Melissa Shirley Designs John Johanssen canvases for needlepoint, Part 4

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Sadly, this is the last post of John Johanssen needlepoint from Melissa Shirley Designs.  So everyone, start stitching your John Johanssen canvas and email pictures to me so we can share this wonderful art next year!  Think of inspirations for your canvas and think of John Johanssen -layering, lots of sparkly and colors, details!

This is Dr. Margot's boot. she is always so much fun to stitch with and loves all the extras on her canvas.

This is Dr. Margot's boot. she is always so much fun to stitch with and loves all the extras on her canvas. Ribbon is from the Ribbonry in Chaparral Needlework.

A boot stitched by Paula D. is such a happy piece to have in one's home. Pre made flowers and pressed glass beads are perfect to sew on John Johanssen canvases.

Sally Anne stitched this wonderful Johanssen vase of flowers for her entrance hall. Framing is from Davis Hardware and Framing, ribbon next to the needlepoint is from the Ribbonry in Chaparral Needlework.

A small canvas, Sally Anne and I did this for John as a "Thank You" for letting us come to his studio. We had it finished into a door hanger for his studio.

To see Melissa Shirley Designs collection of John Johanssen canvases, go to Melissa’s website below:

http://melissashirleydesigns.com/gallery/?cat=117

For more information on John Johanssen, see this web site:    http://addart.com/pages/about.cgi

And this web address goes to his art work:    http://addart.com/pages/all_paintings.cgi

Brand new from the Winter Needlepoint Market, this is a new canvas by Melissa Shirley Designs for John Johanssen. I am writing a stitch guide for Sally Anne so she will probably have it finished by the fall.

Melissa Shirley Designs John Johanssen canvases for needlepoint, Part 3

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A close up of beautiful layers of stitches, ribbons, buttons, and beads on this French girl's dress!

French girls at the farmer’s market with brightly colored and patterned clothing, holding big baskets of flowers and produce are a favorite of John’s or maybe Melissa’s favorite as there are many canvases with this theme in Melissa’s line.  It is hard to decide which to needlepoint!

French girls from Aristeia in Santa Monica, California with a custom frame to go with it! I LOVE this! The needlepoint girls really have lots of dimension because of the lightly stitched background.

Lynn C. stitched these French girls and I only wish we had a bigger picture. This was stitched early in Lynn's needlepoint career and she did an outstanding job on it!

Framed with the mirror below, this canvas is truly an artist’s masterpiece stitched by the ever talented Betsy G.  Betsy stitches with such freedom and joy and her canvases show it.  An art major, Betsy is very artistic with her needlepoint and is very bold with trying new things on her canvases.

Johanssen canvas made into a mirror is wonderful in this California house by the sea. Yours truly taking the picture. The mirror and framing from Davis Hardware and Framing in Houston, Texas.

Betsy G., the stitcher of this marvelous mirror, selected this cute trim from the Ribbonry to add around her needlepoint. She also cleverly used the pom poms for the center of the border flowers, too! I love this layering of stitches, thread used in an unusual way, and beads. Lorikeet wool from Gloriana was not taken apart but used as a whole strand as is for the petals of the sunflowers, in lazy daisies.

Betsy used two flower trims for the flowers in her border, criss crossing them over each other. What a wonderful layering of stitches and trims for her border. Silk ribbon and picot ombre ribbon used for flowers and trim on hat. Betsy's initial in the top corner.

The other corner showing the layered border, silk ribbon flowers and the cute straw hat done in raffia.

An enameled chicken button goes so well with the painted and stitched chickens. The detail in the skirt is quite amazing with the beaded border and tiny stitch on the bottom of the dress. A laid filling is used for the grass.

The bottom of this skirt is trimmed with striped beads.

A very detailed bow with 2 kinds of ribbon sewed on the beads.

John Johanssen also enjoys painting Madonnas in all sorts of dress.

Betsy G. also stitched this very large Madonna and did an outstanding job. Sunflower Madonna.

Mary R. stitched outstandingly on the small ornament size Madonna. She used pre made sequin flowers, lots of beads, Swarovski crystals, and pressed glass flowers layered with vintage lucite flowers. I think this is lovely!

Here are two more young girls all dressed up!

The bread girl stitched by my daughter, Virginia T. She did a very wonderful stitch on this adorable girl and used pre made flowers, beads, and trim. Framing by Davis Hardware and Framing, Ribbon trim around the needlepoint is from the Ribbonry, my shop in the Chaparral.

Girl with a Dove. I had the very best time stitching this and loved the canvas the moment I saw it. I do have a stitch guide available through your favorite needlepoint store. I loved layering the ribbons and trims, adding lots of pre made flowers, pressed glass beads, Swarovski crystals and seed beads, and a beaded watermelon which can be purchased through the Ribbonry at Chaparral Needlework.

This canvas was truly a joy to stitch and is one of my favorites.

To see Melissa Shirley Designs collection of John Johanssen canvases, go to Melissa’s website below:

http://melissashirleydesigns.com/gallery/?cat=117

For more information on John Johanssen, see this web site:    http://addart.com/pages/about.cgi

And this web address goes to his art work:    http://addart.com/pages/all_paintings.cgi

Melissa Shirley Designs John Johanssen canvases for needlepoint, Part 2

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RABBITS and SHEEP and a boat of animals!

Stitched by Dr. Liz and framed for her grown daughter’s room, Liz had fun stitching this canvas!  Sorry for the very fuzzy picture!

John Johanssen canvases from Melissa Shirley Designs have whimsical  animals dressed in clothes and flowers, riding in boats, or just enjoying lounging in the flowers.  Like John’s paintings, the canvases are full of color, details, and flowers. So many non traditional needlepoint techniques can be done on his canvases by adding lots of flowers, trims, buttons, beads, unusual stitches, felting, punch needle, stumpwork-anything really that can enhance the fun of the canvas. The  canvases below have all been stitched by very talented stitchers-some beginners, some very experienced.

Margaret S. stitched this for her granddaughter twin and we have requested a boy rabbit to go with her for the boy twin! This is such a sweet egg and Margaret used beautiful colors.

Betsy G. stitched this fine white rabbit and added lots of ribbons and beads!

Betsy G. stitched this fine white rabbit and added lots of ribbons and beads! Betsy enjoys stitching the Johanssen canvases and has done several.

Wendy Harwood, owner of Aristeia In Santa Monica, Ca., stitched this animals in a boat canvas and it is hanging in her store. Wendy taught this for a class and has the original painting. The squirrel and chipmunk are felted. Wendy is now stitching away in heaven and we all sure miss her down here!

Very cute Pat P. stitched this Johanssen sheep. She did a fab job but worried about it the whole time she was doing it. Look how precious it turned out, Pat! Love the ribbon flowers with the center bead.

A fabulous large Johanssen sheep is almost finished. Carol G. did this one and she selects her own threads and stitches. Carol is quite the artist and does beautiful knitting, too.

To see all of Melissa’s John Johanssen canvases, here is the link.  The canvases can be ordered from your favorite needlepoint store and are such fun to stitch.

http://melissashirleydesigns.com/gallery/?cat=117

For more information on John Johanssen, see this web site:    http://addart.com/pages/about.cgi

And this web address goes to his art work:    http://addart.com/pages/all_paintings.cgi

Melissa Shirley Designs John Johanssen canvases for needlepoint

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Little pig from the Girl with a Dove canvas.

Thanks to Melissa Shirley and her introduction of John Johanssen to the needlepoint world that we have such fun, colorful, interesting, and creative canvases to stitch.  I have been working in the needlepoint business a very long time and just recently started taking pictures of customers fabulous  finished needlepointed canvases to put on my facebook page, Needlepointing in Your Nest.  So I do have a collection of pictures of Melissa’s John Johanssen completed canvases.

To see all of Melissa’s John Johanssen canvases, here is the link.  The canvases can be ordered from your favorite needlepoint store and are such fun to stitch.

http://melissashirleydesigns.com/gallery/?cat=117

 

4th of July pig stitched by Becky W. from my stitch guide that is available from your favorite needlepoint store.

In this first part, pigs,and birds are the theme and John’s are so much fun to stitch.  Use your imagination and just think outside the “painting” and add lots of things onto your John Johanssen canvas.  Use the posts I wrote on John’s studio to inspire you to do layers, add lots of flowers, beads, and trims!

Sally Anne stitched this adorable Cherub Pig and added lots of ribbon flowers. Framing from Davis Hardware; ribbon used for matting from the Ribbonry.

Several friends stitched the Cornish Pig in his corn crib. This one from Betsy G.

The big Pansy Pig is displayed proudly in Sally Anne's bedroom.

This Pansy Pig stitched by Lynn C.

Squished is the name of this pig who is lounging in watermelon. Stitched by Betsy G.

Now this post is going to the birds!

A stitched needlepoint in John Johanssen's studio was a gift , stitched by Wendy Harwood, after visiting his studio.

A close-up of the same piece stitched by another stitcher.

A very showy chicken stitched by Betsy G. has lots of flowers sewed onto the canvas. Ribbon from the Ribbonry in Chaparral Needlework; framing by Davis Hardware.

For more information on John Johanssen, see this web site:    http://addart.com/pages/about.cgi

And this web address goes to his art work:    http://addart.com/pages/all_paintings.cgi

Close up of the blue chicken. Vintage plastic flowers with colored pearls add lots of interest and detail to the canvas.

 

John Johanssen, Artist, Part 4: His paintings.

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Colorful, as all of John's paintings are, this has a border of broken dishes, birds and fruit, including a watermelon.

Although John Johanssen does not design or paint needlepoint canvas, Melissa Shirley knew a good design when she saw one and obtained licensing from John to reproduce his canvases onto needlepoint canvas.  And oh, how we love the canvases that Melissa has added to her line, Melissa Shirley Designs.

This painting of a girl with a chicken was one of our favorites. Melissa-please add this painting to your needlepoint collection!

Sally Anne, owner of the Chaparral Needleworks in Houston, TX, and I, who work for her, were so fortunate to visit John’s studio.  Melissa is a personal friend of John’s and asked him if we could come over and he said yes!  I was so excited about meeting this artist whose works Sally Anne and many others admire because of  the introduction of his work to the needlepoint world by Melissa.  He had many painting in his crammed studio and all so wonderful.  The whole visit was like a dream and I wish I could go back!

Melissa Shirley Designs has added this canvas to her line of needlepoint.

A heart of flowers, Melissa added this as a canvas to her line at the winter 2013 TNNA wholesale needlepoint market.

A painting and of a fish are popular Johanssen themes. Melissa did this painting of fish on needlepoint canvas and added to her line in 2013. Love the tiles painted for the border on the flower basket painting.

A pink pig relaxing on a watermelon pile is so charming!

Sally Anne and I, of course, gave much advice to Melissa about which ones to add to her canvas line-in fact, I think we asked her to add all of them!

A portrait of a young lady cat, I love the color of this painting. It has a wonderful border of birds and flowers painted around it, too. Notice the oval frame and the detail painted around the cat-magnificent!

A painting of deer and chipmunks was probably done when John lived in Lake Tahoe. We found this painting hidden behind some others.

More fairy tale flowers!

John placed two Native American paintings, one on each side of the bed. These were so beautiful and I wish I had a place in my house for them.

The second of the pair of Native Americans paintings, hangs with an abstract painting between them.

The bread girl painting. Melissa did this canvas as part of her line several yeas ago. This young bread girl has a friend that makes up the pair! The wreath on the left is one of John's designs.

One of a pair of chickens and a girl holding a baguette with wheat in her hair. Notice the fabulous flowered painted chair. on the right.

Seen in the previous post, I love the colors of these, especially the blue fish, which has been reproduced as a canvas in Melissa Shirley Designs' line.

This jolly little pig with a tile border is such fun and a cross in beautiful blues were part of John's collection of paintings he has done. Above them, a large painting of irises with an enchanting iris border. What a pretty antique Chinese rug under the paintings.

 Melissa Shirley Designs canvases of John Johanssen paintings next time!!!!!

 

For more information on John Johanssen, see this web site:    http://addart.com/pages/about.cgi

And this web address goes to his art work:    http://addart.com/pages/all_paintings.cgi

Hello Needlepointing Friends!

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Welcome to Living with Needlepoint.   I would love to have created a magazine with pictures of needlepointers’ finished needlepoint in their homes; how it is used, where it is placed to give ideas to other stitchers, but magazines are expensive to publish and I have no earthly idea how to go about doing that (not after having been through creating a blog!) nor have the capital available to quit my job to create a magazine!  This blog was created to help stitchers with those projects that have not been made into a finished product, add beauty and interest to your habitat, whether it be your office, your home, or your second home; for you to be excited about getting those stitched projects made into a treasure for your home. There are so many places in a home that needlepoint can be used and on this blog, I hope you will discover new places in your Nest to put your needlepoint treasures.

 Needlepoint really personalizes a home and space.  Not only does it  make a place more cozy and comfy to those that visit, it adds warmth to the home.  It also makes one feel very accomplished when a friend or visitor admires it!  One can have a collection of pillows covering a couch or have a little ornament hanging off a cupboard door.  A piece of needlepoint decorates your home and makes it more special.  So have those pieces finished! One can add  a piece of needlepoint almost anywhere and we are here to show you those special places!

My sofa is full of needlepint pillows, which my schnauzer, Heidi, likes to rearrange when I am not home!

 

Samplers-both old and new

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The staircase at the Victory Drive chateaux is full of antique English samplers. (My house!)

This needlepointer is also a collector of all sorts of things.  I LOVE big (really HUGE) collections of things-really anything at all.  I guess I could possible be on hoarders one day!  In this posting, sampler means stitching done in the traditional sense with alphabets, numbers, motifs like the old ones.  One can also  use the word sampler when speaking of the traditional needlepoint samplers of squares of different stitches.

When I was in college, I began collecting English samplers under the guidance of a dear friend and antique shop owner.  He knew how much I loved needlepoint and appreciated stitching so he suggested I start collecting samplers and told me if I ever had a needlepoint store, they would look so interesting in it. (I have never owned a shop!)  So I started buying them and he started finding them in England for my collection.  I love the worn out fabric and faded colors of the threads, the dates on them, and all the animals.  I do have one sampler that has my birth month and date on it!  I look at them and think about the young ladies who worked so hard to finish their treasure and wonder if my needlepoint will end up being admired by someone in 100 years( or be sold in a garage sale by my relatives).  Each sampler probably had very interesting stories to tell about when they were made and about their creator.  I feel like I am honoring their memories by having their precious piece in my house.

I finally stopped buying these old pieces of textile art when the price went way up.  (ASIDE:  I just took a break to move my garden sprinkler and when I came back, there was a commercial for a new show on the SCYFY channel called “The Haunted Collector”!), but I did not stop buying samplers!  I started buying painted needlepoint canvas samplers and have put the ones that I have finished in my kitchen with all the others not stitched in my stash.

Samplers and old black tole ware look lovely when displayed together.

I love the new ones almost as much as the old ones because I stitched them myself!  I have lots of friends that have stitched the new ones. too, and they have started collecting sampler canvases and stitching them.  The finished framed samplers add a lot of interest and warmth to their homes and are quite striking when seen in a group.  What a wonderful collection for a home!!!

At B.'s, the flag sampler, with blocks of stitches, mixes beautifully with her "faux vintage" samplers.

More later with more wonderful pictures of samplers!

More pictures of contemporary needlepoint sampler collections!

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SAW sampler wall in her kitchen. Zulu, the African gray parrot’s cage is covered by a quilt because she is taking a nap! (Photo taken by SAW’s phone!)

SAW, my friend, has one of the finest bodies of needlepoint I have ever seen.  She is a steady and neat needlepointer and everything she has ever done in needlepoint is perfect.  She started stitching samplers 8 or so years ago and has added new ones every year.  She displays these on her kitchen wall and they are absolutely stunning to see, against the yellow of her kitchen walls.  Her bird, an African gray named Zulu, will whistle and sometimes bark, while I am looking at her samplers, which I always do when I go to her house.  Her beautifully framed samplers are so interesting and I love to study all the details of stitches and threads she incorporates into her needlepoint samplers.

A closer view of SAW’s sampler wall. Most all of the samplers are framed using ribbon as a border around them. (Ribbon is from the Ribbonry.) See Zulu there on the right side!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Another sampler SAW has in her house is in the little foyer between the bedroom and bathroom of her master suite.

I really love this sampler!  It is stunning just by itself!

This sampler is in the foyer between SAW’s bedroom and master bath.

 

A closer view of the Faith, Hope, Honor sampler.

 

Ribbons frame this sampler which also incorporates beads and pressed glass flowers and leaves.

SAW, whose taste is impeccable, picks out beautiful ribbons for her framed samplers.  Notice the detail of the glass flowers and leaves wreath around the woman’s head.  She also beaded all the lettering boxes on this sampler.

Thanks for the tour, SAW!

More on samplers to follow!

More framed samplers…

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Samplers look really great when framed and grouped in threes or more.  I personally like the ones I have stitched hung on the wall all together and then the old ones all together.  But, as I have seen in friends’ homes, they also look very special by themselves.

The samplers in my kitchen/breakfast room are all above the windows.

                          

These samplers I did in the 1980s.  The two on the left are from graphs and the 2 on the right were painted canvases.

 I did the second from the left sampler as a class and we did it from a graph.

The sampler below, on the right, was for the Texas Sesquicentennial and was designed and taught by a very talented stitcher, Anne Stewart.  The sampler on the left is from Ewe and Eye and I used many different stitches on it as well as beading.

More samplers in my kitchen.

Two more samplers in my kitchen-canvases by Birds of a Feather (left) and Ewe and Eye (right).  I used ribbon around both of these for mats.  On the reindeer canvas, I felted the reindeer.  Love this reindeer sampler!  Look for another version of the log cabin sampler below.

More kitchen samplers!

Finally, some close ups of friends’ samplers.  As you can see, different stitches and techniques can be used on sampler canvases.  The reindeer was felted and beads and buttons have been added to many of these samplers.  Needleweaving on wire has been done on the bee wings.  Premade flowers and pressed glass flowers and leaves have enhanced some of them.   Be creative with samplers-it makes them that much more fun to stitch!!!

Patti C.’s sampler is off to the framer!

 

SAW’s Birds of a Feather sampler in her master suite hallway.

SAW’s town sampler on her kitchen wall from Ewe and Eye.

BG’s lady with a bird’s nest on her head. I have also stitched this-one of my favorites!

Charms, buttons, and beads are added to this grand lady above!

Another sampler by BG in her stairwell. Birds of a Feather canvas.

Needleweaving on wire make this bee’s wings 3 dimensional.  When having needlepoint framed, be sure to tell the framer to add enough spacers between the canvas and the glass so the glass DOES NOT TOUCH any part of the stitching.

BG’s log cabin sampler is different than mine, I love the framing she chose and the big vintage Mother of Pearl buttons in the corners.

Birds of a Feather sampler taught by SAW as a class, this sampler is large and stunning!

This was one of the first samplers Birds of a Feather painted (above).  I love the colors!

Another beautiful Birds of a Feather sampler, this one is small. Love the ribbon chosen for the matting.

Elaine Withrow Stevens sent me a picture of the same sampler she stitched.  I love the way she had this framed!  It is hard to decide which one to like best!  Elaine wrote her  ”sampler had a  Tim Burton kinda spin on it!”.

Elaine Withrow Stevens sent this picture of the same sampler.

Treglown Designs Adam and Eve sampler is very fun!

The Treglown Designs Adam and Eve has been stitched by several friends, one of which is my cute,  fun friend Olivia F. for her kitchen.  Notice how Olivia put her initials and year on her sampler.  I think we should all do this because it is keeping with the tradition of the antique samplers, which all have full names and dates on them!  Although no alphabets or numbers are included on this sampler, it still has that vintage sampler feeling.

I hope we have inspired you to stitch your own collection of samplers.  They are quite charming and add lots of personality and warmth to a home.  At one time, I was not particularly fond of framed needlepoint, but now I love it, especially these more traditional pieces.  What a fun collection to add to your home and fun to stitch, too!

Book shelves-they aren’t just for books anymore!

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Nativity set displayed in bookshelves at SAW’s home.

 

Book shelves are a great place to display needlepointed stand-ups, small framed pieces, even pillows!  Small needlepointed stand ups look so cute in front of a book collection and add that extra touch of homeyness!   Or use 2 stand ups as book ends.

Three little Lee kimonos stand guard in front of these books!

What do you mean by stand ups, chb?

Two types of stand ups are front needlepointed with a fabric back or front and back both needlepointed with the sides sewed together, usually finished with some kind of decorative cording.  Another type of stand up is a needlepointed canvas put onto a styrofoam box.  Usually with some sort of  large bead feet, and festooned with ribbon, these stand ups definitely make a statement.

The Santa stand up is a stand up  is dome shaped with a fabric back.

(Melissa Shirley canvas stitched by Francey P.)

 

The Santa below does have a front Santa that is the GOOD Santa and is needlepointed-sorry that I cannot find the picture in my files

It is a stand up with the front and back needlepointed.

(From Brenda Stofft, stitched by Jody T.)

Stand up Santa with front and back needlepointed..This is stand up on a styrofoam box.  The needlepoint is put on the box and the edges are corded and a bow added on the top.  Notice the how green beads with a pearl corsage pin stuck in the bottom for the feet?  Notice that I have finger nail polish on?  Quite unusual as I get them done about once every 5 years-this for my daughters wedding!Peacock canvas (from colors of Praise) made into a stand up on a styrofoam box.

Below are bookshelves decorated with needlepoint at my friend  Olivia’s house.  I love the way she spreads her needlepoint around the house, always a surprise!  Olivia has several series pieces, from the Victorian Halloween series, a piece from our Americana series(see Uncle Sam there in the back by the painting?), and a little garden piece made into a stand up on a styrofoam box, in the middle of the picture.

More of Olivia’s book shelves:

In the stairwell book shelves, a needlepoint angel and Halloween tricksters are here to greet the lucky visitor!

More Needlepoint on Book Shelves

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Travel books are the backdrop for these needlepointed symbols of favorite places.

My favorite book shelf is at my friend Olivia’s house.  I love her book shelf of travel books with her needlepoint stand ups of the places she has visited, New York, Paris, Venice, and London, in front of them.  What a great idea and oh, so interesting.  Olivia has visited many places so it will be fun to see more needlepoint stand ups in her travel collection.  Olivia also has decorated a book shelf with her needlepoint Noah’s Ark.  This shelf is on a landing in her stairwell and the Ark and friends adds so much interest to her shelves.

Melissa Shirley's Noah's Ark with friends is gathered on one of Olivia's book shelves.

At my daughter’s apartment in Chicago, which is very cozy, she has put her Texas boots on her book shelves in front of books.  Although she has loved living in Washington, D.C. and now Chicago, she is still a little homesick  so the boots remind her of her home state.  This is a perfect way of displaying needlepoint in a small house or apartment!

A collection of Texas themed boots is comforting to a Texan who lives in Chicago!

 

Although not used for books, SAW has decorated several of her shelves with collections and needlepoint.  She has been collecting majolica pottery for a long time and added a series of needlepointed majolica butter pat ornaments on her majolica shelf in the den.

And in her dining room, SAW has put her needlepoint birthday cake and 2 candles on a shelf with native American beaded whimsies long with other collectibles.

 

An old bamboo shelf contains native American whimsies and other collectibles along with a needlepointed birthday cake and two candles.

In my house, I have put all my needlepoint frames together on the top of my corner welsh dresser and they make a very stunning collection all used together.  I also am showing you a picture of the little hydrangea basket I needlepointed on a shelf with blue and white canton.

 

A collection of needlepoint frames on the top of a welsh dresser.

 

All these little touches of needlepoint bring so much personality to the homes so next time you do a stand up piece, go ahead and nestle it among your goodies and books on shelves in your home!

If you have pictures of your needlepointed treasures on book shelves, I would love to share them on Living with Needlepoint.  Please email pictures and text, with your name, to NeedlepointingInYourNest@gmail.com.
Thank you so much!

One more SAMPLER post

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My friend Patti C. has been busy with college girls and parents this summer but managed to find time to send some pictures of her stunning sampler collection.  She tried for several days to email her pictures to me, but they never arrived in my email box.  Thanks to Patti for trying again, they were in the mail this morning.  Somewhere out in cyber space are a bunch of sampler pictures!

On the walls of Patti’s kitchen staircase, she has the most fabulous (my favorite word) collection of samplers she has needlepointed.  I think we probably need a professional photographer to capture the beauty of her collection which cannot be photographed with my little camera or her cell phone!  Patti’s house is one of my favorites and is so charming that one wants just to stay and lounge on her sofa.  She also makes really good iced tea.  Later,  I will post pictures of needlepoint in Patti’s house-it’s really quite awe-inspiring!

Most of these samplers are from Birds of a Feather.

A sampling of Patti C's sampler collection decorates her kitchen staircase.

Patti’s and SAW’s, pictures of her collection which I posted earlier, collections are so breath taking when one comes around the corner to see their displays.  At least the vision gets my heart a-pumping and my brain a-wishing I could stitch faster.  These girls and my friend Betsy are fast and persistent stitchers and creative, too.  They are always open to suggestions and like their samplers to be more non traditional with their use of threads, beads, buttons, and stitches.  Their stitching and their lives are so inspiring to me and I am so glad to have these girls in my life.

