Color worth waiting for

By Sue Fenwick

Sue Fenwick

Unlike painters, thread artists cannot blend colors, so they must rely on individual thread colors for their palette.  A new color release from DMC includes two palettes: eight colors in a soft natural palette and eight colors in the bright, vibrant category.

These colors fill in some gaps in the existing DMC color families and provide more options for subtle nuance and blending.

DMC showed off the new colors recently at the National NeedleArts Association market in St. Charles, Mo.  The Fall Needlecraft Market provides an opportunity for vendors and artists to convene in one location to see what’s new in the industry and to show off and sell their wares.

This market was held at the Embassy Suites Hotel, and instead of taking over a large convention center, like the quilt shows, the vendors set up in the guest rooms.  I wandered the hallways of seven floors, going from room to room to visit with artists and company representatives.

Woodland Walk

I was surprised to find out that the Dollfus-Mieg Compagnie, known today as the DMC Corp., started in 1746 in France.  At that time, it specialized in painted fabrics.  At the end of the 1800s, the company became aware of a  process developed by John Mercer in which cotton thread was run through caustic soda to make it stronger and silkier. With the advent of mercerizing, DMC became involved in threads.

Today, DMC is an international company manufacturing threads and textiles.

Bohemian Tapestry

The DMC floss collection consists of 454 solids and 18 variegated colors. In October, DMC will release 16 new solid colors.  This will be the first new color release since 2001.

Tropical Punch

The 16 colors will be sold in a pack with one skein of each and three free designs, Tropical Punch, Bohemian Tapestry and Woodland Walk.  These designs showcase the new colors beautifully.  The collection will retail for $11.97.

Sue Fenwick is a freelance writer who lives in Springfield, Mo.  She writes every Monday.

Q&A with Vickie LoPiccolo Jennett

By Anna Bernard, Summer Intern

Anna Bernard

As part of the launch of Star Stitch’s new blog, we’re conducting Q&As with each of our authors. Today, we’re talking with Vickie LoPiccolo Jennett, whose book Sonoran Borders: Threads of Friendship is available now.

Vickie has been writing as long as she can remember. Her fascination with words and alphabets began in nursery school, where she carried a letter-covered felt book bag. Penmanship was one of her favorite subjects in grade school.

Writing in high school and college led to a journalism career. Vickie’s passion is researching and writing about antique needlework. Her articles have appeared in many needlework magazines, including Sampler & Antique Needlework Quarterly and Just Cross Stitch.

Vickie LoPiccolo Jennett

She and her daughter-in-law Maegan Jennett are partners in NeedleWorkPress, a home-based business dedicated to preserving and presenting printed materials related to historic needlework. The name NeedleWorkPress incorporates the first initials of her husband’s and sons’ names: Niles, Willy and Patrick.

Vickie’s house and the home of NeedleWorkPress is a replica of a 19th century farmhouse in the country just outside of Phoenix, where she and Niles raised two sons, countless calves and a couple of pygmy goats.

Vickie says she is best characterized by the sentiment stitched on a sampler in her living room: “My faith, my family and my friends bring meaning to my life.”

***

How did you get started cross stitching?

I guess I can thank my wool allergies for the switch from needlepoint to cross stitch. I learned to work on canvas as a preteen, but soon ended up with splotchy hands due to my allergies. Stamped embroidery was a staple in our home, too.

As with many stitchers, my first projects were rather underwhelming, although I do recall making a valentine heart for my high school sweetheart, who is now my husband. As a klutz with most athletic endeavors, I found handwork to be a relaxing pastime. I stitched in the car to and from the long drives to horse shows during high school.

To this day, people outside the stitching world are surprised that I enjoy such a sedentary pastime because unless I’m stitching, I pretty much don’t sit still.

 

Vickie’s work station.

Do you have a special place where you cross stitch?  

Yes and no. My favorite place to stitch is in our living room, the one room in the house that’s pretty much always in some semblance of order. However, most of my stitching is done on the run: in airports, during boring meetings, at sports competitions, when I’m a passenger in the car, at seminars, while watching shows pre-recorded on our DVR. I carry cross stitch projects with me everywhere and they’re scattered throughout the house.

 

Vickie with her husband and grandson.

Do you have a schedule?

