Look a Little Closer!

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

A Sparkling December!

So many people in my Stitch a Falling Star club are getting their ornaments home in time for the holidays this year!  Here are couple of the most recent arrivals:

Harriet just got hers from West Coast Finishing:

Polly just got a couple back also, along with a pile of other Christmas finishing:

In other club news, my Bejeweled Bargello club has a double shipment this month, as I am sending out a bonus ornament along with December's ornament:

Hope you all have a sparkling holiday season as well!!

Christmas in July!

Once again I have been honored to have my designs published in the 2016 Cross-Stitch Christmas Annual, published by Cross-Stitch & Needlework magazine.  This year's edition is titled "Yuletide Traditions" and features three of my designs!

First off is two of my existing needlepoint designs, "Merry Robin" and "Bright Bluebird".  I love the adaptation to cross-stitch on these, and the framing is just gorgeous!

Next up is Christmas Fox, this design is new and exclusive to the book:

Here a look at this year's cover, check your local bookstores and needlework shops, it will be on shelves soon!

Great Christmas Finishing!

So many cute Christmas goodies to show you this week, just in time for the holiday! 

Here is Cardinal Joy finished as a stand-up, courtesy of Fancy Stitches:

Kathy H. from Fancy Stitches finished and framed her Mod Merry from the class we had last September:

This is Linda's CandyLand Christmas with one of the cutest bow-toppers ever!

I'm slipping in another sneaky-peeky of my Palm Beach Bargello ornament that you will find in the next issue of Needlepoint Now:

Pat T.'s Mod Ornaments as a fabulous pillow!

Last but not least, Pat W.'s Santa Baby as a stand up from West Coast Finishing:

Have a wonderful holiday season everyone!!

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! 

What a Week!

I had the busiest week ever to start out the month of March, and I am only now getting sort-of caught up!  It always seems to work out for me that my otherwise empty calendar will have my few engagements all over-lapping or crammed into one very hectic week.  I started out the craziness with a weekend stitching retreat in Cleburne, Texas, where there was still this much snow on the ground, a whole week after the storms had passed:

Worried about getting snowed in, we brought tons of provisions, including this Texas-sized box of chocolates!

The hotel provided us with one of their largest conference rooms, which we had jam-packed.  This is just one corner!

I brought a ton of canvases to stitch, including Mod Ornaments:

A trip to Cleburne always includes at least one trip to Fancy Stitches!  This is a great stitch & finish of  one of my Texas flag canvases by Kathy.  It certainly does make me feel right at home to visit such a lovely shop that has so many of my canvases on the walls!

In May, Cynthia will be teaching another of my holiday collage canvases (she did the Halloween one last year.)

These are two versions of my Alpine Puzzle charted design that they have done, on lime canvas and on lavender. FYI, Fancy Stitches is THE place to call if you are looking for some of these very hard to find custom canvas colors.

Finally, I was in Cleburne also to pick up my models that were in the Thistle Hill needlepoint exhibit from the week before.  Unfortunately, the event was snowed-out for 3 of its 4 day run.  My friends and Thistle Hill volunteers Sally Ann and Sualice worked so hard toting these models around!  Here are a couple of photos that Saulice took of my stuff on display in the dining room:

And that was just the start of the week, I got home Sunday, went to the Houston rodeo on Monday, had a class on Tuesday, a stitch-in on Wednesday, my ANG meeting on Thursday, and then a 3-day Tony Minieri class Friday through Sunday! The rest of this month is pretty open though, and I need it to try to actually get some work done!  Happy Stitching! 

Two Gorgeous Finishes by TJ Designs Needlepoint Finishing

Just wanted to share these two lovely finishes by TJ Designs Needlepoint Finishing.  Her customer Annice Hill stitched my Winter Tree canvas and TJ's made it into a fabulously embellished ornament:

This is my Candy Cornucopia canvas finished into a very glamorous bag.  I finished my original model of this much the same way, but with feathers rather than fur.  I have to say I really like the fur version, and it probably doesn't shed nearly as much as my feathered version either! 

Happy Wednesday, thanks for stopping by!

Winter Waterfall Bracelet in the January 2015 Issue of Needlepoint Now

I have been a little remiss on telling you all about my latest design in Needlepoint Now magazine, Winter Waterfall.  It is the latest in my series of cuff bracelets and this one has a distinctively frosty winter feel.  

It utilizes one of my all time favorite techniques, Bargello!  So fun and so quick to stitch and of course, it sparkles too!  Lots of FyreWerks metallics and I added a touch of Swarovski crystal bling as well.  Here is a detail photo of the design while it was still under construction:

Hope you may find this helpful if you are stitching the design, although I doubt you'll need it as it is so easy to do!

Here's a look at it in the magazine, with the wonderful styling you expect from Needlepoint Now:

Hope you will enjoy stitching this, and as always, if you have questions please contact me here at the blog.  Happy Stitching!

Christmas Finishing

Two great finishes today, both fitting the season!  This set of Atomic Ornaments was stitched by Catherine Stroup.  Just fabulous!!

Stephanie Wong had her Candyland Christmas Trees finished into a gorgoeous hot pink leather handbag!

These two ladies have definitely got their holiday stitching taken care of, wish I could say the same!

A Christmas Story, the End. Or Is It?

After painting six canvases, it did finally occur to me that the original request had only been for ornaments.  So unless you are decorating a Texas-sized tree, 10 inch tall stand ups are a bit big to be an ornament.  So finally I did paint what she actually asked for!

Kringle Belle Ornament

"Bearing Gifts"

4.5 x 6 on 18ct.

Kringle Belle Ornament

"Bearing Candy"

4.5 x 6 on 18ct.

Kringle Belle Ornament

"Bearing Ornaments"

4.5 x 6 on 18ct.

So that's the end of the tale, right?  No, not yet!  There has been a hint that there will be a need for more Belles in the future, plus I've had a brand new request for some Kringle Beaus!  Back to work for me!