Keep calm and carry on: that’s my best advice when faced with a stitching conundrum. For instance, I am stitching this Black-Eyed Susan to be appliqued onto a Queen Bea Studio purse. I thought it would look really sharp and be perfect for summer. So I thought about what to do with the background…I wanted some punch! I started with a rainbow of colors for the stripes (see bottom)…thought it looked chaotic and jumpy…moved to classic black and white stripes. I like it…it will go with all my cute summer outfits. I’m also still considering the yellow stitch: basket weave or diagonal mosaic.

Always evaluate your stitching…do NOT finish the whole thing and then realize a stitch or a color doesn’t work. Keep calm and ASSESS, then carry on.

PS Don’t tell my 9th grade geometry teacher, Mrs. Bynoe, about that pathetic circle I drew. She could draw a perfect circle free-hand. Impressive.

Lastly, I love the Keep Calm and Carry On expression…check out these canvases from Unique NZ Designs that riff on wonderful British humour (English spelling in honor of Will & Kate).

Happy stitching!
Susan

Today marks the fourth anniversary of our owning The Point of It All! It’s been an amazing four years and we are excited about the future. We are pleased to have such wonderful customers who make it a pleasure to come to the shop each day. Thank you!

To celebrate, I will give 30% off any special order canvas ordered before April 30th. (Excludes custom canvases.) So start shopping! Here’s a link to the artists’ webpages in case you need inspiration! Please email me your orders at [email protected]

Happy stitching and thank you for all the support!
Susan & Chris

The proliferation of all these new deal sites like Living Social and Groupon is hard to miss, but I wanted to point out one current deal that may be of interest to any fellow needlepointers. Living Social and G Street Fabrics are teaming up to offer $50 in goods at G Street for only $25. I’m not involved with either party and receive no compensation from them. I just thought it was a good deal!

It’s Only Available for the next 18 Hours.

Here is the link:

http://livingsocial.com/deals/33900-50-to-spend-on-fabrics-sewing-and-more/social_share?ref=addthis-share5

How amazing is this custom portrait of Buster Battle, my Chocolate Labrador Extraordinaire?! I gave a picture (see first image below) to super talented custom artist, Deborah, and here’s what she came up with…I am soooo pleased!

Buster has been the subject of many needlepoint canvases…this one is on 13 mesh. It is sometimes hard to get the details as precise on 13 but some people just can’t see to stitch on 18 mesh, the finer gauge. I think this piece looks great and the detail is marvelous. The piece really looks like old Buster, not just any Chocolate Lab.

I used a combination of fibers: Silk & Ivory, Flair (yucky but great effect), and Appleton wool. The blue wall is done in the Byzantine stitch (see below).

Happy stitching! Susan