Needle Delights Originals

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

Congratulations to Kathy Raines who won not one, but two blue ribbons at the Montgomery County Fair in Maryland. She was nice enough to share photos with us! First up is Color Delights - Copper; she added some blue to it for a nice accent. And here's her "Rainforest Crunch" - I love the way it's framed. Back to stitching on my next "Mystery" for a few minutes tonight ... I got a square done last night and another large section started. Not much stitching will happen this weekend as I'll be spending a large part of the weekend adding sale items to the shop's website - www.needledelights.com (click on "Clearance Sale Patterns" from the Main Menu if you're interested and help me clear out the shop's inventory!). Kathy

Although I'm deep in the throes of closing my shop, I have managed to get a little stitching in - you know how "stress-reducing" pulling a needle through canvas or fabric is! I can't show you much but here are a few "parts" of the Mystery I'm working on. I'm about 3/4 done stitching it and can't wait to start choosing the different colorways. Although I'm stitching mine in blues, browns, and corals, I'm imagining it in the bright fun colors I love so much. And here's a part  of my fun colorful piece - it's a destination but where?? Suggestions? It's almost done but I won't be releasing it until the first of the year - no time to write directions or release new designs for awhile... You can probably tell by my needlepoint designs I'm an avid quilter; not necessarily an avid producer of quilts (there's that time issue again!) but I love love love quilting. I've learned a lot about color & design from r...

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

Sarah sent me this photo of her framed "Appalachia" - she turned it on its side and had some really cool mats cut for it. Another photo from Sarah is her finished "Aquamarine". The framing is simple and really sets it off.  This is Mary E.'s "Amazing Color" - she used this as a "stash piece" and used DMC floss and perles in various colors, metallics (cool addition as I didn't use any in this piece), rayon, and variegated threads. Didn't she do a great job?!  And this is part of a new piece I'm working on. I'm using the overdyed Vineyard silks from Threadworx - I loved stitching Amazing Color so much because of the thread. I promised myself I'd use it again sometime and the sometime is now! I started this right before going to Baltimore because I needed a smaller piece to take on the plane than the large piece I'm working on. I did try to put my large piece in the bottom of my suitcase but the stretcher bars we...

I'm back from the Needlework Trade Show in Baltimore, Maryland. I exhibited my designs and had a fabulous time. My mom came and helped me in my "booth" and I'm always happy to spend time with her. The photo above shows my first Baltimore crabcake - it was so yummy I had another crabcake dinner Sunday night. It's so much fun to meet shopowners who purchase my designs and share stories with me of what has been done with some of my designs. I asked several people to send pictures and I'll be sure to share them with you if/when they come! If you're anywhere close to Baltimore, go visit The Stitching Post . I let Melinda take a bunch of my models home to display in her shop for a few weeks.  Here's a couple of photos of what my "booth" looked like - the market is held in an Embassy Suites hotel and we use the front part of the room for our displays and sleep in the back. And here's a photo of me with my newest designs - I hate having my ...

I have some fun photos to share. The first are a couple of pillows my mom finished for a friend of ours - Dottie stitched Burst of Stars (originally a Mystery class) in the Tahiti colorway and Amazing Color in the silks. She wanted them "fun & funky" so they were sashed with Kaffe Fassett fabric and wild trim. I wish they could live at my house! Here's a closeup of each. First is Burst of Stars... And Amazing Color... I received the picture below from Pierrette in Canada - this is another version of Burst of Stars - I can't remember what I called this colorway but I love the way it came out. She added an extra border and it looks wonderful.  Next up is a set of threads I pulled for Galaxy. The Watercolours are Eggplant & Slate - lots of purples & greens.  Carol  lives in Australia and is blogging about stitching Galaxy with these threads if you want to follow along. And here are some obligatory photos of my "stitching companions" - they bo...