Needle Delights Originals

Brilliant Color...

2012-02-23T05:40:00.000-08:00

is the name of the last design I'm releasing this weekend. I'm really happy with the way it turned out (this is the piece I had to rip out & redesign the black and white border). This design uses most of the threads from Rio with the addition of a dozen or so solid Vineyard silks - with one skein of each color, you can stitch both designs!

I'm packing up the car and leaving today. Market is always such fun. We get to see old friends and it's like a family reunion! I'm taking my camera and will try to remember to take pictures!

A new Jewel & Gemstone design...

2012-02-22T09:25:00.000-08:00

Here's the third design being released this weekend. It joins my "Jewels & Gemstones" series. I keep a notebook with a list of the order & date I release designs and was surprised to see that it has been two years since I did a J&G - the last one was Aquamarine! This one is called Sugilite, which is fairly uncommon and not well known. I wanted to do a design with a bunch of the purple Watercolours and a great friend (thanks Jayne!) suggested Sugilite. I wasn't familiar with it but googled it and was happy to see it was just what I was looking for!

I'll post the last release tomorrow! Think Brilliant!!

Rio...

2012-02-21T17:04:00.000-08:00

Taking a break from stuffing patterns to show you another new pattern being released this weekend. Rio is the latest in my Destination collection and is stitched with Overdyed Vineyard Silks from Threadworx along with solid black and white Vineyard silks (for the border). If you haven't used this thread it's fabulous, yummy, and wonderful to work with!

Countdown to Nashville...

2012-02-20T19:46:00.000-08:00

I'm exhibiting at the TNNA trade show in Nashville this weekend and have been working like crazy to get everything done. I'm releasing 4 new designs! The new patterns are at the printer (I'm picking them up tomorrow!) and then I have to put them in their plastic bags. I'm fortunate to have a great friend who has the day off tomorrow and is coming over to help - it'll be much more fun than doing it by myself!

I'll be introducing a new series of designs called "Double Delights" - here's the first one and it's called "Turple".

Double Delights is a series that will focus on combinations of two colors - this combo is Turquoise and Purple. You can find more info and signup details at Double Delights on my website.
Check back often this week as I'll post pictures of the rest of my new releases!

And just because...here's the latest photo of my boy cat Boots!

Total frustration...

2012-02-09T17:51:00.000-08:00

Here's a photo of what I did last night - two and a half hours of ripping out, reverse stitching, frogging, cursing, whatever you want to call it...the day before, I had finished a big design I'll be releasing in a few weeks only to discover what I thought would be a perfect border wasn't right at all. I made the mistake of not stepping away from it to take a look before I plowed through hours & hours of stitching to get it done.

On a positive note, I finally came up with a name for this piece and it will be called Brilliant Color (thanks Dad!). I had agonized over many many names and a brief conversation with my father produced the happy result. What a relief! Several of my friends are probably even happier than I am at having a name as now they don't have to listen to my stressful conversations! Sometimes naming a design is the hardest part!

Back to stitching the black & white border on Brilliant Color...I can't wait to show you all the new pieces (4 of them!) I will be releasing in Nashville. Stay tuned...

Kathy

A creative finish!

2012-01-27T20:10:00.000-08:00

This is a brick cover created by Kelsey's Needle Krafts. Sue was nice enough to send me a photo after she told me about it on the phone! They took the Color Delights - Aqua chart and did it in three different colors (orange, purple, and turquoise - great combination of colors, by the way!) for this fun block.

I was out of town this past week and had an opportunity to visit a few needlework shops. It was great to put my hands on threads and pick out some colorways for future projects!

I'm working on my new series Double Delights. The first in the series will be released next week for auto customers and will be introduced at market next month. I'll show a photo soon!

Bad news....good news...

2012-01-09T20:44:00.000-08:00

The bad news is I've been sick with a bad cold/sinus thingy. The good news is I did a lot of stitching over the weekend because I didn't have the energy to do anything else. My colorful piece is coming along nicely although I wish I knew what I'm going to call it! Here's a little more for you to see...this piece will be released towards the end of February. The unstitched area between the larger and smaller squares is what I call an "inside border". I'm not completely certain of what I'm doing here...still considering a few options.

I took a photo of my finished piece I'm calling Sugilite and cropped it to show you a peek before it will be released next month. This was a fun piece to do and is mostly all the purple Watercolours I could put in it!

Tonight I'll leave you with one last word about drawing on canvas. Always have a white artist's eraser on hand - it erases mishaps "cleanly" and doesn't leave any marks on the canavas like a regular pencil eraser will. I've used several brands over the years and they all seem to work just fine. Don't ask me what "Mars plastic" is...I don't know and never really thought one thing about it until I took this photo!

About drawing the lines...

2012-01-05T17:46:00.000-08:00

Robin asked, "After you've drawn the line in the groove, is your first thread to the right, say, No. 1, and the last thread, No. 36, adjacent to the groove? This would mean, I believe, that the holes in the groove are shared by two squares. Do I have that right?"

