NEEDLEPOINT STITCH GUIDES

Southwestern Design Exclusives UPDATED

2012-02-02T12:02:00.002-05:00

Quail Run has a series of exclusive canvases with stitch guides that exemplify the spirit of the Southwest. If you are looking for such a design and want a guide, this is the place to start browsing.
http://www.quailrun-inc.com/southwest-designs-607.htm

UPDATE: Make sure you read the Comment from Quail Run, then we can all go over and read their newsletter.
http://www.quailrun-inc.com/newsletter.htm

All Kitted Out

2012-01-24T10:53:00.000-05:00

BeStitched in Arizona is starting to offer kits that come with the canvas, threads and a Julia Snyder stitch guide. To see what they have available now (January 2012) head to their blog.
http://bestitchedneedlepoint.com/2012/01/

New Things are appearing all the time.
http://bestitchedneedlepoint.com/beautiful-mermaid/

Watch Out! Shoguns!!!

2012-01-23T12:26:00.002-05:00

Yoritomo, the First Shogun of Japan (Leigh Designs)

My latest stitch guide is for the newest of Leigh Designs--the Shogun series. I stitched Yoritomo, the first Shogun of Japan, to act as a model for the January 2012 TNNA show in Phoenix.

Three Backgrounds, All in Two Shades of Perle Cotton

He set up the Shogunate in 12th Century Japan but his descendants didn't rule for long. Other samurai families took over to rule shortly for seven hundred years. You can see some of the most famous of them in Leigh's series depicting this warlike but cultured ruling class. By the way, the symbols in the background are all mons, or the family crests for each Shogun.
http://www.LeighDesigns.com/Sgl7150.html

http://www.LeighDesigns.com/Grp715x.html

Then There Is Fabulous Armor--And BEADS!

The stitch guide for Yoritomo is available from Leigh Designs or directly from me. Click on the CLICK HERE TO BUY STITCH GUIDES link above for more details.

Free Stitch Guides For Barbara Bergsten Canvases UPDATED

2012-01-14T11:50:00.000-05:00

Barbara Bergsten Designs offers free stitch guides for all her canvases on her website. The site also has free charted alphabets, diagrams of the stitches used in her guides, and a project sheet to print out and use for your own notes as you stitch.
http://www.barbarabergstendesigns.com/stitch_guides.htm

UPDATE: Barbara explains a bit about her free guides on her blog.
http://createneedlepoint.typepad.com/create_needlepoint/2011/01/painted-stitches-needlepoint.html

UPDATE #2: A glimpse at the stitch diagrams and instructions in one of Barbara's guides.
http://createneedlepoint.typepad.com/create_needlepoint/2012/01/needlepoint-stitches.html

Ewe and Eye Stitch Guides

2012-01-11T06:00:00.002-05:00

I don't often see Ewe and Eye canvases that come with a stitch guide, so I thought The Lawn Mowers canvas that has a stitch guide available from Amy Bunger would be a great posting here. Many thanks to Stephanie for talking about this and providing great photos on her blog!
http://stephsstitching.blogspot.com/2012/01/lawnmowers-by-ewe-and-eye.html

http://stephsstitching.blogspot.com/2012/01/lawn-mowers-by-ewe-and-eye.html

http://stephsstitching.blogspot.com/2012/01/lawn-mowers-by-ewe-and-eye_11.html

http://stephsstitching.blogspot.com/2012/01/last-of-lawn-mowers-for-now.html
Stephanie says this is a Karen Cruden design. Here it is on the Ewe and Eye website.
http://www.eweandeyeandfriends.com/html/larger_view.php?currentPage=1&recordId=992&artistSearch=Karen+Cruden

You can find pricing for the canvas, thread kit and stitch guide on Amy's stitch guide catalogue.
http://www.amybunger.com/f/catalog1-37.pdf

Marching Right Along With More Holiday Marches (Tapestry Tent)

2012-01-06T06:30:00.000-05:00

If you are a fan of the Tapestry Tent holiday march canvases (designed by Liz's daughter Ashley), you'll be thrilled to hear that two new holidays have been added to the mix--Fourth of July and Thanksgiving. (These canvases will be released at the January 2012 TNNA trade show by Susan Roberts Needlepoint.) You can see the canvases here, as well as Michele's announcement that she is going to do stitch guides for both canvases.
http://bristlythistle.wordpress.com/2012/01/05/new-marches-from-tapestry-tent/

