Needle Delights Originals

This is Kay Craven, one of my students who has taken classes from me for years. She belongs to a women's group in Santa Rosa County, Florida and has won another ribbon! This time she took "Best in Show" for Burst of Stars - this was the Mystery class I taught last year. The photo is scanned from the newspaper but I've also posted a photo of her stitched piece below. I'm so proud of Kay and her work - she's a wonderful stitcher! Burst of Stars in the "Greens" colorway - this is the piece Kay stitched & had framed. The way I design a Mystery piece is to start with a shape, draw some lines, choose threads, and start stitching - there's actually a little more to it but these are the basics. I did just this when I designed my first Mystery (later called Symmetry) and discovered that a little pre-planning of the number of threads in each shape would go a long way in warding off a TON of compensation! Once I have it designed and stitched (or at le...

Check out the "Deals" on my shop's website on Thursday (March 24th) - here's a bit of a sneak peek... and a way to continue sharing my early designs. See them at DealOfTheDay but wait until Thursday because they won't be posted until then. Deals are good until the end of March... This is "Tanzanite" - it was my first smaller design (8x8) with a more limited palette and I loved using the bright colors. It became the first in my "Jewels & Gemstones" collection.    This is Rose Quartz - the 2nd in my Jewels & Gemstones. After doing Tanzanite with such bright colors, Rose Quartz was soft and soothing.   I then started an "Edibles Collection" with the same design size as the Jewels - 8x8 finished. It's a nice size - not too big and not too small. I include a recipe in each pattern which is hilarious as I don't cook too much! I do however like to eat so feel qualified to find great recipes to include! In fact, I heard fr...

I just got this photo of Tahiti framed from Barbi in Arizona. I loved designing and stitching this piece so much and have had tons of positive reaction to it. It's just fun and the type of design I enjoy most - a little of "this and that all over the place"!  It's part of my "Destinations Collection" - designs inspired by places I've been or would like to go! I've never been to Tahiti but will get there someday! And here's my original piece - see how the same design with a little color changes and different framing makes it look so different! Look closely and you'll see she changed the orange to pink! She's famous for doing her "own colors" and always does a great job! I'm discovering blogland is more fun when I'm in it instead of lurking around! Thanks for stopping by and your encouraging, supportive words! Kathy 

I love changing up colors so I listed several alternate colorways in my Tuscan Midnight pattern. People are starting to finish stitching it so I thought I'd share their photos with you here. First up is my "Original" colorway - this is how I imagined it in my mind when I was designing it and the colors seemed somewhat "earthy" to me with the addition of blue to represent the sky. I love putting lots of Watercolours in one design and kind of follow a "recipe" of sorts when I choose colors to go together. It was really fun to come up with the extra colorways because they are all so different from one another and set such different "moods". Here's a photo Mary sent me of the "Hot Bright" version - I went wild when I chose the colors! Next up is the "Cool Blues" version - always a popular choice because blue and green are so soothing together and yet the darker tones make it all pop. Sorry I can't remember who sen...

So....I'm joining the blogging world to share my love of counted needlepoint, threads, canvas, and all things related to needlework I enjoy so much. To start with, I'm sharing a photo of my first design "Potluck" - the "Bright" version and the original "Muted" version; I think of them as my "personalities"!  I originally designed this to see "if I could" and was so enchanted with the design process I've never looked back. Here's the story...(yes I was a Brady Bunch kid!). Before I even dreamed of designing needlepoint, I managed my family's needlework shop for a number (more than 10) years and just loved being surrounded by threads, fabrics, canvases, needles, scissors, and all of it. The thing I enjoyed the most was helping people pick out alternate colorways for various projects and class pieces. I was also mentored in "COLOR" by my father who did our custom framing and seemed to be a genius at pickin...