Yes, Robin is correct. The drawn line and the holes it covers are shared by two squares. Also, where the lines intersect, that hole is shared by four squares (above & below and left & right). I hope this will motivate you to try canvas if you haven't already!

I've been putting together my Mystery kits...am waiting on a few threads and mainly the canvas to arrive so I can get them off in the mail. More info about the Mystery Project is on my website. You can still sign up...Besides the Peacock colorway (my original colors), the "bestsellers" so far are Appalachia & Sherwood Forest. I'm actually thinking about using the Sherwood Forest threads for a new design - it's one of the latest threads Caron released (yes, about a year ago!) and I've been wanting to do something with it.

Here's another look at my current "WIP"! It's moving along and I've already decided to make some changes! What else is new?

Work is done for the day and now I get to play with a needle and thread! Happy Stitching!
Kathy

A few more squares...

2012-01-03T16:19:00.000-08:00

I thought I'd show a little progress. This is really fun to work on! I've been working all day today mailing out orders and am looking forward to a quiet evening of stitching with a flannel quilt and cat on my lap - it's colder than usual here in northwest Florida!

Hope you're stitching too!
Kathy

New Year...New Project...

2012-01-02T22:31:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year! I always select a "Word for the Year" and this year I decided on CREATE. I considered Creative & Creativity but finally decided on create because so many words can come after. For example, Create a design, Create a new life, workspace, garage, Create a healthier lifestyle, etc, etc.

Along these lines, I started a new design and took some photos to show you the beginning...this will be somewhat of a "tutorial" on how I begin to stitch a project on canvas. Once I've decided on the "bones" of the design, I draw the outline on the canvas.

You may wonder why I always draw the outlines on my canvas and strongly recommend in most of my patterns that the lines be drawn on the canvas before stitching. After all, isn't it "counted" canvas?! Well...if you take the few extra minutes to draw the outline on the canvas before you begin stitching, it will save you hours of time (which you can use to stitch!) because you won't have to count as much and you will have lots of places where you are double-checking to be sure you're stitching the right thing in the right place. I often have students tell me that having the lines makes it a lot easier and much more fun to stitch. I recently had a friend visit who told me that she'd gotten very frustrated with one of my pieces. I asked why and she said it was because she'd gotten off somewhere and couldn't figure it out. I was quite dismayed until she sheepishly admitted she didn't draw the lines and that contributed greatly to her trouble. She said she wasn't going to ever tell me but decided it would be okay. We had a little lesson on drawing outlines on canvas and she'll probably never not draw the lines again, especially when I write "I Strongly Encourage Drawing the Lines" at the beginning of the pattern!

For this new piece, I decided on large squares 36 by 36 threads. There will be six squares across and six squares down. First, I find the center of the canvas (I use a long ruler) and make a cross where the intersection is the center of the canvas.

Here's a close up of a line being drawn. I place the pencil in the "groove" between two threads so the line is actually drawn on the holes and not on a long thread. I place the pencil and then drag it along the canvas (very lightly). Ideally, I'd use a hard #3 pencil but in reality I am very careful and use a mechanical pencil. There needs to be 36 threads between the drawn lines so you need to be able to see a thread directly on each side of the line.

I then count 36 threads and draw a short line and continue across until I have three blocks. I then turn the canvas upside down and mark the other side the same way. I do it like this because I find working in one direction is more comfortable than the other.

At this point I extend the vertical center line closer to the top and bottom of the design. I then turn the canvas and mark the canvas just as I did from side to side. Before drawing the lines all the way across, I recount to make 100% sure I counted correctly the first time - this is the "Measure twice, cut once" theory! (I didn't take a photo at this point - sorry).
Next up is a photo of a closeup of one 36x36 thread square - note how the lines are "on the holes".

Here's the canvas, completely drawn. After I took the photo, I realized there was a red Sharpie and a yellow highlighter on the counter next to the canvas - they were there because I'd been using them earlier for something else. DO NOT ever use either of these to mark your canvas!

I love a new canvas! The last step before stitching is to attach the canvas to wood stretcher bars with rust-proof tacks. Now I'm ready to stitch - yeah! The picture is crooked, not the canvas!

And...here's the first square...I'll post my progress as I continue...I'm using Vineyard silks and Threadworx overdyed silks again - I just love them!

And...what post would be complete without a photo of the animals...my faithful stitching companions. They don't usually lie on this table together but this day they were so I grabbed the camera. Sammi is in the front and Boots in the back - they like to "sun" themselves under the lamp!

Happy New Year to all! May you have many happy hours of stitching in 2012!
Kathy

Stitching & More Ornaments

2011-12-20T11:29:00.000-08:00

I've been working on Sugilite and am almost done!! That means I can start on something new which is one of my favorite things to do. Here's a little bit of it - I changed the orientation and what I showed last time as the left side is now the top. There's one more square on the left side of this photo but it's not done yet. I like the way this is turning out even though it's not what I originally envisioned - it's fun when that happens!

