Pincushions

One of my favorite passions has been pincushions. These days, there are so many new cute ideas that inspire the eye and whet the pallet.

30+ Free Pincushion Patterns : Baby food jar, Teacup, flowerpot,
http://tipnut.com/22-free-pincushion-patterns/

http://www.victorianaquiltdesigns.net/VictorianSewingAccessories.htm

http://www.marthastewart.com/article/homegrown-tomato-pincushions

My new kick is dress form pincushions.

http://www.getcreativeshow.com/seminars/dressform_pincushionpattern2.htm

Wood display bases

http://www.nationalartcraft.com/subcategory.asp?gid=7&cid=86&scid=179

Carousel Pole Kit

http://www.creative-hobbies.com/10259-carousel-pole-kits/

http://glaserceramics.com/accessories-and-components/carousel-pole-kits

http://www.midlanticclay.com/10269-carousel-polesets-for-wind-up-key-shaft/

Needlework books

Hard-to-find Needlework books
http://www.needleworkbooks.com/searchresults.asp?Key=samplers&Con=True

Essamplaire
http://www.theessamplaire.com/

The MadSampler
http://www.madsamplarbooks.com/

Ruth Kern Books
http://www.ruthkernbooks.com/catalogs/embroidery4.html

Van Tassel Baumann Sales : just a wonderful place to be inspired.
http://www.vantasselbaumann.com/id17.html

Books on Samplers from With My Needle.  List of sampler books that look interesting
http://www.oocities.org/with_my_needle/books.html

I live in a cottage and yonder it stands
And while I can work with these two honest hands
I'm as happy as those that have houses and lands.From an American sampler dated 1811.
Don't let the fact that a book is out of print stop you from looking for it! Many used book stores have a craft section where needlework books can be found for bargin prices. Check out shops while traveling and send "wish lists" to friends and family around the country who will help you in your search. This approach to building your sampler library may take some time, but if you are lucky it will enable you to save a lot of money. For those of you who just can't wait here are some dealers specalizing in needlework books. Catalogs may require a fee.


Sampler Designers
http://www.needleworksamplers.com/cgi-bin/sampler_resources.cgi

Blog inspiration from "A Work in Progress"
http://danitorres.typepad.com/workinprogress/2008/05/needlework-insp.html

Needlework Guilds and Shows

Sampler Guild of the Rockies
http://samplerguildoftherockies.org/joomla/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=52&Itemid=58

Tudor Rose Sampler Guild
http://tudorrosesamplerguild.blogspot.com/2010_10_01_archive.html

Quilter's Muse Virtual Museum
http://www.quiltersmuse.com/Samplers.htm

Visiting

Haven't been to my blog in quite awhile. Got a new job and trying to adapt to it.Oh well... pays the bills.

It's December... yaayyy. Taking a few days off to focus on a few things I would like to do. Like organizing the sewing room and figuring out some kind of organizing solution other than stacking stuff "one on top of the other". Areas of focus...

-- Needlework Bookshelf  :  what I have vs what I need to "share" with the world vs what I need to "give away" to the world.
-- Fabric : My sewing room is starting to bust... find people who want to start making quilts and invite them over to shop, help design, cut, sew and come up with a masterpiece. 
-- Boxes : oh gee whiz... figure out what's in those boxes. Can't remember how those boxes even appeared in the sewing room. Must of been one of those insane days.
-- Furniture : the tables are colapsible.... so colapse them please.

Rest of the house...

-- Hall Bathroom... breakdown the tile, bathtub shower. Install a two piece fiberglass unit. Replace vanity drawers...  24" base with one door, 12" drawer unit, 15" drawer unit, 18" base w/ one door. 18" base : install hamper kit.
-- Ornaments : bring in ornament boxes, move the tree case outside, hang the stockings.


Work... this also must be done this month.  Have to finish at least one more tutorial on ASP.NET MVC... and put more energy into learning C#.

Needlework brings together programmers, crafters

Nice story about the Open Source Embroidery exhibition and movement over on Wired.com:
http://www.open-source-embroidery.org.uk/osexhibition.htm
The movement brings together knitters, embroiderers and quilters who see parallels between the way they create their crafts and how open source software creators share their ideas. At the BildMuseet (art museum) at Umeå University in Sweden, an exhibition — also called Open Source Embroidery — showcases artworks that use embroidery and code as a tool for participatory production and distribution.

“The idea of collaboration has been made cool by open source software,” says Carpenter, the curator of the exhibition. “But artists have been working like this for a long time.”

Even the differences between needlework crafts and open source software are alike, she says. Embroidery is largely dominated by women, while software is created mostly by men, she says. In embroidery, tiny stitches come together to create a pattern visible on the front of the fabric, while its system is revealed on the back. It’s similar to how software is created.
The arguments about open source vs. free software can also be applied to embroidery, says Carpenter, where artists struggle with questions around borrowing and modifying patterns. “The Open Source Embroidery project simply attempts to provide a social and practical way of discussing these issues and trying out the practice,” says Carpenter.

WinStitch 2010

Currently using PCStitch for graphed design work but recently, I've been getting motifs in other formats. This usually means having to regraph it into PCStitch to integrate into a design. What I need to search for is a graphing application that converts all types of graph formats.  This looks like something worthwhile to look into.

http://www.ursasoftware.com/WinStitch/WinStitch.html

12/12/2010

Here's a recent take on this software.  I like PCStitch interface much much better. So what's so intriging about this software?

Pro
-- I like the way it takes graphed charts and converts it to look a little like the stitched item.
-- There's a plug-in that needs to be purchased that converts the graph to machine embroidery formats... but read carefully under help.  You have to purchase the add-in for $18.00 from Myria. I didn't read carefully and ended up purchasing Myria Cross for full price  $38.00

Con
-- PC Stitch is a much cleaner interface to work with.

Blogs I found today...

These are some of the blogs I found today...

Tempus Fugit : the blog is in french but I have it under the google translator link
In any case, I love her pictures of the her "Island of Marken". I especially love the colors she chose... olive green, rust, red, blue, rose... kind of "Mary Beale" colors.
http://tempusfugit.over-blog.com/


Yoke Viser : Beautiful gallery of samplers from this designer for 2010
http://translate.googleusercontent.com/translate_c?hl=en&sl=fr&u=http://tempusfugit.over-blog.com/album-1573324.html&prev=/search%3Fq%3Dpoint%2Bde%2Bmarque%26hl%3Den%26prmd%3Dm&rurl=translate.google.com&usg=ALkJrhjkuiuw4YVsfPB-S1vzoppbqpxvAQ

OLD DMC Library Albums
Point de Marque : This is the old DMC Library series made fresh in spiral bound edition.
http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=fr&u=http://albumsdantan.canalblog.com/&ei=m9PtS53CLYysswO1uOHcDw&sa=X&oi=translate&ct=result&resnum=4&ved=0CCgQ7gEwAw&prev=/search%3Fq%3Dpoint%2Bde%2Bmarque%26hl%3Den%26prmd%3Dm

FREBIES : Annuaire des Piquees de fil
http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=fr&u=http://albumsdantan.canalblog.com/&ei=m9PtS53CLYysswO1uOHcDw&sa=X&oi=translate&ct=result&resnum=4&ved=0CCgQ7gEwAw&prev=/search%3Fq%3Dpoint%2Bde%2Bmarque%26hl%3Den%26prmd%3Dm


Oh... word of warning... when the translator is on, it makes your computer go slow... so use wisely or just go to the direct link. Only use the translator is you really want to read their blog.  These are in French.