I wish. My most productive hours are early morning. Since my dairy-vet husband is up and out of the house before the sun rises, I usually get up at 5:30 and work on the project du jour. I feel best when that routine includes exercise, but too many writing and stitching deadlines make me a sloth.

I do get in a yoga workout or two every week. Then, it’s go, go, go until evening, when Niles and I half-watch recorded TV favorites while I stitch and he catches up on the day’s emails.

What are your favorite and least favorite parts of cross stitch?

Cross stitch is sheer bliss! Every single project amazes me as “something” emerges from “nothing” with simple x’s on linen. The only detracting factor is ripping. Oh, and my eyes. Until recently, I didn’t need readers. They’re annoying. I’ve found cute ones, however, so that helps make up for the annoyance.

What cross stitch patterns are you most drawn to?

Antique samplers, especially those with alphabets and cows, are my weakness. I do enjoy a bit of whimsy in warm, primitive designs, as well as clever verses. I have more projects stashed away that I could complete in a dozen lifetimes. Perhaps dreaming about accomplishing these projects is as much fun as completing them.

Vickie’s sources of inspiration in her dining room.

What other creative outlets do you have?

We live in the replica of a 19th century farmhouse and both Niles and I enjoy collecting antiques, although Niles has recently asked me if I care to audition for an episode of “Hoarders.”

Tending flowers and herbs in the back yard is another passion. I have been known to tear up when a plant freezes in the winter. Fortunately, that doesn’t happen every year.

Vickie’s back gate.

Any words of wisdom for someone just starting to cross stitch? What’s the best advice you received?

Find a cross stitch chart you adore. What subject matter really excites you? Make sure your selection isn’t overwhelming. Have fun. Only tackle a project if it speaks to you. Don’t worry about perfection first time around – or ever, really.
Years after I finished and framed one of my favorite reproduction samplers, I noticed that I forgot flowers in one of the matching urns. Too late. Idiosyncrasies make each piece unique – or at least that’s what I tell myself.

Watering her many plants is a morning ritual.

Is there any needlework you haven’t done that you would like to try?

I haven’t stitched on 50ct linen, but I would really like to try it to see if my eyes will adjust. I’m just learning to hem stitch. It’s not difficult; just scary to be at the end of a project, then to have to pull threads and stitch all around the project. I think next time, I’ll do the hem stitching first.

Actually, with needlework and life in general, both education and experience continue to teach me that the more I learn, the more I realize how little I actually know and how much there is to learn. This might sound trite and corny, but I’m sincere when I say that trying new things and learning new ideas make every day exciting.

What’s your next project?

We’re working on a series of alphabet samplers called “Minerva and Friends.” They’re simple marking samplers, each with their own charm. One is a monochrome blue; one has the wise words, “Waste not, want not.”

Maegan and I also are so excited about progress on our next book for Kansas City Star Quilts. It’s based on a beautiful blue 19th century 18” x 18” handkerchief and has the working title of A Schoolroom Alphabet, with a tentative release date of February 2014. For fun stitching, my UFO bags and baskets are overflowing with favorite projects, including the Scarlet Letter’s “Ruthy Rogers” and the Examplarey’s “Frances Pyrault Sampler.”

Vickie’s storage space.

What was your favorite part about writing your cross stitch book?

The process, the entire process: from conception through completion. I hardly equate my work to the amazing and prolific Larry McMurtry, but I wholeheartedly agree with a comment he made in Literary Life: A Second Memoir: “I had expected to be thrilled when I received my first copy of my first book, but when I opened the package and held the first copy in my hand, I found that I just felt sort of flat … . I learned then and have relearned many times since, that the best part of a writer’s life is actually doing it, making up characters, filling the blank page, creating scenes …”

The process was just amazing, all-consuming at times. While I sure don’t mind giving up my regular workouts so I could lavish time on the book, my clothes are groaning as they burst at the seams.

Throughout the process, my gratitude continued to go out first to everyone who helped birth this project and next to the readers who are taking the time to let me know that this little story and these humble projects truly have touched their spirits. Can a writer want more than that? I think not.

How do you connect with other cross stitchers?

NeedleWorkPress maintains a Web site and we try to post new products, ideas, photos and information a couple of times a month. We love teaching and talking about needlework to guilds and groups of all kinds, including schools. Our goal is to get more children and young adults interested in the gentle arts.