I thought I'd share a few more ornaments with you - most of these are from exchanges and I love them. Long ago (about 10 years) we had a stitching group called Friends Who Count and we had an ornament exchange every year. The first few are from that time period. I'm especially happy to have this first one as the person who stitched it passed away a couple of years ago - she designed it herself using various parts of Shepherd's Bush patterns. The picture doesn't show how great it is -

The photo above shows the back of the previous ornament - the person who stitched it NEVER did cross stitch (she was/is a master of canvaswork) and wondered what she was thinking when she picked this out to do. I asked her to sign it and I love having it signed and dated. I think it's a great idea - if you make ornaments as gifts, be sure to put the date on it! Sue: If you're reading this, 1997?? Where has the time gone?

I made this ornament for the shop - it's on opalescent linen and the sparkle it adds is perfect for ornaments (it doesn't show in the photograph.

My mom stitched this Joan Thomasson angel - I'm not sure how it ended up in my ornament box but I'm happy to have it!

This ornament was one of the first things I "designed" as part of an Ornament of the Month club when I first opened the shop on my own. I drew a circle on a piece of canvas, picked a Watercolour and a metallic thread, picked a stitch, and made the ornament. When I started with these, I never dreamed I'd be designing full time some day!

Last but not least, here is another non-stitched ornament. It's a Santa made from an old quilt. Mom got it for me a few years agoo and it's really cute.

Back to work...peace!

Kathy

Mystery 2012...

2011-12-13T17:56:00.000-08:00

colorways have been chosen and posted to my website. Here's a photo of part of my kitchen counter - a great workplace, I've discovered! Check them out at Mystery Colorways.

I'm off to stitch - I've been working on the website all afternoon...and need a break!
Kathy

A whole lot of stitching...

2011-12-11T21:41:00.000-08:00

is going on. Actually it has been going on but I've been working on my Mystery design which I can't show you because it's a Mystery... I'll be posting info and details about signing up soon (the kits and first pattern installment will go out in January). I'm just about done with it and I'm at a place now where I can put it down for a bit and work on something new. I starting stitching last night on this fun purple design which I will call Sugilite (it's a gemstone). Here's a bit of a sneak peek...

I have my tree up and took some photos of some of the ornaments to share with you. Here's the tree decorated with a lot of stitched ornaments. I'm fortunate to be able to say that many of the ornaments are from exchanges over the years and it always is wonderful to think of the people who have stitched them. I feel like I have little bits of lots of people on my tree. I went to my EGA Guild Christmas Luncheon yesterday and here is the latest addition to my tree. As I don't do much hardanger, I was thrilled to get this beauty. I was most impressed that the back of the ornament was stitched too!

Here's my tree...

and a few ornaments...the pictures didn't really turn out well.

This is from the very first Tiny Tidings pattern Lizzie Kate published (I think she's up to 15 years now). The metal horn next to it is an old ornament from our family's tree.

This is a needlepoint ornament from Gay Ann Rogers - it is just the center of one of her mystery designs that I started and never finished. I made it into an ornament (well, my mom did!) and poof, it's done and beautiful! You don't always have to stitch the entire design and this is a great example.

An old Prairie Schooler santa from one of their leaflets - it combines santa & snowmen, favorites of mine for Christmas decorating.

A Princess & Me needlepoint ornament - this also combines two of my favorite things - stars and snowmen.

The temari ball on the left is the first one (but not the only!) I ever made - I did make a few more complicated ones but didn't really catch the fever to make a lot of them. I'm happy to have them on my tree. The "Twirlament" on the right is an original design I did as part of a series of Ornaments of the Month a few years ago. Here's another...there are 12 of them and maybe I should think about publishing them?

The left photo shows it on the tree and the photo on the right is much more accurate in coloring and clarity!

Ok, this isn't stitched but I loved these little elves when I was a young child and I rescued this one several years ago when my mom was "downsizing" her Christmas decoations!

This is another ornament from my childhood - it's felt & sequins that my grandmother made when I was a baby. My grandmother was a fine needlewoman and always used the best quality of materials which is probably why more than 40 years later, this little guy is still perfect! My brother and I have stockings that are felt and sequins my mother made when we were babies - we've had them all our lives and they are NOT tacky. My brother was horrified when my mom suggested, a number of years ago, that we replace them with needlepoint stockings so we still have them and probably always will. I'd show you but they live at my mothers, as do all the family's stockings!

I hope you're enjoying the holiday season - if you're feeling stressed, just breathe and pick up a needle!

Kathy

It's beginning...

2011-12-01T20:32:00.000-08:00

to feel a little like Christmas! I wasn't planning to put up my tree this year but this basket of ornaments got me in the mood this morning. These are the ornaments I brought home from the shop and I think I have to put up the tree so I can look at them all month long! This is one of my favorites - it's very simple but I just love it. It's a Homespun Elegance pattern.

I can't believe it's December already. November was a whirlwind month and it went by way too fast. I spent the first two weeks mailing out orders and figuring out how to work only from home. This will be an ongoing issue for me as I am still working on getting my space at home organized for my new way of working without the shop.