One of her samplers framed beautifully with ribbon used for the matting.

 So girls, keep on stitching those inspirational samplers and adding them to your collections!

                                            Halloween-esque sampler is in another post stitched by one of our friends.

 

What goes in the bathroom….Needlepoint, of course

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My shell powder room has a small shell rug and a needlepointed “waste bin”.

Needlepoint can go anywhere including the bath/powder room.  A bath/ powder room deserves a little needlepont, too.   Needlepoint stand ups, framed needlepoint, rugs, trash cans, lamp/ chandelier shades, door signs, little ornaments decorating the door knob… just about any piece of needlepoint, except for may be stockings, can liven up a powder room. Consider this when putting needlepoint  in this personal room:  Do you take showers or baths in the room or is it a powder room?  Is this a big or little room?  Does it get much traffic?  Who uses it?

Bee Clean sign hangs in a guest bathroom.

 

Adorable Bee Clean sign close up.

Needlepoint can be put in the shower/ tub bathroom but one must be careful that the room doesn’t stay damp or have a lot of condensation which causes lots of things to mold, including needlepoint.  Probably this room is not the place to put a framed piece of needlepoint; however, in my master bath, I do have a little ornament of boxers hanging on a display shelf which seems to be okay.  But please do consider the mildew factor in this room.  A small bathroom, of course, will probably stay damper longer.

 

Powder room decorated with an extensive collection of blue and white plates, including a needlepointed one!

Blue and white needlepoint plate among a collection of real blue and white plates.

BG’s fabulous blue and white powder room has this fabulous needlepointed chicken in it. I would like to live in there! She and her daughter mosaic-ed the frame!

Most needlepoint items will be fine in a small powder room so feel free to hang framed pieces with glass, ornaments, and wall hangings in this little room.  I love my “needlepoint waste bin” (sounds nicer than “trash can”), but if one has a lot of small children or teenagers using the powder room, I would suggest hanging your treasures high enough so they will not be tempted to use the items as a towelette for hands, mouths, and noses. And it  is probably wiser not having a needlepointed “waste bin” in the powder room that could probably be used as collector of food and drink items and could be possibly be damaged by dribble from these items.

 

One of my favorite needlepoints, I had this canvas made on a leather "waste bin" for my shell powder room.

If you are in a house of wise and respecting adults, have your needlepoint “waste bin” in the corner.  Put that needlepoint rug in there!  Hang your little ornaments and put your stand up in there for decoration!  Framed pieces look great in the powder room, too.  Door signs are cute on the powder room door, especially when they say knock or in use, something that means the powder room is being used.

 

What I would like to needlepoint for my powder room(if I had a big one):  Labors of Love perfume bottles made into stand ups and collected on a beautiful silver tray with the  actual bottles of perfume of the same name.  Labors of love has perfume bottle canvases of White Diamonds, Joy, and Shalimar.  Kirk and Hamilton does an adorable Texas perfume bottle!

Joy perfume bottle-my mom would like this one!

Chanel No. 5 perfume bottle.Shalimar perfume bottle.

White Diamonds perfume bottle.

My schnauzer Heidi showing you our shell powder room.

Mirror,mirror, Needlepoint mirror

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Mirror in my daughter's room. she loves it and wanted to take it to college!

A really show stopping item for the master/powder room or just about any place in the home is a mirror finished with a piece of needlepoint on top.  I did a Mary Engelbreit canvas for my daughters 16th birthday and had it finished as a mirror.  (Just a note:  the Mary Engelbreit canvases are sadly no longer available.)  It is in her bedroom and is so cute and a different way to finish needlepoint.

 

Close up of mirror.

At the Chaparral, Sally Anne had Ann Wheat Pace paint a canvas for our bathroom at the shop which we had made into a mirror and it is so beautiful.  (So sorry I am in the picture, but I cold not find a way to get the picture without my loveliness being included!)

The mirror in the bathroom at the Chaparral in Houston.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My friend, BG, did this adorable Melissa Shirley canvas and had it finished as a mirror for her cottage in California.  I love the John Johanssen French girls and B did an outstanding job stitching them!

BG's mirror in the master bath.

 

 

Close up of BG's needlepoint on her mirror. BG did outstanding stitching on this canvas!

Top corner. Love the trims criss crossed on top of the needlepoint border.

Another close up of the stitching. BG added ribbon and silk ribbon roses on the dress.

 

The framer we used made two frames:  one for the needlepoint and  then a second frame was made with a mirror and the framed needlepoint in it.  We all 3 used Davis Hardware here in Houston to make our mirrors.

 

What a different way to finish your needlepoint piece!  Compliments are sure to come your way if you have a mirror with needlepoint in your home!

 P.S.  I found another picture of the chicken is BG’s powder room that I forgot to post last week.  thought you all would like to see it.

BG's guest bathroom.

4th of July Needlepoint-Pledge Allegiance to it!

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My Mile High Princess 4th of July guys.

I love red, white, and blue and it is fun to decorate the house for the 4th of July or at least have a few needlepoint items to display celebrating the good ole’ U.S.A.’s birthday!

4th of July girls in my set of stand ups!

 

Stand ups are always fun to use as decoration for the buffet table!  Put on the table with a few flags in vases for a party or just for your family.  Above are my 4th of July guys which I love!  They are all from Mile High Princess and were fun to stitch.  I love yellow backgrounds for 4th of July needlepoint because it reminds me of our weather here in Houston and the color of yellow even feels hot!

 

Rebecca Wood 4th o July picnic set stitched by Joan B.

Picnic table from Joan B.'s set.

The watermelon table!

Sparklers!

More characters from Rebecca Woods' 4th of July collection.

Ornaments are always fun and can decorate a chandelier, tied on the bannister or on the back of dining room chairs.  Door signs can be hung on the back of the front door or kitchen door.

Mile High Princess heart ornament was part of a series and was stitched by Karen Lea.

 

I wrote a stitch guide booklet for these Melissa Shirley 4th of July children. They are adorable and fun to stitch.

My liberty door sign is on the back of the front door. Canvas is & More.

I had Raymond Crawford paint this service flag for me to honor my son James, who is a lieutenant in the Army.  Families of soldiers display the flags in the front windows of their homes when they have a loved one in our Armed Forces.  Below is a picture of James when he was in Iraq.  He is now at Ft. Hood near Killeen, TX.  You can read about the tradition and history of service flags here:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Service_flag

I wrote a stitch guide for this service flag honoring my son James.

 

James in Iraq.

If you decide to have a celebration at your house, try this delicious Pavlova from Ina Garten. It is a very light desert and tasty, too!   I think it is very 4th of July-ish and is most wonderful tasting-so good one would really like to eat it all themselves!  Here is the recipe link:  http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ina-garten/mixed-berry-pavlova-recipe/index.html

Mixed berry Pavlova is DELICIOUS!

Be sure to allow enough time to cook the meringue.  You can needlepoint while it is cooking and cooling!

 

More 4th of July this week!  Remember, be safe and please don’t drink and drive!

Patriotic Needlepoint for the 4th of July!

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Red, white, and blue are wonderful colors and I love them.  My son’s room is red, white, and blue and I have needlepointed flags for his room.  The flag sampler, I must say, is one of the most fun projects I have done.  I used threads from my stash and slowly worked on it between other projects.  It is fun and satisfying to quickly fill in a little square!  Mary Clark Donegan wrote the book, Patchwork of Peace, which I believe is still available. It has some great stitches in it. I added flag buttons, a statue of liberty head button, as well as putting my initials and date on it.

SAW did this fabulous Melissa Shirley flag canvas and she did a beautiful job.  Her flag is proudly displayed in the den.

My cute friend (she is a lot of fun, too and so is her darling husband!), Patti C. loves to decorate her house for the different holidays.  She took the Melissa Shirley 4th of July kids and tied them together with some patriotic stars and  draped them on her mantle.  What a great idea!

Mantle in Patti's living room with her 4th of July garland.

Notice that Patti has a needlepoint pillow displayed on her mantle.

She also needlepointed 3 of Melissa Shirley's patriotic star lollipops which she tied in the garland.

Who would not feel so proud with a display of red, white , and blue pillows on the sofa during the month of July?  Traditional flags can be needlepointed as well as untraditional-all are very patriotic!  The fabulous large canvas is from D.J.Designs and was stitched by Esther G. for her beach house.  I adore this wonderful pillow!

Nancy E. stitched the presidential seal for her son.  He also has served in our Armed Forces.

Below are more patriotic pillows-doesn’t it just make you want to stand up and sing the star spangled banner?

Dr. Liz stitched this adorable eagle in specs pillow for her brother.

Last but not least,  so many patriotic and flag canvases can be found at needlepoint stores.  This canvas is one of my favorites and is from Ewe and Eye.  The original art work is by Blakely Wilson and she really captures the rural 4th of July fireworks celebration.

 

Have a good and safe holiday with your families and friends!  I myself am going to try to get my threads organized!

My very favorite patriotic pig!

PICTURE frame PERFECT

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A variety of needlepoint frames from different artists.

Needlepoint picture frames are fun to do and so many beautiful canvases for frames can be found at your needlepoint store.

 

Most of these frame canvases are from Elizabeth Turner.

Every Super Bowl Sunday for 19 years in a row, I have taught a class on a picture frame so I have acquired quite a collection of them.  I have them in my study/office.  I do have 2 students who have taken all of my Super Bowl Sunday frame classes and now are very good friends, even though they only see each other this one time each year.

 

Love this candy frame!

 

Picture of my friend's French bulldogs! My oldest daughter finished the background of this frame!

We called this one the "Red Amoeba" frame. I put a self portrait drawing/photo my baby girl did when she was in elementary school.

This was the class favorite frame I taught. In it a picture of my oldest girl at her high school graduation.

Sunflower/crow frame with my son and our schnauzer, Heidi.

Sally Anne has made some of her frames with a hanger and has them on the wall in her den.

 

Frames made to hang.

Frame made with a hanger to display on a wall.

Others she has made into the traditional standing frames.

 

Sally Anne's frames in her den are on a table and were "accidentally" chewed on by her little dachshund!.

Sally Anne has a beautiful collection of needlepoint frames.

And my friend, Patti C., does a Christmas picture frame and uses them to frame her Christmas card that year which is a picture of her 2 girls.  She has them all displayed on her piano in her living room where they make a breath taking collection.

 

Patti's Christmas frames on her piano.

Patti does a Christmas frame every year for her Christmas card photo of her girls.A closer look at Patti's frames.

Add a picture frame canvas to your stash and have fun stitching it.  One thing to remember is not to put beads too closely to the edges of the design area.  This makes it hard for the finisher to make it into a frame.

Make into a standing frame or have a hanger put on the back for a wall display.  You may want to stitch several for a really fabulous collection!

Next time you have a very special photograph, why not make a very special frame to show it in?

Lani canvas for class Super Bowl 2011.

Zecca frame stitched for Super Bowl 2012 will hold a photo of my daughters at the oldest one's wedding!

Needlepoint DOES grow on TREES!!!

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12 days tree in the dining room.

As needlepointers, we all love to get our projects finished in a timely manner, and ornament size canvases seem to fit the bill.  Ornaments are fun to do not only for Christmas but for other seasons or reasons, too.  Who doesn’t love to have a special ornament to leave out all year!  And you can do just that!  You can even  leave them on a tree-an artificial or real ficus, a grapevine tree,or a cone-shaped tree of ivy!

 

I have gathered all the pictures of my friends’, Sally Anne and Patti C., trees with needlepoint ornaments.  They have these trees in their houses all year-long.  I have 2 trees I leave out throughout the year in my house, too.

 

Patti's tree decorated for summer.

In Patti’s den, she keeps a ficus tree in the corner of the room that she embellished with her precious needlepoint ornaments of the season.  Right now, she has it decorated with all her summer ornaments, including lots of flip-flop ornaments.  At Halloween, she decorates it with Halloween things and like wise at Christmas.  And to her needlepoint ornaments, she adds other ornaments with the seasonal theme.

 

Another side of the seasonal tree decorated for summer.

A summer flip flop.

Watermelon on Patti's summer tree.

Bikini ornament on a hanger and watermelon flip flop. Look closely for the blue and white one piece suit!

At Sally Anne’s, in her den, she has a cone-shaped grapevine tree where she displays her Americana series, a series of folky American themed ornaments we did at Chaparral in 2001.  (It still is one of my very favorite series I created with my artist friend, Carol C.)

Sally Anne's grapevine tree.

Americana tree at Sally Anne's house.

 

At my house, I have a tree with my Majolica series I did in 2000.  I love these ornaments and to further enhance the Majolica theme on the tree, I added fruits that are commonly seen on Majolica pottery, both glass and a few plastic. To read about Majolica, here is a link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victorian_majolica.   At the time I did the series, I looked high and low for a Majolica-ish container in which to stand the tree.  Of course, I found some antique ones, but they were $5000 which was not on my needlepoint budget.  I could not find a reproduction big enough for the base of the tree.  I have used an antique Imari pot that I got from my grandmother.  It looks just okay and I love it, but it doesn’t go with the theme of the tree.  I am still on the lookout for a pretty Majolica-esque cahe pot for my tree all these many years later.  This tree is in my living room.

A very long skinny tree perfect for tucking in a corner.

Another shot of the tree.

Majolica begonia leaf plate and cheese bell are copied from antique Majolica pieces.

Majolica horseshoe was designed from an antique plate.

 

Majolica shell and coral ornament.

Majolica tree needs an antique Majolica pot to go in!

In my dining room, I have my 12 days of Christmas series on the buffet-which is never used for a buffet.  I love this tree and have added glass ornament pears and one fake quail and a nest of eggs.  It is not a real Christmas-y 12 days so I just decided to leave it out all year.

12 days of Christmas tree on the dining room buffet.

Quail and glass pear ornaments decorate the 12 days of Christmas tree.

The partridge!

I hope you will start thinking of using your ornaments on a permanent tree in your house!

 

If you have a tree decorated with needlepoint ornaments that stays out all year, please email me a picture and I will post it on this blog!  I would LOVE to see your needlepoint and how you use it!

 

Let’s HANG around with needlepoint!

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More ideas on how display ornaments other than on your Christmas tree:

 

Fruit ornaments are on the chandelier all year with other fruit themed items.

*on the chandelier. Yes, ornaments can be tied onto the chandelier with decorative ribbon or simply looped over an arm of the chandelier-if that is possible.  If not, tie with a ribbon in a knot or in a bow, or use a thin cording to tie the ornament.  A collection of ornaments that go together is best- some theme or design that ties them together.  Here is my kitchen chandelier with sampler type veggies tied on it.  Being non seasonal, I keep these on all year long.

 

Canvas by Pat Thode for Heartstrings

Avocado canvas by Pat Thode for Heartstrings

Banana canvas by Pat Thode for Heartstrings.

One of the chandeliers at work is covered with pink hearts on loan from their designer, Joan E. of Fiori, distributed by Dream House Ventures.  I love Joan’s Valentine themed ornaments all together!

 

Cute Joan E., Fiori canvas designer, has her hearts hanging on Chaparral's chandelier!

Fiori Valentine themed needlepoint ornaments look fantastic displayed on a chandelier.

And on another chandelier,  4th of July ornaments decorate it, all from the same artist.

4th of July ornaments from Melissa Shirley on a chandelier.

 

Another view of the 4th July ornaments.

 

American flag star from Melissa Shirley.

Texas flag star.

4th July girl!

* on the cupboard doors or pantry door in the kitchen.  Here, 2 bugs hand over the oven and an owl decorates the glasses cupboard.  A cherry ornament on the pantry door.

 

A bee and a wood bore made into ornaments over the oven in the kitchen.

Looped over the knob of the pantry door, this old cherry ornament add s charm to the kitchen.

Close up of an ancient cherry ornament!

 

*on an accessory in the kitchen,  The rabbit egg hangs on an antique enamelled  tin serving utensils holder.

 

Mary Lake Thompson egg from Melissa Shirley is displayed throughout the year.

Close up of rabbit egg.

*on the back of a chair or the spindle of a chair.  No pictures for this one, but at Christmas, I sometimes hang mini socks tied on the backs of chairs.  It would also be so cute, if you have a lot of flower ornaments, to tie them on, for say, a bridesmaid luncheon or garden party, baby themed needlepoint ornaments for a baby shower.  Countless ideas exist!

 

*on drawer pulls or on the keys in the drawer.  I have lots of opossums that run the fence, which I call, the opossum highway, on my back porch  off the kitchen so I have a fondness for opossums which most do not.  I stitched a small opossum canvas and have it hanging on a drawer pull in the kitchen honoring the opossums in my back yard that are hounded by my 2 schnauzers!

Opossum ornament from Patty Paints.

Close up of opossum mom with babies on a dresser in the kitchen honoring the back porch opossums that run on the fence.

Hearts decorate an antique cabinet in the entrance of this home.

3 ornaments hang off the key to this antique cabinet.

 

A very old Melissa Shirley heart on the key of a cabinet.

An old Melissa Shirley design.

Needlepoint egg with a large chicks button on the key of an antique glass cabinet.

*on a plate hanger with your display of collectible plates.

Sunflower ornament by me.

 

*on the grandfather clock.  A needlepoint rendition of the family lab graces this beautiful antique grandfather clock.

 

Family pet portrait is on the key of this grandfather clock.

Maggie & Co. canvas designed by Our Faithful Friends.

Sally Anne has a Princess and Me ornament on her grandfather clock.

Princess and Me cherry ornament hangs on key of grandfather clock.

*on the bulletin/message board in the office.  A cute angel with the owner’s name on it really makes her office so cozy and personal!

Painted Pony angel tied onto a memo board in the owner's office.

*tie on a post or loop over the post of the 2/4 poster bed in your bedroom.

 

*on closet door knobs-really any door knob.  Ornaments look great looped over any knob in your home.  Here is Sally Anne’s back door with an Americana ornament on it.

 

Old series ornament on Sally Anne's back door.

American ornament for exclusive 2001 Chaparral series.

Cherry heart ornament hangs on mud room storage door.

Where do your ornaments hang out?

Orange canvas by Pat Thode for Heartstrings.

 

My favorite! Pear canvas by Pat Thode for Heartstrings

 

Needlepointing in France: My friend, Françoise!

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Françoise in class. She did great with her needlepoint and English, and all enjoyed her visit!

Yesterday was a very special day for me.  My precious friend from Paris, whom I have gotten to know on facebook through needlepoint, came to Houston with her handsome husband and her  17 year old son.  She stayed all day for my two classes.  Françoise G.  is a totally precious woman.  A very elegant French friend with this middle aged not so elegant needlepointer,  Françoise felt like an old friend that I have known for a very long time.  I do not why, but we have had a connection via facebook for about a year.  She speaks a little English, but through needlepoint we communicated just fine.  She brought a bag full of gifts,  some for me, and others to share with the classes.  She gave the students in my morning class, Parisian charms, of the Eiffel Tower and Arc de Triomphe,  (for Arc see http://www.travlang.com/blog/an-emblem-of-sacrifice-arc-de-triomphe-in-paris/  and for the Eiffel see http://www.eiffel-tower.us/Eiffel-Tower-Facts.html)

and in the afternoon, boxes of delicious Parisian cookies from Hediard and Fauchon in Paris.

Sacks from Paris contained boxes of delicious tasty treats!

She brought me a delicious jar of Caramel au beurre sale, which you can see in the picture, I have already eaten some,

Delicious caramel with salted butter from Paris!

cactus charms wrapped  in a small piece of  Christmas fabric, and a great black and white bag from Ladurée (see http://www.laduree.fr/en/fabricant/produits/macarons), lovingly presented in an adorable black and white tissue paper. (Some of the motifs on the tissue paper would make adorable ornaments.)

A new bag for needlepoint from Laduree, famous for macarons!!

Beautiful tissue paper was around the Laduree bag.

This would be cute as a needlepoint ornament for a French bulldog owner.

For a cat person, this would make a cute needlepoint ornament!

The cookies came in lovely tins which Françoise suggested would be perfect for storing threads. Everything she brought was packaged beautifully as the French pay attention to every little detail in the presentation of a gift.  Françoise taught us to say macarons the French way, which I, of course, had a hard time doing being from East Texas.

Françoise reminded me to use these beautiful boxes for threads once they are empty!

Françoise sent me a sack of goodies for Christmas and these tiny cookie cutters were among the carefully wrapped gifts. These would be so cute on a needlepoint Santa Claus!

Chaparral, the needlepoint store where I work, had sent Françoise a canvas, threads, and a stitch guide, and she has been working on her canvas with great success!  She ordered the Christmas tree rimmed box from Julia, which she saw on our facebook page.  She has done a great job in stitching and only a few things she did not understand, I showed her in class.  The past few months we have been corresponding via facebook and I have been trying to answer her questions about stitching the canvas. She bought some new threads to replace the ones she does not like using and loved looking at the buttons from Susan Clarke Originals.  She really likes Kreinik metallic braid!  Françoise loves Christmas time and so is very interested in Christmas crackers from Melissa Shirley and ordered 2 more to go with the one we sent her a while back.

This finished tree box was stitched by friend Karen Lea.
The tree shape of the box is decorated with candy canes, ornaments, and a garland..
Bottom of the box is decorated with packages.

The day went by so fast and I did not want Françoise to leave when her husband and son came back to retrieve her. Really, the whole class hated to see Françoise go! The family was off to another city on their driving itinerary which they had so carefully planned before they left France.

Saying good bye to my French facebook friend was hard,but the day was so much fun, and my classes really showed Françoise a good time and included her in our conversations.   I really adore Françoise and am so thankful we are friends.  Her elegance, specialness, and loving touch will be something I will never forget and I hope we will meet again in the near future.  We will continue to communicate through facebook, I know, but there was something so special about having her here and hugging her and getting to know Françoise at the Chaparral.  I really had a tear in my eye when they drove off!!  Happy travels Françoise and family,  and MERCI for making my day a very happy one!!!

My precious friend from France, Françoise! (She is the cute one on the right.)

Needlepoint Afterthoughts: Pictures from Readers

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I have received a few pictures from readers.

From the sampler blog, Pat P., my friend from Livingston, TX,  sent a photo of a sampler.  I love the way this sampler is domed at the top and the profile view of a woman is very interesting.  As usual, Pat did a beautiful job on her sampler.

Pat P.'s sampler at her ranch in Livingston, TX.

Elaine W. S., a cute facebook friend and very diligent  and enthusiastic needlepointer, sent a photo of her Birds of a Feather sampler and describes it as having  ”a Tim Burton twist”.  This is an adorable little sampler and Elaine did a beautiful job stitching it.

Elaine W.S. sampler with a "Tim Burton twist".

Nancy B., a cutie and practical joker from Virginia, collects rabbits and has the cutest rabbit chandeliers.  Someday I am going to surprise her and show up at her rabbit house with my camera.  She loves to needlepoint and collect rabbits.  Nancy found an old plant stand and now has her pillow collection displayed on it.  She put this picture on facebook, and being the collector I am, I LOVE Nancy’s rabbit pillow collection displayed on her new treasure.

Nancy B.'s rabbit pillows displayed on a plant stand.

Finally, my good friend and student,who is a very enthusiastic needlepointer and willing to try most anything  on a needlepoint canvas, sent me pictures of her America-Texas collection that is a nook in her house.  Dr. Margot R. was born on the 4th of July, so of course, likes the good ole’ red white, and blue.  Her collection is arranged beautifully.

I love the middle framed piece with the Uncle Sam and eagle.  Wish I had that!

Dr. Margot's Americana-Texana needlepoint artfully displayed in her home.

Close up of Dr. Margot's FAB collection!

I would love any pictures readers could send of collections of needlepoint or any finished pieces you want to show or interesting ways you display your fabulous treasures of needlepoint.

Home Tour: Marianne’s Hill Country House

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Former owners of the Chaparral Needlework, Marianne and Carter C. have always loved the Texas Hill Country and so bought a piece of land and built a little house.  They frequently go there to get away from the very hot Houston weather and crowded conditions.  Marianne has decorated the house so adorably and very casual, the way she likes it to be.  She has put several pieces of needlepoint in the house to make it feel more cozy and is working on another sampler to add to her collection.   Marianne has a love of samplers and has done many for her country home which she has used for wall decor.

 

Samplers in the main room of Marianne and Carter's Hill Country house near Hunt Texas.

 

Samplers decorate walls in the main room.

Adorable "Creatures" sampler in the dining room.

Close up of "Creatures" sampler. Marianne likes to do basketweave.

Most chairs in this house have a needlepoint pillow.

Another chair in the living room with a pillow the employees did for Marianne, the former owner of the Chaparral Needlework store.

Armadillo pillow on the den/living room chair. LOTS of armadillos are in the Hill Country!

Treglown Designs canvas.

Pear pillow-Marianne does not remember the designer but I think it might be an Ehrman kit.

Marianne and her husband recently ran across a stitched canvas that her mother-in-law had done for her son(Marianne’s husband) but never had given it to him.  Carter, a want to be handyman, carpenter, and general fixer upper, as well as being a paid lawyer, found the canvas that has his name with motifs of things he loves.  It now has a home as a pillow on a bed in the Hill Country house.

 

Bed with custom designed "Carter" canvas done by his late mother.