When time permits, we gather in a friend’s backyard for some stitching and conversation. This usually includes chocolate in some form or another. I also write articles for several needlework magazines.

Let your imagination soar

By Sue Fenwick

Sue Fenwick

Everywhere you go, even if it’s on vacation with your left-brained husband looking at airplane engines, there are patterns:  A blue sky over Monticello, the glittery gold web of the transmitting and receiving antennas on a satellite, a row of soon-to-be antiquated telephone booths, the window at a bank in Charlottesville, Va.

The snapshots from a vacation can be turned into much more than a scrapbook of photographs. They can provide the inspiration for some very creative projects.

Recently, I spent a week in the Washington, D.C., area on vacation with my husband, Jeff. We started in Jamestown, Va., and toured the settlement. Jamestown is on a point of land surrounded by inlet waterways.  The water lapped at the edges of the grassy shores and glittered under sunny blue skies.  There is a museum that is made of copper and glass in Jamestown.  The exterior is copper, so it’s burnt orange and teal, and it is elevated on pylons, so it seems to float above the lawn.

Monticello

After Jamestown, we drove to Monticello, near Charlottesville, Va.  We drove down tree-lined streets and past old taverns and churches.  Thomas Jefferson’s home is strategically placed on a mountain overlooking his beloved University of Virginia and the town below.

Monticello is full of books, quirky rooms and maps of young America.  The garden is planted with beautiful and rare flowers and trees, all overlooking the shadowy Appalachians in the distance.

We travelled from the rural countryside, having walked the paths of explorers and American Indians, to the ultra-modern house of American ingenuity: the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum’s Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center in Chantilly, Va. We saw the space shuttle Discovery, satellites hanging from the ceilings, the Enola Gay and the SR-71, the fastest plane in the world.

We watched a movie on the Hubble Space Telescope and saw photographs of real nebulae and stars being born.  The nebulae were pink, gold and blue against the eternal black of outer space.

What inspires you to be creative?

Sue Fenwick is a freelance writer who lives in Springfield, Mo.  She writes every Monday.

 

Old ways and new trends

By Sue Fenwick

Sue Fenwick

I’ve had an old alphabet sampler hanging in my hallway for years.  It’s about 12 inches square, and stitched on linen with white and green thread by a little girl with the initials “EM.”  She used a small amount of indigo blue for the little bird and the initials.  The date, stitched in at the end of the alphabet, is 1830.

Cross stitch used to be a compulsory part of education for girls, who were made to practice their stitches every day.  When supplies were scarce, little girls stitched their alphabets and numbers on linen scraps. They stitched Bible verses, poetry, rudimentary animals, dates and their names or initials on their samplers.   The thread was wool or silk and a natural hue. As technology advanced, fabrics and floss became more readily available. Color dyes became easier to produce, making more colors available.

Cross stitch patterns changed along with the styles of the ages.  It’s fun to pick an era and see what you can find.   The motifs are infinitely varied, from alphabets on linen in 1830 to Chicken Scratch on gingham aprons in the 1950s.

Chocolate Lounge, by Kerry Beary, http://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/84960740/sale-modern-cross-stitch-kit-by-kerry?ref=shop_home_active

The items that were produced reflect the needs of the ages, too, from bellpulls and fireplace screens in the 1800s to aprons and dresser scarves in the 1950s, tissue box covers in the ’70s and cell phone cases today.  Cross stitch has evolved from a utilitarian working stitch to a single-stitch decorative art.

So what’s new in cross stitch these days?  A hot new trend is to be imaginative with your choice of canvas.

Cross-stitch mural by Eline Pellinkhof, http://elinepellinkhof.blogspot.com.

Why get stuck on mesh fabric?  Use a piece of wood with holes drilled in it.  Poke holes in a lampshade and stitch away.  Use a wall and paint on the stitches.  Cross stitch a cane chair.   All these projects are cross stitch but on unusual canvases.

Cross stitch chair, by Cintia Gonzalez-Pell, http://mypoppet.com.au/2012/09/how-to-cross-stitch-chair.html

Contemporary cross stitch on traditional canvas is still as popular as ever.  Today, we see deep colors in wild combinations and asymmetry, which I am learning to love. I think it’s bold and a reflection of our live-outside-the-box era.

