Meet the girls

It's time to unveil my latest club -- The gifted ladies. Here's one of the girls.



And another



And another



Each of the girls in the series has a gift to give or a gift she has just received. Wouldn't these be fun to stitch and give to your girl friends. I used all kinds of fun embellishments on their hats and boxes. Of course there are beads and metallics.

Have fun. The club starts shipping December 2009, so sign up early!

Barbie goes Needlepoint

I may be just about the only one who finds this so amusing but then again.



I love Barbie. I don't collect, but I still have great appreciation for the beautiful gowns and vast amount of pink that is Barbie.

Johnathan Adler is now designing for Barbie! Johnathan Adler's style is eye-poppingly "happy chic". The iconic mod designer and iconic pop culture princess have come together to make the Malibu Dream House a reality and it is oh so cool.

There is Barbie complete with Johnathan Adler furniture. Too cute! or real size furniture and accessories in perfect Barbie style. You can tell by looking at it, that it is just my style.



Love the dress too!



To further add to my delight he is producing his gorgeous lacquer accessories in hot pink. (Yes, I ordered some) and drumroll please needlepoint accessories! Okay, we could stitch them better and more interestingly but these are darn cool for mass produced items.





Love the words pillow!

and the Johnathan Adler Barbie Manifesto

We believe that your home should make you happy.

We believe that girls can do anything.

We believe that stilettos can never be too high.

We believe in a dream house, a dream car and a dream life.

We believe Barbie doll is fabulous!

Not just for the holidays

Maybe these pillows were designed for the holidays, but they really are too pretty to just put away after the first of the year. You know I love girlie stuff with an edge, and this series is just that.

All pink and orange and just a little funky. There's a high heel shoe, a boot, a handbag and a dress form for the fashionistas in all of us.



Or if you prefer your color in the breakfast nook, check out the teapot and the teacup.



I love the way our finisher finished these two, they match but they aren't matchy match. I do love our finishers!

Meet Lola!

You have to understand, I'm a gemini. Once you know that, I sort of make more sense. Everything is black or white. No gray.

Unfortunately, I tend to like both black and white. I like opposites, I like contrast.

It makes for an interesting life.

I think there are 2 people inside my head. The good thing is that they don't fight often. So, in honor of my second personality I have created Lola.



Lola is fearless and flamboyant and frivolous. All the things I am not.

Okay, maybe I'm frivolous, but you get the idea.

Lola wears boxes on her head and thinks they are haute couture. Lola can balance them and walk down stairs. How cool is that? Again, another skill I don't possess.

Most importantly, Lola is fun to stitch! She will charm and delight you through the process, all the way down to the sequins scattered in the background.

You know I love dots! Happy Stitching.

Cats and Halloween

Now you know I had to stitch this canvas. It's Halloween, it's colorful and it has a cat on it. What more can I want?

This canvas really was crazy fun to stitch. Again, it's a Michael Stoebner canvas so we have significant black outlines. Don't let that scare you. There really isn't as much black as you think. The cat is random long stitch. Yes, random. Go for it. Just do it, you can't mess it up and he looks darling.

The background is also a random stitch. This is Brenda Hart's latest brilliance. Random cross hatching or chicken scratch in just a couple of light coverage overdyes and voila you have this oh so cool background that allows the beautiful painting to show through.

You know the rules. If I stitch it, a stitch guide automatically comes with the painted canvas from now on.

My Happy Halloween gift to you!

Happy Halloween

Michael Stoebner is an artist whose designs I translate into handpainted needlepoint. He's a very talented designer, licensing his designs to Department 56 (recognize that name?) amongst others including yours truly.

We have recently stitched two of Michael's halloween canvases, Witch Services and Happy Halloween.

Michele stitched Witch Services and really downplayed Michael's signature black outlines. She is so cute. Love the crazy sequins in the background. We used lots of fabulous overdyes to bring her to life but simplify the shading.

The background is a great openwork pattern. Long laid stitches tacked down with Cross Stitches. How easy is that.



More Halloween later. But first I have to see if our little witch as a magic potion for faster stitching.