Custom designed needlepoint canvas with the letters depicting things Carter has done and things he likes to do!

Being that it can be beautiful and cooler than Houston summer weather, most like to keep the door propped open to experience cool breezes so Marianne has several door stops she has done.

 

Boots Bailey canvas weighted and finished as a door stop. Perfect for a Hill country house!

Close up of needlepointed boot door stop. The cactus on the boot are found all over the Hill Country.

Another door stop with frogs props the door to let in cooling breeze.

Close up of frog door stop which is needlepointed and finished around a brick.

Thank you, Marianne, for a delightful tour of your Hill country home!

Needlepoint going to the DOGS!

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Heidi, my not so miniature schnauzer!

Sebastian, my miniature schnauzer!

As you probably know, I am an animal lover, and over the years have had quite a collection of dogs, cats, rabbits, a parakeet who hated me, fish, and a backyard visiting turtle.  I started a pet wreath years ago which holds old collars, old name and address tags,  rabies licenses, pictures of my pets, pictures of my pets with my children, dog and cat ornaments, and lots of needlepoint animal ornaments, including my dogs’ and cats’ needlepoint mini stockings, needlepointed dog bones and dog houses.  Here is my pet wreath.  I know it has lots of goodies on it and I do keep it hanging on the door that leads to my garage all year long.  I love to needlepoint ornaments to put on it and have quite a stash of canvases to do that will eventually end up on the pet wreath.  One which I have not done is a gold-fish mini stocking from Painted Pony.  It is one of my favorites!

 

My pet wreath decorated with all kinds of pet things, including needlepoint ornaments.

Sally Anne's Charlie is from a shelter and is such a nice dog!

Harry Winston, Sally Anne's Yorkie, is a cute fella!

In Sally Anne’s kitchen, she has several dog items, some needlepoint, some paintings and collages.  I love her framed  multi dog canvas from Maggie & Co.   All the areas have different stitches and the words are all beaded.  In Sally Anne’s hall, she has this little stand up of her beloved Jack, a mini long-haired dachshund and in the den. this Maggie “portrait” of a chocolate lab, depicting Daisy.  Daisy and Jack are in dog heaven now, but Sally Anne’s love of those two continues.

 

 

 

 

Sally Anne's dogs in the kitchen.

Maggie and Co. canvas: Dogs you can lean on.

 

Maggie&Co. chocolate lab with Daisy needlepointed on the collar tag..

Small canvas from Shorebirds has space on it to needlepoint your dog's name.

Adorable Patty Paints canvas stitched by dog lover, Diane H.

Diane H. loves dogs,too, and has several of her own, as well as being a baby-sitting mother to several dogs when their parents are out-of-town.  She did this adorable Patty Paints canvas honoring her dog friends.

 

 

 

 

 

 

More on Needlepoint: Going to the DOGS! in the next post!

Fanny, a long-haired dachshund, as a baby, still gets into and on top of many tables, closets, most anything! This is Sally Anne's dog.

My baby, Jane Austen, a black and tan cavalier King Charles spaniel. She hates having her picture taken. My real baby, who is 23, took a surprise picture of Jane Austen. That's why she looks so surprised!

 

More of Needlepoint: Going to the DOGS!!

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Shelly's dog house with her bed under the family's kitchen stairs.

Continuing on with needlepoint honoring our pets, more pictures of dog needlepoint!

 

Heidi's spaniel, Mary Poppins! she is a sweetie!

Staffordshire spaniel needlepoint is made into a pillow. Heidi's spaniel's ear is on the right!

My friend, Heidi H., and mother of a Cavalier King Charles spaniel did this rendition of a piece of spaniel Staffordshire in needlepoint honoring her dog, Mary Poppins. Heidi’s family has a long tradition of naming their dogs after Disney characters.

 

 

 

 

 

 

To read about antique Staffordshire spaniels, see this link:

Antique Staffordshire spaniel.

http://antiquescouncil.com/antiques/index.php?page=out&id=258.

 

 

 

 

 

Lue W. did this Maggie canvas for her farm with Partners!

And Janice B. did this adorable Maggie & Co., with original art from Frank Bielic, canvas with a spotted dog  The finisher found the perfect spotted fabric for this pooch!

 

Another Maggie & Co. canvas stitched by Janice B. Janice added a real dog tag on her pillow.

Patti C. has the most fabulous dog “house” in her kitchen, under the stairs, where her Shelly, her precious Sheltie spent her days,  The family was so grief-stricken by the loss of Shelly this year, but Shelly is always remembered by everyone who has visited them by her adorable dog getaway under the stairs.  Patti made a wreath years ago from a series Faith C. and I did exclusively for  the Chaparral depicting  dogs of the month and hung it over Shelly’s house.  She collected all kinds of dog sayings and hung them around Shelly’s door.  Shelly probably had the cutest dog house in the world!

Shelly's dog house under the stairs is decorated with a wreath of needlepointed dogs.

 

Patti has collected all kinds of signs about dogs to put around Shelly's house under the stairs.

At  the National Needlework market in January, Sally Anne and I found the cutest custom dog stockings painted by Cheryl Schaeffer.  I love these adorable regular size stockings and Cheryl will paint a portrait of your dog from a photograph on the stocking.

 

Adorable Cheryl Schaeffer stockings can be custom ordered from your favorite needlepoint store.

So honor your much loved pet with a collection of needlepoint on a pet wreath, ornaments, pillows, framed pieces,  or stockings.  After all, our pets are worth it!!

Home Tour: Lue W.’s farm near Navasota, Texas

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Lue's huge sofa with all her needlepoint pillows!

A new country house on a farm  recently built by Lue W. and her husband is full of Lue’s wonderful needlepoint.  Their house is outside Navasota and is named Poggioreale Nuovo, which means “new royal hill” in Italian. Poggioreale is also a town in Italy where Lue’s grandfather was born.  Lue, a mother of 2 grown children, a son and a daughter, started needlepointing when she was a teenager and took to  doing different stitches maybe 4 or 5 years ago.  And boy, she has taken to it like a duck to water!  Her abilities have progressed very rapidly where once she was a little scared, she now tries and does stitches on her own!  An executive recruiter by profession, Lue and her husband enjoy their farm and spend many weekends there.  Her husband planted a vineyard and they have a few cows.  They also see wild animals:  deer, wild pigs, coyotes, and owls.  Lue needlepoints whenever she can and at the farm, prefers the very large sofa for her needlepoint nest.  They also have, what Lue calls, a “barndominium”, which they used while they were building the new house.

 

Boot with the Lone Star of Texas and filled with bluebonnets and Indian paint brushes!

Enjoy the tour of Lue’s farm house.  I do love her huge neutral sofa which she has stitched many a canvas made into pillows!    I do love a sofa packed with needlepoint pillows!

Wouldn't you just love to stitch on the sofa and then take a nap?

Maggie & Co. rooster waiter. Notice Lue put her last name W on the towel!

Cow pillow with a red barn in the background is perfect for a farm house!

Melissa Shirley for Mary Lake Thompson boot filled with sunflowers is fast to stitch.

Maggie & Co. pillow on the sofa.

She also has a lovely framed piece, Happy Everything, celebrating every holiday in the year on one canvas!

 

Happy Everything celebrates all holidays!

The bedrooms have pillows on the beds.  On this farm bed, Lue took 4 butterfly canvases and had them finished on one pillow.

Four Melissa Shirley butterfly canvases made into one long pillow!

Close up of a fabulous long pillow! We selected very beautiful ribbon to go on this pillow.

The second bedroom with a beautiful Melissa Shirley iris pillow.

The background was white and we decided to make it striped.

Lue is now working on Melissa Shirley’s big armadillo canvas and is progressing quickly along!  She has not decided if she will frame it or make a huge pillow for her huge sofa.  Whatever she does, she needs to be very proud of finishing her armadillo canvas!

Melissa Shirley armadillo pillow has the state fish, Guadalupe bass, the state flower, bluebonnet, the state tree, pecan, the state reptile, the horned toad, and the state bird, mockingbird, and cotton bolls, which is the state fiber and fabric, in the borders. Around the armadillo, which is the state small mammal, the state plant, the prickly pear cactus.

For more information on TEXAS state symbols,  see  http://www.statesymbolsusa.org/Texas/state_symbols.html.

Thanks so much, Lue and husband, for the tour of your beautiful farm house.

 

 

 

Needlepoint Furniture, part 1, Footstools and Dining Room Chairs

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Because we do not finish upholstery at the needlepoint  store where I work, I do not have many pictures to show so I have taken pictures of a couple of needlepoint pieces at my house and have also borrowed some off of several websites, which I will note.

 

A Victorian needlepointed sofa found on an auction web site. Look at all that black!

Furniture covered in needlepoint is quite breathtaking!  When seeing a piece of upholstered needlepoint, most of the time, one thinks of all the time that went into stitching  it!  But what a treasure the stitcher has once the project is complete!  Most upholstered pieces will last much longer than a lifetime if taken care of by keeping it out of the sun, keeping the dogs from being on it, keeping the cats from scratching on it,  keeping it out of the garage or storing where moths and animals would get to it, and by generally taking care not to have it used a lot.

 

First, footstools, which really do not take much time to stitch unless they are large.  One of our customers brought her adorable iron footstool by the shop to show and tell.  It is so cute and she did the design herself using all of her leftover Paternayan Persian wool.  What a good ides for using leftovers!!!

Adorable footstool designed and stitched by a very talented customer.

Footstool top done with leftover wools.

BG's footstool, one of two, each with 2 seasonal needlepointed canvases.

Close up of BG's Autumn footstool.

Close up of one canvas on the footstool

Close up of Summer footstool top.

 

Patti C.'s footstool in her living room.

Small footstool I needlepointed when my youngest was born.

Small footstool I did to commemorate my Hollee's birth.

Top of footstool for Hollee; canvas by Joy Juarez.

My antique needlepointed footstool.

Antique needlepoint footstool.

Close up of antique footstool. Love the faded colors!

And from

http://www.fleurdeparis.com/products/10Browse.asp?Category=Trubey%20Designs:Furniture, these canvases and footstools can be ordered from your favorite needlepoint store.

Tuffet from Trubey Designs is to be completely needlepointed.

Another tuffet with needlepointed sections and fabric in between.

And from Dede, through Fleur de Paris, a charming poppy footstool with poppy painted feet, to be needlepointed on the top and round the side.

See http://www.fleurdeparis.com/products/10Expand.asp?ProductCode=ED-18076

Beautiful Dede footstool with top and side needlepoint.

Dining room chairs upholstered with needlepoint are beautiful.  They, too, will last many generations if properly cared for.  Below are pictures of 3 of  the 6 of  Sally Anne’s dining room chairs.  Her father’s mother stitched them and each of them have a different bouquet of flowers.  They have the most yummy color for the background-an aqua color that one does not see for dining room chairs that our grandmothers did.  Sally Anne has several more canvases of this set, but she said they are not in very good shape. She said to look closely on the hostess chair for little black dachshund hairs as this was her miniature long-haired dachshund’s favorite napping chair!

Sally Anne's dining room chairs are all in needlepoint.

Another of Sally Anne's dining room chairs.

 

One of two hostess chairs from Sally Anne's dining room set.

More on needlepoint on furniture to follow!

Victorian needlepointed parlor chair taken off an auction website.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Needlepoint on Furniture, part 2, More Chairs

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More needlepoint on furniture!

Colors of Praise custom needlepointed chair! MAGNIFICENT!

Next, entire chairs covered with needlepoint.  These do take a long time to stitch and one must make absolutely sure the needlepoint canvas is the correct size.  I would ask the upholsterer to make a pattern for the chair.  The chair custom designed by Marie Barber of the Colors of Praise is absolutely magnificent.  The stitcher did a beautiful job and I am sure this chair will be around for many generations.  You can look at the Colors of Praise here:   http://www.colorsofpraiseart.com/custom_designs.html

Fantastic needlepointed chair custom designed by Marie Barber from Colors of Praise.

Back of fabulous needlepointed chair.

These are chairs that are available to order from your favorite needlepoint store.   Each one is magnificent and would really make a statement in a home.  Many more chairs like these below can be found on the Fleur de Paris website.

From the Fleur de Paris website, these are from Trubey.  Look here for the pages:

http://www.fleurdeparis.com/products/10Browse.asp?Category=Trubey%20Designs:Furniture

Trubey Designs elephant walk chair.

Trubey Jungle Scene chair.

Trubey yellow floral plaid chair.

In antique stores, needlepoint chairs can be found.  I bought this one when I was in my 20s and it still is beautiful-even though one of my cats has taken a liking to it.  That cat now does not have access to my chair!

 

Antique needlepoint chair.

Beautiful faded colors on an antique chair with classic motifs.

Children’s chairs with needlepoint are fun and not a huge project unless the whole child’s size chair is completely covered with stitching, like this little cutie from Trubey through Fleur de Paris.

Jungle Scene wingback children's chair by Trubey Designs.

Rocking chair with hot air balloon pad from Trubey, sold through Fleur de Paris.

And this one, also from Fleur de Paris.  See

http://www.fleurdeparis.com/products/10Expand.asp?ProductCode=ED-18070

Also from Fleur de Paris from dede, this Sea horse children's chair would be so cute in an ocean themed room.

Here are pictures of my children’s chairs.

 

Child size corner chair I did to commemorate the birth of my oldest daughter.

 

Child's chair with Edie and Ginger needlepointed canvas depicting children in the garden with their pets.

Chair made of branches with needlepoint cushions I made when my son was born. Needlepoint canvases from Barbara Eyre.

 

Antique chair upholstered with a Maggie Lane design.

Close up of Maggie Lane design.

Antler chair upholstered with vintage needlepoint.

Close up of vintage needlepoint on antler chair.

 

Cushions on children's chair that I drew and stitched from my Mary Hadley pottery.

And finally, the love letter series chair that I did for a series at the Chaparral Needlework.  All the canvases are different kinds of love letters that I stitched and wrote stitch guides for.  Karen Lea, so generous with her time, showed me how to glue and trim the canvases on the Restoration Hardware chair.  This is what I call an “Art Chair” and is simply to be used as a piece of art and is not to sit in!  I love the way we did the back with a pocket in which to put special love letters.

 

Love letters series chair with canvases from all different artists.

Back of chair with love letter pocket.

Stitch guides for all of the canvases on the chair above  are available from the Chaparral Needlework,

Chaparral@NDLPT.com

 

Thank you all for reading my blog post, Needlepoint on Furniture.  Again, if anyone has any furniture or any other special needlepoint, I would love to show it on my blog.  Just email me or message me on my facebook page, Needlepointing in Your Nest.

I would love to see your needlepoint and I would love to share it with other needlepointers!

Mahogany heavily carved sofa with needlepoint seat and back of Austrian scene, 36in. T, 72in. L, 28in. D, ca. 1910.

 

 

 

 

HOME TOUR: Farm house near Burton, Texas, Part 1

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Pillow in the kitchen/dining/sitting area of the little farmhouse.

Farmhouse near Burton, Texas is very small but cozy!

On a 40+ acre of property sits a little stone and wood farm house that has been around since the 1800s.  My sister and her husband purchased this little piece of property near Burton, Texas a number of years ago.  It had previously belonged to a professor and horticulturist from Texas A&M that experimented with roses.  A charming garden in a small fenced area surrounds the house with the most wonderful scent of roses in early spring and beautiful bluebonnets and other Texas wildflowers out in the field.  Truly a delight to visit, my sister and her husband and 2 grown girls love their farm.  I love it, too,  and every Thanksgiving my family gathers there with my step brother and his family  and various friends and have such a wonderful and memorable day with delicious food cooked by my sister. We all contribute, too, but she does most of the work. Her husband is master of the turkey and grills the most delicious quail and dove with jalapenos and tenderloin from a deer and deer sausage, that I am usually full before we sit down for the main meal.

 

My brother in law's delicious grilled venison sausage! Served as an appetizer, I (and some others) usually am stuffed before our main meal!

 

My sister, Hollee, a jokester, with James, my son, and Hollee, my daughter. We call my sister Big Hollee to distinguish between the 2 Hollees.

My sister, Hollee and her husband did a lot of work on the house when they bought it and it has paid off.  It is tiny but so cute and my sister made stencils, cut them out and stencilled the top of the walls in 2 whole rooms by herself, which just amazes me!  She has adorable fabrics and furniture in her house.  Most of the furniture is old and has been purchased at little antique shows she attends.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

So, enjoy the tour of my sister’s tiny farmhouse and the needlepoint in it!

Nick on the main room sofa. He is such a nice dog. All my sister's dogs are rescue dogs. See the 2 needlepoint pillows on either side of Nick?

In the main room is this sofa which makes into a bed.  This is Nick showing you the sofa.  Hollee, my sister,  has needlepointed 2 pillows for this sofa.  Both I taught for classes and have stitch guides for.  She also has this armoire where the television is kept and on top, her collection of old tins.  Nestled up there is a needlepoint chicken.  I think she inherited that love of chickens from our dad’s mother, our grandmother we called Gigi.

Texas star sampler pillow is a Denise DeRusha canvas taught as a class.

U.S.A. flag pillow was taught as a class and is a Denise DeRusha canvas.

Armoire is full and games and has the television set in it. It did have a squirrel hiding it once that jumped out and scared the family to death!

Two sided chicken canvas was from Barbara Eyre and was stitched a long time ago!

Part of the kitchen dining room, Hollee has a little sitting room in this, the biggest room in the house.

Her dining room and kitchen, with a little sitting area, is the biggest room in the house.  This little sofa also makes into a bed.  She bought the two leatherette Western chairs at antique shows.  In them are pillows she did from a series Faith Cleary and I did at the Chaparral.  We used vintage belt buckles for models and turned them into needlepoint canvases.  We stitched them all in metallic threads and added beads, crystals, and brass charms and did an exclusive series for Chaparral Needlework , where I work.  One of my favorite series and most unusual that I have seen, some customers actually made one of  their canvases into a belt buckle and some finished them as ornaments.  I love how beautiful the pillows turned out and they are perfect for Hollee’s farmhouse.  Our finisher appliquéd  six buckles on each pillow and did an outstanding job on the finishing.

 

 

 

Buckle pillow on one chair.

Second buckle pillow on other chair.

The 6 canvases are in the shape of buckles and have been appliqued onto denim.

The second buckle pillow with 6 buckle canvases. Both pillows have several vintage ribbons on them.

More on the farm house in the next posting!

The big table in the kitchen/dining/sitting room set for a Thanksgiving feast! You can see my brother-in-law on the right side carving his fabulous turkey!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

HOME TOUR: Farm house near Burton, Texas, Part 2

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Front of the stone and wood 1800s farm house.

Howdy, readers!  More touring at the little farmhouse owned by my sister and her husband.

If you look closely, you can see Hollee’s dogs:  One white dog on the porch at the top of the stairs, her Mexican hairless on the chair on the porch on the right side, and her yellow lab walking in the grass on the right of the house.

The farmhouse originally had 2 bedrooms and one bath.  A large master bedroom opens into the main living area.  It is a large bedroom and a day bed sits next to the window that my mom sleeps in when she is visiting the farm.  The big  bed is very high off the ground and Nick, the Bichon,  does like to stay under it on Thanksgiving Day when we all meet for the day and create havoc!  No wonder Nick hides!    Hollee has put all her chicken pillows and sampler pillows on the day bed.  She needlepointed these a very long time ago, when all our children were very young.

 

Day bed in the master bedroom is a little vintage iron bed with brass knobs.  Hollee covered it with an old quilt and lots of comfy pillows.

Very old chicken canvas, I think from Susan Treglown. She did a whole series of animals like this and I wish I had bought some of the canvases!

I cannot remember the artists of these 2 chickens, but they still are very cute!

Two little sampler type pillows are on the day bed.

Close up of sampler pillow.

Second sampler pillow.

In the master bedroom, Hollee has used a beautiful vintage quilt on the bed. A needlepoint covered stool is next to it.

On the big bed, she has old flag embroidery pillows which she has picked up at antique shows.

 

Footstool near the bed is covered with an equestrian needlepoint piece.

Equestrian needlepoint is vintage and on a vintage footstool next to the bed.

 

 

Second bedroom has a 4 poster bed.

The other bedroom was tiny and had bunk beds, but the family decided they needed more room so they had the bedroom made larger and also added another small bathroom, keeping with the look of the house.  Hollee decorated this room with a daisy theme as she has a big daisy flower bed in the front of the garden.  She has used yellow, white, and green in this room.  I found this old daisy needlepoint in an antique shop and had it made into a pillow for the big bed-perfect for the daisy room!

 

 

 

 

Daisy canvas is perfect for the yellow and green 2nd bedroom at the farm.

Thank you Hollee and Wayne for the wonderful tour of you special little farmhouse.  I love to visit and hope all you readers did, too!

The kitchen on Thanksgiving. As you can see, Big Hollee and my Hollee are always the life of the party!

 

HOME TOUR: Little B.’s Hive on the California coast, Part 1

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Before the end of summer, let’s take a look of a precious house in a seaside village on the West Coast.  The name of the house is Little B.’s Hive and it is a true treasure trove of needlepoint!  The owner loves to needlepoint and has adorned her little house so preciously with her needlepoint treasures.  The owner was called Little B by her dad growing up thus the name for her special home.  She has concentrated on making it a true hive by needlepointing lots of bee hive/skep canvases, most of which she did her own stitch guides.  Little B. keeps adding special pieces to her home!!!

Welcome to Little B.'s Hive!

The house has  a precious stone porch and arbor out front, with a sweet little flower garden.  Upon entering, a little entrance hall holds needlepoint treasures and pegs on which lots of hats, jackets, and purses hang, conveniently to grab while one is leaving on a walking excursion to town. On the left hangs a door sign on a decorative hook and above the pegs,  a sign with lots of different kinds of bee skep and a saying about bees.  She also stitched the name of her children on the bottom of the canvas. Both are finished with lots of different kinds of ribbons with bees.

Entrance with pegged wall.

Canvas from Melissa Shirley hangs next to the front door. Notice how Little B. attached real twigs to frame the bee skep.

Cooper Oaks canvas with original art by Susan Wallace Barnes. Bee skeps finished hanging welcome guests to the Hive.

Also hanging on one of the pegs is a fabulous shell purse that the owner stitched.  The canvas is Julie Pischke.  Little B. personalized her purse by adding her initials and needlepointed a small piece of canvas to personalize the inside of the purse.  What a gorgeous color she chose for the background.  The purse sits on the bench below the pegs ready tot grab for a fast walk into town.

Julie Pishke canvas stitched by Little B. sits in entrance.

Close up with purse with a beautiful pink background.

The side of the purse with the needlepointed year date and Little B.'s bee symbol.

Other end of gusset with Little B's initials.

Moving on through the house, a sign  greets visitors reminding them of the fabulous little town they are visiting.  Little B. actually found a license plate holder to have this needlepointed sign framed in.  Isn’t is so clever?  On the other side of the door, is a framed birds’ nest with lots of flowers reminiscent of the beautiful gardens around the Hive and the town.

Top is license plate from CBK and bottom a canvas from Ann Wheat Pace hang on either side of a doorway between the kitchen/den area and back of the house..

Finished canvas framed by a real license plate holder.

Canvas from Ann Wheat Pace beautifully stitched by the owner of the house.

Birds Nest canvas from Melissa Shirley with original art by John Johanssen.

In the small but cozy den which is painted a beautiful color of green, Little B. has several fabulous needlepoint things she has done to decorate the little space.  A pillow sits on one of the chairs and is full of flowers like the owner’s garden.  One the wall is a framed piece of shells with the green background of the den.  Notice how Little B. has chosen the most beautiful ribbons to use instead of mats around her finished canvases. A sweet little fireplace in the room has a mantle with a little needlepointed shell pin cushion and vintage bottles on which Little B. added shells.  I am very impressed with the B.’s talents.  Not only does she needlepoint excellently, but she also paints and crafts and really is an independent think tank when it comes to good ideas!  She also is a great mother and wife!

Close up of framed birds nest.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

John Johanssen rabbit from Melissa Shirley Designs sits on a chair in the cozy living area. Notice all the silk ribbons, buttons, and threads Little B. used on the canvas.

On the side table next to the couch is the full bowl of shells, both real and needlepoint.  I love this faux shell look!  They are needlepointed on all sides  and I took them out of the bowl so you can get a better look.

 

Little B.'s bowl of shells, both real and needlepointed on the table next to the sofa.

Shell canvases are from Little Shoppe Canvas Company.

 

Over the side table in the den/living area is this fabulous large needlepoint shell canvas framed.

Beautifully stitched and framed shell canvas from Julie Pischke.

And on the precious mantle Little B. has done the shell pincushion.  A multi-talented artist, Little B. also constructed the bottles by adding the shells on top of the vintage bottles she found at a garage sale.

Such a prettily decorated mantle with a needlepointed shell pin cushion and vintage bottles with shells added to the tops.

Close up of shell pincushion from Annie's carried by Cheryl Schaeffer.

Next time…the kitchen and upstairs den.

HOME TOUR: Little B.’s Hive on the California coast, Part 2

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Welcome to Little B.'s Hive!

At Little B’s Hive’s House in a small town near the beach, she has decorated it with lots of needlepoint.  Today we will tour her small kitchen and the added-on den above the garage.

