Other Needlepoint Blogs We Like:

It's always fun to read other needlepoint blogs! Here are several we particularly like. If you regularly read others, by all means, SHARE!

Janet Perry writes a very well-known blog called Nuts about Needlepoint. She covers a wide range of needlepoint-related topics. From stitch instructions to answers to pesky fiber issues, Janet has an interesting take! She is the author of two books on needlepoint: Needlepoint Trade Secrets and Bargello Revisited.

Gail Hendrix's blog, Squiggeeland, is a special blend of needlepoint and homage to her adorable dogs, Squiggee and Miss Bubbles. Gail is a marvelous needlepoint artist--anything you can dream, she can paint!

Carrie Wolf showcases non-traditional needlepoint ideas. I love her pin cushions and 3D butterflies. Check out her blog !

Barbara Bergsten of Barbara Bergsten Designs has a great blog called Create Needlepoint. Barbara illustrates many different stitches and she shares our sentiment that needlepoint is not only decorative, but also artistic, fun, & functional.

Happy Halloween!

From the shop yesterday:

From On Point, The Point of It All Blog

Pop Art Crabs

Check out these marvelous Pop Art crabs from The Point of It All Designs! The whole piece is stitched in Splendor (strandable silk from Rainbow Gallery). I did the crabs in basketweave and each of the backgrounds in a special stitch. The top left and bottom right is the willow stitch, while the top right square and the bottom left is diamond pavilion (also called pavilion diamond). The center square is horizontal parisian in two colors. I essentially made up the stitches in the middle left and middle right squares: sort of a modified slanted gobelin with a one stitch wide column of metallic thread. Lastly, the top and bottom middle squares are stripes in basketweave. Each column is 6 stitches wide.

Wow, I'm now exhausted just from typing all that--I can hardly believe I stitched it too! It really looks great and I am super pleased with the framing. A driftwood effect with royal blue edging.

The canvas would certainly look great if I had stitched it all in basketweave but I think the special stitches really enhance it. It's subtle and not overwhelming. I find that if you do a few, carefully-selected decorative stitches the end product looks interesting but not gimmicky. My advice here: less IS sometimes more. Of course that NEVER applies to one's canvas collection!

Video: How to Needlepoint

I recently filmed some instructional videos for the website Monkey See. The producers asked me to demonstrate how to needlepoint. The videos--which can be viewed here and soon from The Point of It All website--covers everything from supplies to threading the needle to actually doing the continental stitch. Take a look if you need a refresher course! I plan to shoot more videos on special stitches--please write in with your ideas for what stitches I should show first. You can share these videos with friends by clicking the "share" button at the bottom left-hand corner of the video. You can email the video to friends or share it on a social networking site.