DebBee's Designs

Fun and Funky Easter Eggs

I’m looking out on a very gray, very foggy morning, so of course I’m thinking of Spring!The needlework industry is like others – we work ahead of the seasons and holidays. On this mid-February morning my thoughts are on Easter and beyond.

In my immediate future is the Nashville Needlework Market, and I’m frantically preparing designs to show. My offerings will feature Easter eggs, spring colors and themes, pops of color in gray February as our thoughts leave winter longing for warmer weather and lighter clothes.

Lately I’ve been thinking of ways to finish my stitching other than framing. I learned how to finish Christmas ornaments as a sphere in November, starting with a 6″ ball then reducing to a 4″ ball. And I think I can go even smaller, so that experiment is next, for the Just Cross Stitch Ornament issue ornament this year (hint!). That led me to think about another semi-round shape, the ovoid egg shape, and Easter eggs.

I love Easter eggs, and always looked forward to coloring eggs with my children. I hard-boiled probably 2 to 3 dozen eggs, way more than we would ever eat, just because it was so much fun to watch the eggs take on the color, and to play with the wax resist, decals, stickers, and other decorations. Usually my mother-in-law would come over and take part in the fun. Of course we never hid the real eggs! Those were just for admiration on Easter Sunday, then peeling for deviled eggs and using in recipes.

So it was a natural thought to design Easter eggs, and try to finish them as eggs. The designing was the easy part! But working out the technical details for finishing – that was a little harder. Because of the ovoid shape, I knew the design area would be irregular. I also had to think carefully about the ground fabric. I knew canvas would work, but I was planning to design my Easter eggs as cross stitch projects for the Nashville market, so that required a different fabric. And, which threads and trims?

I decided to use Congress cloth. It has enough sizing to break down when wet, so it would mold itself to the ovoid shape. Plus, when stitched over 2 the designs would stitch up fast enough to be attractive as a seasonal design.

I also settled on Crescent Colours overdyed cotton flosses and trims. Sharon very generously shared the trims with me, giving me several sizes to experiment with as I was working out the best way to apply them. I also liked the mottled look of the threads, almost the way eggs take up dye. And of course the trims to finish matched perfectly!

Finally, in order to work out the design size, I made a prototype with unstitched fabric, just to make sure it would work. Then I took it apart, and used that to make sure I had the right size. With all the hard technical stuff out of the way, I could settle down to the fun part, and “color” eggs!

I hope you have fun with my Easter eggs too. I enjoyed them so much that these will probably not be the last Easter egg designs I do. In the meantime, look forward to Spring – I am!

Have you ever reflected on the “why” of needlework? Not the need to create, but the physical act of pulling needle and thread through fabric or canvas? Recently I’ve been thinking about the soothing comfort of needlework, or the mechanics of stitching.

A lot of my projects begin with an outline, a relatively simple stitch like a Rhodes square or a rice stitch, worked with pearl cotton. This kind of stitching does not involve a lot of brain activity for counting or following a chart, so it’s perfect for putting the mind in neutral and letting the muscles take over. For those who enjoy stitching while watching television or listening to audio books, this is the stitching that doesn’t require complete attention.

The physical motion of bringing the hand up and down, like petting a cat or dog, has the effect for me of slowing the pace of the world. The stress of the day begins to fall away as the needle goes through the canvas. A few minutes of stitching brings a sense of accomplishment to a day spent in harried activity that sometimes feels like nothing is achieved.

For the last 25 years, way before I became a professional needle arts designer, I set aside time every evening to stitch. As a stay at home mom with two very active children, I really looked forward to their bedtime every night, when I could pick up my needle and spend a few minutes stitching.  When they left home and I began DebBee’s Designs, I still find most of my stitching time is in the evening, after supper.

“My day is not complete, until fabric (or canvas) and needle meet” – I’m sure I’m not the only one who feels this way. For me, stitching is more than creating, or recreating someone else’s design. It is the physical act of stitching, of letting my mind wander where it will while my hands are busy. My hope is that I contribute to your mental well-being with my designs, giving your hands plenty to do and allowing your mind to sort through the happenings of the day.

Happy New Year! I’ve already started my traditional New Year’s Resolutions, back in September when I started my diet and exercise program – 16 pounds lighter so far! But, like so many of you, the prospect of a new year turns my thoughts to goals and projects for the coming year. The blank canvas beckons, waiting for needle and thread to create something of beauty and value, stitching bits of spirit and soul along with the pattern. So what lies ahead?