 

A needlepointed stack of teacups sits in the window in the kitchen aside needlepointed bee box from DJ Designs.

I love the kitchen at the Hive, especially the corner window near the sink.  Here Little B has put many needlepoint bee treasures, not only  on the window sills but the little shelves in the corner.

 

Close up of Melissa Shirley stack of tea cups with Little B.'s symbol of a bee.

More of the stack of tea cups in the kitchen window.

 

Little B. added pre-made silk flowers, pressed glass flowers and beads, and an enameled button to her stack of tea cups.

Adorable kitchen nook by the window and filled with needlepoint, adds so much charm to this home on the coast.

Originally a needle book, Little B. made this canvas into a tiny stand-up. Canvas from Kirk and Hamilton.

A sea otter needlepointed and made into a stand up, honors the Wet Coast population of sea otters.

A basket of hydrangeas reminiscent of the beautiful ones all around the little coastal town.

This finished Melissa Shirley canvas will probably go in the Hive kitchen window.

She also hung a darling ornament in the window of the kitchen.

 

Kitchen window decorated with a needlepointed ornament stitched by a friend for the Hive.

Tiny straw hat ornament is from Cooper Oaks is decorated with several bee and shell themed buttons.

Straw hat is decorated with pre-made silk flowers and roses.

In the large den over the garage, that was added on by previous owners, Little B. has put a darling patchwork pillow that has the colors of the den on the sofa and an otter pillow on the chair.  The northern coast of California has a large sea otter population and are frequently seen from the beach of this coastal town.  Also found along the coast are seals.  Little B. wanted to honor these sea living mammals in her home so she did this pillow.

Patty Paints needlepoint canvas on the den over the garage's sofa.

Little B. stitched this canvas perfect for the upstairs den!

In a chair, a seal pillow, like the animals around this part of the California coast.

Close up of seal pillow. Notice the shell fringe on the top and bottom next to the ribbon.

 

Picture of seals near Carmel:  http://www.flickr.com/photos/lauracussimanio/5954209973/

To read about the sea otters, see this web site:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sea_otter

and to read about the otters off the coast of Big Sur, California see

http://www.bigsurcalifornia.org/seaotter.html.

NOTE:  I think the sea otters are adorable as well as fascinating!

 

 

 

More of Little B’s home tour next post….

HOME TOUR: Little B.’s Hive on the California coast, Part 4

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Welcome to Little B.'s Hive!

To visit the Little B.’s home in this northern California town is truly special.  In fact, the town and the area around it is magical.   The climate is always mild and perfect for blooming flowers year around.  This is the last post on this home and we will tour the Hive’s master bedroom.

So peaceful and calm, offering a good and restful night's sleep. the Little B. and Bee Keeper's bedroom is very soothing!

Upon entering the master bedroom, one notices how much needlepoint the owner has so lovingly done for her room.  Over the bed is a fabulous hanging needlepoint tapestry of a pelican.  Frequently  flying low to the water, pelicans are seen almost everyday when visiting the area.  I love the way Little B. had the canvas finished as a hanging over her bed and I think she has planned to put another large needlepoint piece in her room in the future.

Melissa Shirley canvas beautifully stitched by the Little B.! Sorry for the bad picture taken by this author.

Melissa Shirley canvas stitched by the owner with the perfect background color for her bedroom!

On the wall next to the door way, is a framed piece very appropriate for this part of California.  It is the Carmel Mission and Little B. did a beautiful job stitching it.  She even added a bee skep in the yard in front of the Mission.  Below this is another framed piece of a whimsical canvas depicting  dogs on the beach.  Dogs are loved in the town and have the best time playing on the beach.  The family’s dog, a very small pooch, travels to California with them and really enjoys running around on the “Dog Beach”!  Excuse the bad and fuzzy photography by me!  I will ask Little B. to take better pictures next time she is in residence at the home.

Carmel Mission canvas from Melissa Shirley, another unfocused picture by the author, who apologizes profusely! Love the unusual ribbon combinations used around the needlepoint for the mat.

Little B. added her bee skep next to the Mission.

 

Great selection of stitches and threads chosen by the B.

Dogs on the beach canvas from Needle Crossings. Little B.'s friends MADE her buy and stitch this canvas! Again, bad picture by the author!

But the most fabulous can be found in the master bathroom.  Little B. stitched a beautiful French girls canvas and had it made into a mirror.  It is really fabulously stitched.  She used so many interesting threads and in unusual ways, adding lots of pre-made silk flowers, pressed glass flowers, and beads, lots of ribbons, silk and other narrow ribbons, and enamelled buttons. She really has demonstrated her needlepoint and artistic skills on this lovely piece, which happens to be another of my favorites.  I took many pictures so you can see the details.

Fabulous mirror in the maser bath with yours truly in the picture!

French girls with chickens canvas from Melissa Shirley for John Johanssen! ADORABLE!

Little B., being her artistic self, used lots of flower trims, ribbons, beads, and buttons on this canvas. Notice her initial in the top left corner. Pom poms are part of a trim used around the needlepoint.

Top right corner of canvas has Little B.'s last initial. She used silk ribbon on the spiky flowers.

A little hen enameled button is added among the other needlepointed barnyard fowl. Silk ribbon roses and beads on the edge of the skirt.

Flat pressed glass beads make up the trim on the second skirt. Another enameled chick button! Also, notice the petals of the sunflowers-Little B. used a whole un-plied strand of Gloriana's wool Lorikeet. What a great idea!

Real very narrow ribbon used on the skirt and held into place with seed beads.

Little B. chose great stitches for her piece!

Love the way Little B. did her sunflowers with the un-plied thread and the pom poms off the trim for the centers of the sunflowers!

So, thanks you so much, Little B. and family, for so generously sharing your lovely home with us.  As you can tell, the family loves their special little house and shares it with their friends, who are so enchanted by the whole house and area when visiting.  We all appreciate the tour and seeing your very special needlepoint pieces!  xo

HOME TOUR: Little B.’s Hive on the California coast, Part 3

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Welcome to Little B.'s Hive!

Little B.’s Hive is a 2nd home to this family, who loves to spend a lot of time in this little Northern California coastal town.  Frequently entertaining guests, the home is very cozy and inviting and the hosts so generous in sharing their special home.  The entire family spends time together during home on Thanksgiving week when their California friends visit.

The home has two guest rooms with bathrooms and are large and roomy.

 

Cozy club chair is so inviting in the back guest bedroom.

The back bedroom has a club chair which is home for this “room” pillow.  Little B., always the creative stitcher, has added lots of embellishments to this canvas, including buttons and even a tiny tassel on the trunk key.  A very cozy room indeed, let’s hope the occupants move the pillow before settling down in this comfortable chair.

 

Canvas from Once in a Blue Moon creatively stitched by the house owner.

Little B. very creatively stitched this canvas.

She picked out really fabulous ribbon for the pillow, most of it is vintage. Lavender, as needlepointed on the left, is found growing all around the Hive!

Close up shows a 3-D plate button used in the shelves next to the rooster.

Notice the tiny tassel on the trunk key!

In the front guest bedroom, is a Texas pillow on the window seat, reminding Little B. of her friends at home (suffering from the Houston heat!), who wish they were in a cooler climate.

What a cozy window seat in this guest bedroom! Texas pillow can now be ordered from your favorite store through Ruth Schmuff Designs.

In the bathroom of this bedroom is another one of my favorite pieces of needlepoint Little B. has done.

 

BEE CLEAN sign from Melissa Shirley for Mary Lake Thompson hangs on a towel peg in the front guest bathroom.

This BEE CLEAN sign hangs on the towel rack reminding guests to be fastidious while visiting this special place.  I love how  the stitcher has added so many embellishments to the canvas-vintage and enamelled buttons, pressed glass and pre-made silk ribbon flowers, beads, and lots of interesting threads.  And so many different stitches are on this small canvas.  That Little B. is so creatively fantastic with her embellishments, thread selections, and stitches!

Lots of different stitches and threads imaginatively used on the sign!

 

Cute stitches were chosen by Little B. for this adorable needlepoint sign. Here she put her initials and year the sign was stitched.

Pressed glass flowers and clever threads!

Next time, Part 4 and the final tour of Little B.’s special Hive…the Queen Bee and the Bee Keeper’s bedroom!

Large Needlepoint Wall Hangings

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A very clever way and less expensive than framing is having a piece of needlepoint made into a wall hanging. When considering whether to frame a piece or make it into a wall hanging, do think of the place it will displayed and if friends, family will touch!  Needlepoint just begs to be touched but it is not good for the threads and embellishments to have fingers, clean or not, running over it frequently.  Those that do not stitch or many that do stitch love to touch and feel the textures.  We see this everyday at the shop when there are those who think they are the exception to the touching rule.  The hands, fingers, clean or not,  have oils on them which can degrade the threads and cause them to dull. Silk ribbon especially is very fragile and can ravel at the slightest touch.  Beads  and embellishments can be pulled off and I have even seen well meaning customers try to pull up buttons and felting to see how it is attached, which always shocks me!I One of my class pieces almost has the whole felted rose pulled off!  So please consider the wear your piece will get before deciding on a wall hanger.

Susan C. stitched this Maggie Lane Chinese dragon from a graph in Maggie Lane's book. The picture does not do the tapestry justice. It is much more of a brilliant color!

Vintage book by Maggie Lane has graphs of beautiful wall tapestries to stitch.

When I was a young adult stitcher (in my 20s), stitching Maggie Lane’s designs were all the rage.  One bought a large piece of canvas , usually linen canvas, made a grid with a hard pencil on the canvas and went to work stitching the most fabulous designs from her books.  The colors she used were always beautiful.  It was much fun to do a graph and I felt so accomplished after my pieces were finished.  I still love all of the pieces I have done and I think they really never go out of style.  Here are a few more Maggie Lane designed wall hangings.

 

Colors changed from the original.

I found the above yellow and purple Maggie Lane wall hanging for sale on the Ruby Lane web site, a good buy for $495.,  if you like the colors:

http://www.rubylane.com/item/361507-LLL2015/Maggie-Lane-Design-Needlepoint-Wall

The colors from Maggie Lane's book were changed on this tapestry. I like the original colors better, but this is still a lovely piece. This tapestry needed a rod in the bottom to keep it from turning.

Kaffe Fassett, a designer of needlepoint, quilts, fabrics, from England, has done FABULOUS wall hangings and does the most beautiful colors.  He also writes books with graphs so you can stitch pieces from graphs.  He sells his designs, on canvas, through Ehrman.  Here is a picture of his vegetable rug.

Vegetable rug canvases designed by Kaffe Fassett and assembled into a wall hanging.

To see more of Kaffe’s designs, go here:  http://www.ehrmantapestry.com/KaffeFassett.aspx

One of Kaffe’s books-check it out…of the library or buy it-it is so much fun to see for those of us who love color!

Kaffe's books have the most breath-taking pictures of needlepoint pieces and are truly inspirational!

And a photo of Kaffe’s studio-I would love to move in!

Kaffe's studio!

My friend, Marianne C. has this large “Table Manners” tapestry hanging in her dining area at her Texas Hill country home near Hunt, Texas.

Canvas is from Maggie & Co. but is no longer available.

I do need to collect more pictures of wall hangings and here are a few.  I have assembled pictures of large wall hangings which are also referred to as tapestries.  I found a lot of the pictures on the Internet to show how they can be added to the decoration of a room.  All the above, with the exception of the purple and yellow one, are actually tapestries I have seen and have been stitched by friends. Most needlepointers will not stitch a large tapestry because it takes so long to finish it if done in the traditional tent stitch.  If a rug or large tapestry canvas is to be used as a wall hanging, decorative stitches can be used.  Decorative stitches are beautiful on very large pieces so try them next time you do a wall hanging!

Here a tapestry from the William Morris collection, looks fantastic in the room!

About William Morris, read here:  http://www.bethrussellneedlepoint.com/William-Morris.htm

Lovely William Morris tapestry and fire screen. Notice the chair seats are stitched, too.

To see more of Beth Russell kitted needlepoint:  http://www.bethrussellneedlepoint.com/needlepoint/tapestry-wall-hangings.htm

There are several ways to finish and display large wall hangings.  One way  is to have loops put on the corners and in the middle and slide them on a dowel or decorative rod mounted on the wall.  Or some finishers use plastic rings sewed on the back and  hang them on nails.  A ribbon can be sewed in each corner and tied in a bow and hung on the wall.  This is probably best for smaller pieces.   Another good way to have a tapestry finished it to have a sleeve attached on the back and a rod slides into this sleeve.  The sleeve can be either hidden on the back or stick up above the tapestry. Most of the time, it is best and more stabilizing when the large piece is hung on the wall, to have the bottom weighted.  Finishers do this different ways but be sure to request a weight or dowel in the bottom of the tapestry when it is turned in to the finisher.  this prevents it from hanging crooked and keeping it straight on the bottom.

Web site for the first tapestry below is http://www.jvoichdesigns.com/needlepoint_by_samantha_taylor/alfombra.htm

Samantha Taylor wall hanging probably has plastic rings sewn on the back for attaching to the wall.

A large tapestry on a decorative rod, this one not needlepointed. Sleeve for the rod shows above the tapestry.

Notice the decorative rod with finials on the ends. See the rod sticking out near the bottom? It is to keep the tapestry hanging straight.

Another tapestry on a rod. This sleeve is on the back of the tapestry. Love the tassels wrapped around the rod on the ends.

This tapestry has an architectural piece above it.

Loops made of velvet are on the top of this hanging and can be slid onto a decorative rod.

Wouldn’t it be fun to do 3 needlepoint pieces and display them like this?

Not needlepoint but an interesting way to display three pieces of similar needlepoint tapestries.

Web site reference for some of the above tapestries is

http://www.tuscanyinteriors.com/mm5/merchant.mvc?Screen=CTGY&Store_Code=TuscInt&Category_Code=ctap01

This tapestry hangs in my grown son’s room at my house.  It was stitched by his grandmother, my mother-in-law, for her son when he was in college.  James, my son in the Army, also went to and graduated from Washington and Lee University.  Marcy, my mother-in-law, did a beautiful job stitching this piece and I love it and always think of her when I see it. It is a truly a special treasure.

My son's grandmother had this piece custom painted. I treasure this piece that she so lovingly did for her son.

Thank you for reading my blog!  I hope it inspires you to do a tapestry!

HOME TOUR: Needlepoint in France with my French friend, FRANÇOISE! Part 1

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Princess and Me Eiffel Tower can be ordered at your favorite needlepoint store.

SOCIAL NETWORKING IS A GOOD THING!  Especially when one meets so many nice and interesting people.  That is how I met my cute friend, Françoise, on facebook.  I think she had been looking at needlepoint facebook pages and came across my Needlepointing in Your Nest facebook page.  Then I somehow saw pictures of her Paris apartment on my news feed page and loved her apartment immediately, with it’s very large collection of needlework and needlework tools.  We became fast friends, messaging at least once a week when it was usually very late in Paris!  I am sure I kept Françoise from going to bed some nights as we chatted a lot about my son, James, who was in Iraq.  Françoise had many questions about that as well as questions about the Chaparral, where I work.  I decided she needed a needlepoint book so I mailed Needlepointing in Your Nest to her and she really liked it.  She seemed to be very interested in needlepoint and ordered a Julia Christmas tree box from us.  We sent her threads and a stitch guide and she was so excited.

 

Here’s a link to the Princess and Me web site:

http://www.princessandme.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=64:c201&catid=92:201300&Itemid=116

Françoise’s needlepoint nest!

Françoise's nest with her needlepoint!

Françoise is working on her needlepoint Christmas tree box.

View from her collection corner apartment window!

 

 

I must tell you, I DO NOT speak any French, except for crepe, garage, and oui, all of which I say with an East Texan accent!  Françoise speaks a little English and is helped by her son, husband, and Google translator.  She would worry about her messages, but I really understood them!

 

 

 

Françoise comes to the Chaparral, bringing lots of delicious French treats

Well, come summer, her son was planning to visit his friend in Dallas. Texas so the family planned a trip to the U.S.A., with a swing through Houston for class.  I signed up Françoise for both Monday classes and we both were so excited about the visit and messaged back and forth until the big week came and Françoise, with cute husband and son in tow, showed up for her class a little before 10 a.m.  We hugged and hugged like old long lost friends, which her husband thinks we are (in another lifetime).  She spent the day at the shop and everyone had a great time visiting with her!  I was VERY sad when it was time for her to go!

Now my oldest daughter is ready to take a trip to Paris with me to see Françoise,  which I hope we will be able to do in the next couple of years.

Eiffel Tower canvas available on Etsy.

Here’s the link for this canvas of the Eiffel Tower on etsy:  Eiffel tower canvas 1 http://www.etsy.com/listing/70922124/eiffel-tower-needlepoint-canvas.

Here are pictures of Françoise’s precious apartment  with her collection of little samplers.  What a FUN collection this is and I know Françoise has the best time searching for antique frames for them  at the flea market.

A wall of little antique samplers all displayed in antique frames.

Here is what Françoise said about her sampler collection:  ”I stitched all miniature embroideries on the left wall.  I framed them with tiny antique frames; large(samplers) on the front wall were purchased.”

Françoise buys her old frames at the Paris flea market! Field trip! She cross stitches the little samplers.

She likes samplers stitched in red. Most are cross stitch.

A sampler in an old needlework frame.

An old embroidery on velvet frame contains one of Françoise's samplers.

An old oval velvet frame with a sampler stitched in red.

More on Françoise collection on the next blog post and her collection of all things needlework!

Françoise vintage samplers are the large ones on the right.

 

HOME TOUR: Needlepoint in France with my French friend, FRANÇOISE! Part 2

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For this canvas, see http://www.needleartmania.com/xcart/PARIS-THE-EIFFEL-TOWER-NEEDLEPOINT-DESIGN-DESIGN.html

 

More on my French friend’s adorable apartment and her collection of needlework samplers, both old and new, and her wonderful collection of antique needlework tools and treasures.  Françoise wrote:

” I stitched all miniature embroideries on the left wall.  I framed them with tiny antique frames.  Large (samplers) on the front wall(to the right) were purchased.”  Notice her stack of beautiful baskets below her miniature samplers.

I did ask Françoise when she started needlework and she said she has been doing needlework for about 15 years.  She started with cross stitch.  She also started her collection of needlework antique frames, samplers,  and tools  then, too. She scours Paris and other  flea markets in France for special pieces and has found several items when her family is on vacation in other countries.

 I commented on the adorable little valance over the window.  Françoise wrote:  ”This little valance was stitched by my grand aunt. It’s a gift from her daughter who is my godmother. It was used to border the shelves. A that time stitch was a recommended activity for young women. The stitch used for flowers is ribbed spider…..Carolyn, you taught me to realize it !”.  I taught Françoise a ribbed spider for ornaments on her Christmas tree box in the class she attended and there it was on her valance!

 

A shelf filled with knitting dolls and other needlework goodies!  Here’s what Françoise wrote:  ”This is a collection of sampler stitched by young girls in 1940′s. Frames are vintage.  On the shelves little men and mushrooms are wooden objects called “tricotins” (in French) maybe “knitting” used by children around 1960′s to make scarves for dolls ….. I had one when I was a little girl.” (NOTE:  ”Tricotin” translates into “knitting” in English.  I looked it up, girls!)

“The round box are ancient(antique) boxes for threads for sewing.”  (Wish I had all those mushrooms for my red and white mushroom collection!)

My VERY favorite thing is Françoise’s apartment is her vintage wooden DMC box.  Very art nouveau!  Françoise said “I bought this piece of haberdashery in a flea market in Paris.  This furniture is from the 30 or 40′s, I believe   The little and vintage cabinet drawer is DMC.  On the right of the furniture is a collection of antique  frames.”  Françoise, that means you need to make more samplers so you can use your empty frames!  An observation:  Françoise is very neat and organized!

Françoise has this beautiful old case that displays her needlework treasures.

A close up photo of some of her treasures in the case.  I think these are old needle books.

 Thank you, Françoise, for the tour of your beautiful needlework collections! Au revoir!

Au plaisir de vous revoir (to the pleasure of seeing you again)

Françoise on the left, and me, on the right!

More from France! Françoise’s Needle Books Collection

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Françoise, my friend from France, has a most amazing collection of needlework treasures.  I love this vintage case filled with all sorts of goodies so I asked her what they were and she sent me additional pictures of her needle books.

My French friend, Françoise sent me additional pictures of her needle book collection that she keeps in a vintage display case in her apartment.

All of the needle books are old and she finds them at flea markets in Paris and on her travels.  Needle books are little books usually with felt pages to stick extra needles in.  However, there are beautiful leather needle books as well as paper ones.  Françoise collects old fabric embroidered needle books.

Antique needle books.

  • Collectors Weekly wrote about antique sewing needle cases:  “Needles, once quite labor-intensive to make, have long been valued as an important domestic tool. As far back as the Vikings, people kept their needles in ornamental boxes and cases. In the Victorian era, needle cases were made of wood, bone, sterling silver, pewter, or other materials, and often shaped like figural or decorative items. ‘Needle books’ were also common, generally hand made, and often embroidered. “From their web site http://www.collectorsweekly.com/sewing/needle-cases
  •  Here is an interesting article I found on collecting needle books:

http://www.countryliving.com/antiques/what-to-collect/collect-needle-books-0706#slide-1.  These are all paper needle books.

  • How to make a felt needle book can be found on this web site:

http://littlebirdiesecrets.blogspot.com/2010/03/how-to-make-felt-needle-book.html

Françoise wrote:  “These are needle holders which date from the late 19th century and early 20th. They are embroidered on perforated cardboard which is then cut with a tool (at the) very end. The two parts are then sewn and embellished with a ribbon. The picture shows the inside.  Greeting cards and canivets are made with the same technique.

This monogrammed books has pretty embellishments on made with perforated paper and sewed on the edges.

Felt pages hold needles.

Hand stitched antique needle book decorated with a beautiful bouquet of flowers.

An old needle book stitched on perforated paper.

The inside of one of the needle books so prettily decorated with satin ribbon. The stitcher puts her needles on the pages.

     It  (stitching on perforated paper) is very precious and fragile.”  Françoise wrote that a “canivet” is a devotional image.

She sent me this example.

 

 

                                               Merci, Françoise, for sharing your precious treasures with us!

HOME TOUR: DR. LIZ

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D.J. Designs for Paper Russell canvas. Dr. Liz picked out her own threads and stitches!

Dr. Liz, my friend and fabulous dentist, lives in a cottage in a very tree filled neighborhood in Houston.  We met a long time ago in an exercise class when we were  expecting our babies in a couple of months! She has been needlepointing for a long time, but in the past few years, she has really made giant leaps in her stitching.  She has taken off on her own, making her own selections of  threads and stitches and has even come to enjoy beading, which she used to hate and would make me do it!  (She would make me do it in a nice way, that is!) She only will work on 13-14 mesh so she will not have to wear strong magnification as she does at her work.  She has occasionally stitches a small 18 mesh ornament, though.  Dr. Liz is so very generous with her needlepoint, giving it as gifts to friends and relatives, which is so nice!  I think she enjoys the comforts of stitching in her little den nest while watching the Houston Astros on television.

The Dr. Liz living room sofa!

Dr. Liz has several pillows in her living room, all of which are beautiful and are perfect with her choosen color of blue.

Susan Roberts canvas stitched in Liz's colors.

Star Needle Arts canvas stitched beautifully and made into a pillow!

Chair in the living room has a very old Edie and Ginger canvas made into a pillow that the Dr. Liz did when she was a younger stitcher.

Dr. Liz did all basketweave on this piece.

Dr. Liz stitched both of these canvases, the basketweave one about 20 years ago.  She has really come a very long way and did a beautiful job on her canvas this year.  (She was planning to give the new one as a gift!)  She used silk ribbons and beads and lots of stitches.

Old pillow stitched about 20 years ago on the right and newly stitched in 2012 on the left. See how far Dr. Liz has come in her needlepoint?

In the hallway and kitchen, she has had several pieces framed. ( Sorry I forgot to take a picture of the piece in the kitchen!)

In her grown daughter’s room, she stitched several canvases of things important to the family:  a canvas with their address, of the sport they enjoy  playing, of the state where they now live, and of the state where she and her husband  first met.  They are like a little pillow scrapbook on the bed!

Canvases are from Treglown designs. I do not know if they are still available.

Pillows have special memories for the family!

Dr. Liz has lived in many exotic places throughout her life and really loves the Caribbean.  She bought a painting, while visiting a Caribbean  island, for her guest room years ago and then found this canvas which goes perfectly with her painting.  What a cheerful room to spend the night in!

Tropical feel in Dr. Liz's happy guest room with a painting from the Caribbean and a pillow with a Caribbean theme.

Adorable Caribbean themed pillow.

My favorite piece of Dr. Liz’s is this rabbit in flowers.  She had it framed and it is lovely.  I only wish she had glass put on it because it seems it just wants to be touched!  I love all the silk ribbon and beads she added.

Beautifully stitched, this Melissa Shirley with original art from John Johanssen, gave Dr. Liz an opportunity to learn new techniques for her needlepoint.

Lots of silk ribbon used on the flowers. Border above the floral border is ribbon.

Different threads and lots of stitches add interest to this rabbit girl.

