Diane finished her Shining Needle Society Soduko.  She had barely started the last time I posted but she said these little squares were like potato chips.  You can't do just one, you just keep stitching and stitching and before she knew it she was done.  I love this piece and may consider it for myself later (way later if you saw the size of my stash).

This &More canvas with stitch guide is my next Tuesday night project.  I took this class from Julia Snyder at a market and never finished it, so in keeping with my Tuesday night pledge to work on WIP's this is the next finish.  I am working on the 3rd section and I am in the process of laying the red YLI ribbon and tacking it down.  The stitch will be the Double Flower Small Trame stitch.  In the middle of the diamonds will be Double Crosses and the intersections of the ribbon are stitched down with Merino silk with an Upright Cross.  The XOXO will be beaded and I plan to do that last.  Watch for progress on this piece.

Louise's Ladies Stitching

Emily is stitching Stirha Cal-Dron by Kelly Clark with a stitch guide from Amy Bunger.  She has started with the stone wall on the background.  She is using Lorikeet over dyed wool and is loving it.

Diane has been with us for a year and is quite the busy lady.  She stitches, makes jewelry and is an avid reader.  One of her current needlepoint projects is a counted piece "Sudoko Delight"  by Kathy Rees of Needle Delights.  This is a teaching piece through Shining Needle Society.   Although a kit was offered to Diane, she chose to change the colors to suit her tastes.  

Louise's Ladies Stitching

     Our Louise's staff is always stitching on something when we are not at work.  Here is a sample of what two of the ladies are doing.

     Linda is working on an Associated Talents Halloween mask for a ceramic pumpkin we have hear in the shop.  There are lots of stitches and threads in this piece.  Associated Talents has a free stitch guide to go with this canvas but we did change a few things.  Linda used some Silken Straw which is new to us at Louise's Needlework.   Beads are a big part of this canvas and Linda is about to begin that process.

Karen, is new to us and is working on a Melissa Shirley piece.  She has only been stitching for about 2 years and she has taken to it like a duck to water!  She is fearless and will try any thread and and stitch and any combination of the two.  We love to see her progress on her canvases and Karen stitches extremely quickly so she completes all kinds of canvases.  

Next post we will have to see what Emily and Diane are working on!

Tuesday Night Sip N Stitch

Every Tuesday night at Louise's Needlework we Sip N Stitch from 7 to 9.   It is a rather quiet group of ladies and everyone is working on something different and we help with stitches and threads.  Since it is a rather low key group I also get to stitch on something for a bit.  I have decided to make Tuesday nights my "Git 'er done" night!  I pull something from my stash and work on it until it is done.  On Tuesday the 15th I finished this quail from Sundance Designs with a stitch guide by Sandy Arthur of Duo Designs.   I changed a few things but for the most part I loved the project.  It is now off to the finisher to be finished.

On Tuesday July 22, I finished  a piece I started over 10 years ago.  I don't know why I never finished it as I was very close to being done.  I only had the center square left to do and I wanted to put an initial in instead of the basket of flowers.  The piece is called Patchouli by Fancy Work & Fantasies.  The chart was given to me by a fellow stitcher who had done the piece before and I truly love it as I learned so many different stitches.  Unfortunately, the chart is out of print and no longer for sale.

I am so excited that the blog is working again!  I have so much to talk about but I will have to post more later as I am at the store and our Melissa Shirley market order just came in!

Time to get back to blogging!

As one of my favorite customers has told me, it is time for me to get back to blogging again.  So, I am going to try to keep this up this time.


As all needlepointers know, our canvases call us at the strangest times.  My tend to call on me when I am procrastinating about something else I should be doing (like my books).  So when I feel the need to procrastinate I will stitch as it eases my anxiety about what I need to be doing.  Usually when I am very stressed, I tend to find something with basketweave so that I can watch TV and stitch without a lot of attention needed for the needlepoint.  So recently, I picked up a belt I started for my husband that is all basketweave and has the symbols for his Graduate School and favorite basketball team.  I realized when this item came to the store that it was a screen printed or computer printed canvas and not hand painted.  It was easy to tell as the canvas intersections were two different colors, not a big deal, I am an accomplished stitcher and I can manage with that.  However, much to my dismay,  the belt is printed crooked on the canvas.  I now have to figure out how to even out the belt so that I will have the same number of rows above the school letters as well as below.  It will take some work but I will see what I can do.  I do want to finish the belt but this does make the process less enjoyable and now it will be put on my procrastination list.  I did learn that I will probably not order from this particular vendor again and if I have to for a client, I will make sure that I can return the item if it is poorly done.  So for those of you who wince at the price of hand painted canvases, there is a reason they are more expensive.  You get what you pay for and you learn to appreciate the talent and time these artist put in.

Now I just have to figure out what will be the next canvas that calls me.  Remember those boring basketweave pieces though when you need to relax,  they will help.