Amy Bunger is going to do guides for both canvases, too. So now you can choose the style that matches your own style best when picking a stitch guide.
http://www.amybunger.com/f/Amy_s_e-newsletter_January_2012.pdf

These canvases are distributed by Susan Roberts but their website is undergoing changes. That makes the best place to see the designs (and buy Michele's stitch guide) the Bristly Thistle shop which carries all the earlier pieces and has guides for them.
http://www.bristlythistle.com/ttmarch.html

Amy Bunger has done a stitch guide for all three of the earlier canvases, too. I found them in her stitch guide catalogue. So now you have no excuse to not sit down and start marching with your needle!
http://www.amybunger.com/f/catalog75-107.pdf

Associated Talents Offers Free Stitch Guides

2011-12-25T06:00:00.002-05:00

Associated Talents has started putting free stitch guides on their website. Not only is this good news for owners of these canvases, any stitcher who wants to learn Don Lynch's basketweave beading technique can do so just from looking at the PDF stitch guide for any piece that uses this technique, such as the Plaid-Pumpkins-Dots Candy Corn ornament.

http://www.atneedlepoint.com/CanvasLookup.asp?Category=Guides

Don is busy writing up a description of his basketweave beading technique but don't expect that to be available until after the January 2012 TNNA show. There is just too much for Don to do to get ready for that right now!

Hannukah Stitch Guides

2011-12-21T06:00:00.000-05:00

Kreinik has posted stitch guides for several fun Hannukah items (menorahs and dreidels) on their website. You'll have to pick up the Stitch-a-Pens or the painted canvases from either Kreinik or Gone Stitching, but the instructions and stitch guides are available free of charge here. The instructions are downloadable PDF files, so you can download and print them out to stitch at your convenience. Happy Hannukah!
http://www.kreinik.com/kshop/home.php?cat=399

By the way, here is the Gone Stitching website. It's full of Jewish themed canvases in case you are looking for something special. Pay special attention to the Stitch Guides section in the header bar. Clicking on it will take you to painted canvases that come with their own stitch guide.
http://www.gonestitching.net/

Amy Bunger's Stitch Guide Catalogue

2011-12-01T10:10:00.013-05:00

After a lot of work, Amy Bunger's staff has compiled a listing of stitch guides she has created over the years and offer them for sale to anyone who buys the canvas and/or the thread kit from Amy. The announcement and all the details are in Amy's November 2011 newsletter.
http://www.amybunger.com/f/Amy_s_e-newsletter_November_2011.pdf

Amy has also finished a new guide for another of the small Labors of Love birds. This time it's a flamingo. These small canvases and cheap guides are a great introduction to Amy's guides at a good price. Amy is now turning her attention to Kirk and Hamilton's small Halloween poison bottles to add to her collection of small canvases with cheap guides. It's a great way to treat yourself with a bit of Amy at a reasonable price.
http://www.amybunger.com/albums/album_image/6819545/7511823.htm

Besides all of the above, Robin King's stitch guides have been broken out into a separate page on the Amy Bunger website. Now fans of Robin's work can go straight there to see if she's worked on that canvas they are lusting after.
http://www.amybunger.com/robin_king_stitch_guides.html

Here's the link to Amy's most recent stitch guides. The bulk of her work will be in the catalogue, however. Amy's staff will have the newest stitch guides here but older guides will be in the catalogue which you can access from this page.
http://www.amybunger.com/custom_stitch_guides.html

Note that I have never been able to get the individual sections to open with photos. That space is always blank. It's a quirk of my computer setup probably. I always go straight to the host site to see the catalogue. If you are having the same problem, go here instead. You will have to hunt a little to find each section as they are in no particular order, but at least you can see the thumbnail photos so you know that the canvas you have (or want) is the one Amy did a guide for. The controls are at the top of the page once you open a section.
http://issuu.com/amybunger

A few more details about how this will all work are in my earlier article on Amy's catalogue.
http://chstitchguides.blogspot.com/2011/08/amy-bunger-opens-her-stitch-guide.html