I helped Liz add this garland of pressed glass flower beads and leaves to the bottom of the canvas.

Detail on the bottom of the rabbit piece.

 Thanks, Dr. Liz, for the tour of your cozy home!

Framed piece for a dear relative, this Melissa Shirley canvas started out being painted orange and yellow. Liz changed the orange to brown to go better with her relative's decor. She added the fabulous acorn medallion in the center, on top of the needlepoint.

Your needlepoint teacher is so proud of you!!!

AFTERTHOUGHTS: Additional interesting things about previous posts

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Wall hanging in Marianne's country home.

Thanks to all those friends that shared pictures of their needlepoint treasures!  I really appreciate seeing so many pieces of pretty needlepoint!

 

 

 

 

 

 

4th of July Needlepoint-Pledge Allegiance to it!

Lynn W. from the Washington, D.C. areas sent a picture of her adorable 4th of July collection!  Lynn did a wonderful job on her stitching and we all hope to see more additions to the collection in the future. Canvases are from Petei, Kathy Schenkel, Needle Graphics, Rebecca Wood, Barbara Bergsten. I asked Lynn a few things about herself and here is what she wrote:

“I have been stitching for about 30 years, after doing a number of other handcrafts when I was young.

My collection of 4th of July pieces began because we live in the Washington DC area, and summer is all about being in DC for the 4th. I get the collection out for Memorial Day, and leave it out all summer (til Labor Day). I especially love the Uncle Sam figures.

My favorite local shop is Waste Knot, Arlington VA, and the owner, Lori Mazza, is lots of fun to brainstorm with about designers, threads  and stitches. I used to do finishing for The Point of It All, a shop in DC, and still finish all my own pieces.

I do have a wonderful husband, 3 sons (all in their 20s now, how did that happen), and 2 dogs and a cat. The dogs are way more supportive of my stitching than the cat – she sits on my chest, making it very hard to stitch! The dogs are willing to admire from a distance!”

Lynn W. sent this picture of her very patriotic and adorable 4th of July collection!

Let’s Hang Around with Needlepoint:

Susan N. H. made this door hanger for her son in order to keep monsters out of his room. Susan wrote: “When my son was little it used to hang on his closet door to keep the monsters in the closet.  Now it hangs on the inside of his bedroom door, I think to keep the monsters in his room :-) .”

The finishing on this ornament is so different from what I have seen and is very cute!

"Scary" monster door hanger, a Renaissance Designs canvas, keeps monster at bay during the night in Susan N.H.'s son's room.

Picture Frame Perfect:

I found 2 more needlepointed frame pictures in my file and they are lovely.

From Gayle A.’s home, she has her frames displayed in her den on a bamboo table.  Gayle is so talented at so many things, needlepointing, cooking, entertaining, among many other talents, and I love the way she has artfully arranged her little table.

Gayle A.'s collection of picture frames! Most are Lani canvases and are no longer available.

From Betsy G.’s home. a frame with carrots, radishes, and a cabbage.  That dark background is so dramatic!

Betsy G.'s needlepoint frame celebrates the spring. (I do not know the artist for this frame.)

House in the Texas Hill Country:

Seems I did not get all the owners’ pictures sent to my email so here are follow up up photos.

 

Bargello cushion for chair in the works for Marianne's home.

This fabulous piece covers a footstool at the Texas Hill country home of Marianne and Carter. Truly an elegant piece!

GOING TO THE DOGS:

A very cute needlepointed canvas photo from Mark S., an avid and wonderful needlepointer,  depicting his 2 rescue dogs, appeared in my email.  He changed the colors  of the pups to look like his best friends and told me a story about them.  Here is what Mark said:  “I adopted them together from West Alabama vet clinic where a client found them running together and brought them in.   I had to find a “couple” name so they are Ricky and Lucy.  Ricky is the white male and Lucy the black female.  She clearly had been abused but such a sweetie.  He’s just all boy.”

Mark had his canvas finished as a leash holder for these 2 lucky dogs!

Canvas from DJ Designs was stitched to resemble the owner's dogs and made into a leash holder!

NEEDLEPOINT on FURNITURE:

I received several messages from friends about needlepoint chairs after my needlepoint furniture post and I kept seeing lots of posts on needlepoint chairs!

Antique needlepoint chair!

Fabulous needlepoint chair in Marianne's bedroom from the Horchow Collection.

Chair from Marji Nydeck's store in New Jersey.

Back of the chair from Marji Nydeck's store in New Jersey. So elegant with the stitcher's monogram!

On the American Needlepoint Guild web site, I found this wonderful Alice in Wonderland chair.  Here is the link where you can read more about this outstanding chair:

http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.needlepoint.org/WhatIs/2001/Images/101%2520NP.JPG&imgrefurl=http://www.needlepoint.org/WhatIs/2001/alice_wonderland.php&h=720&w=540&sz=52&tbnid=HVzcLTT6fVKJ2M:&tbnh=89&tbnw=67&prev=/search%3Fq%3DANG%2Balice%2Bin%2Bwonderland%2Bchair%26tbm%3Disch%26tbo%3Du&zoom=1&q=ANG+alice+in+wonderland+chair&usg=__RvI98W5VgsxgVYXCUcysWjKyhKQ=&sa=X&ei=BcBDUNlahN2qAa6JgbAI&ved=0CC4Q9QEwCA

Alice in Wonderland chair is on the ANG web site.

This needlepoint chair won best at show at the Philadelphia 2012  ANG seminar.  Here’s where you can read more about this beautiful piece:

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10151439050826164&set=o.108537025890131&type=1&theater

 

Fabulous chair won best in show at the 2012 ANG seminar in Philadelphia a few weeks ago.

WALL HANGING:

My friend that house a house in the Texas Hill Country  has a wall hanging in her country breakfast room.  ”Table Manners” is the name of this canvas and this is a perfect place to hang it!

This wonderful "Table Manners" canvas from Maggie&Co. is sadly no longer available.

 

If you have anything you would like for me to post on my blog, please email information to NeedlepintingInYourNest@gmail.com.  I would love to see your precious needlepoint!

HOME TOUR: One of my favorite student’s house! Part 1

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 One of my favorite student’s, who will be referred to as OMFS, house is on a corner in a cute neighborhood in Houston.  OMFS has been needlepointing for a long time and really enjoys, what she calls, “serial” stitching-she loves to stitch series of things and has done several, including fruits and vegetables (from Sundance Designs), a small nativity with lots of pieces, and the Halloween and Americana series that Carol C. and I designed for the Chaparral Needlework here in Houston, among others.  She doesn’t really have a theme of needlepoint , and like me, selects canvases she thinks would be fun to stitch. She likes to have an eclectic collection of antiques and needlepoint and I love to go to her house and see her needlepoint and precious treasures. She also enjoys needlepoint classes and so generously gives many of her ornaments as gifts and stitches frequently for charity auctions, even stitching for a friend’s auction for a school her children did not go to!  She has always done lots of volunteering and community service and keeps busy with her volunteering, playing bridge and Mah jong, and she loves to travel.  A mom with 2 grown children, she and her husband live in a beautiful home that is so comfortable, casual, and welcoming.

 

OMFS  has needlepoint all over her house and keeps her holiday things out all year.  So here is a tour of her lovely home and her beautiful and fun needlepoint!

In the music room, OMFS has lots of needlepoint, mainly a sofa crowded with needlepoint pillows. (You know how much I love sofas crammed with needlepoint pillows!)  She has an assortment of pillows from all different artists on her sofa.

Leigh canvas is stunning and OMFS used lovely stitches!

To see more of the tall ship canvases in this series, see http://www.leighdesigns.com/Grp712x.html.

This pillow was fun and a different stitch was used on each lizard. An M.C. Escher style canvas that is no longer available.

To read about the artist M.C. Escher, see this web site:  http://www.mcescher.com/

Fruit canvas from Lee Designs is no longer available.

Beautiful palm pillow from J.P. Designs has soothing colors. The finishing is gorgeous!

And on a chest in the music room,  a bowl of nativity figures and a collection of the Nutcracker ballet characters, which decorate the music room throughout the year.

Nutcracker series decorates the top of the chest all year long. From A Collection of Designs.

Close up of the Nutcracker series stitched by the owner.

A small needlepoint nativity set collection is kept in an antique blue and white bowl in the music room.

In the wide hallway of the house, near the front door, is an antique chest and chair decorated with a turkey pillow.

Adorable turkey pillow in the front hallway. Canvas is from Amanda Lawford.

Close up of turkey pillow. Wonderful sheer leaf ribbon used around the needlepoint.

The dining room is very large and in two side chairs, she has put pillows she has done.

Antique chair is covered with a classic check taffeta and is decorated with a shore bird pillow.

 

Canvas is from Dream House Ventures.

A second chair containing a needlepoint pillow flanks the lovely buffet in the dining room.

This canvas is from and on it, "lite" stitching was used to show off the painted canvas. This is one of a pair of canvases from I cannot remember!

On the buffet in OMFS’s dining room is another bowl filled with small pieces of needlepoint.

 

An antique dish contains small pieces of needlepoint from the Americana series from the Chaparral Needlework.

The Americana series was designed by my friend Carol C. and me in 2001. Also in the bowl, are part of the Easter series we designed for the Chaparral.

 More of OMFS’s house next time!

HOME TOUR: One of my favorite student’s house! Part 3

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A nativity from Mile High Princess, no longer available, sits in a cubby in OMFS's den.

A final look at my friend’s, OMFS (One of My Favorite Students), house in Houston take us to her beautiful den and up her stairs onto the landing where she has a cozy little sitting area.

OMFS leaves her nativity out year round. The background color of the nativity looks perfect with OMFS wall color.

OMFS’s den is beautiful and a place where she spends a lot of time.  In the room are many built in  book shelves loaded with books she has read (OMFS is a prolific reader), a television and at one end of the den, a fire place with a mantle containing art work.  It would be a great place to take a nap!  Here she has put a lot of her finished needlepoint in the shelves with her books.

Denise DeRusha designed American flag pillow taught as a class by moi!

An adorable display of needlepoint stand ups of places the family has visited, stands in front of OMFS's travel books. Canvases from the Princess and Me.

OMFS really loves to read and the owners also had bookshelves built in their stairwell.  Not only books decorate the shelves, but mementoes from trips and of course, special needlepoint pieces, nestle in among the treasures.  Oh… remember how much OMFS loves to “serial” stitch!  She really loves doing needlepoint series!

Needlepoint stand up have a home in the book shelves on the staircase.

A tiny canvas of flowers, many done with silk ribbon, tucked into the stairway book shelf. Canvas from Julie Mar. Pumpkins and Uncle Sam are from series exclusive to the Chaparral, where I work.

Another piece from the Vintage Halloween series is dancing on the book shelf.

More needlepoint on the stair case book shelf.

A witch house, from the Chaparral's Vintage Halloween series, on the book shelf.

An MCM angel, no longer available, and Halloween stand ups on the very large book shelf in the staircase.

Noah's Ark and animals, from Melissa Shirley, were done as a series by me through the Chaparral. A stitch guide booklet is available.

At the top of the stairs is a snug little sitting area with a chair of needlepoint pillows.

Three pillows nestle in a chair at the top of the stairs. The Oct. 31 and the cherries with the ax are both part of a series we designed at the Chaparral.

 

The pillow behind the front two is a Christmas wreath that lives in the chair all year!

Beautiful wreath pillow. I love the lilies on this wreath!

Thank you OMFS, for letting us roam around your house and showing us how you live with needlepoint!

HOME TOUR: Helen L.’s home in Houston, Part 1

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Helen L. and her two Shih Tzu live in this lovely home in Houston.

 

What a treat to be invited to my friend, Helen L.’s house to see her needlepoint extravaganza in her lovely home in Houston.   Helen, a beautiful, elegant,and smart lady is the Chief Human Resources Officer at a law firm here in Houston.  She has two grown daughters, one just married, one still in college, and is the “mom” of 2 adorable Shih Tzu dogs.  After Helen got her Master’s Degree when she was in her 20s, she decided she needed to learn how to needlepoint and, she went after it very enthusiastically!  She has a tremendous body of work which I have divided up into 7 blog posts.  She offered to show me all her Christmas needlepoint and we decided to wait until she gets it all out and decorates for Christmas.  You bet I’ll be heading over to her house with my camera after work as soon as she calls me!

Helen has needlepointed a LOT of canvases!  I have been to her house before and remember being amazed then at all her finished pieces.

Look forward to seeing this large pumpkin in another part of this series of blog posts.

She has many Fall Halloween pieces which she had all out at my visit.  She does an extraordinary job decorating and in her placement of her needlepoint among her other fall goodies, including all kinds of pumpkins made of velvet, grapevine, glass.  Helen has a very unique ways of displaying her needlepoint-ways I have never even thought of.  So sit down and enjoy for the next few weeks, lovely Helen L.’s fantastic collection of needlepoint.

First, we will tour the front of Helen’s home:  the entrance .

 

 

 

 

The house has a very wide central hall that has plenty of room for displaying furniture and treasures.  She  has several vignettes set up in her open hall way on benches, stools, a settee, even on a shiny vintage enamelled wash stand.

Tiny table in the entrance decorated for the Autumnal season. Lucy ,the Shih Tzu, helps conduct the tour.

An antique lamp on the table looks like a mushroom when surrounded with pumpkins!

An Oriental chest decked out with Halloween and fall decorations.

Happy Halloween pillow is old-I stitched it when I was in my late 20s-about 30 years ago. So did Helen!

Back when we were young stitchers, not much variety of thread was available.

On the living room side of the hallway, pillows and above, a beautifully framed kimono.

Kimono was taken in a class given by John Waddell, a teacher at the Chaparral. Helen's choice of color was dramatic red!

Pillows on the bench are protected by a large pumpkin doll.

Pumpkin seed packet is from Treglown Designs. Availability: unknown.

This little happy Jack o'lantern is finished as a 3D pumpkin with a rounded back using a tree branch used as a stem!

More of Helen’s home next blog post!

HOME TOUR: Helen L.’s home in Houston, Part 2

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Helen's love of pears is evident throughout her home.

More of the needlepoint extravaganza at my friend Helen’s house in Houston decorated for the Autumnal season.  You are in for more treats today where we will look at Helen’s living room.  Helen has a red and yellow theme in her home which I love!  She, like me,  also needlepoint canvases she likes as well as canvases that go in her house.  She has been needlepointing for about 30 years.  Over the years, Helen has acquired many antiques and has quite a few from family.

 

 

Today a tour of her living room.

Red living room chair has a needlepoint pillow.

 

Ewe and Eye pillow with lots of different stitches and threads in Helen's living room chair.

 

Big pears have Melissa Shirley pear ornaments tied on their stems.

Helen's sofa and the festively decorated coffee table.

Helen's red living room sofa with a folk art pillow.

Melissa Shirley canvas with fabulous stitches and threads Helen selected her self.

Heart pillow is boxed and tasselled fringe inserted on both sides of the gusset.

Heart Strings Santa made to look like a Greek Orthodox Bishop by Helen.

Close up of Helen's Santa with a bishop's hat she did. This pillow stays on the sofa all year.

"Tassel" treatment on the corner of her pillow was done by the finisher.

 

A needlepoint tree, in its permanent home, sits next to the red sofa.

Raymond Crawford monthly cupcakes decorate the needlepoint tree in the living room.

Antique settee holds several of Helen's long ago stitched pillows.

Jody running rabbit was stitched with lots of texture and leftover threads.

Plum pillow with a very pretty border.

DeElda heart appliqued with a beaded border onto black and white checked silk.

I love the way Helen did this big pumpkin in a container. It would be so interesting to use a needlepoint pumpkin like this!

Melissa Shirley pear is displayed on a big natural wood decorative pear.

Another pear with a Melissa Shirley needlepointed pear tied on the stem.

Antique desk in the living room holds a collection of crosses.

Needlepointed cross among the others in a cross collection.

More of Helen’s beautiful home to come!!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

HOME TOUR: Helen L.’s home in Houston, Part 3

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An antique headboard hung as a backdrop in the hall way, near the powder room. Festive needlepoint Halloween pieces decorate the table.

Here we go, another post on Helen L.’s house in Houston.  Helen is quite the prolific stitcher.  She is quite good in lots of activities, among them being good at styling her beautiful home and picking out stitches and threads for her needlepoint.  Today, a continuing tour of her huge center  hall way and big powder/bathroom in her house.

Cute at the bottom of the stairs, this enamel wash basin is perfect for displaying Halloween needlepoint and fall pumpkins!

Close up of scarecrow pillow Helen stitched about 25 years ago!

Another "older" Halloween pillow in Helen's collection!

Ghost pillow is tucked into enamel wash stand at the bottom of the stairs!

Princess and Me witch nestled with her bigger sister decorates the bottom of the bannister.

Helen has an enormous powder room downstairs, which the builders of the house planned for the future when an owner maybe could not go upstairs!  She even has it decorated for Halloween!

Adorable shelf in the large powder room is decorated for fall.

Close up of shelf decked out for the Autumn season, holds needlepoint, pumpkin, and leaves.

Witch is from Canvas Connection.

Pumpkin decor nestles in the shelf!

Flying angel dressed for Halloween is from Denise DeRusha.

Near the sink, a framed Shelly Tribbey piece decorates the wall. Helen plans on making the permanent theme of the powder room ladies in hats!

Helen used lots of different stitches and threads on this very sophisticated Shelly Tribbey canvas.

Below the framed needlepoint, is this little cross box.

These 2 ladies are for the powder room. I cannot wait to see them after Helen stitches them! Both from Maggie and Co.

More of Helen’s home tour  later!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Trick or NEEDLEPOINT TREATS!

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Now a commercial break from Helen L.’s house in Houston.

From Renaissance Designs, I taught these for a class. We had a music box that played Happy Birthday

Look closely! Cauliflower is made of fabric!

A perfect time of the year to talk about “faux” treats:  needlepoint treats and there are a lot out there! If you do not have one that is young enough to go trick or treating, so that you can have some candy, just go to your needlepoint store and buy treats, needlepoint treats, instead!  I promise you will not gain any weight this Halloween, unless you stop at Jack-in-the-Box for their delicious malted crunch shake! A very clever way to display your skill in needlepoint is by stitching needlepoint candy, cupcakes, cookies-even pizza and cherry pie!  And for those on an eating plan(diet), even veggies and fruits!

 

Bowl of needlepoint fruit and veggies at Olivia's for the needlepoint dieter. Sundance Designs canvases.

Several artists do treats;  Melissa Shirley, Kathy Schenkel, NeedleDeeva, Little Shoppe Canvas Company, Raymond Crawford, Canvas Candy, the Studio.   Look on the web for needlepoint treats canvases!

Lisa H. K's chocolate bunny! Canvas from Ewe and Eye.

Many fun and inventive ways to display your treats are to put them on a cake stand, a silver cake basket, under a dome or cloche, on a tiered dessert server, or pile them up in an apothecary jar!  Following are pictures of treat and displays.

Sally Anne stitched this adorable cake and keeps it in her kitchen. Canvas from Lani.

Sally Anne's flower cake. I am getting a little hungry!

Nashville Needleworks apple and cupcake. Apple is from Little Shoppe Canvas Co.

Betsy G. keeps her Raymond Crawford cupcakes in her kitchen on an antique bread board...

...under a glass dome! Love this!!!

A candy box from the Studio was taught by moi as a class many moons ago.

Side of my candy box. The finisher did this fabulous beaded bow for me!

The side of my box. I keep my box in my dining room on a cake plate all year.

My candies on an antique porcelain cake stand. Melissa Shirley and Little Shoppe canvas Co.

More of my treats, these from Raymond Crawford, and sold as a series at Chandail Needleworks with stitch guides by Emily Pannier.

Close up of Raymond Crawford's adorable cakes!

Two more cakes from the Chandail Needleworks series, canvases by Raymond Crawford.

Fun cakes and candies live in my dining room!

More treats next blog post!

More Trick or Needlepoint TREATS!

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Even more treats in this post!

Cute to display needlepointed Halloween treats this two tiered dish was a find.

Look for seasonal candy dishes at craft stores and discount stores on which to display your needlepoint treats!

Little Shoppe Canvas Co. has delightful treats. This is their plate of cookies!

Here is the Little Shoppe web site:   http://www.littleshoppecanvascompany.com/cookies.html

Canvases from Little Shoppe Canvas Co. can be ordered from your local needlepoint store.

NeedleDeeva does the delicious looking group of Halloween cupcakes. Stitch guides by Cynthia Thomas are available from your local needlepoint store.

Witch cupcake from NeedleDeeva.

Here is NeedleDeeva’s web site.:

http://www.needledeeva.com/finished_models.html

Their canvases, too, will need to be ordered from your favorite needlepoint store and ask for the stitch guides, too, from Cynthia Thomas.  There are 13 needlepoint cupcakes available from NeedleDeeva.

Even the sides of the cupcakes are needlepointed!

Frog cupcake from NeedleDeeva.

Eyeball cupcake-eyeballs are very scary for Halloween! From NeedleDeeva.

These cupcakes would be so cute displayed on this two tiered stand!

Two tiered treat holder is from Marshall's and would be perfect for displaying needlepoint cupcakes!

This two tiered scary dish would be perfect holding a bunch of Halloween needlepoint cupcakes!

Another way to display your needlepointed treats is in a candy or cake container.  Here, Sally Anne uses antique silver pieces for her  chocolates.

In Sally Anne's dining room, this is one of 3 antique silver containers that contain needlepoint candy.

An antique silver cake basket is an ideal way to display needlepointed chocolates or candies.

Sally Anne used actual chocolate paper holders for her needlepointed candies in this silver cake basket.

Fruits from Little Shoppe Canvas Co. look good enough to eat, displayed in a glass bowl.

Beautifully stitched pear from Little Shoppe Canvas Co. Canvases can be ordered from your favorite needlepoint store.

A white chocolate strawberry from Little Shoppe Canvas Co. Other different strawberries are available, too!

 

Here is a page of Melissa Shirley treats:  http://melissashirleydesigns.com/galsearch/?searchstring=candy&searchlist=&Search=Search&dosearch=        Scroll down her page to view chocolates for Halloween and Christmas.

 

I hope you get lots of candy-needlepoint candy-at Halloween.  It has no calories-really!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

HOME TOUR: Helen L.’s home in Houston, Part 4

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Helen's dining room table is very festive.

Continuing through Helen L’s West University home in Houston, we will see her Autumn centerpiece on her table.  Helen has an assortment of decorations and some of them are needlepointed.

Dining room table with an Autumn and Halloween theme!

 

A very old needlepoint witch!

Adorable tubular shaped witch nutcracker!

Side of witch tubular nutcracker with a little broom.

Other side of nutcracker witch has a cute pumpkin basket filled with apples.

Helen's Autumn grouping in her dining room.

Helen also has a piece of needlepoint in her bar area and I love that she displayed it on a bracket like a plate.

The bar area even has needlepoint!

Adorable needlepoint plate on the bracket in the bar. I remember this piece from long ago but do not know who the artist is.

And last but not least, little Lucy, Helen’s friend!  Lucy will get in the begging position-I have actually seen her do it, but on the day I visited, she would not position herself for a picture no matter what Helen would offer her to eat.  Anyhoo, she is a VERY cute dog!

Lucy, the Shih Tzu, has the best personality!

More touring of Helen’s home to come!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

HOME TOUR: Helen L.’s home in Houston, Part 5

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Helen's den is a wonderland of needlepoint!

Helen’s fabulous home has a beautiful large den in the back of the house.  I love Helen’s den and she keeps with her colors of yellow and red.  Whenever I see a canvas with yellow and red, I think of Helen.  In the den she really has needlepoint everywhere. She has decorated her coffee table with pumpkins and I love her big pine dresser filled with photos of her and her family and lots of needlepointed frames and stand ups.

Old wine press decorated with a needlepoint watermelon pillow.

Cute watermelon pillow.

Helen's cute den!

A Welcome pillow perches on an iron lamp. Canvas from Associated Talents.

Old wooden tool box, filled with special pillows, is a cute way to display them.

Close up of pillows in the tool box: hearts is an old one from Mindy, bear from Alexa, and Sweet Dreams, which I have, too, is from a forgotten artist.

Very old Alexa bear may not be available anymore.

Two Mindy canvases made into pillows.

Helen's big pine dresser is filled with favorite photos and needlepoint that she keeps out throughout the year.

Old MCM angel and Dupree angel next to pictures of Helen's real angels.

Helen has done many needlepoint frames.

Close up of frames and another MCM angel. (MCM is no longer available.)

More needlepoint on Helen's big pine dresser in the den.

On Helen's coffee table in the den, is this festive group of pumpkins.

Adorable Ann Wheat Pace green pumpkin is tied on a candlestick.

This patchwork pumpkin is from Whimsy and Grace. (It is not in my stash...yet!)

We have a couple of more posts to go on Helen’s house!  I told you she had lots of needlepoint!

Helen finally got Lucy to pose! Doesn't she look like a stuffed animal? I love that fat tummy!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

HOME TOUR: Helen L.’s home in Houston, Part 6

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Helen's needlepoint nest.

More of Helen L.’s full of needlepoint den!

Helen's den coffee table.

Helen has an old sewing machine base between her chairs.

Another heart pillow; artist unknown.

