure what I'll stitch, as I'm a bit put out that my witch's skirt has eight black stripes and not seven-- drat!  It would be so easy, if not particularly creative, if that were the case! 

Thanks so much for looking, and until next time, Happy Stitching!

Stitchy Stuff

I realized it's been a while since I updated you on the Stitching Games over on Stitcherie.  Last month's clue was "Cheese",  so I stitched in my the face and hair on my canvas, with the story that my Little Witch (canvas by Patty Paints) was getting ready for picture day at Spell School.  Making up the stories that go along with these clues add so much fun to the actual stitching-- go check out the discussion group over on Stitcherie to see what I mean, our participants have really come up with some entertaining yarns (no pun intended!)

Next up is a fabulous stitch of my Pirate Mermaid by Andrea K of Stitch by Stitch in Larchmont, New York.  Great work, love the beads!  Be sure to check out the shop blog to see more! 

And lastly, here is a stitched and in the finishing process Garden Party Heart by Jeannine Bartnicki of BeStitched Needlepoint in Scottsdale, Arizona.  She has Carolyn Hedge Baird of the Chaparral in Houston choosing ribbons from the shop's extensive ribbon selection for the finisher to use when fabricating this into a pillow.  I cannot wait to see it when it comes back!

Hope you've enjoyed looking, I'll be back by the weekend with more from Crazy Patch Boo-nanza!

A Mini-Update

Just a little news to share today!  I wanted to show another CandyLand Christmas Trees finish, this one was stitched by Jamie Prosser with a darling frame courtesy of Mountain Shadow Studio.   Thanks to Pawley's Island Needlepoint for sharing their photo.

And here's something interesting I wanted to share-- if you would like to learn a cool technique for stitching with overdyed threads, visit cross stitcher designer Ink Circles' blog.  I remember originally learning this technique some time ago from CA Wells and I was thrilled to see this new take on the method.  It is definitely something you need to check out regardless of what type of stitching you do.  Tracy's post originally caught my eye because she used Gloriana's "Ada's Rainbow" for her stitched example.  (Yes, I did have some part in the development of this color!)

Finally, be sure to check Ruth's site to check which stores are signing up for my new retailer club, she will be updating the list again soon! 

Tomorrow will be the end of this short month, and once again I will be working on my Stitcherie Stitching Games canvas at the very last minute!  I will have a new progress photo to show on Friday, until then, Happy Stitching! 

New Finishing and a Stitching Games Update

I have some really cute new finishing to show off today!  First of all is my Candy Cornucopia, stitched by Sandy with finishing by Barbara's Needlepoint, who always does a great job on their box finishes-- to check out the one they did with my Candyland Christmas, click here!  The stitching on this piece is amazing, they used my stitch guide as a starting point but did they ever expand and improve upon it!  The lettering is a great touch and I really admire how it is very whimsical in style but still easy to read.

In the detail photo below you can see the cute ribbons and buttons they added to the candy-- I love the extra dimension and texture they add!

Additionally, Barbara's Needlepoint intends to teach this piece in a class later in the year, I'll post more details when they are available.  

Thanks to Stephanie Wong for sharing photos of her finished Candyland Christmas with me-- she took it to Marlene's in San Francisco and had it finished into this fabulous leather purse, complete with a gorgeous green lining and monogramming!  It came out really great and I can only imagine the complements she's going to get carrying it around-- thanks Stephanie!

And though you've undoubtedly seen this already on Ruth's blog, I just couldn't resist showing it off one more time-- this is Ruth's own finished Garden Party Heart, done up in pink and green with cute felt "buttons".  Love it Ruth!!

Finally, here's an update on my Stitching Games progress: the canvas I chose was this, Ethel the Little Witch by Patty Paints.  The clue for January was "shape up" so I went for the very obvious interpretation and stitched her corset.  I used Neon Rays Plus and Sundance Beads in Criss Cross Hungarian.

That's it for now folks, thanks for looking and hope you are having a great week!