I went to a Dear Jane quilt retreat with my mom the week before Thanksgiving. This is an annual event for us and we go to Shipshewana, Indiana. It's in the northern part of the state and primarily an Amish town. We hit Lolly's, the local quilt shop, as soon as we drove into town, before we even checked into the hotel. We met our friend Mary who drove in from VA and before too long, we had destroyed a new display of Moda flannels - mom and Mary bought all of them while I looked on. They may not look like much in this photo but they are scrumptious and the softest flannel I've ever felt (and I have felt a LOT as it was the first type of fabric I collected when I started quilting). I can't wait to see the quilts they make from them.

I don't have any other photos of the retreat to share - my camera never made it out of my purse again but I did take these photos when I got home of the quilts I finished there. First is an Auburn quilt I made for my niece for Christmas. It's a great quilt for a teenager who loves Auburn but it was very constricting to only use three colors in a quilt, especially with one of them being orange...

Here's the back...I used all the leftover fabric as I didn't want to add it to my stash!

And, here's a closeup of the quilting - the longarmer (I do not do my own quilting) put footballs on it...we did this on my nephew's FL Gators quilt last year and they loved it.

Here's the 2nd quilt I finished there...it's mostly Kaffe Fasset fabrics with a few batiks thrown in. I made this to order for someone who wanted "RED". It's very red but the turquoise inner border really set the whole thing off.

Here's a closeup of the border - I fussy cut it so the half circles would go all around the quilt. I was fortunate it worked out around the corners without them running into each other.

I had to cut down the red so put a teal fabric on the back - it's one of my favorites and I have it in every colorway I've ever seen. Wait...I could say the same about a lot of Kaffe patterns!

Here's a quilt top I put together at the retreat. I had the blocks all made and just had to do the sashing and put it together. I used Cherrywood fabrics I bought in Houston (at the Festival) many years ago and Kaffe Fassett fabrics. I bought nothing new except the sashing & cornerstone fabric. I've been trying to use fabric I've had on hand for a long time.

Here's the fabric I bought for the border - I love polka dots and this looked just perfect when I bought it.

I have more photos to share from Thanksgiving week but will save them for another post soon!

Happy Holidays!
Kathy

Happy Halloween!

2011-10-31T18:29:00.000-07:00

It's official - I turned in the keys to my shop today and am now a full time designer! What a job it is to close a shop - I'm very happy it's done and I can take a bit of a break. Since I have not been stitching much, here's a photo of my Color Delights - Pumpkin. I cut and pasted four together to show you what it could look like if you wanted to make it bigger! It also totally changes the look of the design.

I'll post again soon - maybe with something new to show! I finally have some time and energy to stitch!

Kathy

Blue Ribbon Winners...

2011-09-23T20:16:00.000-07:00

Congratulations to Kathy Raines who won not one, but two blue ribbons at the Montgomery County Fair in Maryland. She was nice enough to share photos with us! First up is Color Delights - Copper; she added some blue to it for a nice accent.

And here's her "Rainforest Crunch" - I love the way it's framed.

Back to stitching on my next "Mystery" for a few minutes tonight ... I got a square done last night and another large section started. Not much stitching will happen this weekend as I'll be spending a large part of the weekend adding sale items to the shop's website - www.needledelights.com (click on "Clearance Sale Patterns" from the Main Menu if you're interested and help me clear out the shop's inventory!).

Kathy

Stitching Progress...

2011-09-12T18:41:00.000-07:00

Although I'm deep in the throes of closing my shop, I have managed to get a little stitching in - you know how "stress-reducing" pulling a needle through canvas or fabric is! I can't show you much but here are a few "parts" of the Mystery I'm working on. I'm about 3/4 done stitching it and can't wait to start choosing the different colorways. Although I'm stitching mine in blues, browns, and corals, I'm imagining it in the bright fun colors I love so much.

And here's a part of my fun colorful piece - it's a destination but where?? Suggestions? It's almost done but I won't be releasing it until the first of the year - no time to write directions or release new designs for awhile...

You can probably tell by my needlepoint designs I'm an avid quilter; not necessarily an avid producer of quilts (there's that time issue again!) but I love love love quilting. I've learned a lot about color & design from reading quilt books - I actually read them along with looking at the photos! Here's one of my favorite star quilts - the blocks are four inches square.

Here's what I did Saturday night to relax after a long busy busy week at work - cut out fabric for a quilt I'll put together when I go to a quilting retreat in Shipshewana, Indiana in November... I go every year and am looking forward to it this year more than ever. In the meantime, I'll be working at the shop non-stop with a few sanity breaks every night - some sort of needle to be involved!

Hope you're stitching!
Kathy

Closing my shop...

2011-09-02T20:06:00.000-07:00

means I'll have more time to design! Today I officially announced I will be closing my retail shop to focus on my own designs. Although many of my retail customers are very sad, I'm personally very excited about becoming a full time Designer. It has been very challenging the last couple of years having a shop and releasing new designs. I've felt torn in too many directions. I'm looking forward to having just one business and giving it my all. This is a great thing for Needle Delights Originals fans!