Chair has a pillow of a heart, canvas from Ewe and Eye, and a Imari type needlepoint rabbit.

Close up of Imari rabbit. Artist unknown.

Close up of adorably stitched Ewe and Eye pillow. Don't you just love Ewe and Eye canvases?

Bowl of needlepoint fruits on Helen's coffee table. Canvases come with stitch guides and are from Sundance Designs.

Close up of needlepoint fruits.

Very cozy yellow chair! See what I found behind it in the last picture!

 

Is this a Raymond Crawford canvas?

Bookshelf with an antique bowl containing 2 small needlepoint pillows.

Alice Peterson French cat pillow tucked in a bowl with a needlepoint heart.

Old box containing needlepoint fruits sits on the bookshelf. The cantaloupe slice is from Barbara Eyre now available through Susan Roberts.

ADORABLE Cooper Oaks French lady with a Provence type background and fabric. I wrote the stitch guide for Helen. I love the background!

What a perfect pillow for Helen's yellow and red den! Love the Provence looking fabric and the ribbon trim from my store, the Ribbonry in Chaparral. (Trim is no longer available.)

Very comfortable indeed, Helen's nest looks very appealing to a stitcher! Dede sunflower canvas is in progress.

Helen's nest includes a side table for her books and good light from the windows across the back of the room.

Snooping around Helen's nest, I found this partially stitched canvas behind the second chair.

Hope all of you enjoyed Helen’s den and her needlepoint nest.  One more post is coming about Helen’s house, very FULL of needlepoint!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

HALLOWEEN-a needlepoint treat!

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….there are trick or treat buckets full of Halloween canvases available in your favorite needlepoint stores!  When my oldest daughter, Virginia, was born on Halloween day, it was a huge TREAT for me but also a TRICK as she came about 10 days early!  I was so excited to have her on Halloween and immediately started planning birthday parties.  BUT—I could not find ANY Halloween needlepoint canvases at all so I asked Petei of Petei Designs if she would do some for me like her small people canvases we were buying for the needlepoint store where I worked.  She did paint a little series of canvases which I immediately stitched and which lots of our customers wanted.  To this day, I credit the Halloween canvas phenomenon to Virginia’s birthday on Halloween!

Halloween display Sally Anne and Karen Lea did for the shop.

I  do not know which of our customers stitched any of these so forgive me if they are yours and I did not remember!  All of you did an outstanding job on stitching them!  Thank you for letting me share them with the other witches and ghosts.

So, on this Halloween blog post, I am showing you goblins(not gobelins, which is a stitch), photos I have taken at the store of finished Halloween pieces.  TRICK or TREAT and hope you enjoy these “SCARY” needlepoint  pieces!

Needlepoint bottles-all from Kirk and Hamilton. On the two bottles below, our finisher made them so the tops come off!

Large beaded button from my store, the Ribbonry, in Chaparral Needlework. The top of this one does not come off.

Halloween pillows are fun to decorate with in October!  Some can be used all through the fall season.

Leigh Designs canvas. Trim from the Ribbonry.

Leigh Designs.

I ADORE this canvas from Maggie & Co. The original design is from artist Sharon Bloom.

Shelly Tribbey canvas stitched by Nancy T. with ribbon selected for finishing from the Ribbonry in Chaparral Needlework.

Nancy T. did an outstanding job stitching this pumpkin from Mindy. It is one of my favorite pieces!

I think I got this picture off the internet. Isn't it adorable!? Canvas from Brenda Stofft.

Close up of spooky stitched mouse on the Brenda Stofft canvas. Love that yucky tail.

A really scary canvas from Dede taken at the January 2012 market.

Love this black cat bolster!

A fabulous kissing ball and some ornaments!

Adorable round canvas made into a big kissing ball! How cute...I mean,SCARY!!

Canvas from Heidi, stitched by Karen McKemie. (I remembered!) This is ornament size.

Melissa Shirley candy corns stitched by Gigi P. to be tied together and hung as a garland across a doorway.

Needle Deeva sugar skulls are very spooky! Stitched by Sandy W. all in tent stitch, these are so much fun!

A wonderful Halloween tree!

Mary R. B. Halloween tree naked!

Fabulous needlepoint ornament covered tree at Mary R. B.'s house! All she needs is a pet crow or pet owl to sit on top!

Now some fun pumpkins which can be definitely displayed throughout the Autumnal  season!

All from Ann Wheat Pace, these make a very fall-ish display.

Melissa Shirley for Mary Lake Thompson pail of pumpkins stitched by Laura Taylor of Aristeia in California. Stitch guide is available from your favorite store.

Very cute Kelly Clark pumpkin. (That's Stephanie, a co-worker, in the background!)

Fabulous green pumpkin is only available from Barbara's Needlepoint in Sioux Falls South Dakota.

Such cute finishing on this Ewe and Eye Jack o'lantern from Barbara's Needlepoint in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.

Witches galore!!!  We do have a coven!

Patty Paints witches stitched by Karen P. Stitch guides are available from me through your favorite needlepoint store.!

Shelly Tribbey witches had a meeting last year at the store. One stitched by Mark S., left. and the other by Alison M., right

Love this witch from Danji seen at the January needlepoint market.

Melissa Shirley Fairy Tale witch; picture from the Internet. Maybe stitched by Stephanie A.

My fairy tale witch with stitch guide from Jan Ayerkoff of Aristeia with modifications by me.

Third Melissa Fairy Tale witch in progress by Jan A. at Aristeia in California. Stitch guide is available.

Not a witch! Petei canvas made into a stand up on a styrofoam box.(Canvas is no longer available.)

Animals in Halloween costumes!!

Danji candy corn mouse!

Danji mouse dressed as Dracula.

Danji mouse in her witch costume!

Danji cat in costume stitched by Karen P. Great job, Karen!

A very beautiful Halloween type sampler that Patti C. and Olivia F. did in my class.  They will keep their samplers up with their collections of other samplers.

Sampler from Dream House Ventures is so cute and kind of sweet!

Lots of HAUNTED HOUSES!!

Melissa Shirley tiny house stitched by Faith C. Beaded witch from the Ribbonry in Chaparral

Another Melissa Shirley house stitched by Faith C.

Close up of house with beaded bat decoration from the Ribbonry.

I adore this darling house from Susan Roberts. It is stitched so wonderfully by a really FAB stitcher I believe from Atlanta. It has several little figures that go with it, like the skeletons on the right.

Susan Roberts haunted house was displayed at the January market. It is multi-sided.

Another side of the haunting Susan Roberts house. The stitcher really added lots of spooky details.

Now remember witches and goblins…

Broom parking from Share One's Ideas taught as a class with stitch guide by me!

….don’t park your brooms in the wrong place!!!!

 

Have a fun and safe Halloween and don’t eat too much candy (like my brother does every Halloween!)!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

HALLOWEEN TREE TREAT! Mary Roddy’s big tree!

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Mary's big tree before decorating. I wonder where she keeps it during the year?

A real treat for today is my facebook friend Mary Roddy’s big Halloween tree.  I saw Mary’s tree on the Needlepoint group facebook page and was very astounded the huge number of needlepoint ornaments on it.  I contacted Mary and she sent me pictures-I was so excited to see all of her needlepoint Halloween treasures!

Mary is the mother of five, ages 14-22, three girls and two boys, and two senior Bichon Frise dogs.  She is a stay at home mom, or as she likes to put it, she is the “Family Manager”!  We can relate to that, can’t we, girls?!

Mary wrote in her email, “This year I bought a new 40″ pre-lit tree at Pier 1 for some of the overflow ornaments.”  And I do think she needed a second tree!

Mary's new pre-lit tree with Melissa Shirley candy/cracker and square ornaments and Kathy Schenkel cubes on it. I wrote the stitch guides for the M.S.cracker/candy ornaments!

I asked her questions about her fabulous tree and here is what she wrote:

chb:  Are the ornaments on your tree all needlepointed and about how many years have you been working on them?

Mary:  Yes, all of the ornaments on this 5 foot plus tree are needlepointed!!  I add to the collection every year.  Some years I stitch more Halloween than other years.  Right now there are 108 ornaments.  I have already stitched a few new ornaments for next year, they are just not finished yet.  (Chapparal finished the Halloween Crackers several years ago…I think you even did the stitch guides for them!!)

chb:  Wow, Mary, you have been a very busy girl!!!  108 ornaments!!!

Below are a few of her fabulous collection!

Mary's tree covered with ornaments; I think she needs to add a real owl or real bat for the tree topper!

chb:   Are you adding more?

Oh yes!!  I just ordered the 6 Barbara Bergsten pink and green ornaments.  I have high hopes to stitch those for next year.  I am also slowly working on some canvases I got from a monthly club of Halloween ornaments last year.  Some of these are probably a little too large to be on the tree though.

(See Barbara’s new pink and green ornaments here:  http://www.barbarabergstendesigns.com/halloween.htm)

Pirate!

Melissa Shirley witch hat.

Kathy Schenkel mini scarecrow.

Kathy Schenkel Dracula and Melissa Shirley candy/cracker(stitch guide by me!).

Kathy Schenkel mummy?!

chb:   When do you needlepoint and where do you stitch?  Do you have a special place?

Well, I try to stitch every day!!  Right after dinner the girls go back upstairs to their rooms to do their homework.  It has been a habit since the children were young that I would go upstairs after dinner, as well.  Prior to cell phones it was my way of finding out if the children were using the home phone, fooling around or doing homework!!  I am right in the middle of the action.  I watch tv (old Dateline, 48 Hours, Law and Order, etc) while sitting in my happy chair and stitch until my bedtime!! I really enjoy stitching in the Master Bedroom.  If I get a chance to stitch during the day the natural lighting is great with one wall full of large windows.  At night, I have a great light I bought from my LNS (local needlepoint store).

Little Shoppe Canvas Company orange fortune cookie. (Comes with a fortune that will be sticking out that says Happy Halloween!)

Kathy Schenkel Jack o'Lantern heart.

Melissa Shirley witch with red hair . I think the little spider is from Renaissance Designs.

Melissa Shirley scary guy with a top hat and unknown spider cube.

Melissa Shirley candy/cracker.

chb:  How long have you been stitching and when did you start?

Mary:  I learned to stitch from my grandmother when I was a little girl.  I stitched off and on through college and beyond.  When our children were young I did not have anytime to needlepoint!!  I picked it right up as soon as our youngest child went to preschool and haven’t stopped!!  I guess I am making up for lost time!!

Melissa Shirley candy/cracker.

Both from Melissa Shirley Designs. The pumpkin girl is on congress cloth!

Melissa Shirley witch.

Melissa Shirley tiny mummy is on congress cloth.

Melissa Shirley witch.

Cute witch smock from the Studio.

Really cute tiny witch hat.

chb:  What are your favorite things to stitch?

Mary:  I am not a big project kinda girl!  But I have stitched two dining room chair type canvases for school auctions (which raised thousands of dollars, by the way), numerous footstools, The Pageant of Peace Flag canvas, pillows and three stockings (I still have two more to stitch for the children and one for Bob and I…I have one ready to go…just need motivation) and four Nativity sets.  (Wait until you see my Christmas tree that goes in the foyer.  It is 7′ tall and full of needlepoint only ornaments.  This year I did almost 5 dozen new ones!!)  I love stitching with a stitch guide.  I am not good at choosing fibers or stitches.

chb:  First of all Mary, you are a big project kind of girl…after all you have stitched 108 Halloween ornaments!   Second of all,  you will have to send pictures of your Christmas tree extravaganza!

Mary also sent along pictures of pillows and a tiny trick or treat bag she has done for Halloween and the fall season!  That Mary has really been stitching!

Ruth Chow Jack O'Lantern can be ordered with a stitch guide from your favorite store and is from Sundance Designs.

Ornament made into trick or treat bag with beaded handle. Canvas is from Associated Talents.

LOVE this Maggie and Co. Lisa Krause chair with its tiny needlepoint cushion! (My daughter really needs this since her birthday is on Halloween!)

Pumpkin pillow is a canvas from Mindy. Love the tasselled fringe on the edges!

So CUTE! Three Halloween canvases from Kathy Schenkel made into a spooky Halloween pillow!

Okay, readers, this should motivate you to fill your home with needlepoint  ornaments.  Even though she is very busy, Mary finds time to relax, get centered and stitch.  Reserve a time in your busy day to sit down and needlepoint!  It is so helpful to end your day being calm and serene with your needlepoint!

Mary's witch pillow! Adore the finishing!

And Ms. Mary Roddy, how delightful was it for you to share your wonderful collection of Halloween needlepoint with us!  We all thoroughly enjoyed seeing all your beautiful  terrifying Halloween treasures!

HOME TOUR: Helen L.’s home in Houston, Part 7, the last

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A bunch of pillows in Helen's breakfast room!

Last tour of Helen L.’s needlepoint extravaganza home in Houston, TX.!  Helen is a working woman and has two beautiful grown up girls.  She started needlepointing after graduate school and has done a huge body of needlepoint work!  Not only a beautiful and elegant, smart and multi-talented woman, Helen is a fantastic cook!  She loves to cook Greek food and as one who has been to a dinner party she gave, it is DELICIOUS!

And of course, we all love your little Shih Tzu, Lucy!

Adorable Lucy in her "begging" position! She is just the cutest!

Every room of Helen’s house is decorated with some sort of needlepoint-even her kitchen and big breakfast room!

Helen's chicken collection make me feel very happy!

Table next to a window decorated with Helen's chicken collection and her needlepoint.

Cooper Oaks chicken on an ADORABLE stand with an egg!

Cooper Oaks canvas Helen stitched for her chicken collection.

Older Halloween pillow decorated with a trick or treat pumpkin pail. Very cute, Helen!

One of Helen's chickens wears a needlepoint heart around her neck!

So cozy and homey-wouldn't you just love to read the morning paper and drink coffee on this window seat?

Lots of pillows...oh, how I love lots of needlepoint pillows!

The rabbit couple is from Beau Geste.

Love this pea pod pillow with canvas from the Silver Needle!

From Helen's chicken collection, this merry hen roosts on the window seat.

Silver Needle peas in a pod is perfect for the breakfast room!

Pillows in Helen's breakfast room chairs! This, a Wee Needle canvas.

Old Wee Needle pillow. Sadly, Wee Needle is no longer available.

Lots of pillows on Helen's window seat in her kitchen/breakfast area.

THANK YOU, HELEN,  for the tour of your wonderful home and for letting us see all your spectacular needlepoint!  xoxo chb

Cute flower heart ornament.

 

 

GIVE THANKS for Needlepoint!

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This Tom Turkey canvas is from Stitch Its.  The customer selected the  feather trim around the ornament for that fall feel.

Dr. Mia used real turquoise and silver on her outstanding Native American man. She made a real leather belt for him with tiny silver conchos.

Thanksgiving is not a big needlepoint holiday, although we are seeing a lot more canvases than

Close up of Dr. Mia's Native American girl. She used real turquoise and coral beads on this beautiful piece for the necklace and head dress.

there were in the past.  Thanksgiving happens to be my favorite holiday because I love being with friends and family without the pressure of gift giving and decorating.  And Thanksgiving canvases are becoming so wonderful!  Melissa Shirley’s fabulous Pilgrims and Native Americans as well as Kelly Clark’s Thanksgiving people are so festive. Associated Talents, Raymond Crawford, and Kathy Schenkel also have Thanksgiving needlepoint canvases and to see any of the Thanksgiving canvases, go to the artists’ web sites.  One of my favorite sets I saw on my trip to South Dakota, at Barbara Riley’s store in Sioux Falls, called Barbara’s Needlepoint, and is by her artist Anne H.  Barbara only had 2 pieces of the set, but I was totally entranced by them!

Pilgrim couple from Kathy Schenkel stitched by our ever realistic stitcher, Dr. Mia A. Mia found the cutest additions for the Pilgrims to hold!

Dr. Mia stitched this Native American couple and did a fantastic job! She selected the turquoise background and found all the little embellishments for the couple. Canvases from Kathy Schenkel.

Pilgrim girl is from Melissa Shirley Designs and was stitched by one of the cuties at Aristeia.

Once in a blue Moon Native American stitched by Holly M.

Betsy G.'s Thanksgiving gathering. Canvases all from Associated Talents.

Betsy G. stitched the set of Associated Talents Thanksgiving people and di an outstanding job. She changed a few things from the original canvases and di very inventive backgrounds. The beaded sunflowers and Indian corn are from the Ribbonry in Chaparral.

This Native American brave is also from Anne H. and is exclusive to Barbara's Needlepoint in Sioux Falls, S.D.

Exclusive to Barbara's Needlepoint in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, this handsome fellow is from painter Anne H.'s Thanksgiving set.

Brenda Stofft Autumn rabbit with stitch guide from Chandail Needlework although I did add some things and changes stitches.

Close up, top of rabbit. I added the glass leaves in the tree.

 

Close up of bottom of the Autumn rabbit. I used the silk ribbon to make the yellow flowers look more like chrysanthemums. I also added all the little acorn charms, from Susan Clarke, along the bottom of the basket.

3 of Melissa Shirley acorns stitched by moi.

 

Decorating with acorns,Indian corn,  pumpkins, and gourds is good for the entire fall season.  Many artists do pumpkins and acorns.  Ann Wheat Pace has a whole collection of different pumpkins, gourds and several cobs of Indian corn.  Melissa Shirley and Associated Talents have baskets full of acorns with different harvest designs and colors on them.  Kathy Schenkel does some wonderful 3D Indian corn in 3 different sizes and Associated Talents has adorable corn cob shaped small ornaments with fall themes.

 

On this Melissa Shirley acorn canvas , I added a large pumpkin button.

Melissa Shirley acorn canvas. On this canvas, which I did on the plane to Sioux Falls, South Dakota, I added the big Susan Clarke squirrel button from my shop, the Ribbonry.

Melissa Shirley acorn canvas. I used leftover threads and added an owl button.

Anne W. did this Denise DeRusha canvas to use on an easel at her home. Vintage ribbon was used as a border around the needlepoint and is from the Ribbonry.

Part of Chaparral's exclusive Give Thanks series from Patty Paints. I stitched all of them and had them made into a garland. We had ribbon sewed in each corner and tied them together. The garland is made of 12 pieces that say "Give Thanks" and has a turkey at one end and a bouquet of acorns Stitch guide is available. Each has a different background using the same threads.

Stitch Its very small turkey canvas looks cute made into an ornament. I gave this to my sister last Thanksgiving. She hosts our family at their farm every year for the big feast. Stitch Its canvases are VERY FAST to stitch!

What about using needlepoint vegetable to decorate your table?  Add some garlands of leaves from the craft store and have a very fall-ish table!  At Barbara’s Needlepoint, In Sioux Falls, South Dakota, her fabulous artist Anne H., does wonderful canvases of pumpkins, swiss chard, leeks-all kinds of vegetable appropriate for the season.

At Barbara's Needlepoint, these wonderful vintage looking vegetable canvases can be ordered from Barbara.

A wonderful vintage looking pumpkin canvas exclusively at Barbara's Needlepoint, Sioux Falls, South Dakota is painted by resident artist Anne H.

I gathered my Thanksgiving pictures of needlepoint for you to see and to become inspired to do your own Thanksgiving needlepoint for next year.  What about setting a goal to do one Thanksgiving needlepoint piece a year?  Just one a year and in a few years, have a collection of Thanksgiving treasures to display on your table for your feast!

 Have a safe and very happy Thanksgiving day!

Very handsome wild turkey in South Dakota.

GIVE THANKS for Needlepoint Pillows!!!

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FALL pillow stitched by cute Darlene F., using lots of different stitches and threads.

Fall is such a lovely time of year and most of us feel very happy in the fall,and anticipating cooler weather here in Houston always makes us happy!  I love fall and the colors and especially fall colored and themed needlepoint pillows.  And they are fun to do, using lots of rich colored threads and leaf stitches for backgrounds!

This canvas is from Raymond Crawford and to give the pillow a fall feel, we used a ribbon with fall leaves and attached a vintage looking brooch of a fall leaf on the corner. ribbon and brooch from the Ribbonry in Chaparral. Pillow stitched by Darlene F. in my class.

Fall sampler stitched by Dolores C. in Gayle A.'s class. Canvas from Birds of a Feather.

This Ewe and Eye canvas was so much fun to stitch. I taught this for a class and a stitch guide is available.

Ewe and Eye pillow stitched by the owner of Quail Run using my stitch guide. The orange pre-made roses look really fantastic!

This Amanda Lawford turkey stays out throughout the year at my friend Olivia's house.

Canvas from Amanda Lawford and beautifully stitched by Olivia F.

Pail of Pumpkins canvas from Melissa Shirley for Mary Lake Thompson with stitch guide by Laura Taylor of Aristeia. I have seen this with a pale golden background and it was gorgeous! The stitches used on this piece are wonderful!

Gayle A., an extraordinary stitcher, did this Wee Needle canvas many years ago. It is reminiscent of an old post card. Sadly, Wee Needle is no longer in business.

Thanksgiving is Thursday, but on Wednesday, Living with Needlepoint will have really fabulous Thanksgiving needlepoint stand ups and ornaments to inspire you to start stitching for your next year’s Thanksgiving celebration!

Green pumpkin canvas exclusive to Barbara's Needlepoint in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.

 

THANKSGIVING NEEDLEPOINT!

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Karen B. adapted this design for needlepoint from a Curtis Boehringer cross stitch book. Love the berries and cauliflower.

Dr. Margot's cornucopia vegetables were all stitched using stitches with beads from Sundance Designs bead book.

 

On the way to grandmother’s house is a great time to needlepoint your most recent Thanksgiving canvas.  I don’t know about you, but I love to stitch something holiday around the holiday, even though I know it cannot be finished in time!  It just gets me in the spirit of that holiday and Thanksgiving is my favorite!  I asked my wonderful and fun Needlepoint facebook group to send pictures of their Thanksgiving needlepoint and I received a cornucopia’s worth of pictures!  One thing I am thankful for this year is all the wonderful and generous friends at work and on facebook!

 

                                       Here are the many pictures I received!

From Barbara's Needlepoint in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, Mrs. Pilgrim, an exclusive from their artist, Anne H. Love this! More of this set on next Wednesday's blog post.

Cooper Oaks turkey sent by Barbara at Barbara's Needlepoint in South Dakota. Barbara does wonderful finishing!

From Barbara's Needlepoint, a Kathy Schenkel Native American couple, made into stand ups with rope cording.

Gretchen V.'s adorable Brenda Stofft turkey pulling a cart!

Isn't this view of a fine Thanksgiving bird interesting? Again, no artist identified but stitched beautifully by Gretchen V.

Amanda Lion stitched this Princess and Me set beautifully and had them made into stand ups.

Amanda's turkey is so cute with his pilgrim hat on top of his head and attractive purple shoes. Great stitches, Amanda!

Debby McX2 did this charming fall pumpkin and made it into a door sign. I do not know who the artist is.

This Amanda Lawford canvas made into a door hanger was stitched beautifully by Debby McX2. Can we come over for Thanksgiving, Debby?

Gerri P. did this adorable Renaissance Designs turkey. She did a great job with her stitches and the black and white checked border really frames this guy!

Give Thanks canvas from Denise DeRusha stitched by Dr. Margot R.

Dr. Margot loves to needlepoint and did this Once in a Blue Moon cornucopia in my class. She selected ribbons from my shop, the Ribbonry, and acorn medallions on the corners for her pillow.

Close up of Dr. Margot's pillow. We used stitches from Sundance Designs Beading book for all the vegetables.

Dr. Margot's cornucopia. she used raffia to wrap the chain stitches of her cornucopia.

Tis fabulously framed turkey, framed by Davis Hardware here in Houston, was stitched by Dr. Margot. The canvas was distributed through Rishfield Designs but may be no longer available. Dr. M. did an outstanding job on her stitching.

Cute Ritta S. did this Once in a Blue Moon turkey with wonderful stitches and a dramatic blue background! The fall harvest is all in beads.

 More Thanksgiving to come!

More Thanksgiving-we LOVE leftovers!

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Kathy Schenkel Thanksgiving group stitched by a prolific Mary R.B.

When I asked my Needlepoint facebook group for Thanksgiving needlepoint pictures, I gratefully received many pictures.  Mary R.B., whom I posted about on October 28 with her big Halloween tree, sent me 15 pictures of her Thanksgiving needlepoint!  That Mary is a very busy girl and very inspirational, too!  Following are Mary’s Thanksgiving pieces and I look forward to receiving her Christmas pictures–okay, Mary?

Kathy Schenkel Native Americans in Mary R.B. group.

Wheat sheafs stitched by Mary, who asked Kathy Schenkel to paint a smaller one to add to her 2 big ones!

Mary had this Kathy Schenkel turkey made into a festive pillow.

Close up of Mary's turkey.

Another Thanksgiving pillow!

Mary has done all sizes of turkeys and had them made into pillows.

 

A Petei turkey. The canvas is no longer available.

Close up of Petei turkey.

Cute turkey can be found on....

.....a long skinny pillow with three turkeys is adorable!! Good job, Mary!

"Gobble, gobble-I am glad Thanksgiving is over", says this little turkey!

Thanks so much, Mary, for sharing your pictures!  Have a nice, safe weekend Mary and family and all friends!!!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thanksgiving Leftovers-Needlepoint!

