The Joy of Simple Things - Fun Stitches and Techniques

I was checking again today on Mary Agnes' blog from Needle Nicely, (click here to see) and was happy to see what she's done with a simple, but effective stitch (Hungarian criss-cross, one of my very favorites) to make a bright, easy, effective piece of needlepoint stitchery

Mary Agnes is a shop owner and teacher (In Vero Beach, Florida) - so it's very gratifying to see someone who strays "out of the norm" and gets very creative for herself and encourages her clientele also.

Needlepoint is supposed to be fun. I had become bored with my topiary trees, but after seeing this and it's potential, I'm back at the drawing board and into the stash and decorating more trees, etc. - it's fun and relaxing, and these little projects are great for decompression from more tedious and serious things sometimes. It's also a great way to use up stash threads, and to learn and practice new stitches and techniques.

As it's time to get started for the next season, I have put purchase buttons for some of my e-pattern eggs and hearts - two on this blog, and two on the Freebies, etc. front page. Quick, easy, creative!!

A Tree for All Seasons: Conical Topiaries!

I was digging into boxes again today, and reached the bottom of one I hadn't seen in a few years - and found more "stuff." I had forgotten about this - dated 1998 - and thought it might be entertaining to do them again, as I have learned so much about stitches, and found so many wonderful novelty threads I wasn't aware of when I originally did them in 1996.

The little corner closeup is another design of the same thing. These went to the cash/carry market in Phoenix in 1997, and I sold quite a few of them. There was a shop in Marietta, Georgia who ordered lots and lots over a period of time, but I never got to see any of them stitched - I had no computer back then.

I'll finish this later, as I must go eat something and make some tea and try to get my brain wires going again - they get kind of short circuited when I have neglected to eat.!!

Icing with DMC Memory Thread: A Festive Shamrock Cookie

This is how it looks now - the first Shamrock cookie. There will be more swirls, and these are not tacked down yet, as I will have to move them around a bit to decide how much and where to put them.
















As always, with a new project, it didn't go exactly as I thought it would. I had assumed that it would be a simple thing to push the end of the Memory Thread down through a hole to the back, shape the coils, and then put the end to the back. That did not work, due to the fact that the M.T. is very soft and very bendable. A learning experience! That worked when I was making coral with it, but not for this.

Instead, I cut short lengths, approximately 6" long, and then shaped the coils, using needle nosed pliers. The M.T., as it comes off the spindle, needs to be smoothed out by running it between the thumb and something hard and smooth.

I'm showing this mostly in pictures, as it's easier to explain. There was more error than trial going on here, but as always, I enjoy a challenge!!

Memory Thread is delightfully easy to work with, and has many possibilities - one just has to keep trying different things with it.

I haven't couched it down yet, and decided the best thing to do here is to place these coils where they look best - following the photo I found when I "searched" Shamrock cookies. Then I will place them on a tracing of the pattern so I'll know where they need to go - and stitch them down one at a time onto the surface of the cookie.

The last photo shows the coil after I twisted it to go in two different directions. This was easier, I found, than trying to make the "S" shape as it appears on the cookie - I tried it both ways.

One great thing about surface embellishment is that if mistakes are made - it's very very easy to take it off, as long as one is careful not to damage the surface of the background stitching.

This Irish cookie thing seems a bit boring, but simple and boring are all I've been capable of the last few weeks.

Now, I've started to envision uses for them, and have also looked at more pictures, and can see a St. Patrick's Day table - or any festive occasion in March, with these cookies just lying scattered around on the tablecloth as decorative accents - what fun!! I have now figured out how to do a rainbow with a pot o' gold beneath it!!

Bead Sprinkles for the Cookie

At this point, these Shamrocks look rather flat and uninteresting and I wonder what I'm doing. I think the idea of doing cookies began when I was looking for "Shamrocks," and images of plates of cookies with icing decoration popped up on my screen.

There was one that was a kind of medium dark green, and completely covered with what looked like solid sugar sprinkles with an outline of a lighter green line of icing. The best way, I decided, would be to do it with beads in my little "beaded solid but really isn't" technique.

This came about totally by accident about five years ago when I was doing plaids, and one day was weary of stitching weft. I decided to try doing the weft bands in beads, and to my astonishment, it looked like solid beading. The warp stripes had already been stitched - where I stitch vertical bands of color in basketweave, but using only the warp stitches, and leaving the weft stitches bare for horizontals. (You can see this "warp only" basketweave effect on the shamrock in the first photo).

The gingham heart is the piece I was working on when I found this new technique that has served me well for a long time and for many projects.

Another project in which I used this was the bracelet and earring phase. I have shown these before a long time ago, but dug them out to make a point.

I think I'm going on and on about what amounts to a designer's evolution of discovering methods and technique and useful "special effects" accidentally. Happy accidents!!

