Bristly Thistle Needlepoint News

Our oldest daughter is moving to Philadelphia, so I stitched this little ornament for her. My favorite things—using Waterlilies and a darning stitch for the sky and the water stitch from ANG. I think I finished this in two nights—a nice break from the bigger seemingly endless Christmas stockings.

Here’s another great gift idea from LEE Needle Arts. They’ve come up with CD cases done in their wonderful leather. Each case holds 24 CDs (or DVDs for movie fans) and accepts a 2 3/4″ round canvas. Check out our small round canvases or for a limited time, let us paint a single monogram for the case on 18 mesh–no charge!

These cases are perfect gifts for graduation, birthdays or the holidays. With such a small insert, you can stitch it in no time and finish it yourself. How great is that?

These are available now in six vibrant colors on our website.

This canvas for a Limoges box is called “Happy Snowmen” and stitching them will make you happy, too. This would be too cute set on a table for the holidays, or as a box for a very special present. It comes complete with a round hinge.

We have several more Limoges boxes from Julia’s Needleworks on our website.

A group of customers stitched these 12 months of nutcrackers by Patty Paints, using her stitch guides. Our finisher came up with a new twist on finishing them—they are weighted to stand and they have a gold teardrop loop on top that folds down. This way you can display them as stand-ups or as hanging ornaments. (posted by Michele)

Whatever the occasion, we can custom paint a canvas for you. We have painted wedding and birth announcements, footstools, belts (think college, favorite sports team, golf club logos, etc.), purse inserts, pillows and lots of rugs. We can paint to match wedding colors, fabrics, room colors, etc. Your only limit is your imagination or you can just borrow ours.

This is an example of a leash we commissioned for our Portuguese Water Dog Morgan .

You can see more custom canvases on our website. (posted by Michele)

Summer graduations and weddings are just around the corner for needlepointers. These new jewelry boxes from LEE are absolutely gorgeous and would make perfect graduation or bridesmaid gifts. They come in blue, hot pink, red, magenta and black textured leather.

For those of you who are planning ahead, we are offering these boxes for $55. Add a border of your own design (or choose one from June McKnight’s Borders book) and you can finish these yourself (or have us do it if you like). There are several Lee canvases that fit the opening, or you could create a monogram.

You can see more new items on our website. (posted by Michele)

Here’s one of my “awake at 3 am” ideas. Ring bearers are a wonderful part of a traditional wedding, but what do you do with the ring bearer’s pillow when the day is done? You might keep it on display for the first year, or bring it out for anniversaries, or you might just store it and never look at it again. I love the idea of a needlepoint ring bearer’s Limoges box. The flowers or design can be color-coordinated with the wedding colors. You could stitch only the top canvas (which can be ordered separately) and use fabric inspired by the bridesmaid dresses or reception designs for the base. The inside of the box can be personalized with the wedding date and the bride and groom’s names or their combined monogram. The boxes with the floral design are especially lovely when stitched in 3-D with silk ribbon. The best part is that the bride and groom will have a very personal and beautiful memento of their wedding day that they will be able to enjoy long after the day. These designs by DJ are perfect for this special gift. (posted by Michele)

Yesterday I started my buying by going down every aisle of the cavernous Long Beach convention center. The booth that drew me back first was DJ Designs. I bought a number of canvases, including several in the series inspired by Zapotec tapestries. The chair in the photo was in the booth—it was beautifully stitched and beaded and quite striking. You can see more new canvases on our website.

There are more canvases from DJ Designs on our website too. (posted by Michele)

This spectacular leather purse just came in from the finisher. I’m a big fan of fine leather goods—well made purses and shoes last forever and never go out of style. In addition to premium grade leather, this purse features a beautiful lining, inside zippered pocket and cell phone pocket. It is absolutely stunning. Needlepoint—it’s not just for pillows anymore!

See more finishing ideas on our website. (posted by Michele)

Just in time for his 3rd Christmas, Charlie is done! Some of my favorite things about this project:

I couched petite fluffy fleece for Santa’s beard and mustache.

I used a punchneedle to make uniform looped turkey work for the fur on Santa’s robe. It was a bit tricky, but the results are very even, more so than doing turkey work “free hand” would be.

I used the same darning stitch for Santa’s robe and for the background. The different threads give very different effects. I really like the way the stitch on the robe allowed the hand painting to show.

The Christmas tree was stitched with 3 different colors of Impressions, using layered lazy daisy stitches.

I have resolved that I will have more confidence in my stitch choices and not rip out sections as often as I have in the past. We’ll see how long that resolution lasts—I have two Liz stockings in the works!

See more finishing ideas on our website. (posted by Michele)