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Several Thanksgiving pieces came back from finishing  before Halloween  so here is the last post of Thanksgiving needlepoint!  We all love leftovers(except for my brother-in-law!).

Can you believe Christmas is almost here?

What a stunning Autumn piece! Melissa Shirley Autumn bouquet stitched by Wendy Harwood and stitch guide available from her store, Aristeia. Notice the pear shape with pumpkins to the left of the framed canvas.

Once in a Blue Moon Thanksgiving people stitched by Holly M.

 

Pilgrim man stitched by Holly M.; Once in a blue Moon canvas.

 

Native American woman stitched by Holly M.; Once in a Blue Moon canvas.

 

Canvas from Ewe and Eye, stitched by Susan B. with stitch guide by moi. I taught this as a class and a stitch guide is available.

Another version of the Ewe and Eye pillow. I stitched this one.

Pam L.'s Tapestry Tent Pilgrims are truly fantastic!

Pam L.'s Tapestry Tent Pilgrim guy.

Pam L.'s Thanksgiving gal with 3D basket.

Pam L.'s Once in a Blue Moon turkey with fruit baskets. Pam had this made into a pillow.

Close up of Pam L.'s turkey pouch contents-fruit done in all beads.

Melissa Shirley fall acorn will be made into a pillow.

Canvas is from Barbara's Needlepoint in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. I love the vintage looking pumpkin/gourd.

Melissa Shirley Thanksgiving children series. A stitch guide is available for this series.

This is a fun series. I selected a different leaf stitch for each piece.

A very dapper Pilgrim-ette!

Our wonderful finisher put these small pieces on a pumpkin made of crushed velvet.

A real feather decorates this Native American's hair. All trims are from the Ribbonry in Chaparral Needlework.

My favorite, this little girl is holding a wreath made of raffia, decorated with tiny pumpkin buttons.

Thank you to all friends who sent their pictures.  Aren’t we all thankful for our friends, family, pets, and needlepoint?

Stitched by cute Karen McK. this door sign is from Amanda Lawford. Notice how we added a little garland of leaves in the bow.

 

Christmas Home Tour-Sally Anne’s, Part 1

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Needlepoint Santas decorate the dining room table.

What an exciting month December is and it is very fun to visit our friends houses to see all their needlepoint.  The owner of the Chaparral Needlework has the most incredible collection of needlepoint she has done.  Next year, we will take a tour of her home not decorated for Christmas so you can see all her fabulous needlepoint she has done over the years.  Sally Anne is a very elegant, refined lady and has beautiful taste.  I love the colors she has in her home and all her beautiful antiques.  But, I really consider it a treat to go over to her house at Christmas to see all her treasures.

 

Needlepointed MacKenzie Childs cake on a stand on the chandelier.

Sally Anne’s mom(the Shop Mom) has needlepointed  angels for all of her granddaughters and Santas for each of her grandsons every year since they were born.  They   young adults now and she still needlepoints a special gift for them every year. Sally Anne displays her daughter’s angels in her music room and her son’s Santas are used for decorating the dining room table.

Sally Anne's mom has stitched all of these angels for her granddaughter, Sally Anne's daughter.

Close up of the angel collection.

Sally Anne's dining room chandelier decorated for the Christmas season with needlepoint ornaments and glass ornaments.

Needlepoint Santas are posed around the table for their Christmas dinner!

Melissa Shirley Santa was stitched by Sally Anne.

This is a Santa Sally Anne stitched. Canvas is by Ewe and Eye.

Sally Anne's dachshund Santa was made by artist Gloria Becker of Many Monkeys Later. Although not needlepointed, I had to add it to the post because it is so wonderful!

These Santas were stitched by Sally Anne's mom for her grandson.

Big Santa from Napier is the center of attention on the dining room table. I do not know if the company is still in business.

A Melissa Shirley Santa.

In the den , a collection of Mile High Princess nativity characters are displayed.   The navy background is so dramatic and make the figures more prominent.

Mile High Princess nativity stitched by Sally Anne and displayed on her bookshelves.

The camel has a real tassel on his saddle. The baby is to the right.

Mile High Princess nativity.

I adore this angel in an orange dress, a part of the Mile High Princess nativity that Sally Anne stitched.

Sally Anne has also decorated her den with Christmas pillows.

Everyone loves this Santa, a Once in a Blue Moon Santa made into a beautiful pillow!

A pillow on the den sofa is decorated with a Dragon's Tale Santa. I taught this as a class several years ago.

More of Sally Anne’s Merry Christmas house next post!

 

 

Christmas Home Tour-Sally Anne’s, Part 2

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Sally Anne has been needlepointing since she was a little girl and has an incredible body of work-beautiful pillows, samplers, framed pieces. Each time I visit, I am astonished at the fabulous needlepoint she has done even though I have helped her with quite a bit of it, her needlepoint is fantastic.  Next year I will post a tour of her house without her Christmas decor.

Sally Anne's family stockings hung by the chimney with care. Another will be hung this year-Sally Anne got married!

This post:  Her stockings!  Sally Anne stitched her stockings long ago, when her now young adult children were babies.  At that time, there was not a huge selection of threads like there are now and using stitches was not much the thing to do.  Notice how her pets’ stocking is covered with different stitches and threads and was much more fun to stitch!

Sally Anne's sock is from Alexa, Joshua's stocking is Alexa, and Holly's is from Edie and Ginger. I love that coral background on Holly's stocking.

Sally Anne's angel sock is from Alexa.

Josh's stocking is all Christmas toys and fir branches.

Close up of Holly's stocking, mostly done in basketweave, it is truly beautiful!

Gary's stocking, stitched by Sally Anne for her new husband is from Melissa Shirley Designs. Sally Anne added lot of goodies-miniature wine bottle, mini corkscrew, travel book, in Santa's bag that are some of Gary's favorite things!

Melissa Shirley sock is oversized and was made to honor the family's pets. Sally Anne changed one border and stitched dog feet prints on it!

Little needlepoint bones with the pets' name are sewed along the top of the stocking.

Footprints border. The sunflower orange flowers are buttons.

The toe of the stocking. I wonder if Santa fill that stocking with dog treats?

More of Sally Anne’s Christmas needlepoint next post!

Here is Charlie-one of Sally Anne's dogs. Santa, he has been a very good boy this year.

 

Christmas Home Tour-Sally Anne’s, Part 3

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Sally Anne's Santa of Everything celebrates all holidays.

More of Sally Anne’s Christmas house!

Very gigantic Santa from Melissa Shirley Sally Anne stitched at least 20 years ago. This guy is about 3 feet tall!

Merry Christmas garland, a series long ago from Chandail Needlework, decorates a green garland over Sally Anne's door way between her entrance hall and den.

Santa of Everything, a canvas from Patti Mann, celebrates all holidays. Melissa Shirley dress pillows on either side of the antique side table.

Patti Mann Santa of Everything celebrates all holidays and seasons.

Needlepoint nutcrackers stand guard. Chocolates in the dish are needlepointed, too!

Nutcrackers stitched by Sally Anne. Canvases from Susan Roberts.

Antique silver candy dish with needlepointed chocolates from Melissa Shirley Designs.

 

Gingerbread houses from A Collection of Designs stitched by the home owner decorate an antique chest of drawers.

Close up of one house, canvas from A Collection of Designs) and an adorable gingerbread man from Dream House Ventures.

Gingerbread house is finished into a house shape.

MCM angel sits in a chair with Sally Anne's beautiful needlepointed bird pillow. Sadly, these 2 artists do not paint canvases anymore.

An angel and snowman commemorating the 4th of July sit on a table in the music room. Both canvases from Renaissance Designs.

Renaissance Designs canvases stitched; the angel by Sally Anne's mom.

Sally Anne always has a huge Christmas tree-not so tall but very fat!  She gets a real tree and the one she picks is always beautiful.  She decorates it with her needlepointed ornaments and lights.

Sally Anne's big tree is full of needlepointed ornaments!

A close up of the tree.

Angel ornament from Kelly Clarke Designs.

An angel with an embroidery hoop and basket of thread.

Another picture of the tree. I don't know if it was crooked or if I had too much ice tea to drink!

Thank you, Sally Anne for the Christmas tour and for inspiring us to needlepoint our Christmas canvases!

Last year, after Christmas, Sally Anne's tree timbered! Be sure to have a big enough stand for your tree. She had asked the tree guys to use a bigger stand but they did not use it!

 A MERRY Christmas to all and to all a good night!

 

Laura C.’s Christmas Needlepoint!

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Lovely view of the Colson Family's stockings hung by the chimney with care!

Laura Colson is a needlepointer from College Station, Texas which happens to be  a needlepoint desert.  College Station is the home of Texas A&M Univiersity and very near Bryan, Texas. Laura says she is glad she is near Houston so she can make excursions to Houston and is thankful for the internet so she can see what is available in hand painted needlepointed canvases.  I have known Laura for probably 15 years and this wife and  busy mother of 4 boys, who range in ages from high school twins to a 20 year old,  has done handwork  and cross stitch since she was a child.  She also loves to sew, taught by her mom when she was young. Her friend, Karen W. taught her to needlepoint when they both had young children.  She struggled to learn basketweave and mastered it after remembering ”vertical threads work down and horizontal threads work up”.   Her friend, Karen really inspired her after showing Laura all her needlepointed Easter eggs.  Laura prefers needlepoint because she feels it is more”elegant, fun, and so much more versatile with the finished product”.

Laura's "half tree" and her sideboard decorated for Christmas!

Laura and her husband both graduated from Baylor in Waco, Laura with a degree in Management and Marketing.  She worked for 10 years before taking on the full-time role as wife and mom.  Laura also loves decorating her home for holidays, working out, reading, and shopping.

Beautiful Christmas tree in the colon's living room decorated with needlepoint ornaments as well as other ornaments collected over many years.

I asked Laura where her “needlepoint nest” is and she told me she used to love her nest on car trips when she was younger, but now, due to “aging eyesight” she now really enjoys stitching in her living room, always with her tiny clip-on light attached to her stretcher bars.  Asked what her favorite things to needlepoint are, here is what Laura answered,  ”I love to stitch Christmas ornaments because they are fun and relatively quick to finish.  But I also love pillows and if I had the time, I’d love to stitch more belts.  I’ve done one belt and loved it.  I also would love to stitch a pair of shoes.  I do have a file of magazine clippings, gift bags, etc., of images I think would be great in needlepoint.  For example, with Baylor being a private university, they are very protective of their logo.  One of their new logos is an outline of Judge Baylor looking at Pat Neff Hall – this logo is currently printed on bookstore bags.  I think that would look great as a needlepoint ornament and would love to paint it myself and stitch it.  Another example is artwork on a past Talbot’s shopping bag from Christmas that I think would look terrific on a pillow.  When something catches my “needlepoint eye”, I put it in my file. ”  Food for thought, stitchers, an idea file!!!

Baylor Santa, canvas from Carol DuPree, is front and center on the Baylor alums' tree! Other Baylor ornaments decorate the tree, including a football helmet and a glass bear, Baylor's mascot.

And asked about how many needlepoint ornaments are on her Christmas tree, Laura said,”I have about 25 needlepointed Christmas ornaments with a bunch more in my stash to do!  I’ve collected Christmas ornaments, other than needlepointed ones, since I was in college.  I’ve lost count on how may there are; too many, I’m certain.  But as a child, I always loved making ornaments with my friends and sister, and my parents always promoted creativity.  I can’t think of any needlepoint Christmas traditions, but unwrapping my needlepoint ornaments each year and placing them on the tree is a highlight and just makes me feel very happy!”

Laura's collection of needlepointed Louisiana ornaments-her home state.

Laura wrote that she took a class with me when I worked at a store in River Oaks.  We were dong a needlepoint candy box and she felt like she was on a vacation.  She still thinks of me when using Flair (and I am hoping that thought is “fondly”), which she recalls, I described as a pantyhose.  I still do call it a pantyhose, Laura!

Needlepointed Christmas cookie advent "ornaments" were a monthly series from Chandail Needlework here in Houston. It came with a cookie sheet calendar and the ornaments were finished with magnets on the back.

Thank you, lovely Laura, for sending your special and beautiful Christmas pictures to share with other enthusiastic stitchers!  Merry Christmas, Colson Family!

Laura's needlepoint Christmas pillows, including a Mary Engelbreit snowman tea pot pillow, nestle with other Christmas themed pillows on this cozy chair. All that is needed is a hot cup of cocoa, maybe with some marshmallows!

 

OMFS’ Christmas house before de-decoration

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Remember One of My Favorite Students, better know as OMFS, whose house I showed earlier this year?  (Posts are dated September 26 and 30 and October 3,  2012.)  Well, last year, I went over to her house after Christmas and snapped some pics of her house right before Christmas decor was deconstructed.  She had already packed up a few Christmas items, but I did get some pics of her Christmas needlepoint!

A tiny nativity from Bettie Smith, now owned by CanvasWorks, lives in this bowl in OMFS' music room.

Santas stand up with each santa suit in a different stitch and each beard in a different stitch, OMFS used her left over threads so that each santa is dressed differently.

Adorable reindeer pillow from Maggie & Co.

Mile High Princess nativity OMFS stitched about 8 years ago. She selected three shades of green and used one on each background.

A wreath made into a pillow decorates a chair. I do not know who the artist is!

Hopefully this year, I can go by OMFS’ house before she gets her tree down!  Thanks for sharing your Christmas needlepoint with us, OMFS!

Sweater pillow was partially stitched by OMFS’ daughter when she was young. I taught it as a children’s class.

Favorite Needlepoint Stockings

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Stockings hung by the chimney with care.

Oh, so many beautiful stockings have been done this year for Christmas at the Chaparral Needleworks in Houston.  I have had many stitchers in my classes that have done the most extraordinary stockings and this is the perfect time to inspire you, the blog post reader, your friends, and family to needlepoint a stocking for next year.  Of course, you need to do one for yourself and probably, it is a good idea to stitch one for your family-husband, children, furry friends.  You may want to stitch one for your sister, brother, your parents, grand children, nieces, nephews….and the list goes on and on!  When you stitch a stocking for a loved one, please be sure they will appreciate it before you do it!  I had one customer tell the story of her friend who happily went over to her son and his wife’s house one Christmas morning to see her grand children….and they came to the door wearing the precious needlepoint stockings on their feet!  Another friend did a stocking for her baby nephew and the father thought it was worth about $50.00!  Another did 3 very expensive stockings for a friend who accidentally threw them away and never blinked an eye when recounting her mishap to her friend.  We all  know the price of painted canvas and threads, but gratefully I may add, we do not know how much time we have spent needlepointing the heirlooms and how much that may be worth!  Needlepointing  a stocking is really a labor of love, one which has not monetary value, but it mainly done for the love of that person and for the love of needlepointing.  Please give your stocking to someone who will treasure it and take very good care of it.  If you think they will not take care of it, you may want to rethink needlepointing for them and buy a needlepointed stocking from a store and have the name monogrammed on it at a monogram store, and then buy them a really nice gift certificate to Best Buy, Starbucks, or Amazon!

Tapestry Tent-Mary Daire DeL.

Tapestry Tent-Mary Daire DeL.

Tapestry Tent-Mary Daire DeL.

Tapestry Tent-Mary Daire DeL.

Tapestry Tent-Mary Daire DeL.

My sister, Hollee C. , did this stocking for her new son-in-law! Tapestry Tent.

Tapestry Tent-Donna B.

Tapestry Tent-Jan DBS.

Tapestry Tent-Marilyn J.

Tapestry Tent- Susan K.

Tapestry Tent-Linda P.

Tapestry Tent-Morgan E.

Tapestry Tent-Marilyn J.

Tapestry Tent-DeeDee H.

Tapestry Tent-Deborah McA.

Good night, Christmas kitten!

More favorite stockings to come!!!

 

more Favorite Needlepoint Stockings!

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Hi Everyone!  I found more needlepoint stocking I want to share with you!  Very inspirational, I think, to see everyone’s beautiful stocking!

To read about the origins of the christmas stocking tradition read here:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christmas_stocking

and from this blogger, read this:  http://www.toysperiod.com/blog/toy-history/history-of-the-christmas-stocking-legend-and-tradition/

Enjoy!

Melissa Shirley Designs stitched by Lauri Z.

Melissa Shirley Designs stitched by Lynn C.

Melissa Shirley Designs stitched by Sarah P.

Melissa Shirley Designs stitched by Kathy D.

Melissa Shirley Designs

Melissa Shirley Designs stitched by Ann McD.

Melissa Shirley Designs.

Melissa Shirley Designs stitched by Mary T.

Melissa Shirley Designs stitched by Sally Anne W. now Sally Anne S.

 

Melissa Shirley Designs for Mary Lake Thompson stitched by Dr. Margot R.

Melissa Shirley Designs for Mary Lake Thompson stitched by Dr. Margot R.

Alexa Designs stitched by Margaret S.

Alexa Designs stitched by Margaret S.

Alexa Designs stitched by Ann S.

Strictly Christmas stitched by Marcia M.

Cats need stockings, too! Susan Roberts stitched by Julia D.

Susan Roberts stitched by Joanne L.

Designing Women stitched by Heidi H. Heidi loves to do French knots!

Birds of a Feather stitched by Esther G.

Shelly Tribbey stitched by Dinah W.

THANKS TO YOU ALL for showing us your fabulous and special needlepoint stocking.  They are all truly fantastic!  Good job everyone!

Now let’s all hang our stockings by the chimney with care next Christmas!!

And to all, a good night!

 

A Needlepoint Christmas at Don’s House!

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The family's Santa tree.

 

Don, a co-owner of Associated Talents needlepoint, a wholesale needlepoint company that designs and produces hand painted canvases, lives in Charlotte, North Carolina but loves to spend as much time as possible at his beach  home on Edisto Island, South Carolina.  Don is originally from Lexington Kentucky.  His local needlepoint store is Po’s Point in Charlotte, but he also drives to Two’s Company in Rock Hill, South Carolina.  Don loved to watch his mother stitch and around the age of 10 years old, he decided he wanted to needlepoint, too.  His first project was a belt which, when he was almost finished, his mom told him he had stitched it backwards.  Oh well, I say, at least he was enjoying his needlepoint!  I feel so honored that Don agreed to send pictures of his Christmas trees for my blog.  He and his family have a tremendous collection of needlepoint for us all to enjoy!

 

Don graduated from the University of Kentucky (Go Wildcats!) with a Business Administration Degree.  He had a career in retail management until he decided to change careers and open his own needlepoint store, the Charlotte Needlepoint Co. from 1998-2008.  After that he became a partner at Associated Talents which is his full time endeavor.

What an extravaganza of fabulous needlepoint ornaments!

Don has been married for 20 years and has two daughters, a teenager and almost a teenager, and 3 cats.  His wife, Alison, enjoys needlepointing, too,  stitching baby gifts and belts for friends and relatives.  His daughters stitch a little when they are in the mood and the three cats enjoy playing with the thread while Don stitches! (Sounds familiar, doesn’t it!)  He mainly stitches “a lot of belts and smaller items, such as ornaments, Easter ornaments, Halloween ornaments.  This might be because my wife has declared that we have plenty of pillows.”  His favorite needlepoint nest at his home in Charlotte is the corner of the den couch, and now that one of the girls can drive, he loves to stitch in the car on the way to the beach!

Associated Talents pillow stitched by Brenda L. S., our facebook friend.

Don has three Christmas trees in his house, each with a Christmas theme, and all loaded with ornaments!  The last time they counted, Don wrote that they had over 200 Christmas ornaments!

Don and Alisons' gingerbread themed tree.

the GINGERBREAD TREE

Don wrote about his gingerbread tree,  ”This tree grew out of my obsession with candy and gingerbread needlepoint.  Oddly, I don’t have a huge sweet tooth, but I love anything in needlepoint that is “sweet.”  Over the years, this tree has grown from a little 3 foot counter top to its current 6 foot version.  I think I might have to buy the 7 foot “slim” tree I saw the other day.  You’d be amazed at how much you can get onto that one extra foot!  (In at least one of the photos, please note the little resin elves.  These guys were done by Melissa Shirley several years ago, and when the girls were younger it was fun to see the different conversations they could be found in…seemed to move by themselves overnight!)”.

Close up of gingerbread tree loaded with needlepoint ornaments from Associated Talents, Melissa Shirley, Susan Roberts, and Elizabeth Turner, among others!

More of Don's ornaments on the gingerbread tree!

Letter D in candy stripe is from Associated Talents.

the SNOWMAN TREE

Tree number 2 at Alison’s and Don’s house is the Snowman tree.  Don wrote of the nook the Snowman tree is in:   “A brief note about our house.  We have done 4 semi-major renovations on our typical 1950′s ranch.  One was an addition where we added an expanded master bedroom and master bath, in addition to a few other changes.  When we bought the house, the view straight from the front door was into a tiny interior hall and on into a bathroom.  When we did the master bedroom renovation, I shifted doorways, and we ended up with this niche, in place of looking into the bathroom. This is where we put the seasonal trees, Valentines, Halloween (Easter tree is too big, so it sits on the piano in the living room.)  And this year, it is the home to the snowman tree.  Some years it’s the Santa tree, and at least once it has been the silver snowflake tree.

THE SNOWMAN TREE!! with adorable stand up needlepointed snowman gazing at the tree!

 

Lots of snowmen needlepointed on tis enchanting tree with canvases from Associated Talents, Melissa Shirley and others.

Don wrote, “I’ve also included a picture of the bow front chest in the living room which has some of my snowman stand-ups, snowman snow globes, and part of my collection of silver snowflakes (I have all of the Gorham.)  As you can see, I also have an extensive collection of snow globes.”  We are so glad you included the pictures of chest, Don!!

The front chest decorated with fabulous Gorham silver snowflakes, snow globes, and needlepointed snowmen.

Close up of the bow fronted chest with Don's collection of snow globes. Snowmen canvases from Associated Talents, Melissa Shirley, and Renaissance Designs.

Don stitches a snowman ornament for each of  his girls and one for his god son for Christmas every year and puts his initials on them.  He adds the year date to his god son’s ornaments but decided not to personalize the ornaments for his daughters so “that way when they divide them up, they can choose”  which ones they want.

 the SANTA TREE

The Santa tree is in the den this year.

The family's Santa tree with don's favorite needlepoint cushion on the right in the chair.

Don wrote, “In the picture of the Santa tree you can also see what is probably my favorite piece of needlepoint, the Caspian pillow in the chair.  It’s pretty simple, just basket weave in Silk and Ivory, but I still love it!  I brought it to Dallas for market before it was finished and found the trim at Rutherfords, where I paid some un-Godly amount.  Good news was I only needed a little more than a yard, as I just put the tassel trim on the ends.”  (We all love Rutherford’s in Dallas!)

Covered with needlepointed Santa ornament, this tree wants us to say "Ho, ho, Ho!"

More Santa ornaments!

In the dining room, Don’s needlepoint stand up Santas stand guard on the side board and  are ready for the festivities to begin!

Dining room side board has a large gathering of needlepointed stand up Santas! (I see Timothy, the needlepointed Halloween spider in this picture!)

What a FABULOUS and INSPIRATIONAL collection of needlepoint at a home for Christmas!  A home filled with love and memory making…and lots of needlepoint!  Thank you for making us want to go needlepoint some more ornaments, Don!!!

Next post…DON’S BEACH HOUSE CHRISTMAS TREE!!!

One of the family cats enjoys camping under the Santa tree!

Needlepoint Christmas at Don’s Beach House!

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Don, one of three  partners that owns and runs Associated Talents, and his wife, Alison, own a beach house in Edisto Island, South Carolina and prefers to be there as much as he can.  Now that his teenage daughter can drive, he really loves stitching in the car on the way to the beach.  Don was so kind to send pictures of his beach Christmas tree when I asked him and I feel so privileged to see his fabulous tree!  Don, originally from Lexington, Kentucky and graduate of the University of Kentucky now lives in Charlotte, North  Carolina with his wife of 20 years, his 2 daughters, and several cats.

Don needlepoints lots of ornaments for all holidays and has a huge collection of Christmas ornaments as seen in the blog post on December 16.  but, he does like to  ”travel, whether it is to our beach house or really almost anyplace new.  I’m always reading a book, even if the only time I get to read is on the stationary bike at the Y in the morning.  When the weather is good, I do enjoy a nice long run, but I’m a running wimp…the mere hint of rain or a hiding sun, and I scrap it!”.

The beach Christmas tree at the family's get away on Edito Island, South Carolina.

The “skinny” tree  in the beach house is decorated with starfish pink, turquoise, and green balls and lots of needlepointed beach themed ornaments.  Don apologized for his “sparse” tree as this is the first year they have done their beach tree and 9 ornaments are still at the finisher being made into needlepoint treats!  We look forward to seeing those when they come back from the finisher!

The family has also needlepointed ornaments for the beach tree! Here flamingos decked in wreaths!

Adorable beach themed needlepoint mini sock surrounded by other needlepoint ornaments.

Another precious beach themed mini sock with star fish and sand dollars and a tree shaped needlepoint ornament with wreathed flamingos.

