Some Enabling and Stithcin' Hello (long)

"ellice" wrote

Thanks for these Dawne

Thanks for the comments, Dawne. I really like the Maiden's Fair as well. The Lara one is very reminiscent of "Dr Zhivago" . We've sold a handful, and it's been great fun putting together some interesting fabrics for these. I think someone is doing the scarey Knightmare on a deep grey spooky overdyed fabric. Someone else doing the Peacock on "Mello" from PTP, but with gorgeous overdyed silks - only 2 colors and a metallic for some fun. We sent the Bird of Paradise to one of our sample stitchers, and it'll be interesting to see how it looks when it comes back - I've forgotten the colors we sent. The designs certainly are distinctive - and have some real variety in style.

Ellice

I really like these charts, and yes, especially the "Mermaid's Folly." But the others are also lovely. Someone had posted the pelican one last week, and I really liked it then. Glad to see the rest of this designer's line.

Thanks for posting, Ellice, and stop in more often! (Then again, I don't know if I can *afford* to have you stop in more often....)

Sue

thanks for the links--added them to my favorites. Really liked the Twister Design..

I have been in your shop and was amazed at the amount of stuff in such a small space...lovely things to look at and drool over...

Panel:

color.http://tinyurl.com/2jyweu>> The piece itself is 13.5" X 13.5" (on 18" stretchers). On canvas - it was> huge. One of our local stitchers did it herself, and said it took 6 months,> so we figured an 8 month class would be fun - and hopefully we'll all be> done for the holidays next winter.>

Those are really interesting pieces. I like all the birds, but that Knightmare really caught my eye. It looks like a cross between a cathedral gargoyle and an effigy from a knight's tomb. I know someone who'd enjoy that piece, too. It might be an excellent birthday present.

Louisa

ellice, I'm intrigued by the handiclamps you mentioned in a post. I recently returned an Edmunds scroll frame that was advertised as being simple to attach fabric to (ugh ... what a sentence!!!!) I couldn't get the dowels back into the side array once fabric was inserted.

Has anyone else used them? Might they fall prey to same disease Qsnaps succumb to with the clamp thingies loosening over time?

You're welcome. It really is stunning when finished, but I think is one of those acts of patience. Hence, the reason to do is as a long class.

LOL - the biggest thing I did when I started working there is get as much as possible off the floor. Shop is really full of stuff - for a while we were thinking of suspending things in doorways -but fortunately that hasn't happened. Glad you liked it - I try to move stuff around a bit so that things get seen - since it is a bit, er, "stuffed" . Come and visit - and ccertainly feel free to come and stitch...

Ellice

I totally thought of you when I saw it. Especially knowing your penchant for big projects. Sara Leigh said the models were stunning.

Hey, I won't do so much enabling on a regular basis.... Back to normal chat

- more or less - if one can say that here. Besides - you have Sittching Post so close for enabling (and my card is about full, too)

Ellice

Yup, they are definitely interesting. My informal survey is people either really are caught by them - in the positive "oooh & aaah" or totally dislike them - with view in the middle. Not so often that needlework charts bring about such strong polar kind of reactions. I'm used to a lot of "it's nice but not calling to me" from people.

Your knightmare description is pretty accurate - though the shape of the face looks kind of like a duck head. It has certainly had us finding some cool fabric/thread combinations.

Ellice

They're nice to use. I think the Edmunds frames are a more, er, economical, alternative. The shop owner really likes scroll rods, so we have a bunch of them from different places - the ones with special velcro, the ones with the slots that are held together with elastic bands, the standard ones that come with the Lap frames - and have the very heavy fabric, and these Handi-Clamps. So far, no issues with the Handi-Clamps.

