Filed under: ANG Needle Pointer's Timeless Treasures From the Archives
A series of articles, “From our Mind into a Design” were published in American Needlepoint Guild’s (ANG) Needle Pointers magazine by Debbie Deem in the 1980s. Debbie takes a thistle sketch and leads you through the process to develop a very creative interpretation of the sketch (not pictured here). I’d love to stitch it. Here is how a thistle stem became a border. Very ingenious.
From a google search, I see Ann Strite-Kurz took a Color and/or Design class from Debbie. Debbie started a blog in 2009 but it didn’t last long (artneedlethreadstitches). She shows how she paints a canvas and a few designs in classes she was teaching, including Starship Needlepoint and Stitching Sudoku, both of which appeal to me. I haven’t seen her book, but she and Mary Anderson published Stitchery Under Southern Skies Eleven Needlepoint Designs for the Creative Canvas Embroiderer. I don’t know any more about Debbie. If you know/knew her, please leave a comment and share a memory.
Join the American Needlepoint Guild (ANG) to get access to more about this topic in the Timeless Treasures from the Archives article in the current issue of Needle Pointers (November/December 2024 at https://www.needlepoint.org/page/NeedlePointers) and all the issues since the 1980s. The issue will be in the mail soon, but it’s online now.
Read about all the ANG member benefits at: Click here.
Filed under: ANG Needle Pointer's Timeless Treasures From the Archives
The ANG Pine Tree Chapter (Maine) sponsored a series of three Zoom lectures by Susan Hoekstra in support of a non-profit heating assistance program by Penquis in Maine. The three lectures were:
April 10, 2024 The Elements of Design
May 8, 2024 The Principles of Design
June 5, 2024 Using Color Theory to Your Advantage
At the May lecture, I decided to see how well optical color mixing or pointallism would work with needlepoint.
So, I decided on a simple sunset scene (yes, I coordinated my needle minder magnet). You can easily see the red DMC #5 Perle 666 and yellow 973 have combined to create orange just as Susan explained. I am using skip tent basketweave.
As I was in the middle of stitching this, I was reading 8 articles on color and design written by Gene Wright. The 5th article mentions achieving optical blending through needle blending. The left side in my sample below uses 4 strands, and the right side uses 2 strands.
Join American Needlepoint Guild (ANG) to get access to more about this topic in the Timeless Treasures from the Archives article in the current issue of Needle Pointers (September/October 2024) and all the issues since the 1980s. Read about all the ANG member benefits at: Click here.
Filed under: ANG Needle Pointer's Timeless Treasures From the Archives
This is a Romanian stitch executed differently in the 2 halves. Read all about it and explore 11 basic stitches with two variations, a background, and a border, including a corner for each basic stitch by Mindy English. How & where? You’ll have to join the American Needlepoint Guild (ANG) since I discuss it in the Timeless Treasures from the Archives article in the current issue of Needle Pointers (July/August 2024). Read about all the ANG member benefits at: Click here.
I made it into a coaster with 3 tent stitch rows surrounding the 2 areas, Craf-tex liner, cork backing, and a 3 strand cord glued into place (process has been explained in more detail previously in my Compensation Coaster post).
Filed under: ANG Needle Pointer's Article, ANG Needle Pointer's Timeless Treasures From the Archives
It’s rare for me to have worked on the diagrams for a piece in the ANG Needle Pointers magazine and still have the stitched model (unless it’s my design). But, my Needle Pointers magazine arrived today, and I still have it.
At some point, the stitched piece went from Ginny, the stitch guide writer and stitcher, to Maureen, the editor in Maine, who took it to Seminar in Atlanta, gave it to Kristen who I know flew with it back north to the Philadelphia area, and finally gave it to me. I am waiting for the shipping address to return it to Ginny. I wonder home many miles this has traveled! Hopefully, it will go home before the next Seminar!
As you can see, there is usually plenty of time to get photos, diagram, and put the stitch guide writer’s text into the format for the magazine. Consider:
- volunteering your time to help with articles. Staff does need to rotate periodically.
- offering your painted canvas stitch guide for an upcoming magazine. Keep track of threads and stitches used, and we can turn it into a lovely stitching project like this one.
And, I would be remiss if I didn’t mention the Timeless Treasures From the Archives. I love reading the old issues. This month takes us all over the internet and back to various alphabet diagrams that never go out of style.
Past and present issues are available online to all ANG members (needlepoint.org).
Filed under: ANG Needle Pointer's Article, ANG Needle Pointer's Timeless Treasures From the Archives, Diamond Bargello Flags
It’s always a thrill to see my designs on the cover! Sometimes I just feel like playing with patterns on my computer. This particular time I was exploring the movement of Bargello patterns which is the focus of this small stitching project, Diamond Bargello Flags. I did the finishing myself. Even if you don’t stitch the project, there are also tips from Liz Morrow, thanks to Rinda Just who keeps her designs available online.
You can also see that Timeless Treasures From the Archives is a feature article in this issue. It launches a series of articles that I will continue in upcoming issues. I look through the archived issues focusing on educational articles that stand the test of time. This issue finds Nanette Costa reviewing the basics of needlepoint in a series of articles. Hopefully, members of ANG enjoy and learn from our past members.
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