Oriole ministocking II

First, one of my male stitchers is doing a Christmas stocking for his soon-to-be born first grandchild.  This is by far his biggest project--he's done belts and key fobs.  It is also the first time he is doing pattern stitches.  He started on the background first and gained confidence.  Then he moved on to the Christmas tree.  Now he's working on Santa's suit, but his confidence has taken a hit.  He was to do the mosaic stitch.  I told him that he could turn the canvas upside down to do the return row, but to be sure to keep the stitches lined up.  Well, I'm not sure quite what he did, but it isn't your typical mosaic.  He's stitching in very velvet and the picture is fuzzy.

 Anyway, one row slants to the right and the next to the left.  Actually it is a nice textural effect and I told him to keep doing what he was doing.  He can do the "regular" mosaic somewhere else.

With the Olympics to watch, my stitching has suffered.  I can stitch during the biathlon and the snowboarding, but I want to watch the curlers and the figure skaters.  I did the birds in the encroaching gobelin.  I got so engrossed in one program that after I finished the second bird, I worked on the background for a while and finally realized I had done about a 2x2 section in the encroaching gobelin.  So out it had to come!

EDIT:  I just realized I should mention the birds' eyes.  As the canvas was printed, it was impossible to accomplish the eye with rings of color so I opted to do a smyrna cross.  I like the way it looks and am glad I decided not to agonize over the whole process.

More about clocks

There are two hand-painted designers who offer various clock designs--Mindy Designs and Zecca.  Most of them come with the buttons and the clock works.  However, there are many other canvases which can be made into clocks.  Macy and I went through Needle Nicely's stock of canvases and produced a wall of possibilities.  I couldn't get a clear view of the wall that permitted all of the canvases in one shot, so I split it up into two photographs.

 I love this cat hiding among the foliage, especially those hostas.  This is from Quail Run.

This classic design ala William Morris is by Amanda Lawford.

 I apologize that I can't remember the designer of this beautifully bright doorstop canvas.  I'll check on Monday--just shows I can no longer trust my legendary memory.

This doorstop is one of JP's designs. 

And new items keep arriving!

Canvases are not the only new items arriving every day--yesterday, Needle Nicely received some new snap trays from Carol Eix.

Vero's beaches are the breeding grounds for many varieties of turtles.  There are special lighting rules on our beaches to aid the turtle hatchlings in heading for the water,  rather than inland.   It's a wonderful sight to watch the eggs hatching and observe the tiny turtles disappearing into the water.

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Of course, all tropical areas have a multitude of palm trees from coconut to cabbage and many varieties in-between.  Vero Beach is at the "top of the tropics".

These frogs from CBK are enjoying their retirement.  I don't know whether the water or the drinks look more inviting!

Geckos have such personality!  They are everywhere you look in Vero Beach and are fascinating to observe.  This is also a CBK design.














Raymond Crawford has a delightful series of Christmas ornaments featuring space travel.  With Cape Kennedy just North of us, anything relating to outer space is of interest to our customers.












Robots are a companion to the spaceships.  What young child isn't fascinated by robots?

These blowsy poppies from Julie Mar just seem to invite you to stitch them.  Yum!

The latest issue of Needlepoint Now has an article about the color decisions Danji Designs had to make in reproducing Laurel Burch's canvases.  In her paintings she employs very subtle color gradations that are cost and time prohibitive in translating into painted needlepoint canvases.  I think they succeed in keeping to the spirit of the originals.

A stitching finish and the clock model finished

My shark canvas from Pippin ("chomp") is finished and off to the pillow finisher.  The extra row of light aqua is to be the seam.  Regretably, sharks are too often a fact of life around Florida beaches, .

Last winter, Macy (Needle Nicely's new/former hire) stitched this canvas from Zecca for the shop as her first foray into pattern stitches.  When one of our customers saw it, she went through her deceased mother's button box and found the 6 buttons that are just perfect.  We then took it to our preferred local framer, Royal Palm Frame Shop.  After Donna worked her magic, Macy took it to The Clock Shop in Fort Pierce, where Mel made sure the hands wouldn't snag on the stitching or that the clock wouldn't be going in reverse.

 Macy has gone on in her pattern stitching journey this past summer with the completion of several counted designs.  She's flying solo now!

Whimsey & Grace purse trunk show

 For the next 7 weeks Needle Nicely will be hosting a purse trunk show from Whimsey & Grace.  They have a variety of purse styles and finishing methods.  Stitch guides accompany some of the canvases.

This small tote is one of the samples.  It is a "soft- shape" style of finishing that has a heavy gold chain shoulder strap.  It demonstrates a marvelous combination of pattern stitches to achieve the finished product.

This beautiful window-pane stitch sampler has a back and front flap of needlepoint (stitched in one piece, folded in the finishing) with the front of the purse being made of leather.

This larger tote has an oval needlepoint bottom.
The leather straps are the length that allows them to go over your shoulder and the tote to be carried at elbow height. 

This meticulously counted canvas hints at the possible pattern stitches that can be utilized to make this clutch purse.

Toni offers many variations on the Napoleonic Bee design.  This canvas has a gusset piece.

This change purse echinachea design is based on some of William Morris' designs.  The size of the photograph is deceptive--the canvas is about 5" across the top and is a perfect size for a change purse.

More new canvases

This year Needle Nicely is featuring stitch your own clock face.  The shop's model is currently at the framer getting mounted, then we'll take it to a clock man in Ft Pierce to have "the works" installed correctly.  The last one we tried to insert ourselves, we had the clock going in reverse.  It was an interesting concept; just not what the average person wants in their home.  The first five of these canvases are by Mindy.  The 6th (bright orange with flowers) is by Zecca.

These are a few of the belt canvases we have been adding to our French laundry basket.  The top 2 are from Susan Roberts.  The bottom 3 are from Ziggy of Walker Street.  Straight and upright doesn't appear to be in my vocabulary!

 A wonderful manatee canvas from Needle Crossings.  We also bought this design in a doorstop canvas.  Looking at it makes me want to drive down to the power plant where manatees gather around the warmer water in the canal.  It's one of the things to do when visiting Vero.

And this reminds me of the porpoises who follow beside boats on the intercoastal that separates the mainland from the beach, though it all is called Vero Beach.  This canvas from Needle Crossings fits in a luggage tag or another small already finished item from Colonial Needle.

New canvases from San Diego 2014

Color me amazed!  I just received some canvases from my orders in San Diego 10 days ago--and some canvases from my chats with sales reps here in the shop last fall.

This wonderful lady golfer is a canvas distributed by Maggie Co. 

The Point of It All is the proud producer of this hilarious frog design.

This chuckler is from The Point of It All.  You can just imagine the delight of the escapee dog.

Rebecca Wood designed more ornaments in this series showing reindeer at play with Christmas toys they have delivered with Santa.

Another in Rebecca Wood's series of playful
reindeer.

I've been making progress on Pippin's "Chomp" canvas.  The bubbles I did in the octagonal Rhodes stitch using 3 strands of impressions (the canvas is 10mesh).  I have almost completed the shark using a double strand of silk 'n ivory in the diagonal mosaic stitch.






I have also achieved almost a personal record of having unpacked and stowed away the suitcase I took to San Diego.  Usually I managed to walk around it for several weeks before finally clearing things away.  I don't, however, think it is a new trend in my life!