That said, WRT Q-snap loosening, and these, we have some of the rubbermaid grippy open-weave looking shelf-lines. You can put a strip of that inside the Q-snap cover (between clamp and fabric) and it will HOLD tight. We actually keep some in the shop, and folks with older Q-snaps who have the loosening problem, have used it with success. Personally, I've not had that problem with any of my Q-snaps, but then again, I rotate around, and tend to loosen (rotate the covers inward) mine when I'm not stitchin. And, I also am not a stitcher that stretches fabric overly tight. But, I've seen plenty of the stretched out covers.

Anyhow, I've had a set of the handi-clamps which I had up in the shop as I stitched a Kit'nBixby Halloween thing for months. So far so good. The diameter of the wood rods seems to be slightly less than the PVC snaps inners - so maybe that helpss. So far, we haven't had any customers with the loosening problem on the handi-clamps, but that doesn't mean it won't happen!

I think Donna may have some as well - but won't swear to it.

Ellice

I haven't experimented with the handi-clamps yet. Other things moved ahead of Martina Dey's Tsunami Charity sampler in the queu. The clamps are still in the package. Oh well.

But other solution that used to go around for loose Q-snaps is put the clamp piece in the top rack of a dishwasher. I've never had to try it, but know people who swear it worked.

Donna in Virginia

I totally disliked them, except for Lara which I find enchanting and Knightmare which is intriguing. The others leave me cold, but that's ok.

Elizabeth

I really like Lara and there is an Art Deco piece I like.

Pweaonally, I'm probably most in agreement with Elizabeth. I like the Lara piece. The Knightmare is definitely intriquing - but I'm waiting to see one done - it looks kind of creepy to me. I think you're thinking of the 3 Maidens, which I thought was kind of charming, as well - similar in look to the Lara piece. The Mermaid's Folly - the close-up picture looks quite historical - as in the grotesques of the faces in the picture (not the mermaid). For the rest - well, they really did nothing for me, but, hey - I'm not the shop owner, so I didn't buy'em.

I'm waiting to see the ones that look like the sketches done from a 10-20 minute pose in a figure drawing class. The designer gave out photos - the charts weren't ready. I just looked at my boss and shrugged - heck, my own stuff from art class looks better than these, and I would never consider charting them. However, her reply to my shrug/comment was "well, some people like nudes - so we'll see." Some definitely interesting stuff out there. As with our reading, just showes we all have different tastes.

Ellice - who appreciates the comments

I agree with Elizabeth on these designs. I don't really care for the color or the style. They were all rather depressing to me.

There was something oddly familiar about Three Maidens and I finally realized they reminded me of the queens and ladies in the Wizard of Oz books (not the first one, but the other 6 or 7 of them), the ones with John R. Neill as the illustrator. *Very* similar in style.

Joan

Hmm, interesting catch. We were talking about this in the shop yesterday. I told the owner about my "informal" survey. We've definitely concluded it's a bathtub curve. People tend to really like them, really dislike them with a few in the middle who kind of like some, kind of dislike some.

One of the hardest things in the shop with ordering is remembering that it's for our customers, not ourselves. So, sometimes I have to force the boss to order something that is definitely not her style, but I'm sure will sell - and usually it works. OTOH, things neither of us like at all (poorly done, redundant, etc) we just don't get. If I really, really, dislike something - she may not get it, but if it's a quirky thing that she really like it'll still come. There's one designer that we have tons of stuff from - not depressing - just a bit quirky - that the boss loves - and for the most part, only she and 1 of the regulars that is a friend of hers - stitch any of them. So, I'm prone to joking about us being the Western Hemisphere distributor for said designer. And sure enough, while we have a lot of this stuff - doesn't she come home with a bunch more from Nashville.

We've sold several of these Courtney Collection pieces; personally, I think that the rest will be with us for quite a while - or at least until a stitched sample appears and looks really good.

Ellice

Whereas I loved them, as did a friend who saw them at the LNS. THe shop=owner is ordering them for us (and a few extra.) I'm getting Knightmare, Lara, Three Maidens and Pelican. I think I need a whole box of Needlepoint Silk (black) too!

Alison

LOL - that's exactly, and I mean exactly, the group that one of my regulars bought....

Ellice