Sunday, March 24, 2013

Sunday Sampler of Tips from Margaret Bendig

Our class with talented Margaret Bendig was this past few days. The piece we did was Journey and the color combinations the ladies chose were gorgeous. Just take a look!



 This charted design has lots of woven stitches and waffle stitches , a few of Margaret's favorite stitches. 

Here are a few of the tips we learned from Margaret on basic techniques.

1. When stitching Continental or Tent Stitch  or Satin Stitch:
     - Always come up through the canvas hole in the odd numbers and go down in the even ones.
     - When stitching from:
         Left to Right- follow this chart

        Right to left - follow this chart     
        Top to bottom- follow this chart
        Bottom to top -follow this chart
    I know by now you are saying- boring. But next time you stitch and wonder
why you are not getting the coverage  when stitching satin stitch, 
refer to these diagrams. Or take a doodle cloth and stitch some satin stitch with these diagrams. These are basic techniques that will make a big difference in your projects.

  2. Before you finishing your stitching for the day, thread up six or so needles .
 Then, the next day when you have 10 or so minutes to stitch you are ready to work. This is  a great way to get a project moving when your time is limited to stitch. Instead of spending time getting your thread out and threading your needles, you spend the time stitching to complete your project.

  3.  Anchoring your threads to start or end a stitch
       
       Away Waste knot
        When stitching continental  or tent , use an away waste knot and stitch over the thread tail, then clip off the knot.
                T stitch 
          When using a larger stitches over more than tow threads, such as a  waffle or woven, the "T" stitch works well to anchor the thread. 

           
           L Stitch
          
          When you are using a satin stitch that is only more than two threads, the "L" stitch works well.

                                    
                 Back stitch
                  
                This works to anchor threads when you are using narrow stitches over two threads,  like Smyrna crosses, Mosaic or Van Dyke stitch used in borders. 
         Remember when ending a thread, to make sure that your work will cover the anchoring stitch. If you can carefully separate a few stitches  and work a Back stitch, this is a good way to end a thread. Sometimes you will have no choice but to run a thread under the back of your finished work but be careful not to disturb the stitches on the front of your work.

Last year we did Margaret's Southwest Kimono which is stitched in turquoise, terra cotta and copper . Mine is not quite finished but here is this pattern done in blue by another class student which is just beautiful. She like me, is partial to the color blue.



  
 Have a wonderful Sunday!

                                                

Sunday, March 17, 2013

Happy St. Patricks Day!



 Did you know that St Patrick's in Ireland has become a four day festival?
 Click here for the link on the St Patrick's celebration in Ireland.  


 Melissa Shirley has an Erin Go Braugh design that is 12.5"x9" on 18 mesh. As well these St. Paddy Kids are adorable.

             

All are 3.5"x5" on 18 mesh.

From Kathy Schenkel, these designs are 4"x4" on 18 mesh. 




  Shamrock cuff links-
 Houndstooth on green bow tie- 3.25"x2.25" on 18 mesh. 
 Enjoy your day and happy stitching!














































Sunday, March 10, 2013

Sunday Sampler of Needlepoint Books

Here are some newly published as well as previously published needlepoint books in the store that you would enjoy having in your library.

Colorful Backgrounds

 Colorful  Backgrounds  is the newest of June McKnight's  library of instructional books   It is handy and portable. There are 90 pages of ideas for vibrant backgrounds with helpful suggestions for patterns, color combinations and special effects. 

Great Layers for Needlepoint by Julia Snyder




This book contains 63 pages of layered stitches to use for backgrounds, landscapes, floral and fruit designs to name just a few.  You will start with long stitches across your design then add tent stitches, back stitches , crosses stitches , and  more.   \There is even a handy blank page between the sections for your notes. 


Alphabets Fun and Fabulous

There are 40+ alphabets including block letters, art deco , signal flags and Hebrew . The charts are easy to follow and adapt to your canvas.

Just Flowers

First published in 1994, this book focuses on Crewel and Silk Emboridery.
It depicts in color comprehensive step by step instructions with innovative embroidery techniques . 96 pages of beautiful flowers easily adapted to your canvas.

That's Not Needlepoint  series 2



In this book, dede Ogden has presented these stitched canvasesButterfly Collection (ED-17016), Moonlight Dancing Witches (ED-18018),  Topiary Tree with Butterflies (ED-17029).Candyland Cottage #17003; 3D Snowflake #18042, and Strawberries on a Tree #1330 A-L.. Each project has a color photo of the finished piece, thread list and stitch guide. You can use these stitches on so many of your own projects.

So think about adding a book to your library of one of these or one of the
many others available at Quail Run Needlework.

Sunday, March 3, 2013

Sunday Sampler of Charted Needlepoint

The Nashville Needlework market is a cross-stitch and charted needlepoint
market. Nashville offers great food, music and culture so is a wonderful place for a market. Here are some of the wonderful charted needlepoint designs  that I am bringing back to the shop on Monday.

 Needle Delights Originals include multiple colorsways.


Here is what designer Kathy Rees says about my favorite new design on the right, called BlackJack
"All of my new releases for market are done and printed...whew! The last completed was BlackJack and I designed and stitched the whole piece in 12 days! Of course it was in my head for months before coming out on the canvas! There are 324 squares in the piece and 292 unique patterns (36 squares were completely filled with the Jacks and are all the same! I love bright colors so this was a really fun piece for me. It's hard to believe it didn't exist a month ago and now it's here - I feel like it's my new baby!"
What a great project this will be to stitch.


Debbie Rowley, the talented designer behind DebBee's Designs has exciting new projects to entice and challenge you.

 This is Twinkling Gems, debuting a new thread, Twinkle, rayon/metallic blend. This is a very user friendly thread that has been ordered for the shop . 

From Nancy's  Needle designs by Nancy Buhl, come new additions to her "American Life' series.  This one really caught my eye and so is coming back to the shop.




 Charted needlepoint can be done in your colors , so another way to customize your stitched pieces. Lots of other charted designs coming back to the shop for your stitching enjoyment. See you soon!