If you want more info about the shop closing (yes, there will be sales!), click Needle Delights Closing.

Kathy

Fantastic Framing...and more

2011-08-23T18:36:00.000-07:00

Sarah sent me this photo of her framed "Appalachia" - she turned it on its side and had some really cool mats cut for it.

Another photo from Sarah is her finished "Aquamarine". The framing is simple and really sets it off.

This is Mary E.'s "Amazing Color" - she used this as a "stash piece" and used DMC floss and perles in various colors, metallics (cool addition as I didn't use any in this piece), rayon, and variegated threads. Didn't she do a great job?!

And this is part of a new piece I'm working on. I'm using the overdyed Vineyard silks from Threadworx - I loved stitching Amazing Color so much because of the thread. I promised myself I'd use it again sometime and the sometime is now! I started this right before going to Baltimore because I needed a smaller piece to take on the plane than the large piece I'm working on. I did try to put my large piece in the bottom of my suitcase but the stretcher bars were too large and I didn't want to take them apart. Now this one is almost done and I'll go back to working on my large piece. Although my personal stitching has a gazillion pieces "in progress" aka "abandoned", I seem to only design & stitch one at a time. I don't always finish everything but do at times abandon some or take something out.

Here's something I rejected. Although I'll be ripping it out of my Mystery, I really liked part of it so have already used it in my new design - it just didn't look right as part of my Mystery piece..and yes, I know the photo is really blurry! I cropped it from a much larger photo. If you're keeping track, the color shows a hint of my colorway! That's Peacock Watercolours and Terra Potta Belle Soie.

I'm off to stitch a little more border tonight. It's boring but necessary for this piece. I don't enjoy stitching borders much - have you ever noticed many of my pieces don't have borders...or much "background"?! I chalk it up to my short attention span or wanting to move on to the next fun spot!

Kathy

Back from Baltimore...

2011-08-16T19:20:00.000-07:00

I'm back from the Needlework Trade Show in Baltimore, Maryland. I exhibited my designs and had a fabulous time. My mom came and helped me in my "booth" and I'm always happy to spend time with her. The photo above shows my first Baltimore crabcake - it was so yummy I had another crabcake dinner Sunday night.

It's so much fun to meet shopowners who purchase my designs and share stories with me of what has been done with some of my designs. I asked several people to send pictures and I'll be sure to share them with you if/when they come! If you're anywhere close to Baltimore, go visit The Stitching Post . I let Melinda take a bunch of my models home to display in her shop for a few weeks.

Here's a couple of photos of what my "booth" looked like - the market is held in an Embassy Suites hotel and we use the front part of the room for our displays and sleep in the back.

And here's a photo of me with my newest designs - I hate having my picture taken but my mom was with me and she made me (sound familiar to anyone?!)

Here are the new designs I released this past weekend. First up is Funky Hearts -

This is called "Lollipops" - I'm happy to say it sold out! The colors in this photo appear a little washed out - it's actually a bit brighter.

This is the latest Color Delights - it's called Plum.

I previewed the next two in the Color Delights series - Silver & Midnight. I wish you could see how "shimmery" the Silver is - this is one of my favorites in the Color Delights series. Silver will be released Sept 1st.

Midnight will be released Oct 1st.

I spent today "catching up" at home and am looking forward to opening my shop in the morning! I love being busy!

Delightfully,

Kathy

Photos to share...

2011-07-26T15:10:00.000-07:00

I have some fun photos to share. The first are a couple of pillows my mom finished for a friend of ours - Dottie stitched Burst of Stars (originally a Mystery class) in the Tahiti colorway and Amazing Color in the silks. She wanted them "fun & funky" so they were sashed with Kaffe Fassett fabric and wild trim. I wish they could live at my house!

Here's a closeup of each. First is Burst of Stars...

And Amazing Color...

I received the picture below from Pierrette in Canada - this is another version of Burst of Stars - I can't remember what I called this colorway but I love the way it came out. She added an extra border and it looks wonderful.

Next up is a set of threads I pulled for Galaxy. The Watercolours are Eggplant & Slate - lots of purples & greens. Carol lives in Australia and is blogging about stitching Galaxy with these threads if you want to follow along.

And here are some obligatory photos of my "stitching companions" - they both love to lie on my quilts! First up is Boots - he's my boy who acts like a dog and sometimes talks to me. He's very laid back as you can see.

This is Samantha - she's my skittish girl - always pretty much on alert to run & hide whenever the doorbell rings. She's very quiet, serious, & smart but loves to play with her toys and rubber bands...don't write me - she DOES NOT eat them - she just bats them around!

Until next time,

Kathy

Funky Hearts...

2011-06-29T18:20:00.000-07:00

I put the last stitch in Funky Hearts yesterday! I woke the cats up to help me celebrate!!

It will be published next month but here's a bit of a sneak peek!

I'm now going to devote my stitching time to the Mystery I'll start in the fall. I'm using a palette of colors I've not used before and am really liking them so far.

Have a great 4th - I'm heading up to the mountains to spend time with family & friends and hope to get in some stitching time during the drive (soeone else will be driving!).

