Inventive Needlework, by Shay Pendray, was designed with the needlepointer in mind. All of the examples are painted canvasses, and the techniques are described for working on painted canvas.
While I adore painted canvasses, and dream of sitting down and stitching one –I’ve even bought several — they are usually the last thing I choose to work on. Frankly, they are one of those projects that I want to enjoy the finished product, rather than the journey to get there.
One day this book may change my behavior. In the meantime, the way she challenges you to look at designs in a different way has changed my approach to most of my work. Shay Pendray encourages her reader to think outside the box of tent/basketweave stitch for canvasses – or even beyond the counted stitches in general. She utilizes crewelwork, long and short stitch shading techniques, metal thread embroidery, and even some stumpwork techniques to take the painted canvas beyond pillow or rug and will into the area of Art.
Even if your favorite technique is cross stitch, you could use some of these techniques over the top of your work. It’s expanded my vision into integrating more and more different techniques together. Sometimes simple is better. Other times getting extravagant can be really really cool!
I have, somewhere in my mess of a studio — a doodle cloth that I took with me to many of the classes I took at the Creative Arts and Textiles Shows (CATS, now sadly extinct).
They are, in a very literal way, true samplers. Moreso even than the ones I usually work on my own to play with patterns, colors and stitches. They are totally random, have no pattern to speak of, and have often been abandoned because of this lack of integrity.
Over the years I have taken to focussing more on where I place stitches on this type of thing – and my doodle cloths are taking on a more coherent sampler-y feel. More, actually, like a colorful version of my pen and ink doodling – where I tend to attempt to make every stroke count as a basis/practice for larger abstract works. Not that the true samplers will ever look like those, though! But I find myself transferring the pen and ink to fabric and stitching them more and more as well, as in the photo. Maybe I’m just getting brighter again (or having a second childhood) whatever it is, I think I’m enjoying it!
As I write this draft (on Nov. 21), we are having our first flurries of the year here in the Piedmont of North Carolina – by the time it’s posted we will probably be back to our normal mild Thanksgiving weather — but I rather hope not.
Last night the end of my cherry tomatoes, which were making a valiant efort for one last crop, froze (they couldn’t do much else, at 20 degrees fahrenheit!). The lettuce, insulated by a layer of fallen leaves, was apparently alive when I left this morning. If it’s still that way when I get home, I’ll harvest it.
And yet — the snow is undeniably pretty. Winter is officially here finally – we missed it completely last year. Its arrival makes me happy. Perhaps the only thing that could make it better would be to be at home with a cup of tea and my needlework instead of grabbing a quick break with a cup of tea at the day job.
I realized this morning that I haven’t done any designs featuring snow or winter holidays. Ever. Which is kind of interesting, since it’s my favorite time of the year. Maybe I should think about it a little more deeply!
I have a bit of an addiction. If it’s a stitch dictionary, if I don’t already own it I am probably standing there considering buying it. Recently I have become more adept at turning myself down when that inner child starts begging, “but MOMMY, it’s a stitch dictionary! I WANT it!!!”
A-Z of Embroidery Stitches: v. 2
Until this one. Now, you have to understand – I don’t own the first volume. Not because I don’t want to – if I find it reasonably priced I’ll probably buy it, too. (I also hate incomplete sets, even if you don’t need all the volumes!)
I bought this volume because it came highly recommended for crazy quilters. I’m always looking for new stitches and combinations of stitches, even though I don’t often do crazy quilting.
Because this is a companion volume, it is missing the very basic stitches that you find in most stitch dictionaries. For me, with all those dictionaries on my shelf, this is itself an advantage. There is an introductory section on how your choice of thread – twist direction, tightness, ribbon, etc, may effect the look of a stitch, how to keep work clean in a hoop, and how to choose the right needle. The tips provided may even prove useful for the experienced embroiderer — I know I found ideas I hadn’t thought of or ever been taught.
The stitches themselves are illustrated with step by step photographs that make it very easy to reproduce them on your own fabric. And the entire book is filled with spot illustrations of vintage tools, and also of completed projects from various Country Bumpkin publications. All in all, a pretty book that I look forward to using until beyond the point it wears out!
I’d been without time to read my blogs for a while and when I came back, I couldn’t find Sharon B’s blog! I was horrified. Just a little wandering to her main website later and I discovered she’s moved again. Back to a custom url.
If you are having trouble finding her, she’s now at www.pintangle.com. I’m amending my link in the blogroll, too. She’s moved all the comments and old posts there, too, so you won’t miss much if anything, either.
She’s moved all the comments and old posts there, too, so you won’t miss much if anything, either.