INDEPENDENT NEEDLEWORK NEWS

A while ago, I told you Nancy Sturgeon, of Threads through Time fame, was selling her needlework book collection … Well, she has reduced the prices on the books she still has left — which still include some of the rarities I initially mentioned! Now is definitely the time to get them!

Here is the list of what is left. The actual price is 50% off the price listed (shipping is additional). Yes, that’s 50% off the price listed even on those really rare books like Alice Starmore’s Aran Knitting and Samplers of the Pennsylvania Germans.

Hey, if you don’t need or want them, think about reselling them on eBay! (And now you know I’m totally broke, or I’d have done that myself. )

Contact Nancy directly to inquire about anything which interests you!

Janet M. Perry of Napa Needlepoint is seeking stories, primarily about needlepoint, from needleworkers like yourself.

There is little sense in my re-writing what she has already written very well, so I’ll just quote her request directly, and hyperlink to her email and other informational pages:

Stitched with Stories
Sharing our Love of Needlework

Stitched with Stories will be a collection of stories about stitching, most specifically about needlepoint. The book will be similar to the KnitLit series, and will be available for Summer 2008.

You have a great chance to share your love of stitching with others. You can write about how you learned to stitch, a wonderful class, a great canvas, a terrible canvas, teaching others to stitch, what needlepoint means to you - whatever you like!

Don’t worry if you aren’t a professional writer, a great story is better than great writing!

If you have a great needlepoint story, I’d like to consider it for the book. The stories should be engaging (so you want to read more). They can be thoughtful, heartwarming, funny, poetic, witty, or even mischievous.

The stories should be to me by May 15, 2008 for consideration and should be 1,000-1,500 words in length. If you have an idea but don’t know how to write it, email me with your idea.

Email submissions to Janet M. Perry at stitchedwithstories @ gmail.com (remove spaces).

If you’re a writer and want to submit the story elsewhere, the book is only using first time rights.

Pass this notice along to any stitchers you know, to the folks in your guild, shops you visit, teachers you know, or wherever.

Let’s let the world know about our love for stitching!

Come on, everyone, put down your needles momentarily and instead wear your thinking caps for just a bit. Let’s make Stitched with Stories something to talk about at stitch-y get-togethers the world over!

Gay Ann Rogers has a very special offer available right now through her blog. For just $10.99, which includes postage within the US, you will receive the pattern for this stunning 4″x4″ (on 18 count canvas) design.

It’s shown in five different colorways because Gay Ann’s goal is to encourage you to stitch the design in YOUR choice of colors — and to experiment a bit with not just color, but also with texture by choosing among the wondrous variety of threads available.

Are you someone who, like me, always intends to stitch something for everyone on her gift list … but then never quite gets to it? Problem solved! Gay Ann says this lovely little project, which she calls New Year’s Resolution Ornament #1 (oh, that must mean there are more coming!), can be completely stitched in “two ‘television watching’ evenings,” so if you order now and get started right away, you could conceivably have all your Christmas gifts for 2008 stitched and at least ready to finish by the time spring rolls around (depending on the number of people on your gift list, of course )!

Besides stitching them in any of the numerous yuletide colorways which are so gorgeous (such as silver and gold, blue and gold, blue and silver, red and green, etc.), you could make one in reds, whites, and pinks for Valentine’s Day; then in pretty pastels for Easter … purple, green, orange, and black for Halloween … You’ll be able to use this design over and over no matter what the occasion! And it stitches up so quickly, you’ll want to make a second one in every colorway you try just to keep for yourself, too!

I also think this ornament would make a beautiful starting “centerpiece” in a quilt — or just imagine it in a crazy quilted piece, especially since it’s so versatile! This is a design absolutely every needleworker will not just love, but use over and over again.

To order, please email Gay Ann Rogers directly to request an invoice.

Also, if you would like some company while working on your New Year’s Resolution Ornament #1, please join the Shining Needle Society Home Room Yahoo Group or you can email Kate Gaunt requesting an invitation to the group.

Technorati Tags: Gay Ann Rogers, New Year, resolution, ornament, Christmas, Valentine, Easter, Halloween, all occasion, crazy quilt, quilt, needlepoint, counted thread embroidery, canvaswork,   needlework, Shining Needle Society, Kate Gaunt

Having seen this issue mentioned in many places — such as blogs, bulletin boards, and mailing lists — and as someone who is promoting both shows, I am reposting the following, with permission (because to do otherwise would be a copyright violation, and you already know how I feel about those — and why ), so more people have access to the official thinking on the matter. Besides, it is far better written than I could do! It was originally posted to the Stitching Jubilee Yahoo Group, which is THE place to stay up to the second on news about the Stitching Jubilee.