Kathy

Lollipops...

2011-06-21T18:56:00.000-07:00

Here it is - finished and ready to be framed! Now I have several other ideas that are a takeoff of this design. It will be a while before I get to them though.

I'm almost finished working on my Funky Hearts - I had a marathon session of stitching today and did one whole border - only one more to go! This was the second "Design Day Tuesday" and I'm finding it most productive. For the summer I changed my shop hours to Wed - Sat so I'd have some dedicated time for desiging and writing diretions - so far it is working out great and I have had only positive comments from customers.

This weekend I also picked out three sets of threads to use for the next few Color Delights - I have the designs done and just have to assign the threads - this is one of the best parts of designing!

Someone asked about the header above - it's called "Galaxy" and the pattern includes a number of other colorways...I'll post them later.

Delightfully -

Kathy

Color Delights

2011-06-10T12:29:00.000-07:00

Don't you hate it when you type a whole blog post and then get an error when you hit "Post"?! It just happened to me so I'll try to remember all I wrote and try again...it'll probably be shorter this time!

I'm releasing a new Color Delights - Chartreuse early next week - it's at the printer right now. This is one of my favorite colors - I loved it long before it was so popular. I have a green cell phone - what other color would I have?! When I go clothes shopping I always have to remind myself I already have a dozen t-shirts in some shade of lime green! At some point, you just don't need more. Or maybe I do?! Anyway, here's the stitched piece:

I also stitched it in Christmas colors - it looks completely different when a different colorway is used. I've always loved changing colors - choosing colorways to create different moods is one of my favorite parts of designing. It always amazes me how powerful color is. Here's the Christmas version (antique style colors) in progress. I did finish stitching it but didn't take a picture of the whole thing.

Since I'm writing about Color Delights today, here's a photo Sarah sent to me - she stitched four of the Color Delights patterns (Aqua, Violet, Cobalt, & I'm not sure if the bottom one is Pumpkin or Graphite done in different colors - she told me but I can't remember). She had them framed together to create a striking piece - I love it!

On the current stitching front, I'm still working on My Funky Hearts or Have A Heart (two possible names?!). I still can't decide. Last week I loved "Have A Heart" and then today I was showing the stitching to someone in my shop and said here's my funky hearts and had a lightbulb moment where possibly the actual title of the piece came to me. Who knows? I still have time to decide or change my mind a few hundred times! I don't know why naming my pieces is sometimes such a challenge. I like it when I know the title ahead of time, like with my "Lollipops".

Speaking of Lollipops, I only have two more circles to fill in and a little more of the black background to do and it will be fi-ni! I'm hoping to do a Happy Dance this weekend and then maybe I'll share a preview with you!

Keep stitching!

Kathy

Lollipops...

2011-05-23T15:36:00.000-07:00

I've filled in most of the background with black now and it just makes the lollipops "pop"! I used five strands of floss to cover the white canvas. I'm really happy with it now and will be able to release this design this summer. Here's a sneak peek at part that's done...

Now I'm back to working on my Hearts - my latest working title is "Have A Heart!" - what do you think??

Kathy

Hearts...and more

2011-05-13T11:02:00.000-07:00

I'm stitching on my Hearts again. I'd taken a bit of a break as I closed down the framing department at my shop last month. We had to move a lot of stuff out as I let go of one of the spaces I leased. Part of the space was the storage closet for my patterns and stuff we use in the shop and we had our classroom over there. Lots of rearranging and moving - it's great now it's all done. I'm enjoying just having the shop now.

Here are a few sneak peeks at my Hearts (still no official name but I'm thinking about it all the time!). I have almost half of the border done and it's so fun working with the bright colors!

Here's part of the border...

And here's the Bubblegum Heart...I need to fill in all the background around it now - it's easier to do the heart first to be sure I have it the way I want it and get the compensation charted correctly! I had to rip out part of another heart and it was a pain in the you know what, but necessary!

I've had "Circles" on the brain for awhile and have started another piece - I'm not sure about it yet. It will either work or will become a "reject". I have several of these pieces - things I started that seemed like a good idea but didn't jell. I keep them to reference different stitches I've made up. The working title on this is "Lollipops" and I'm thinking I'll fill in the background between the circles with black - it will dramatize it and I've been wanting to use black on something for a long time. I'm using soft, springy, bright colors - all Watercolours with a sprinkling of metallic. I welcome your comments about this - if you all think it's terrible, the colors are wrong, etc, etc.

Here's my latest Color Delights - it's Aquamarine. I'm mailing it out to the Color the Month Club Members today and it's also on the way to the distributors. If you're not familiar with the Color Delights, they're a series of smaller (4x4 design size) pieces. I release one per month and each one focuses on a color. I use a variety of threads to create texture and interest using various shades of one color - monochromatic is the "technical" term for this type of colorway.

Back to work now - talk to you again soon!
Kathy

Working on...