Back to the cookie! The next thing to consider was the kind of beads needed to do the "sprinkles." The first time I "saw" sprinkles was when I was designing four-way-bargello eggs a while back - a year or two back, and had embellished with beads. They suddenly looked like sugar sprinkles!

For this Shamrock, I knew that colored beads wouldn't look quite right, so resorted to my very favorite effect - the clear beads (Sundance #250 size 14) applied with the same color DMC floss as the background.

I used the plain ones rather than the hexagonal, as I wanted shine but not sparkle. There is a definite difference. The sparkle of the hex beads is more like ice.


The detail of the March Birthday CQ shows the plain clear beads attached with yellow floss and looking like water drops. "Ice" was on December. The bit of aquamarine jewelry you can see was made with aqua beads worked with basketweave as usual - it even works in very small spaces!

Now - back to the Shamrock, and the amazing change with just adding the beads! There is a strange looking diagonal effect which is due to the angle and the light I used - haste is the enemy of perfection. It doesn't look this way in real life, but just appears to be a solid coating of clear sugar sprinkles with green showing through. Amazing!!















In the detail, you can see clearly the effect of the diagonal tent stitch (basketweave) worked on every other row- which means it lands only on the warp stitches (the "bumps.")
Then the beads are inserted on the weft stitches, which are little dips. This way, the beads don't clump and wobble and look crowded and messy.

Also, in the case of using clear beads with colored floss on a painted canvas, by doing the warp stitches in color instead of beads, you get stronger color for the whole piece, whereas it would be too light and frosty looking (washed out) if no colored stitches were showing.

That's all for this evening. It's now time to go steal candy out of the basket by the front door in between rings of the doorbell. Little spooks and goblins are beginning to arrive!!

Moving Along with Shamrocks

Designers of painted needlepoint canvas have the year all turned around, as we have to plan ahead - waaaay ahead of the actual season. I think in the case of the Shamrocks, some of us are just tired of seeing pumpkins and witches over and over and over.

I don't do Halloween anyway except for a spot of candy corn now and then. I have no idea why I decided cookies would be a good idea - but here it is.

While I was working on two of these today, and my mind going faster and faster, I thought about the cookie cutter shapes I started using years ago to make ornaments instead of wasting time and materials as I worked out new techniques and stitches, and tried out new threads.

I had actual cookie cutters to trace around, and finally put them all into a booklet, which has now become an E-Book. I'm offering it at half price (on the side bar) as long as I'm on this shamrock cookie binge, as I thought some of you might enjoy trying these out for yourselves. It has a few additional shapes, like a mini-stocking, included also. ( I also have my "Paint Your Own Canvas" at half price on the Freebies Etc. blog this week.)

Anyway - back to the subject: The first photo shows getting started, and shows the beginning of the cookie dough border - the proper method of basketweave to keep it neat. The arrow points to where I stopped in order to continue the weft stitches in a straight line - and at the top as well.
This is shown as tutorials on both blogs with more detail.

The second picture shows the weft row completed, short one stitch. These two are actually moving along rapidly. Remember that green is a soothing and therapeutic color!!

I used diagonal cashmere on the first one, as I'm going to "decorate" it with icing.

It doesn't really have to look like icing, as it's just a cookie replica in needlepoint, after all, and I would rather have the time to play with embellishments - as I would a pastry tube if doing it in the kitchen for real.

Notice that I have outlined the icing shape first, as always, to confine the textured stitch, and to prevent ragged, unattractive edges.

The second one is really prettier than it looks here, as the light was bad at this time. I used a gorgeous "Holly" green Vineyard silk in Nobuko stitch, and the Petite Very Velvet dough is a cooler tan than I used on the light, yellowish green of the first one.

This is a small, kind of mindless piece, that is a relief from anything big and complicated, and I will enjoy playing with several, I think, to experiment with different effects. I put a pattern on Freebies that you can print out and trace onto canvas if you wish to try a few yourself.

What Color is Green??

This is a question I used to ask my students back when I was teaching hobbyists to paint and to mix colors. "Green is green" was the usual answer until I sent them outside to look - then it was difficult to get them to do anything but mix green paint.


Fascinating! A bit of color theory was thrown in , of course, to help them understand the "why" of what they were doing in the mixtures. It's really great to have control when mixing paint!

Anyway, I was inspired and motivated by my friend (internet type co-conspirator/fellow designer/collaborator up on Cape Cod) to do something regarding shamrocks, as that's what she is doing right now.

My only thought was a cookie. I mean ONE cookie. Then I decided to research "shamrock cookies" and couldn't believe the images I found - which may lead to a whole basketful of them. I had thought in the beginning with just one to make pale green icing with some dark green and crystal beads on top for "sprinkles."

However, now this idea has grown and grown to include a lot of different threads and "colors" of green and other wonderful things. It seemed only right to use Petite Very Velvet for the cookie dough, and then different textures for the icing itself. This is only a fraction of what I have buried in the drawers of my stash.