Change It Up

In the immediate future, just days away now, I have the Winter Show in Phoenix. As usual, I’m still working on new designs. But here’s something I completed last year, that I hope will find a warm welcome, a Change It Up Alphabet. Each letter is comprised of 4 x 4 blocks, a different stitch for each letter. Since each stitch is the same size, the stitcher can choose to make the letters as I’ve done them, using a single stitch, or combine different stitches for the letters, or use stitches for letters other than the ones I chose, or any number of possibilities. The booklet has upper and lower case letters, 26 stitches and diagrams, plus a 27th stitch to use for a border; suggestions for layering stitches; suggestions for a border; how to figure a layout, and even a tent stitch alphabet to create a birth sampler, wedding or anniversary commemorative. I chose to stitch a model using my granddaughter’s name, in the colors of her nursery, which is painted pink and green stripes.

Right after the Winter Show in Phoenix I’ll prepare for the Nashville Needlearts Market, with new designs for that show as well. I’ll be showing sneak peeks here first, and if all goes as planned, using some trims from Crescent Colours for a series of Easter egg ornaments. Fingers crossed that the visions in my head translate to fabric and thread!

Further along, though, I’ve already started planning the end to the Diamond Delight series. Diamond Delight 10 is haunting my dreams, and will be quite an ambitious undertaking. I hope I’m up to the task; it feels quite daunting! But it’s part of my general goal this year to take my designing in a more artistic direction, to grow as a needle artist, and experiment with my chosen medium of canvas and thread.

I hope you’ll take the journey with me, and may 2012 be an exciting year of growth for you as well!

Gilded Splendor

Earlier I designed a project for a round finish into a kissing ball, and it turned into a prototype. Normally I hate stitching something more than once, but this time it was a useful exercise. I learned stitches that would work, and stitches that wouldn’t, like Rhodes stitches. Also, because of the steps used in the finish, I don’t think overdyed or non-colorfast threads would be appropriate either.

But, the prototype served its purpose and I’m ready to move forward with the actual project. Gilded Splendor is one of four new ornaments that I’ll release in a single booklet, hopefully at the Winter Show in Phoenix in late January.

Since the Rhodes stitches were too prominent in the design, I made the border stitch around the center band a rice over trellis stitch. It also allowed me to incorporate more gold into that part of the design. I decided I liked a heavier gold braid for the trame’ in the victorian step section in the center, so that was another change. The upper and lower parts of the design were mostly unchanged, but I did use fewer strands for the satin stitches. For the finish this time I made my own bow instead of buying a bow; the available bows would have overwhelmed the smaller size of the ball. I also added a gold trim to the white gimp braid around the pleated fabric to dress it up a bit more.

For the next design in the series I’m going to scale down a bit, and try a 4″ ball to see if I like that size. My vision for the final set of four is to include two 6″ designs and two 4″ designs, all in white and gold. I have some yummy ivory and gold dupioni satin for the finishes, and plan to make the bows for the other three on my holiday trip. My mother-in-law taught me to make wreath bows several years ago, and I need a refresher when I’m at her house, so I’ll arrive with all the supplies and can hopefully come home with the bows I need!

If I don’t get to write another entry before the holidays, I hope all of you have the happiest of holidays!

A Bump In The Rhodes

I finished my first release for next year – A Bump In The Rhodes! This one will be released at the Phoenix TNNA show at the end of January, and is all Rhodes stitches, perfect for beginning counted canvas stitchers. I stitched it with Sullivans #5 pearl cottons and flosses on 18 ct. Rose Blush canvas, but like all of my designs the colors and threads can easily be changed.

I think I may have broken a few “rules” with this one. Of course, we all know there are only two needlework rules – the thread goes in the needle and the needle goes in the canvas! But generally, for Rhodes stitches, the final stitch for all of the Rhodes stitches within in a piece should have the same orientation. If the final stitch is the vertical stitch, all of the final stitches should be vertical, or all of them should be horizontal, or all of them should be diagonal. I did not hold to that with this design!

I’ve wanted to see what would happen to the look of a piece if the Rhodes stitches didn’t follow the rules, so I played with the final orientation for several of the stitches. So some of them are vertical, some of them are horizontal, and some of them are diagonal – gasp! But I think it works for this piece, and remains true to the intent of the design.

For Rhodes stitch lovers, this design incorporates squares, rectangles, rounds, diamonds, hearts and butterflies. I had fun playing with the many shapes and sizes of Rhodes stitches, and creating textures with floss and #5 pearl cotton. I didn’t have purple people in mind when I was picking colors, but was thinking more in line with Valentine’s Day and late winter.

I’ve got a few more single-stitch designs in mind. This one joins Rice Pudding, my homage to rice stitches. Next up is a study in Smyrna stitches. It’s designed and waiting for color inspiration, so if you have a particular color in mind, give me a shout!