Fellow Stitchers,

In 2006, the Hershey Festival was held very close the Louisville show. In 2007, the same thing happened. In 2008, we plan to hold the Jubilee one week before the Louisville show. I have been asked why this is.

Many times, in planning these events and shows, organizers are quite limited to dates because of venues. We want to place the events and shows at large enough locations, with good access to extras like shopping and food options. Sometimes these venues are very limited to when they can host particular events.

Marilyn knows that many of you are concerned about the proximity of the Jubilee and the Louisville show. She understands that it can be a time crunch.

All this to say why we scheduled the Jubilee when we did. I thank everyone for their concern on this matter. It’s questions like this that the Moderators are here. We want you to understand the Jubilee. We want you to attend if you can. It’s about the stitching and the fun.

Regards,
Megan Andres
Webmaster
http://www.stitchingjubilee.com

By the way, check out who’s already scheduled to teach at the Stitching Jubilee! I guess Lorri Birmingham isn’t completely retired — yey!

Technorati Tags: Stitching Jubilee, Marilyn Vredevelt, Stoney Creek, Valley Forge, King of Prussia, Catherine Jordan, Lorri Birmingham, Patricia Hartman, Pat Hartman

… of the Stitching Jubilee website!

(I am out of town seeing medical specialists for a couple of days, and without the opportunity to check up on this link or make corrections, so if by chance that link doesn’t work, I apologize and please give it a try again later … and also try this one. They should both work very, very soon!! )

Lots there already to enjoy, so settle in with a glass or mug of your favorite beverage and start planning — or at least dreaming. You deserve it!

Technorati Tags: Stitching Jubilee, Marilyn Vredevelt, Stoney Creek, Valley Forge, King of Prussia

Most of us have seen this coming, as we watched the number of Stitching Festival shows around the country be cut back drastically over the last few years … until this year, when there was only one show in Hershey, Pennsylvania, and, of course, there was a great deal of chatter and speculation because it took a rather frighteningly long time for the Stitching Festival website to be updated with 2007’s class and other show information. However, it is still with a very heavy needle that I write of this stitching tragedy: Liz Turner Diehl (Blogroll) and Stoney Creek’s (Blogroll) Marilyn Vredevelt have announced that the Stitching Festivals, previously called the Creative Arts and Teaching Show (CATS), previously called the Creative Arts and Textiles Show (also CATS), have officially closed their doors.

In my opinion, the name changes hurt their business, as did the fact that they never had a location which served midwestern US stitchers well (a very surprising thing, since Stoney Creek, who was one of the main sponsors and coordinators of the show for its entire run, is located in a beautiful midwestern city itself — Grand Rapids, Michigan) — Des Moines was and is just too out of the way and too small to fit the bill. What about St. Louis or Chicago — both cities with huge, dynamic, international airports (and at least halfway decent public transportation, too)? Too expensive? Then go to a suburb of one of those cities instead; just going 15 to 30 minutes from the airport would reduce costs dramatically for both event organizers and event attendees. Too busy and confusing traffic-wise? (What? Compared to New York City or Atlanta? LOL … ) Then what about a city like Indianapolis? It’s got a slightly smaller but still very functional international airport, though it does not have the halfway decent public transportation Chicago and St. Louis do (of course, if you leave the downtown area of either of those cities, public transportation is a crapshoot or non-existent anyway). And there are easily dozens of midwestern cities I’ve never been to which would make great locations for a “traveling stitching festival” — cities YOU know and love because you live in, or have been to them for one reason or another. Please see below, because I want to hear about them.

The good news — at least for east coast stitchers (the thousands upon thousands of midwestern stitchers are still being left out, unfortunately), is Marilyn decided almost immediately that she couldn’t desert us completely. Therefore, she announced Stoney Creek will be organizing a new event called the Stitching Jubilee, which will begin next year. It will start off occurring in only one location: Valley Forge, Pennsylvania, from October 2 - 4, 2008. Marilyn is promising that the new website (Blogroll) will be up and running no later than January 15, 2008. (I’ll keep checking and will make a post to let you know when it IS up and running; right now, clicking on that link will give you an error.) In the meantime, you already can sign up for more information here (Blogroll). Further information will also be available, of course, in Stoney Creek Cross Stitch Collection magazine, which is one of my favorite subscriptions.