While floral and landscapes will never go out of style in the cross stitch world, anything and everything can be stitched on a canvas now.  My daughters are drawn to the complex patterns with rich colors and the “new” retro designs.  Photographic patterns are also very intriguing.  The computer age brings with it the ability to transfer highly accurate, pixilated images into cross stitch patterns.

I must mention the tried-and-true favorites in the historic category.  There are excellent books detailing the stories and intricacies of antique samplers. These books include patterns with directions for new interpretations of these wonderful old pieces of folk art.  Click here to check out the cross stitch books available from Kansas City Star Quilts.

Whatever your style, color preference or project, you can use cross stitch to turn it into something contemporary and fabulous.  So allow yourself to be inspired by the old ways and the new trends, and enjoy the resurgence of cross stitch.

Sue Fenwick is a freelance writer who lives in Springfield, Mo.  She writes every Monday.

Q&A with Lori Brechlin

By Anna Bernard

Anna Bernard

As part of our launch of Star Stitch’s new blog, every week we’re hosting Q&As with each of Star Stitch’s authors. Today, we’re talking with Lori Brechlin of Notforgotten Farm, whose book Autumn at Notforgotten Farm: Needlework Projects to Warm Your Hands and Heart will release this fall.

Lori was born in Connecticut, where she grew up playing in woods surrounded by stone fences and old graveyards. Her love for early needlework came from seeing pieces in my her aunt’s homes and visiting antique shops in New England.

Lori lives in Virginia in an old farmhouse set on 84 acres of woods and fields named Notforgotten Farm, where she creates her designs with needle and thread. Lori’s husband and business partner, Peter, is a master woodworker who creates the wooden frames for her designs from trees on the property. They have one daughter, Hannah, who attends Virginia Commonwealth University.

***

How did you get started cross stitching?

I began to pull thread through linen in 1988, when I was a newlywed with a limited budget. I loved the antique samplers I saw in shops and wanted to replicate them since I couldn’t afford them.  I studied them and found out just how much I loved to cross stitch and how very rewarding handwork is.

Lori Brechlin

Do you have a special place where you cross stitch? Do you have a schedule?

I have a place in my sewing room, in the upstairs of our old farmhouse, where I have a comfy chair and Ott lamp, but I have been known to stitch while waiting in doctor’s offices and teaching perfect strangers how to stitch in waiting rooms. I am fortunate as a business owner to be able to have a flexible enough “schedule” so I can mostly stitch whenever I want to, but I always finish all of my chores here at the farm first before settling in to stitch.

What are your favorite and least favorite parts of cross stitch?

Creating new folky and primitive designs is my most favorite part. Next would be the actual stitching. There is nothing I dislike about cross stitching.

What cross stitch patterns are you most drawn to?

I love antique Pennsylvania German and New England samplers. They speak to me.

What other creative outlets do you have?

I paint on canvas with acrylics and design punch needle and rug hooking patterns. I like to decorate and redecorate my old farmhouse, too. (Poor hubby!)

Any words of wisdom for someone just starting to cross stitch? What’s the best advice you received?

I would say that if you love how a sampler looks, but you’re frustrated by stitching on linen, then practice stitching it on Aida cloth. Get your technique down, get comfortable making those tiny little x’s, then move on to linen. Best advice? Practice makes perfect.

Is there anything you haven’t done that you would like to try?

I really need to experiment more with specialty stitches and maybe incorporate a few into my designs.

What’s your next project?

At the moment, I’m working on holiday/winter themed designs for cross stitch and punch needle.
 
What was your favorite part about writing your cross stitch book?

My most favorite part about writing my book was working with the folks at Kansas City Star (Quilts). My editor, Jenifer Dick, was extremely patient with me and so very helpful. It has been an exciting adventure for me, and I am so thankful for the opportunity to share my love of needlework through the pages of such a beautifully executed book.

How do you connect with other cross stitchers?

I am the founder of an online group called “Samplermakers.”  We have over 600 members worldwide, and the forum is devoted mostly to cross stitchers. Our members include some of the industry’s top professional designers, as well as members who just love to stitch or collect needlework.

We are an open guild, meaning anyone can join. I will gladly send an invitation to those wanting to become a member. Send me an email asking for an invite to not4got@aol.com.

I also have a blog that I update almost daily, where folks come to read about new designs and general goings-on here at Notforgotten Farm. The blog is also linked to my Facebook page.

Anna Bernard is the summer intern at Kansas City Star Quilts.