The official blog of Pepita Needlepoint
I’ve blogged about math-based needlework before. Now I came across Nimble Needle’s needlepoint that she designed based on a Hilbert Curve. Wow, simply elegant. Her use of color in this design is absolutely critical; a mono-color version couldn’t have captured it nearly as well.
Not exactly my cup of tea, but Richard Basset apparently has some new work which he expressed using needlepoint.
Speaking of recycling old needlepoints, here is another interesting idea. Repurpose an old needlepointed project as super cool stitchy shoes! Like Aunt Peaches says, not bad for two bucks!
Hat tip: Dollar Store Crafts Blog.
If you like needlepoint pillows, but don’t want to shell out hundreds of dollars for them, here is a great solution. Browse the web or local yard sales for stitched wall hangings, find one you like, and purchase for a buck or two. Bring it home, pop it out of the frame, and finish as pillow.
Got this wonderful idea from this post by Evie.
I don’t know why I find male needlepointers so fascinating. Here is another he-stitcher in action:
A man will tell me there are 250,962 stitches in this, so they have more of an engineering take on doing needlepoint and that’s why they are so good at it.
Bob Dillard compares needlepoint to paint-by-number and does it while watching football (without keeping his eye off the needle). Check him out.
Ever since I’ve lost all my work to a computer failure way back in the 1990’s, I’ve been careful about backing up my files. It is a pain to remember to do this; it’s much better to get an automated solution that just backs up your files without you having to think about it.
Over the years I’ve used different programs for this, including SecondCopy, FolderShare, and JungleDisk, but now I finally hit upon that best of them all: Dropbox.
This nifty little piece of software is absolutely free. It installs on your PC in a few seconds. It creates a folder on your hard drive called “My Dropbox”. Everything in that folder is instantly backed up to your private “drop box” on the Internet.
In addition, it stores previous versions of your files. So if you were working on an article, and you made some accidental changes, you can retrieve the old file with a few clicks. I just saved my bacon the other day with this function.
Best of all, if you have more than 1 PC, you can install it on all of them, and your Dropbox folder will be synced. That means they all will contain the same files, all the time. Update a document on one PC, and presto! it appears on the other one. This is the single most useful thing about the software for me, since I alternate between my home PC, my work PC, and my spouse’s PC, and now I don’t have to carry or email my files around: they’re always right where they belong.
Dropbox gives you 2 GB of free space (you can pay them for more space if you need it). If you decide to sign up, please use the following link; you (and I) will get a bonus of 250MB extra space.
Some links I collecting from perusing Needlepoint News today:
According to the Frederick News Post, stitching in public has become a hot trend and seeing groups of people working on needlearts projects in coffee shops, on the bus or subway and other public places is becoming a regular sighting.
Clare Kittredge, a New Hampshire health journalist, writes that recent studies link a resurgence in knitting and needlepoint to their stress-reducing effects.
Read an Insider’s View of Fine Cell Work, which we blogged about here.
Are you a student looking to get noticed? Follow the advice of this anonymous female teenage blogger from Portland, Oregon, and adopt needlepoint.
A Virginia Needlewoman (not her real name I’m guessing) ingeniously re-purposed a needlepoint belt featuring pink elephants and martinis into a preppy hat band.
Amazing the information you can pick up while eavesdropping on a conversation between some professional framers. Now we can all go and make our very own needlepoint stretching boards.
If you deal with digital photos, you’ve heard the term “dpi” – but do you really understand it? This fine young man named Mark from Plymouth uses needlepoint canvas thread count to explain it perfectly.
Here are some links I picked up recently from Needlepoint News:
Michelle acquired a stitched floral needlepoint ready for finishing – but needs ideas as to what to use it for!
What does Raymond Crawford, needlepoint designer extraordinaire, do on the side?
Tucker Blair runs a blog. Who knew this and didn’t tell me?
I never heard of Zandra Rhodes before, but apparently she’s a famous fashion designer. And now I know she designs needlepoint too.
How to Clean Needlepoint. Also, Practice Reading while Weaving through Obtrusive Ads.
Lady Ann Tree, who died on August 9th, was a tireless advocate for incarcerated persons in Britain’s prison system. She is perhaps best remembered for innovating the very successful program “Fine Cell Work“, where prisoners create needlepoint works which are then sold to the public.
Lady Anne cited two reasons for focusing on needlepoint in her campaign. Her mother-in-law, Nancy Lancaster, owned the interior designers Colefax and Fowler, so “I had the possibility to sell good-quality needlework for good prices through shops.” She was also convinced that sewing was therapeutic: “It is meditative, a way of thinking, of taking stock.”
After a few years, Fine Cell Work was grossing £200,000 in sales. Today more than 60 volunteers train 400 prisoners, and prison systems in other countries have expressed interest in starting similar programs.