Don has a “friend” named Timothy, a needlepoint spider who has his own facebook page!  Named at the TNNA needlepoint market, Timothy was a sort of roving reporter during the market and is now a well know celebrity among the needlepoint world.  Here is a picture of Timothy.  Look at his adventures on facebook at the Columbus market here

http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.104491563028872.7603.100004040862200&type=3

Timothy, the spider, is available as a canvas and a spider body from Associated Talents through your favorite needlepoint store.

Here is Associated Talents web site  http://www.atneedlepoint.com/

Again, Don,

thank you for this very special treat of seeing your beach house ready for Christmas!!!

What about a needlepoint retreat at the beach house?  YAY!!

HOME TOUR: Sally Anne’s fabulous home in Houston, Texas, part 1

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From a floral pillow in a hall off the entrance, this is a close up of a Once in a Blue Moon pillow.

Sally Anne's house!

I have known Sally Anne for quite some time and think her a lovely, smart, and intelligent woman.  She has exquisite taste in everything and is very kind.  Her house is an absolute treasure trove of magnificent antiques and unbelievable needlepoint.  A treat for anyone who visits, I love to go over to her home and look around to see all her beautiful things, especially each piece of needlepoint that has its perfect place and has been beautifully stitched.  I have written several posts on her home so enjoy them!

 ENTRANCE HALL

On the back of the front door, in the large entrance hall.

On the back of the front door is this welcoming sign of the pineapple from the Artist Collection for Heart Strings.

Close up of pineapple sign. Sally Anne changed a few stitches from the stitch guide that comes with all of Heart Strings' canvases. Vintage ribbon from the Ribbonry in Chaparral Needlework.

Middle of sign. Love the enameled sunflower button hanging off the leaves of the pineapple.

Bottom of Heart Strings sign from the Artists Collection.

Chairs flank a bamboo side table in the entrance hall.

A Santa of Everything from Patti Mann makes his year around home here and two Melissa Shirley Designs decorate the entrance hall.

For a close up of the Santa of Everything, see Sally Anne’s Christmas house blog post.

Melissa Shirley Designs dress pillow in it's perfect setting!

Close up of pillow with trim from the Ribbonry in Chaparral. Sally anne did different background stitches in the squares in the background of the canvas.

Second of the pair, these dress pillows from Melissa Shirley Designs are perfect in the large entrance hall.

A John Johanssen from Melissa Shirley Designs in the entrance next to the powder room door.

A large piece, this vase of beautifully stitched flowers fits perfectly in the entrance. Framed by Davis Hardware in Houston with ribbon from the Ribbonry.

Hall leading to the master bedroom off the entrance hall.

On an antique bench sits a little collection of pillows.

Happy Everything pillow, canvas from Needle Graphics.

My favorite, Once in a Blue Moon canvas, with American flags, and a beautiful aqua background that Sally Anne selected.

Close up of floral pillow with American flags with a background stitch of a trellised laid filling.

A close up of the pillows flowers, stitched perfectly by Sally Anne.

Sally Anne has a collection of little chairs, this one being doll size and displaying a cute stand up. From Shorebirds, this little dachshund stand up commemorates Jack, one the past t family pets, who was such a wonderful little guy!

And Sally Anne even has a little ornament on her grandfather clock!

Princess and Me decorates the key of an antique grandfather clock in the entrance hall.

More posts to come on Sally Anne’s house and needlepoint collection.

HOME TOUR: Sally Anne’s fabulous home in Houston, Texas, part 2

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As many of you know, Sally Anne is owner Of the Chaparral Needlework in Houston, Texas.  She has owned it for about 4 years and is a wonderful boss.  I know because I work for her.  She purchased the store from the former owner who had gotten it from the estate of her mother-in-law.  Sally  Anne has exquisite taste and buys the most wonderful and varied collection of canvases for our customers.  The store turned 50 in 2012 and Sally Anne had a birthday party for the store.  It has been in continuous business since 1972.  We had a very fun day and celebration for the store and a huge celebration cake!  Very tasty the cake was, too!

A note:  Sally Anne got married in November and is now Sally Anne Skarke!

The most beautiful and delicious 50th birthday cake for Chaparral's 50th year in business anniversary!

the MUSIC ROOM

In the music room, a very cozy room off of the entrance hall, there is a grand piano and a wonderful collection of blue and white antique plates.

In the music room, a needlepoint pillow and needlepoint angel from MCM make this chair very cozy!

From Illuminations, this vintage looking bird pillow is no longer available as Illuminations is no longer in business!

A wall full of antique blue plates and platters collection has a needlepoint platter.

A canvas from Creative Needle made into a wall hanging fits perfectly with an antique collection

Nestled in the book shelf, a Melissa Shirley Designs needlepoint vase is 4 sided.

A Melissa Shirley Deigns needlepoint vase sits in the book shelf in the music room.

Needlepointed back of the vase.

Needlepointed back of the vase.

More of Sally Anne’s house next time!

HOME TOUR: Sally Anne’s fabulous home in Houston, Texas, part 3

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These Mackenzie Childs needlepointed hearts, from Betsy B., are sadly no longer available. The ornaments decorate the dining room chandelier at Christmas.

Sally Anne’s dining room is gorgeous and spacious.  She does have a few needlepoint pieces in it and included in this post is a photo of the dining room at Christmas.  She decorates her table with needlepointed Santas and festoons the chandelier with MacKenzie Childs ornaments, both glass and needlepoint at Christmas.  All of her antique dining chairs are covered in needlepoint that her grandmother did and were salvaged from her attic when the family was cleaning out the house.  What a treasure to find and what a beautiful color Sally Anne’s grandmother selected for the backgrounds of the chair seats.

the DINING ROOM

Sally Anne's dining room, decorated for Christmas, with antique chairs that have needlepointed cushions.

Chair seat is needlepoint done by Sally Anne's grandmother. The background color is beautiful but brighter than this photo shows.

On the chairs, every bouquet of needlepointed flowers is different than the next.

Renaissance Designs birthday cake and candles on a bamboo shelf in the corner of the dining room.

Displayed in an antique silver candy basket on the dining room side board, these Melissa Shirley chocolates look good enough to eat!

Another antique silver basket with the chocolates with each one in real chocolate papers.

More of the home tour next post!

If you would like your home of needlepoint treasure on Living with Needlepoint, I would love to have your pictures.  Email me at NeedlepointingInYourNest@gmail.com.

A FABULOUS NEEDLEPOINT SANTA COLLECTION: PAT WINGATE’S

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Pat's collection of needlepoint ornaments!

A facebook friend from the Needlepoint group, I saw Pat Wingate’s huge collection of Santas on-line and just knew readers would enjoy seeing this outstanding collection of Christmas St. Nicks.  Pat is from Dallas and shops at several needlepoint stores including Creative Stitches (Dallas), Fancy Stitches (Cleburne), and The French Knot (Ft. Worth) where she has found helpful and nice employees at each shop.  She gets inspirational ideas from each shop and occasionally takes classes at the Dallas and Cleburne shops.

Pat's FABULOUS collection of needlepoint Santas!

Pat, a person who loves to learn new things, and her husband have had their own business for 36  years and have one son, 3 cats and 3 grand dogs. The family sells pre-owned luxury watches and vintage american pocket watches on the internet.  Pat wrote,” We first started with a paper mail order catalog back in 1977 with pocket watches only. Our son does all of our photography, so I guess it’s all in the family.”  Pat graduated from UT Dallas with a BS in Special Education and then went on to get a Masters in Special Education, Emotionally Disturbed at Texas Women’s University. After teaching 6 years, Pat retired after having her son.

Pat's Christmas boxes: Nativity and tree boxes are from Birds of a Feather.

LOTS of Santas!

Pat loves stitching Christmas stockings and is on her 23rd one!  She did her first stocking in 1981  and has just kept on going.  Pat has LOTS of favorite artist including Melissa Shirley, Rebecca Woods, Bird s of a Feather, Mile High Princess, and Maggie and Co. At home, her needlepoint nest is in her recliner next to her Dazor lamp, and she enjoys stitching with friends at Creative Stitches.  Pat also reads, always having a good book in her car, on her phone, and next to her bed.  She beads, making necklaces, scissors fobs, and other fun things for her friends.

Big Amanda Lawford Santas stitched by Pat. MAGNIFICENT, Pat!

Santa in shorts from Kelly Clark.

Santa in shorts from Kelly Clark and I think the house may be a Melissa Shirley Design.

Thank you so much, Pat, for very generously sharing your wonderful needlepoint Santas!

Amanda Lawford Santa beautifully stitched by Pat.

HOME TOUR: Sally Anne’s fabulous home in Houston, Texas, part 4

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Sally Anne’s den is large but very cozy, thus 2 posts on her den! Her sofas are soft and one sinks down into them.  It is a great

    

Sally Anne needlepointed Daisy's name on the tag!

place to needlepoint!  This is Sally Anne’s nest:  on the corner of the sofa, usually with one of her 3 dogs curled up beside her.

Sally Anne started needlepointing when she was only 6 years old and was taught by her sweet mom, who is an avid stitcher as well and a very dear person.  (We call Sally Anne’s mom the Shop Mom because she works at the store ordering our threads.)  Her first pieces were 2 pin cushions which, Sally Anne recalls, her mom finished for her!  Sally Anne comes from a needlepoint family:  Her mother and cousin, Betzy, stitch many beautiful pieces  and her late grandmother and aunt on her father’s side stitched constantly, too!  She has taught her daughter, but the recent graduate from college finds it a little boring!  Hopefully that will soon change as her daughter joins the work force.

 

the DEN

One of the two very cozy den sofas with a needlepoint pillow.

A beautiful sofa needlepoint pillow with a metallic wreath was once chewed by the dogs-but we fixed it! It was an accident!

Harry Winston, one of the 3 family dogs. He is very cute!

A needlepointed portrait of Harry Winston, the Yorkie, with canvas from Our Faithful Friends carried by Maggie and Co. sits in a club chair.

Needlepoint frames from Mary Engelbreit from Needlework Inc. and an Elizabeth Turner frame hold family pictures in the den.

On the back wall, a set of needlepoint Quimper plates flank either side of a painting.

The 2nd Quimper needlepoint plate.

The Americana series, designed by Carolyn Baird and Carol Cain, exclusively for the Chaparral Needlework, decorate a grapevine tree in the den.

Another view of the tree decorated with Chaparral's exclusive American series. (The entrance hall in the background.)

From Designing Women, this was a class I taught when I first started working at the Chaparral. Sally anne picked out vintage ribbon from the Ribbonry to finish it. This pillow sits in one of Sally Anne's children's chairs.

Finished on an HP Designs enamel box, this Melissa Shirley Designs bird was mounted on corrugated cardboard and covered with glass.

Maggie and Co. chocolate lab needlepointed canvas framed is adorable! The family had a chocolate lab named Daisy.

I have always loved this canvas and I never ever had a lab for a pet!

What beautiful stitching,thread choices, and stitch choices on this fun canvas!

Antique hanging cabinet with Sally Anne's collection of antique Majolica butter pats and needlepointed ones that were an exclusive series at the Chaparral Needlework.

A fabulous American flag from Melissa Shirley Designs hangs in the den by the back door. Sally Anne did an excellent job stitching this canvas. ribbons from the Ribbonry in Chaparral. This is a fantastic piece!

Sally Anne stitched this Once in a blue moon canvas using different stitches for all the quilt patches. Pre-made flowers and trims from the Ribbonry. This, too, sits in an antique children's chair.

A Mary Engelbreit design for Needlework Inc. hangs on the back door. This canvas is no longer available.

See you soon, Sally Anne’s house!

HOME TOUR: Sally Anne’s fabulous home in Houston, Texas, part 5

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Fanny, the newest 4 legged member of the family, when she was a baby. Fanny is a mini long-haired dachshund.

Some repeats in this post on Sally Anne’s house because I could not get quite organized enough!  But still enjoyable to see Sally Anne’s beautiful collection of needlepoint she has done for her home.  This post is more of her den with close-ups of some pieces in the previous post.

the DEN… AGAIN!

Another view of Melissa Shirley Designs spin on Old Glory. Here is the blue p[art of the flag with flowers both pre-made and silk ribbon with lots of beads!

The red and white stripes are gingham and then strawberries which have been padded and stitched, beads added on top.

Sally Anne's collection of antique majolica butter pats and needlepointed butter pats in a hanging shelf.

Close up of the needlepointed butter pats made into ornaments.

These ornaments are from an exclusive series we designed and sold at the Chaparral Needleworks.

Table in the den is full of needlepoint! Notice the Quimper needlepointed plates from Cooper Oaks on either side of the painting. The painting depicts Sally Anne's pets.

Sally Anne's needlepoint kimono sits on her back table among her needlepointed picture frames and a collection of antique cow shaped cream pitchers.

Corner of the den hung with children's chairs containing needlepoint pillows.

Patty Paints folk art American flag pillow is displayed in an antique children's chair hung on the wall.

Other children's chairs are decorated with a special needlepoint pillow. From left to right: Our Faithful Friends from Maggie & Co., Designing Women, and Once in a Blue Moon.

 

Comfy chairs in the den!

Ewe and Eye pillow I taught as a class-one of my all time favorites!

Cornish pig from original art by John Johanssen from Melissa Shirley Designs.

Sally Anne's back door even has needlepoint on it-this an ornament from Chaparral Needleworks' 2001 exclusive Americana series.

Close up of the flag shield from the Americana series.

WE’LL BE BACK!!!!

HOME TOUR: Sally Anne’s fabulous home in Houston, Texas, part 6

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Sally Anne's house-she took the picture at Christmas.

Let’s go see Sally Anne’s kitchen and breakfast room!  It is quite magnificent to walk into the kitchen/breakfast area as her wall is covered with needlepointed samplers!  Makes one want to buckle down and stitch until one is blue in the face.  The sampler collection is beautiful and the framing is beautiful, all framed by the ever so talented Karry at Davis Hardware here in Houston.  Sally Anne picks out ribbon from my store, the Ribbonry, in Chaparral Needleworks, and it is uses instead of matte board, and the whole framed piece makes a quite remarkable statement!

Here is the web site for Davis Hardware:  http://www.davishardware.com/

the KITCHEN/BREAKFAST ROOM

Here is Sally Anne's sampler wall in her kitchen/breakfast room. Oops, we left the quilt over the African gray parrot's cage!

Close up of a few of Sally Anne's needlepointed samplers from Ewe and Eye and Bids of a Feather.

Pigs in the kitchen!

Cooper Oaks pig. Sally Anne has three of them needlepointed and on her little table in the breakfast area.

Chocolate lab heart from Our Faithful Friends and Maggie & Co. decorates a closet door in the mud room.

Window over the sink has little goodies on it, among them a Cooper Oaks French girl finished as a stand up.

Needlepointed cake from Lani on the kitchen cabinet near the sink.

Adorable Lani flower cake needlepointed by Sally Anne, has silk ribbon embroidery, stump work and lots of beads!

Two colorful framed needlepoint pieces next to the refrigerator in the kitchen.

Maggie& Co. canvas needlepointed by Sally Anne, who used beads for the lettering.

A large framed canvas from Maggie& Co. contains table manners rules. This canvas is no longer available.

The table manners rules list hangs next to the breakfast room table-a perfect place for it!

Next post-the last on Sally Anne’s house!

HOME TOUR: Sally Anne’s fabulous home in Houston, Texas, part 7

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Charlie, the family's dog, used to come to the Chaparral with Sally Anne until we fell over him a couple of times!

All good things come to an end and this is the last post on Sally Anne’s house…however, I have never snooped around upstairs so perhaps in the future I can sneak up the stairs, taking my camera, and snap pictures!

the inner sanctum-Sally Anne’s BEDROOM!

Sally Anne has a lovely bedroom  and it, too, is loaded with needlepoint.  To go into the bedroom, one goes through a little entrance area and here, Sally Anne has another beautiful sampler.  I will have another post on this sampler only, with lots of close-ups and details on it.

A sampler in the entrance to Sally Anne's bedroom.

This Faith, Honor, Hope sampler is from Ewe and Eye.

Here is the link for Ewe and Eye and more of their samplers:

http://www.eweandeyeandfriends.com/html/thumbnails.php?currentPage=2&artistSearch=Carriage+House+Samplings

The bedroom isn’t huge but it is very cozy and I would love to take a nap in there!  Sally Anne has several special needlepoint pieces ti gaze upon while falling asleep.

This Nova baby quilt sampler is from a stitch graph by Ginny Morrow and is still available. Sally Anne and I both stitched it and it was fun! It is all done in cotton floss.

Needlepoint garden pillows on the bed.

The spring garden. These canvases originally came with a gate that was supposed to be put onto the canvas. Since they were made into pillows, Sally Anne decided not to use the gates.

Autumn garden.

Wouldn't it be nice to lounge on this lounge chair and needlepoint and perhaps take a nap?

Bee pillow canvas is from JP Needlepoint. Sally Anne did detached buttonhole on wire for the bee's wings.

Rocking chair has a needlepoint pillow. Above it, some of Sally Anne's antique samplers.

Bed of roses from Sundance Designs. I taught this for a class about 12+ years ago. Another one of my favorite pieces!

This needlepoint pillow sits on a bench at the end of the bed. This wonderful Illuminations canvas unfortunately cannot be purchased anymore. I LOVED Illuminations and wish she would start painting again!

Wall o' pigs in Sally Anne's boudoir, these both from Melissa Shirley Designs with original art by John Johanssen.

Adorable Cherub Pig from Melissa Shirley Designs.

Pansy pig is very large and very adorable!

Detail of the Pansy Pig.

More of the Pansy Pig.

Bottoms up-last close-up of the Pansy Pig and....

… the END of our tour of Sally Anne’s house.

 

Thank you so much, Sally Anne and Gary for letting us barge into your lovely home and explore.  You have such a treasure and what a treat for us!

 

Decorator Lisa Farmer’s Valentine

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My mother gave me many gifts in her lifetime, but one I treasure the most is the time and effort she took to teach me to do needlepoint. She taught me when I was a teen and at the time I had no idea how later in life   I would grow to love making beautiful needlepoint pieces for my home. I have always loved historic homes and have renovated two, filling them with antiques and of course beautiful needlework. I think it is such a shame mothers today aren’t teaching their daughters the art of needlework. I have a 17 year old son so won’t be passing my mothers gift on…..unless he gives me a granddaughter someday!! For Valentine’s Day I thought a post about beautiful, romantic, antique and new needlepoint projects might be in order. I hope they will inspire you to create some heirlooms of your own.
Sir Joshua Reynolds captured three ladies moderately absorbed in their needlework. Being handy with a needle was a basic task all 18th Century women were expected to master.
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Such a pretty heart picture made from petitpoint (smaller stitches than needlepoint). What a wonderful little frame.
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Lovely old perfume bottle.
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Tiny little stitches create this vintage brooch.

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Needlepoint has always been very popular in  France.

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This is a beautiful antique bench with needlepoint top.
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A Louis XVI footstool covered in needlepoint.
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Cute Valentines
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I came across this fabulous bell pull. I love needlepoint with black backgrounds. It’s harder to do but worth the effort.
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Some of the needlepoint pillows I have done are displayed in my bedroom.
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Needlepoint was used to completely upholster chairs and settees. I have recovered chair bottoms but can’t imagine a whole chair. They are stunning.



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I think this box of chocolates is so clever and such a good idea for Valentine’s Day.
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Continental Glass. During the Biedermeier period (about 1825-1850)
This is a large oval antique petitpoint  picture I found. It is amazing up close.  Also to the right is a needlepoint bell pull I did.
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Amazing!


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With the popularity of Downton Abby, interest in English decorating is increasing. You will notice lots of needlepoint pillows like the one in this chair.

Here are a few new needlepoint pillows that will give you the same English look. You can buy them completed or purchase the kit and do it yourself.

 

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These new designs have an old fashioned appeal. I love them for Valentine’s Day.

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Here is a great example of needlepoint and petitpoint. To me the most elegant pieces are when the two are mixed.
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Fabulous needlepoint rug.
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These are from the 1800′s Can you imagine wearing shoes like this?
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These antique needlepoint purses are exquisite. I collect petitpoint compacts and would love to add some purses to my collection.
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So much work in this fabulous skirt!
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Some more of my pillows. These are in the hall.
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This pattern demonstrates many different needlepoint stitches. Much of the newer pieces use several stitches.
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Happy Stitching!!

Just one sampler: The FAITH, HONOR, and HOPE SAMPLER

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Ewe and Eye canvas stitched by Sally Anne.

Today, a special look at a sampler stitched by Sally Anne, hanging in her hallway nest to her bedroom door.  I love this sampler and Sally Anne did an incredible job stitching it.  The canvas is from Ewe and Eye.  It can be found on the Ewe and Eye web site:  http://www.eweandeyeandfriends.com/html/thumbnails.php?currentPage=11&category=Everything%20Else

Traditional to antique samplers, butterflies and birds decorate this sampler and big tufts of leaves from trees dot the background.

Pressed glass flower and leaf beads and seed beads decorate the wreath on the head.  The butterfly bodies are faux bullion knots.

 The sampler background is a combination of a laid filling and black work.  See Ann Strite Kurz’s book, The Heart of Blackwork , for more interesting laid fillings and blackwork combinations.  Ann is one of my favorite stitchers and has wonderful stitches in all her books.  I usually just look at the colored pictures and stitch graphs she has is her very detailed and text filled books.  Order her books from your favorite needlepoint store.  Here is the web site with Ann’s books:

http://www.needleartworks.com/dsgnr/ask/askimages.htm

Right side of the sampler.

The lion.

The lion was felted with wool roving and the face is tent stitch.  He looks like a nice lion!

Bottom of the sampler.

Under the ribbon border, between the main part of the sampler and the area on the bottom, is the traditional sampler alphabet and two urns of flowers.  I love the needlepoint border with the ribbon selected for the matting around the needlepoint.  Date the sampler was finished is in the right corner.  it is fun to look at needlepoint and see when it was completed.  Think about adding initials and the year date to your needlepoint.

The left side of the bottom.

The ribbons around the needlepoint selected by Sally Anne, are from the Ribbonry in the Chaparral Needleworks.  They are perfect for the sampler and mirror the needlepointed ribbon border between the two sections of the sampler.  The needlepoint was framed at Davis Hardware here in Houston and they do a wonderful job!  Web site for Davis Hardware is:   http://www.davishardware.com/

Do a sampler for your house this year!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Valentine’s needlepoint: For your special love.

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A collection of romantic needlepoint anyone would love!

This Queen of Hearts pillow, stitched by Debbi K., is stitched beautifully, but the Queen does not look like a nice person!  Artist unknown.

Queen of Hearts

From the Artists’ Collection, these Mile HIgh Princess monthly heart shaped ornaments were put on pillows.  Series from the Chaparral Needleworks and these stitched by Jeannie H.N.

April, May, June hearts.

July, August, September hearts.

A series from Melissa Shirley Designs with the stitch guide by Carolyn Hedge  Baird, these Valentine children were put on a very romantic pillow with romantic trim from the Ribbonry in Chaparral Needleworks.

Melissa Shirley Designs.

On the middle ornament, a flower trim was used with seed beads and silk ribbon leaves.  Pre made flowers are sewed on the bottom of each ornament.

A beautifully stitched large mesh canvas, stitched by the ever talented Jan D.B.S., is a special Valentines treasure.  A sequined bow was added onto the canvas along with beaded and button hearts.  A different stitch was used on each heart.

Sweet hearts pillow.

An adorable box of needlepoint chocolates, sides covered with rose ribbon, is so perfect for Valentines!

Box of chocolates.

Lots of stitches and techniques were used by stitcher Mary R. to complete this yummy looking needlepoint treat.

Top of chocolate box.

Chosen as part of Chaparral Needleworks Love Letter series, this Once in a Blue Moon canvas has a stitch guides by Carolyn Baird.  A vintage looking velvet pansy was added on the corner of the needlepoint.  The background stitch is Karen’s Lea’s ticking , which can be found in Needlepointing in Your Nest.

Love letter.

These hearts were stitched by Gayle A.  Notice the heart background on the mailman heart!

Melissa Shirley Designs love letter.

This Melissa Shirley Designs was part of the Chaparral Needleworks Love Letter series and was stitched by Carolyn Baird and has a stitch guide available.  Silk ribbon embroidery and beading with crystals and pearls make it very romantic.

More Valentines to come!

More Valentine’s Needlepoint!

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Needlepoint a remembrance for your favorite Valentine!

More love letters from the Chaparral series, stitched and stitch guide by Carolyn Baird.  These all from Joan E. from fiori.

Fiori love letter.

Stack of love letters from Fiori.

Fiori love letter with a stamp.

These love letters were all attached to a chair-which cannot be sat in!  Karen Lea and I used fabric glue and trims, antique buttons, and flowers to decorate this chair from Restoration Hardware.  A tin mailbox sits on the arm of the chair. but in this picture, it is listing a bit.

Love Letter chair.

On the back of the chair, the letter on the bottom was left open for a pocket to put special love letters in.

Back of Love Letter chair.

A very cute way to display needlepoint ornaments is to decorate the chandelier with ornaments tied on with beautiful ribbon.  This chandelier is in Chaparral Needleworks and is covered with ornaments from fiori Designs from Joan E., who stitched all of them.

Chandelier of "LOVE" at the Chaparral Needleworks.

Close ups of the ornaments on the chandelier.

Another view of the chandelier.

Every stripe on this fiori heart is a different stitch.