Options

I've posted the Shelly Tribbey flower shopping lady in the past that I stitched, but wanted to show you Linda's. Same canvas, same stitches, same colors. Different finishing and an entirely different look. Pretty cool!

Today, I think Linda's (the pink and cream version) is my favorite. Tomorrow I may like my own.

I've said it before, finishing is the magic that turns your needlepoint into something really great.

New, New, New — How Cool is this?

Last year as I was planning our second anniversary celebrations I asked Melissa Shirley what we could do that would be really special. She was to be one of our 3 featured trunkshows this month so what would it be?

Melissa agreed to premiere a special piece at our shop. How cool is that? We are to be the first shop ever to see this canvas.

Toward the beginning of the year we emailed and discussed what should it be. I don't know, I love all of Melissa's canvases. Each is prettier than the next. I did think it should be whimsical and fun. That's why we needlepoint, after all, to have fun. And I like girlie but not too girlie. So armed with less than no direction Melissa goes off to create.

A few weeks ago she sent me a photo and what fun it was. Friday we received the real thing. It's wonderful!



So now that it's here, I have to get busy selecting just the right stitches and threads to bring it to life. I think we need beads and ribbons. What should the background be?

Let's make it a class. Do you want to join me this fall as we create a mellow yellow blossom purse or pillow? You know where to find me.

Happy Stitching.

Ruth

How Cute Are These?

Sometimes all the parts of an idea just come together. Flash back to last Fall. We were planning introductions for the January market and we had these great Michael Stoebner designs. Wouldn't it be cute if they were more than just ornaments. What if they could sit and their little feet and legs could dangle over the edge of a shelf.

Thanks to the magic of one of my very special finishers these guys came to life. The canvases are small - ornament sized and after stitching are finished like a traditional standup with a a tiny weighted bottom.

Now for the magic, wire, ribbons and beads are used to create little legs that attach to their feet.



How Cute Is That?

Who knows, we may just need more of these little guys in our future.

It's an ornament... It's a box.... It's just cool!

Okay, so the question is what else can you do with an ornament sized odd shaped canvas other than make it into another ornament? What if you want to enjoy it year round? Well, you can applique it to just about anything. Jeans, jackets, purses, totes.

Why not take it a step further and applique it to a box top. That's exactly what we did.

One of my dearest customers called me and said, she had finished stitching my "Stitch Ornament" but she didn't know what she wanted to do with it. She didn't want it to be an ornament. She wanted a box. She had antique thread spools from a friend of hers and they were to be the feet. That's where we started. Creativity took us the rest of the way. Here's the results. I hope you enjoy it as much as we are.

Libby's Coming to Teach!

Just a quick glimpse of some of the fun we will be having in the shop this Spring. Libby Sturdy will be teaching for us at the end of April. Read all the details on our news and events page or click on the title above.

Each class is 2 days of fun, learning new stitches and playing with threads to make these charming line drawn canvases come to life. Libby is a delight; one of the most genuine people you will meet.





We hope you will join us.

Great Finishing makes all the hard work worthwhile!

I've said it before and I'll say it again. Really great finishing takes the cake!

There is nothing more exciting than receiving a box from a finisher and opening it to see your beautiful needlework transformed. It is now neat and pressed and blocked and trimmed and embellished and GORGEOUS! You love it all over again.

I had to show off these two pieces by two of my customers.

Wicked was stitched by Jane in California and will soon hang on her theater wall in her office. How cool is that? The stitching is superb and just look at the cool custom frame designed by Sharon Hall of Mountain Shadow Studio. The handpainted canvas is "Wicked" by Raymond Crawford. What a great way to remember a night at the theater. (By the way, if you haven't seen Wicked, it's a must see. I was so impressed by the writers twisting and turning a story we all think we know!)



Allison stitched this simple Halloween piece by Renaissance Designs in no time at all. Great threads, great stitches and now a great frame also by Sharon Hall of Mountain Shadow Studio. Now we just have to wait for Halloween.



Happy Stitching leads to Happy Finishing!