A Needle Art Love Story, Chapter 9 Begins Today

If you are in the Fort Worth area, you need to stop by this amazing exhibit of needle art at one of Fort Worth's very best historic mansions.  Now in it's 9th year, I am proud to say I have produced a new heart design for each "chapter" in this Love Story!  These canvases are sold at the show as a fundraiser for the preservation of Historic Fort Worth.  Here is this year's canvas:

The canvas is sold with a stitch guide, and kits are available as well-- here is the stitched model:

Here's a look at past year's hearts, also on display at the show:

I also exhibited 6 of my own designs at the show, here they are on display inside the gorgeous historic mansion, Ball-Eddleman-McFarland house:

For more information, see www.historicfortworth.org

Texas Ornaments!

Here is a great pic of a whole set of my "12 Days of Tex-mas" ornaments, stitched and donated to a charity auction in Houston:

Meanwhile, Letha C. is stitching hers from the non-holiday themed club at Fancy Stitches, here are her latest two finishes:

Lots of Great Kits Over at The Tinsmith's Wife!

Boy, have the ladies over at The Tinsmith's Wife been busy kitting up EyeCandy canvases!  Look at all these fun things to choose from!  Be sure to stop by on your next trip to the Texas Hill Country or just give them a call! 

Texas Ornaments Club!

We are kicking off the summer stitching season at Fancy Stitches with this exclusive club, available as a Christmas ornament set with a "12 Days" theme or as a non-holiday set that you can display every day!  Give Fancy Stitches a call at 817-641-4761 to sign up!

Finishing Up February With a Finish (or Two!)

Two nice finishes to share, this is my Christmas Tree Trio, stitched by Paige at the Stitching Studio!

"No Place Like Home" stitched by Elizabeth at Stitches in Time in Houston! 

Texas Collage Classes Now in January AND March!

Everything's bigger in Texas, including the demand for spaces in Cynthia's Texas Collage class!  In order to meet the demand for class seats, she will be teaching this class on January 26 and an encore on March 2, 2019.  And if you can't make it on either date, call Fancy Stitches and request a kit.  Please call the shop for all the details: 817 641 4761. 

Texas Collage!

The newest addition to my Collage series is here, Texas!  Stitched by Cynthia Pigg at Fancy Stitches, she will teach this as a class next January!  Call the shop at 817 641 4761 for details! 

Happy Holidays, a Canvas Update!

I stitched the canvas below as a gift for one of my favorite hotels, the Liberty in Cleburne, Texas.  My stitcher friends gather there 4-5 times a year to retreat and stitch and eat, and the hotel staff are always the perfect hosts.  I wanted a souvenir canvas not only for all my friends but something to gift the hotel as well.  My friend Kathy snapped a photo of it on the Liberty's tree this year:

I have recently updated this canvas, instead of having 2016 painted at the bottom (which marks the year I gifted it), it now has the "L" of the hotel logo.  This canvas will be available at Cleburne's local shop, Fancy Stitches.

And the Winner Is...

The winner for possibly the best background stitch EVER is Donna F. with this great heart pattern adorning my "No Place Like Home" canvas:

And this one wins the "best background in a needlepointing photo" award!  This is my favorite picture ever!  If Polly V. did not take home a prize from the fair for either her pig or her needlepoint I hope she'll take mine as a consolation prize!  The canvas is my Pink Punkin Halloween Cottage, available with kit and stitch guide from Chandail. 

Some Great New Stitches!

People have been busy stitching bees this summer so far, here are some great stitches of my canvases, soon to be on their way to the finishers:

Paula B. stitched this fabulous rendition of Pirate Mermaid, doesn't it look great?

Andrea A. completed her CandyLand Christmas so quickly I could hardly believe my eyes!  Love the background stitches on this one!

Barb W. gets a ton of stitching done while she travels, she just completed one of the designs from my Stitch a Falling Star club:

I'm sneaking in a stitched and finished one too, this is one of my Thistle Hill ornaments stitched by Ann T.:

Hey Y'all!

My friend Sandy stitched my "Hey Y'all" Texas state ornament and turned it into a frame-able piece by adding a background and a great border using a color coordinated variegated thread.  It really turned out great!

And speaking of ornaments, here's a big batch of Bejeweled Bargello ornaments fresh from TJ's finishing:

Souvenir Canvases

I love canvases that commemorate an event, memory or place.  This is a canvas I painted as a souvenir for of a group of friends who I go to a stitching retreat with at The Liberty Hotel in Cleburne, TX a few times a year. I stitched the one on the top and gave it to the hotel staff for their Christmas tree. My friend Linda stitched the one below and she made a very nice job of it too!

I also painted a souvenir canvas for our favorite needlework shop, also located in Cleburne, Fancy Stitches.  This one was stitched by shop teacher Cynthia:

I also have a series of canvases painted for the annual Needlepoint Love Story at Thistle Hill in Fort Worth.  These are the first 3 in that series:

And this is the 2017 one:

Thanks so much to Sally, Sualice, Suzy, Naomi and French Knot for their great work on the Thistle Hill ornament series!

More Custom Heart Ornaments!

I have two more new designs, both heart-shape ornaments in the spirit of what I have done for Thistle Hill.  These designs are exclusively for Fancy Stitches, the first design depicts the shop itself, the second is the Liberty Hotel, also located in Cleburne, TX and familiar to many who have visited the shop.  Cynthia, who stitched my Falling Stars club, has stitched the Fancy Stitches heart and of course she has written up a stitch guide too!  Just give the shop a call at 817 641 4761 to order your canvas today! 

A Needlepoint Love Story Chapter Three Starts Today!

This year's needlepoint exhibit at Thistle Hill in Fort Worth officially kicks off today with a champagne reception at the mansion! I'm hoping that all of the needlepoint angels who bring this event to life will be there sipping bubbly and receiving many, many accolades for all the hard work they have done already and all they still have left to do.  They will be presiding over the show all weekend, and come Monday, they have to carefully re-pack all those treasures and get them safely back to their homes again.

Here's a look at the commemorative ornaments available for sale this year. All proceeds go to Historic Fort Worth to help with the preservation of these beautiful properties.  

This ornament commemorates last year's snowstorm that nearly cancelled the show:

 

This year's ornament shows the beautiful front gates:

The inaugural year's ornament showcases the front doors of the house:

Hope you can make it to this year's show, it's the biggest one yet with almost 800 pieces on display!  See you there!