I don’t know if I’ll be able to swing a trip to Valley Forge myself (which is a location I personally preferred to the Hershey location. I got the chance to check them both out when I lived in New Jersey, at which time they were conveniently located for me, and I was constantly hungry in Hershey … must have been the smell of chocolate in the air because that’s all I wanted to eat, too! I think I gained twenty pounds every weekend I went there, LOL), but I’ll definitely try. I hope a lot of you will try, too, because if this venture doesn’t do well, clearly, it won’t continue.

Although it makes perfect business sense for Marilyn to select the east coast to begin her Stitching Jubilee venture, as the east coast is where the Stitching Festival was always most successful, I look forward to seeing the Stitching Jubilee grow — and I hope THIS venture will grow WELL into the midwest, too. With that in mind, I want to hear from you, as mentioned above. Despite all my traveling, there are literally dozens of great midwestern cities I have never been to and thus know little to nothing about; I want to help Marilyn select the BEST and most viable choices for Stitching Jubilee locations, but I need your help to do it. So I hope stitchers from all over the midwest (and anywhere else, if you’d be willing to travel to the midwest) will comment on this post with their suggestions for a midwestern location you would find convenient to attend — wherever that may be. Please tell me not only the name of the city, but also the reasons it would make a great location for the Stitching Jubilee. If I get enough responses (at least one hundred) I’ll forward the answers to Marilyn myself — but only if those answers wouldn’t make it look like I’d sprayed buckshot all over the center of a US map! So please try to consider traveling instead of having it in your back yard (unless you’re already located in a really good location with a great airport ). The location needs to be within a four to six hour drive of most of the rest of the midwest to be “perfect,” and it must have a really good international airport. (Why international?  Because we want the Stitching Jubilee to be able to bring us designers from other countries to teach classes, too, and because there are always a good-sized number of stitchers from around the world who manage to travel to an event such as this if they are provided with the requiremed means to do so; we certainly don’t want to leave those stitchers out because if they can afford to travel to this event, then they can probably also afford to spend money on classes and in the market to help make it a rousing success! )  A good public transportation system is a huge plus, and having a train hub is also a significant plus, in my opinion.  (Personally, I’d far rather take a train than drive myself — OR fly.  If I were traveling with someone else and thus sharing gas costs and the driving, then driving becomes a bit more attractive … but not much, LOL, as I could be stitching all the way on a train!)  Also, please tell every stitcher you know about this post, so that we get enough comments to make this a worthwhile survey. . Here are the links to this post (just highlight, copy, and paste): http://independentneedleworknews.com/2007/12/16/stitching-jubilee/ or http://tinyurl.com/34v4jg

Please help me help Marilyn bring the Stitching Jubilee to ALL stitchers! After all, this is the season of giving … It’s time to give back to a designer who has given us a great deal over the years.

Technorati Tags: CATS, Creative Arts and Textiles Show, Creative Arts and Teaching Show, Stitching Festival, Stitching Jubilee, Marilyn Vredevelt, Liz Turner Diehl, Stoney Creek

Surprise!

Product review coming soon …

Technorati Tags: ThreadworX

Gay Ann Rogers’ patterns are extremely difficult to find, as those of us who are fans know all too well. A while back, Gay Ann made an exciting offer on her blog; if this goes well, she may repeat it two or three times a year.

The official start date of Gay Ann Rogers’ very first E-Merchandise Week is October 15, 2007, but Gay Ann is already informing those of us who are interested of which patterns or kits she will be selling through her blog.

So, of course, as a big Gay Ann Rogers fan myself, and also as your (usually) faithful Independent Needlework News reporter, I have been following her blog as diligently as I could manage so that I could let you know when this e-merchandise sale begins and what it includes.

So far, Gay Ann is following along with demand and making the instructions (at the cost of $32, not including shipping) for her most requested design, the much loved and coveted Redwork Cat Sampler, available in her e-merchandise sale.

Also available will be instructions for Gay Ann’s seasonal sisters who represent Autumn, Winter, Spring, and Summer, respectively:

angelic Acorn Girl (one of my personal favorites),

her stunning Snowflake Girl,

her fabulous Flower Girl, and

her sweet Strawberry Girl.

For those of you who had started stitching or collecting these seasonal designs, this is your chance to complete the entire set. Don’t miss it, as you don’t know when it may happen again!

You will also find available for sale — ***but in limited numbers, unfortunately for us stitchers*** — some gorgeous designs useful not just as holiday decorations, but also as gifts for a number of different occasions, including even wedding, bridal, and baby showers. These are the type of wonderful designs where your imagination is the limit when it comes to their usefulness.