2011-04-08T14:16:00.000-07:00

Disclaimer: I'm about to show you what I'm currently designing and stitching - this in no way implies when I will finish it, release it, or any other time related news. I'm really just enjoying the process and the stitching, which so far, I am doing myself. It will be MONTHS before it's done!

This first picture shows all the floss I pulled yesterday to start the borders. I won't use all these colors (there are more than 60) but I always pull way more thread than I will use for a design to be able to make choices and to get the colors just right!

And here is my work so far - it's like Oh My Stars except instead of stars, I'm doing hearts in bright fun colors. You can find "Oh My Stars" in your local needlework shops but don't look for the Hearts anytime soon - I have a long way to go even if I am a little obsessed now. I'm also pondering a title - Oh My Hearts doesn't sound right to me...any suggestions??

These are the colors of the individual hearts - they are all overdyed. I've used some Threadworx, some Weeks Dye Works, & a Sampler thread - I wanted just the right shades!

Here's the first heart - 25 little squares done with all the compensation...

and here's part of a heart - see the missing chunk at the top - don't you hate running out with just a few stitches left?!

That's all for now...I'm looking forward to a stitching weekend!

Kathy

Award Winner...

2011-03-27T07:07:00.000-07:00

This is Kay Craven, one of my students who has taken classes from me for years. She belongs to a women's group in Santa Rosa County, Florida and has won another ribbon! This time she took "Best in Show" for Burst of Stars - this was the Mystery class I taught last year. The photo is scanned from the newspaper but I've also posted a photo of her stitched piece below. I'm so proud of Kay and her work - she's a wonderful stitcher!

Burst of Stars in the "Greens" colorway - this is the piece Kay stitched & had framed.

The way I design a Mystery piece is to start with a shape, draw some lines, choose threads, and start stitching - there's actually a little more to it but these are the basics. I did just this when I designed my first Mystery (later called Symmetry) and discovered that a little pre-planning of the number of threads in each shape would go a long way in warding off a TON of compensation! Once I have it designed and stitched (or at least started), I divide the piece into nine or ten sections and teach or send out the instructions once per month - it's fun for my students to start something and not know what it will eventually look like. I always try to throw some twists & turns & unexpected things into the mix along the way.

This photo shows the threads I used for my original colorway (there are 8 or 9 included in the pattern that diffrerent students stitched - I'll post photos of those another day).

And, here's the piece I stitched...which came to be called "Burst of Stars" - naming the Mystery pieces is always a challenge! Symmetry was the first, Galaxy the second (it's the piece in my header at the top of this blog), and Burst of Stars is the third. I'm in the early stages of starting my next Mystery and hope to start teaching it in the fall. It's always a big project.

Maybe you'll want to join us in the next Mystery!

Until next time,

Kathy

Early Designs

2011-03-23T20:47:00.000-07:00

Check out the "Deals" on my shop's website on Thursday (March 24th) - here's a bit of a sneak peek... and a way to continue sharing my early designs.

See them at DealOfTheDay ~~but wait until Thursday because they won't be posted until then.~~ Deals are good until the end of March...

This is "Tanzanite" - it was my first smaller design (8x8) with a more limited palette and I loved using the bright colors. It became the first in my "Jewels & Gemstones" collection.

This is Rose Quartz - the 2nd in my Jewels & Gemstones. After doing Tanzanite with such bright colors, Rose Quartz was soft and soothing.

I then started an "Edibles Collection" with the same design size as the Jewels - 8x8 finished. It's a nice size - not too big and not too small. I include a recipe in each pattern which is hilarious as I don't cook too much! I do however like to eat so feel qualified to find great recipes to include! In fact, I heard from another shopowner recently she made the Rainforest Brownies from the recipe in Rainforest Crunch and served them when she taught it as a class - what fun!

The first piece I did was Peach Melba (shown in two colorways below).

The photo below is an alternate colorway for Peach Melba - I taught this piece as a class and ended up with several great versions of this design. See the other colorways at http://www.needledelights.com/index.php/photos/3.html (you have to scroll down to see them as the photos at this page are listed alphabetically).

My second Edibles collection design was Guacamole - YUM! It actually includes two recipes from close friends who are famous for their guacamole. I have personally made these recipes and enjoyed them immensely!

I then wanted to change up my design size and came up with the Destination series - the design size of the pieces in this Collection is 6x10 which means the canvas on the stretcher bars fits perfected in a mesh bag and is great for traveling, which is one of my great loves. This series allows me to explore or express places I've been or want to go!

My first design was Tropic Seas and was stitched all with Watercolors - I love putting 10 to 12 different Watercolors in one design! One of my customers actually met someone on a cruise who was stitching this piece on the ship - how fun is that?!

Continuing with the Destinations Collection and using all Watercolors, I designed Garden Path where I discovered I really love designing things made up of squares. I did use a solid color of Pearl Cotton for the "borders" - I like to put borders all through my pieces or not use borders at all....

Oh My Stars was the first design I could "see in my head" before it was interpreted onto the canvas and is probably very close to being my personal favorite of all my designs. I Love Stars and there's just something I love about doing these little squares 12x12 threads. In fact, I'm working on a version of this design with Hearts in place of stars with brighter colors right now... Oh My Stars is stitched entirely with embroidery floss - the stars are done with Weeks Dye Works and the rest is all DMC & Anchor floss.

