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First an apology – my goal of one post a week got sidetracked sometime in September. I hope to do better going forward! Now, on to the stitch, cross stitching over 1 on linen or evenweave. The first time I tried to stitch “over 1” I thought how hard can this be? It’s just cross […]

  Sweetie pie, honey, sugar, baby, darling – we all have pet names for our dear ones. And with Valentine’s Day coming up fast (what happened to New Year’s Day?), we are releasing Lovey Dovey, the second in our seasonal and holiday color series. I love the colors associated with some holidays, but not necessarily

Leaves are changing colors, trees are dropping their leaves, the weather is getting chillier, so naturally I’m thinking of…..Easter? Yes, in the life of a needlework designer, this time of year leads to thoughts of the Nashville Needlearts Market and our spring releases. And naturally, I’m thinking of color. With fall colors all around, I’m

Have you ever made a mistake and wondered, how did that happen? We released Tricky Treats in August, and shortly after began hearing that I had made some mistakes. I left off the size canvas needed on the back of the chart, and one of the threads. Really? What a rookie mistake! Oh well, easily

Have you ever stitched something with the intent of it becoming an heirloom? I have to confess that I never have! Most of the projects I choose are what strikes me at the time, and never with the thought “my great-great-great-grandchildren will appreciate this”. I’ve seen many old stitcheries – antique schoolgirl samplers, tapestries, lace

As I progressed as a stitcher, I became aware that there was this technique called “stitching over 2”. I knew absolutely nothing about it, but I wanted to do a project I saw in a magazine that was “over 2”, so i bought the supplies at the local needlework shop and dug in. I was

Way back before I became a designer, I took a year to cross stitch an afghan. That was the only project I worked on all year. (I’m one of those weird, one-project-at-a-time stitchers.) My children both loved it, and started asking whose it would be when I passed on. Mind you, I was in my

Early on, as I began stitching, I thought stitching gifts would be a wonderful idea. It was the perfect hand-made touch. I didn’t have much money, but I did have time; cotton floss wasn’t that expensive, and I could pick up patterns and supplies for reasonable cost. I remember one Christmas I stitched cartoon characters

Today I’m starting a series of posts about the logic, or the zen of stitching. Why does a stitch need to be made a particular way? Does the order of the strokes of a stitch matter? When I teach in person, I try to get the students out of the diagrams and to think of

Today will be a long day, spent in a hospital waiting room. So of course I’m taking some stitching with me. Not just any stitching, but something small, that doesn’t require a lot of concentration, that can be put down quickly, that doesn’t require constant referring to a chart. What kind of stitching meets all