The Memory Thread will also make great icing as it would be if extruded from a pastry tube!! This will be lots of fun, and remembering that it's just a needlepoint replication, it doesn't have to be EXACTLY like a cookie, but can be used to practice many new stitches and techniques for decoration. as long as it "reads" as icing.


The first photo is as far as I went today, and is the first sketch that's done for a new piece - getting the size right, etc. The arrow points to a place that isn't quite correct and will need to be redrawn - tomorrow! I do hope to start stitching one soon.


When I get the drawing to suit me, I will probably put it up on Freebies, etc. so you can print it out and play along.

Seasonal Napkin Rings

Looking back on this blog, I haven't really shown much on the napkin rings I did last year and the year before. However, you can see them on the other blog, Freebies, etc., by clicking on the label "napkin rings" on that site.

This picture is one I took last year of some I had designed, and Pat Miller of Needleartnut had stitched for me and finished, as well.

My grandchildren were enchanted with them - and found that paper towels work as well as damask. Anyway, after pulling out the swag of pearls to aid me in recovery from serious PPD (this is shown in the previous post on this blog), my mind started whirling again about more napkin rings. (or bracelets for those who wish).

The projects are small and simple, and one can really enjoy a bit of overkill and "goop" with threads, etc. You can see the entire range of Halloween as well as the "jeweled" series and lots of other rather seasonal things, and they can be printed out for you to use.

My latest idea for myself is to try out new threads and stitches - and also create wonderful embellished effects with the TAST stitches presented on PINTANGLE each Tuesday (as well as others on her Band Sampler) It's never wasted effort, as festive napkin rings are always fun for setting a table.

Halloween: My Contribution

I don't usually design anything for Halloween, except the little napkin rings (or bracelets) I did last year - I really enjoyed doing those, and the patterns are all on the Freebies page (my other blog), in case you missed it.

Also, on this blog, look under "napkin rings" on the labels list to see some of them finished.

This pumpkin has been shown before, and I intended it to be a little pillow inset, but now have lost the black Petite Frosty Rays I was using on the background - buried somewhere in the "sparkly threads" stash drawer, probably. It's set up as a 4-way bargello thing.

The pumpkin itself is petite Very Velvet, and the black background around it is YLI Black Shimmer Blend Ribbon Floss in basketweave. The little white dots you see are sparkles, not dandruff of canvas showing through. The face lit up by a candle is worked with DMC floss and Kreinik blending filament.

While we take for granted what the holidays and celebrations are about, I think we really know little of some of the symbolism and customs involved - and I have found it fascinating to research and study some of these. Also, it makes needlepoint renditions more meaningful and fun.

The carved pumpkin with a candle inside had its origin in the custom of medieval holy days in the practice of commemorating the souls in purgatory with candle lanterns carved from turnips. In the Celtic Halloween festivals, large turnips with carved faces and candles were placed in windows to ward off evil spirits.

In North America, pumpkins are more readily available, and much larger than turnips. However, this practice was originally associated with harvest time, and the American tradition preceded the Irish immigration during the great famine. The carved pumpkin was not associated with Halloween until the mid-to-late 19th century. I couldn't resist showing this picture from Nenah's Halloween Collection, as she is adding to it often, apparently. Do go see it HERE.

As for the origin of Halloween, I have known since childhood that it was the evening before All Saint's Day, which is the celebration of all souls, at which time we always went to church. I never really thought about why we celebrated the way we did all dressed up like ghoulies and ghosties, soliciting from door to door good things to eat. (treats) - it was lots of fun!

This custom originated in the medieval practice of poor folk going from door to door on Hallowmas (Nov. 1), receiving food in return for prayers for the dead on All Saints Day. The custom of wearing costumes and masks originated in Ireland as a Celtic tradition of attempting to copy and placate the evil sprits. The term Halloween is from the "All Hallow's Eve" - the night before.


The Mexican Day of the Dead and Halloween have some things in common, and occur in the same time period. They both are from cultural beliefs about death that later blended with Christian beliefs. They are both based on a belief that spirits return at that time of year.

However, in the Christian practice, the sprits were believed to be malevolent, and children were dressed to scare them away.


In Day of the Deal celebrations, the spirits are joyfully welcomed as family members that haven't been seen for a year. I remember, living in Texas, seeing down in the country cemetaries the children's graves covered with toys.


When we were living in Mexico City when my children were very young, it was a time that we allowed our domestics the several days off to celebrate, as it was a joyous occassion, and much feasting and visiting went on while awaiting the spirits of their loved ones. This was an example of the mestizo/campesino melding of ancient spiritual beliefs with Christianity. We had no trick or treating or Halloween celebration, but fortunately, my children were too young to remember doing that before we went to Mexico (a glorious experience).


I think now, having an insight into the meaning of these things, I will enjoy maybe stitching a few little Halloween pillow insets for myself.