Silvia Termes, a dear friend and loyal Point of It All customer, recently passed away unexpectedly. Silvia, who was quite a character, liked to be called The Termite, a play on her Cuban last name. Silvia was a truly exceptional stitcher…these pictures hardly do justice to her exquisite work. Decorative stitches, extra embellishments, beads galore…she was so, so talented. I really miss Silvia as does everyone at The Point of It All. Enjoy pouring over these three pieces, finished posthumously… we all can learn so much from The Termite.

Happy stitching,
Susan

UPDATE! UPDATE!!

Silvia’s work received several awards at the Woodlawn Plantation Needlework Show! Details about the show are available here. The show is on view through the 31st. It’s well worth the drive…it’s so exciting to see what other stitchers are doing!

So I am designing a purse with bees on it (I collect bee items). It’s a big purse so I wanted to cover the background quickly and add interest in the form of a decorative stitch. At first I tried doing the stitch right up against the bee but I thought things got a little crowded. It was hard to see the bee. Then I decided to add a basketweave border around the bee…I think it is MUCH more successful. Now the bee stands out and doesn’t get lost in the decorative stitch.

I used Byzantine in the final version (of course I didn’t take a picture of the final version…sorry, blonde moment)…but here’s a diagram:

Essentially you go over 3 intersections at a time…do that 4 times and then drop down a line and repeat. It’s fun!

I will keep you posted on the purse’s progress.

Happy stitching,
Susan

Well another icy blast has hit Washington, DC…I just got out my lady-sized shovel and saw to the front steps of The Point of It All. Come on, stitchers, it’s cozy inside the shop…we’ve got fresh coffee and hot chocolate and plenty of wonderful canvases! A perfect day for needlepoint if you ask me.

This will be a quick post today (since I need to shovel more). Check out this FABULOUS geometric purse from Mindy!

And here’s a close up

I did some decorative stitches…I was going to add little seed beads but I ran out of gas on this project. I love how all the stitches work together to create an interesting pattern but not one that is too overwhelming. Sometimes, I think, stitchers put in too many stitchers and the effect is chaotic. I am a basket weave girl at heart but I do try to branch out every once in a while.

Check out Mindy’s canvases by clicking here. Actually when I just went to the website, none of her canvases was showing up but I am inserting this link anyway…hopefully her site will work again soon.

Happy stitching and stay warm,
Susan

I have just returned from the Needlework Market in sunny Long Beach, California…wow, so many beautiful canvases! I can’t wait for them to start arriving! I took pictures of some especially neat ones. The picture quality isn’t great because the convention center lighting was poor but here’s the idea.

These adorable Halloween “stand ups” are from Kirk & Hamilton. Very cute.

You can make your own gingerbread garland! Elizabeth Turner Collection envisioned that you would stitch the members of your family in gingerbread. Adorable finishing.

These canvases looked perfect for decorative stitches! I ordered a bunch of sweet saying plus several canvases of local sports teams…ie gold and maroon with Go Skins! for the Redskins…someone has to be a fan right?!

If it’s got animal print, it must be mine! This little tuffet from Trubey/Fleur de Paris is AWESOME!

There were many, many wonderful canvases…I get excited each time Dwayne, our super UPS man, comes to the shop!

Happy stitching,
Susan

2011 is here and I declare it to be the Year of the New Project. What does that mean? Well I have often heard about the year of the stash (“this year I resolve to use up my old threads”) or the year of finishing old canvases (“this year I promise to stitch pieces I already have.”) Yes, these are extremely worthy goals but ARE THEY FUN? Noooooo. Don’t you just love, love, love getting a new canvas? It’s so exciting to pick our a new project, get some of the fibers (maybe even try something new) and then go home and ignore all your responsibilities and stitch for just a bit. You know what I mean…it’s the “I’ll just put in a few stitches to see how they look and then I’ll cook dinner” mentality!

I have one enthusiastic stitcher who often picks out multiple canvases at once and then goes home and does a little section on each one before committing to stitch one canvas. It’s really amusing to see the little bits stitched during her rush of excitement. (Lest you think I am poking fun at an innocent stitcher, this particular customer *may* just be my sweet Mum.)

So 2011 is the Year of the New Project for me…I am going to enthusiastically pick out new canvases and have a fabulous time working on them. The Winter Market is coming up in just a couple of days and I plan to buy lots of canvases for the shop and a healthy number for myself. I’ll be picking out a new belt for Chris, quite possibly a purse (or two) for myself, and more than likely a pair of shoes. I will keep you posted on what I see.

Be thinking what canvases you are going to choose this year!

Happy stitching,
Susan