***Unfortunately, Gay Ann has a limited number of each of the following heart kits, so she is considering a lottery system if she receives more orders for them than she has kits. In that case, she is considering putting names in a hat and selecting the winning buyers by a lottery-style method. However, she really wants to be as fair as possible to everyone, so Gay Ann has asked for people who have suggestions on how she might go about this more fairly to please contact her.***

The picture shown here on the left is called Gifts of Christmas Heart, while the picture on the right is named Christmas Mittens Heart.

Then she also has Halloween hearts, which have my heart going pitter patter … Beaded Halloween Heart is shown on the left. On the right, Grinning Kitty Heart is grinning — and maybe drooling just a bit if these kitties are anything like my most grinning kitties!

Other hearts Gay Ann is including in this e-merchandise sale include:

Tuxedo Heart and Wedding Dress Heart,

Frosted Heart and My Bruised Heart, and

Pink Quartz Hearts in Pale and Bright versions.

Again, all of these heart kits are limited in number, so Gay Ann is planning on a lottery system drawing unless you give her a better idea.

All of Gay Ann’s heart kits cost either $36 or $38 depending on the kit, except for the Wedding Dress Heart, which costs $48.

For further details, to (begin ) an order, or to request Gay Ann include your favorite(s) of her patterns in her E-Merchandise Week, please contact Gay Ann directly.

Also, be sure to visit Gay Ann’s design website, too, where you can see more of her fantastic works of art.

And keep following Independent Needlework News, as I will do my best to keep you up to date on what will be included in this very special sale from Gay Ann Rogers.

Technorati Tags: Gay Ann Rogers, Redwork Cat Sampler, Acorn Girl, Strawberry Girl, Flower Girl, Snowflake Girl, E-Merchandise Week, Gifts of Christmas Heart, Christmas Mittens Heart, Beaded Halloween Heart, Grinning Kitty Heart, Tuxedo Heart, Wedding Dress Heart, Frosted Heart, My Bruised, Heart, Pink Quartz Hearts

Homestead Needle Arts is having a fantastic 25% off sale on all their Needle Necessities stock.

As a store which caters primarily to needlepointers, Homestead Needle Arts carried the full line of Needle Necessities products, including the overdyed metallics, overdyed wool, Spring II, overdyed perle, and, of course, the overdyed floss we all love so much.

While you’re there, take some time to explore the rest of the shop. The book section is wonderful, as is the entire fiber section, and I know there are other treasures to be found!

Technorati Tags: Needle Necessities, needlework, sale, Homestead Needle Arts, overdyed, metallic, wool, perle, floss, Spring II

I really enjoyed checking out the links on About.com: Miniature’s list of the Top Eight Sources for Dollhouse Needlework Kits. The majority of these kits are done on 40 count silk gauze, so I was a bit surprised not to see Threads Through Time listed. (I can’t find a website for Threads Through Time; if anyone knows of it, please let me know what it is! ) However, perhaps that’s because Threads Through Time doesn’t advertise to the dollhouse market (that I know of).

Anyway, I wanted to share Lesley Shepherd’s picks for miniature needlework with you because I think you’ll enjoy looking them over as much as I have.

I particularly enjoyed Janet Granger Designs and MicroStitchery (click on “Stitchery Paraphernalia”) because of the teeny tiny display stands they have available for customers to use to display their miniature needlework in their dollhouses. Too bad the prices for these items aren’t anywhere near teeny tiny, LOL!

I had no idea there were so many options out there for miniature needlework. These people creating items for the dollhouse market haven’t done much to market to the stitching market … Maybe that will change now because I think a lot of their designs are really fantastic!

Of course, there is nothing that says you HAVE TO stitch something on that small of a count. If you fall in love with one of these itty bitty patterns but aren’t comfortable stitching it on 40 count for whatever reason, stitch it on whatever fabric count you prefer.

By the way, I learned a hint from a friend several years ago which has made stitching on 40 count MUCH easier for me. Instead of stitching on 40 count silk gauze, which is very difficult to see, and which requires you to stitch the entire background, consider stitching on 40 count fabric with the fabric being the color you want the background to be. I find this so much easier to see (even when using a dark colored 40 count fabric!) than working on gauze — and since I don’t have to fill in the background, there is also a LOT less stitching to do.

Technorati Tags: miniature, needlework, dollhouse, doll, silk gauze, 40 count, Lesley Shepherd, Threads Through Time, MicroStitchery, Janet Granger Designs