So What Else is New?

Outside of the new canvas designs I released for the Summer TNNA Market, I have a couple of other new projects to show off as well.  The first one I actually did last summer and had forgotten about it until my Facebook friend Kristen gave me a heads up (and took the photo for me too!)  This is a cross stitch adaptation of CandyLand Christmas Tree Farm that I did for the 2012 edition of the Cross Stitch Christmas Annual published by Better Homes & Gardens. (The company also publishes Cross Stitch & Needlework magazine.) Unfortunately, I don't have the name of the model stitcher, but they did a wonderful job! 

The other project is a new canvaswork design that will be published this Winter in Needlepoint Now.  I can only show you a portion of it for now, though.  I should tell you that the finished project looks a little different currently, as it was somewhat transformed during the finishing process.  Have I sparked your interest yet? This design and a companion piece will be published in two issues starting November 2012.

Finally, a note about the blog itself-- a big thank you to Vicky De Angelis for adding my blog to her wonderful blog's roll.  Glad you are out there keeping an eye on me Vicky! ;)  And speaking of blog rolls, please take note that I have added one to my own.  Danielle has been keeping her blog, Peace Love and Stitching since 2010, but she's new to needlepoint.  You'd never know that however, since she has taken off like a seasoned pro-- she already has started building a canvas stash and has several projects in the works.  It's been great fun watching her and reminiscing about the days when I made my first foray from cross stitch to counted thread and then painted canvas.  Good times!

That's all for now folks!  Try to stay cool and stitch this weekend!

The Garden Party Has Started!

While the Garden Party Mystery officially got under way the Sunday before last when Ruth held the first class, the party started later for those of us in the "correspondence course" group.  I can tell you there was much anticipation all week for that brown truck to show up with our canvas, kits and Snap Trays! (Yes, this class has it's own official Snap Tray!  Read all about it on Ruth's blog.) Super-stitchers Cheryl, Jeannine, Sharon, Suzy and et. al. have kept us up to date on exactly when their UPS men finally dropped off the goods and I do believe all of them have gotten started and are well on their way to completing their first lesson.  You can keep up with all of the fun stitchy chit-chat over on the official discussion group page over on Stitcherie.  In the meantime, here's a review of Lesson One:

Ruth has chosen a background for each area that is totally perfect for each motif:

I think this one may be my favorite, I love dots!

Although this one is right up my alley with sequins!

But I also love hearts and the color orange, so how can I really choose??

This section is pretty special as well as it uses a fun overdye thread, something I don't feel I ever get enough of!

And here is the too-fabulous Snap Tray, created exclusively for this class.  I'm pretty partial to it, but I may be somewhat biased!

Those who are all caught up on the first lesson as well as the folks we have who are "sideline spectators" are already anxious to see what Ruth has lined up for next time, including me.  Yep, no sneak peeks for me, not even the Snap Tray.  Ruth is a champion stitcher as well as secret-keeper!  Until her next blog update on July 8th, Happy Stitching! 

To Market, To Market!

This weekend is the Summer needlework trade show in Columbus, otherwise known as "the Market" by your LNS owners.  It's one of two large wholesale shows each year where shop owners see the latest and greatest in needlepoint and meet the canvas designers.  If you are blog hopping and otherwise doing some online shopping this weekend you will probably see a lot of updates and pictures of "What's New" from this market.  I updated my own website with my new designs a couple of weeks back (and I did one or two sneak peeks back in April here on the blog) but I thought I would go ahead and spotlight a few more of the new canvases here today as well.

Fairy Tales are everywhere this year, both on TV and in the movies (there have been two Snow White movies just this year) so I decided to get with the trend and add them to my line. Of all of the designs, it is this Snow White one that I have had the most positive feedback on, which surprised me as I had worried that no one else would like the color scheme but me! Shows how much I know.  But I thought that the colors red, white and black were central to the storyline so I went with it.  The text that I have added to each canvas is in reference to the beautiful illustrated fairy tale books we all read growing up. 

If a larger canvas is not your thing, I took a couple of the motifs from the Cinderella collage and made them into ornament sized canvases.  This is Cindy's pumpkin coach, I also did one for her magic slipper.

I did not want to miss out on the "Keep Calm" trend either, since there are more variations on that theme in needlepoint seemingly every day.  Here is my take on the Keep Calm & Carry On poster:

I also added to my HalloweenVille collection with four new designs.  This one is Tricks or Treats:

This one is a view into a witch's own garden, her plants have gotten somewhat out of control! 

I didn't neglect my Kitty Collection either, eventually I will have one for every holiday.  This is Paddy Paws:

Canvas inserts for pre-finished leather goods are in big demand so I have added this 5x6 version of Floating Flowers to the line:

I haven't added anything to my Stars collection for a while so this summer I have two new ones, a Holiday version of my Halloween Star and a new large (8x10) design that I'm calling Falling Stars:

Those are the highlights, but if you wish to see the entire collection, please check out my What's New page over on my website.  I'll be perusing all the other What's New pages I can find in the next couple of weeks, I can't wait to see what else we'll all be stitching on this Fall.  Until then, Happy Stitching! 

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!  

Trunk Show Update

Where is the EyeCandy Trunk Show this month?  Way up north at Barbara's Needlepoint in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, that's where!  Starting tomorrow and running until July 6th, Barbara's will have the full line of EyeCandy designs as well as Ruth's too of course,  plus stitched models as well.  Stop in if you can or give them a call at 605 367 9050 for mail order.  Barbara's is also one of the stores carrying our Hoot Hoot Owl club, so you can sign up for those too while you're at it! 

Did you know Barbara's does finishing?  I love this photo from their Facebook album of Barbara herself working on a gigantic stand up:

It looks like a mountain of stuffing is going into that piece! Plus, I love the peek at that long wall of threads  in the background--  looks like great shopping to be had there, hope you will get a chance to check it out!