A Range of Stitch Guides from Needlenook of La Jolla

2011-12-01T09:57:00.000-05:00

As one of the larger online shops, Needlenook of La Jolla has a nice search function. You can go to their main catalogue, then put "stitch guide" in the Search tab on the right to see what canvases with stitch guides they have available. Some stitch guides are extra, some are included with the canvas at no extra charge. Read each listing you are interested in with care to discover which category the guide you want is in.
http://www.needlenookoflajolla.com/storedir/categories.php

ABS Designs with Stitch Guides

2011-11-22T06:00:00.006-05:00

Anne Stradal's lovely designs are very simply drawn and painted, but brought to life by the stitch choices she makes. She stitches a lot of models for her pieces--let me tell you, a display of forty or so little lighthouse ornaments will knock you socks off!--but until now most of her pieces didn't have stitch guides to let a stitcher reproduce them exactly as Anne stitched them.

The operative words are "until now." For the set of four gentlemen's outfits which she calls Savile Row, Anne is having stitch guides created by Sue Dulle. Hurrah! You can see two of the designs at the link below. There's an Irish country gentleman (Liam) in an Argyle sweater and wool scarf, and Reggie the tennis pro dressed to play in a warm up jacket.
http://thecapestitcher.blogspot.com/2011/11/more-stitch-guide-news.html

The third is the city gentleman Oliver in a Fair Isle vest, and the fourth is Cecil the dandy.
http://thecapestitcher.blogspot.com/2011/11/just-in-time-for-thanksgiving.html

http://thecapestitcher.blogspot.com/2011/12/cecil-steps-out.html

When they are all finished and on her website I'll update this article with a photo of all four. Until then, here's the site for general browsing fun.
http://www.absdesignsonline.com/

Robin King's Creepy Creatures Set Guides: A Review

2011-11-03T08:03:00.000-04:00

Needlepoint.com of Raleigh, NC has been stitching Robin King's Creeps which are a set of Halloween character ornaments shaped like candy corn. The shop blog posted an article after they finished each character and then posted a review of the whole experience once they finished. Here's the review.
http://www.needlepoint.com/blog/?p=875

The individual articles have tips for stitching each character. If you are stitching these also, check out the article on each character.
Fraidy Cat-
http://www.needlepoint.com/blog/?p=868

Dracula-
http://www.needlepoint.com/blog/?p=862

Ghost-
http://www.needlepoint.com/blog/?p=847

Mehitabel (witch)-
http://www.needlepoint.com/blog/?p=837

Spider Queen-
http://www.needlepoint.com/blog/?p=803

Frankenstein-
http://www.needlepoint.com/blog/?p=796

Halloween Parade

2011-10-31T06:00:00.000-04:00

Vicky DeAngelis shows off the Halloween Parade House with all the trick or treaters on her blog in honor of today. Vicky did the stitch guide for the set which is designed by Needle Deeva. The charming group of kids and the house can be done separately or as a set.
http://mostlyneedlepoint.com/10/17/decorating-for-halloween-deeva-style/

The Needle Deeva website has even better photos of each and every little kid and decorated house they are all visiting. Ask your shop to order if you are interested.
http://www.needledeeva.com/stitch_guides.html

Cupcake, Anyone?

2011-10-08T06:00:00.000-04:00

The Needle Deeva website has been updated with a photo that shows finished models for her Halloween cupcake series, which come with a stitch guide from Cynthia Thomas so you too can "bake" a perfect batch. The round canvases are based on the Halloween Creepy Characters series, so if you find candy corn-shaped ornaments not to your liking, you have options.
http://www.needledeeva.com/albums/album_image/8101479/7314235.htm

This link shows the original Creeps. These come with a stitch guide by Robin King. Sort of like choosing between chocolate cupcakes or red velvet ones, isn't it? There are choices but I love both!
http://needlepointstudyhall.blogspot.com/2011/06/creepy-characters-group-photos.html

Welcome to Fall

2011-09-24T06:00:00.000-04:00

Robin King celebrates the Fall Equinox this week with a little article about her Debbie Mumm Harvest Fairy stitch guide. You can read all about the canvas and finishing and learn just how to order the canvas and stitch guide from Melissa Shirley and Robin herself by clicking here.
http://needlepointstudyhall.blogspot.com/2011/09/harvest-fairy-autumnal-equinox.html

Happy Harvest, everyone!