Hope you have enjoyed the preview!

Kathy

Tahiti...

2011-03-18T19:31:00.000-07:00

I just got this photo of Tahiti framed from Barbi in Arizona. I loved designing and stitching this piece so much and have had tons of positive reaction to it. It's just fun and the type of design I enjoy most - a little of "this and that all over the place"! It's part of my "Destinations Collection" - designs inspired by places I've been or would like to go! I've never been to Tahiti but will get there someday!

And here's my original piece - see how the same design with a little color changes and different framing makes it look so different! Look closely and you'll see she changed the orange to pink! She's famous for doing her "own colors" and always does a great job!

I'm discovering blogland is more fun when I'm in it instead of lurking around! Thanks for stopping by and your encouraging, supportive words!

Kathy

Tuscan Midnight - Alternate Colorways

2011-03-11T19:27:00.000-08:00

I love changing up colors so I listed several alternate colorways in my Tuscan Midnight pattern. People are starting to finish stitching it so I thought I'd share their photos with you here. First up is my "Original" colorway - this is how I imagined it in my mind when I was designing it and the colors seemed somewhat "earthy" to me with the addition of blue to represent the sky.

I love putting lots of Watercolours in one design and kind of follow a "recipe" of sorts when I choose colors to go together. It was really fun to come up with the extra colorways because they are all so different from one another and set such different "moods". Here's a photo Mary sent me of the "Hot Bright" version - I went wild when I chose the colors!

Next up is the "Cool Blues" version - always a popular choice because blue and green are so soothing together and yet the darker tones make it all pop. Sorry I can't remember who sent this to me but she filled in the corners - it changes the look of the design and I like what she did - I tried many different versions of corners until I gave up and had the mat cut with the corners cut away. In the end I was happy with the result!

And finally, here's another in the "Original" colors but framed in a different color mat & frame style. It shows you what a difference framing makes. Randi from This World in Stitches sent this photo to me - thanks!

New Blogger - 1st Design

2011-03-06T08:20:00.000-08:00

So....I'm joining the blogging world to share my love of counted needlepoint, threads, canvas, and all things related to needlework I enjoy so much. To start with, I'm sharing a photo of my first design "Potluck" - the "Bright" version and the original "Muted" version; I think of them as my "personalities"! I originally designed this to see "if I could" and was so enchanted with the design process I've never looked back.

Here's the story...(yes I was a Brady Bunch kid!). Before I even dreamed of designing needlepoint, I managed my family's needlework shop for a number (more than 10) years and just loved being surrounded by threads, fabrics, canvases, needles, scissors, and all of it. The thing I enjoyed the most was helping people pick out alternate colorways for various projects and class pieces. I was also mentored in "COLOR" by my father who did our custom framing and seemed to be a genius at picking out just the right mat colors to enhance anything he framed. (Who ever knew when we were kids and horrified by some of his clothing choices/colors this would happen?!). You can read more about the shop's history at www.needledelights.com - this blog is about me and my designs so my shop's cross stitch customers don't have to roll their eyes when I'm telling them about "my new stuff"!

When I found myself the sole owner of the shop, I started teaching more classes and was wanting projects I had a little more control over - in a lot of ways. I started with some simple ornaments that were just circles with one stitch using one overdyed thread and a metallic - people loved them and started calling them my "designs" - I just thought of them as "making a pretty ornament from something very simple". I then started teaching a year long "Mystery Class" once a month and chose about 10 different colorways to entice people to take the class. Along the way I found myself thinking of what I would like to stitch myself. I had a friend who encouraged me by promising to stitch whatever I'd like to experiment with. This was the beginning of "Potluck".

The great love of my personal stitching history was stitching Genny Morrow's Nova. I can still recall the way my heart raced the very first time I saw this pattern circa 1994. I'm not sure what appealed to me but I experienced a "desperate need" to stitch this design. I loved every part of it, from drawing the squares on the canvas to putting in the last stitch. It was a journey of itself and was never replicated with any other project I've stitched. When I finished it the first time (Yes, I've stitched it twice), I emailed Genny Morrow herself (back before everyone was on the internet) and she actually emailed me back with congratulations. I was ecstatic.

Although I had no intentions of ever making a quilt, this project led me to actually becoming a quilter - I was lucky to have great teachers & mentors in a small group of ladies my mother quilted with (she was/is an avid quilter too). There's no surprise that choosing the fabrics and the style, blocks, and method of making the quilt is my favorite part. This great love greatly inspires my designs. I always think, "Who ever knew this accountant who hated geometry was creative?" but there you go...that's my story.

Stay tuned to this blog to see what I've done and what I'm doing - I'm sure I won't post as often as I'd like but will post when I have something to "show or tell" - my favorite part of almost everything in life - sharing great joy, love, and experiences with others. I prefer doing it in person but am excited about embarking on this adventure in Blogland!