My Miko Stitch Guide Is Now Available

2011-09-23T06:00:00.001-04:00

Miko Stitch Guide Now Available

The second stitch guide in a series of three Fash Inserts** from Leigh Designs I'm stitching is available from me now. This piece is called Miko and I had great fun stitching her. Miko was designed to be inserted in the Lee nylon tote bag (see photo below),

but she's willing to be framed or made into a standup paperweight for your desk if you prefer. Covered in beads and sequins and with a beaded background, she's quite a charmer. Your shop can order the canvas and the stitch guide from Leigh Designs for you or you can add the stitch guide alone to your collection of reference materials by contacting me at sgfromchnp at gmaildotcom.

**Smilin' Jack the pumpkin and the Tea House are the others in the series I'm doing for Leigh Designs. Smilin' Jack is finished and the stitch guide for him is now available. You can see all the Fash Inserts available from Leigh at the LD website.
http://www.leighdesigns.com/Grp761x.html

Julia's Needleworks Has Guides

2011-09-09T11:26:00.000-04:00

Julia represents a great many wonderful painted canvas designers (Peter Ashe, AGA, JB Designs, JHL Designs, etc.) and has free guides for a few of these canvases posted on the Julia's Needleworks website. Browse here and see if your Julia piece has a free guide available.
http://needleworks.ehclients.com//index.php/julia/stitch-guides

The Cat's Out of the Bag...

2011-09-07T08:56:00.000-04:00

September/October 2011 Issue of Needlepoint Now

...and the magazines are in the mail. My complimentary copies of the September/October 2011 issue of Needlepoint Now arrived yesterday and guess what's inside?

Yes, Temple of 1000 Cranes is one of the featured canvases! My stitch guide for this piece is included so you can stitch this beautiful Leigh Designs fantasy pagoda. Or if you are stitching one of the other seven in the set, crib ideas from my pagoda for yours. Haven't seen these yet? Here's the link to Leigh's website.
http://www.leighdesigns.com/Grp714x.html

I still sell the full guide (my version is 22 pages while NP Now managed to squeeze everything into 4 since we omitted a lot of photos and the essay on light coverage stitching) but most folks will want to pick up a copy of the magazine since that will be cheaper than buying the guide. You will want a copy of this issue anyway since there are guides by Robin King (a darling owl ornament for Halloween), a charted patriotic apple by Susan Chaleff, Amy Wolfson (whom you know as AmyBear) charts her first wonderful design--Dan'l Webster frog, Shirley White charts an elegant Christmas ball, Debroah Forney does a geometric pattern based on Chinese ethnic patterns, Debbie Stiehler does a Chinese coin purse that has a fabulous background pattern perfect for Asian-themed pieces, and the legendary Susan Portra does a guide for the cover canvas. Oh, and Laura Perin contributes the first step in a small three part pattern that is old gold and purple with touches of other harvest colors. Then there are the regular articles on new products, how to use common stitches in unusual ways and how to use them to build a complex design, and of course The Spinister Stitcher makes an appearance. It's just a wonderful issue and I am thrilled to be included.

I've kept this secret since last January. How is that possible?!

Enjoy.

Carolyn Hedge Baird UPDATED AGAIN

2011-09-02T06:00:00.001-04:00

The author of Merry Needlepoint, Needlepointing in Your Nest, and other needlepoint books, Carolyn Baird also sells stitch guides for various Melissa Shirley canvases. Currently the guides sell for $35 each (plus shipping) on eBay except Circus Dogs is $25. They can also be purchased through Chaparral Needlepoint in Texas which is where Carolyn teaches six days a week. Look under "Accessories and Books" on the Chaparral website to see the guides and prices they have and under "About Us" to see a short bio of Carolyn. To reach Carolyn herself about her guides, email her at NeedlepointingInYourNest@gmail.com.
http://www.ndlpt.com/

Carolyn has posted images of pieces she has stitch guides written for on her Facebook page. Search for Needlepoint in Your Nest and then look at the photo albums entitled Stitch Guides Available for Sale to see the latest. Please note that Carolyn has multiple albums that show her guides. Facebook won't let her consolidate all the pieces she's done stitch guides for in one place, sadly.
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.1924538917199.2100474.1353909662

UPDATE: Melissa Shirley just announced the latest series of stitch guides by Carolyn on the Melissa Shirley Designs Facebook page: the Little Witch series. Don't miss Carolyn's comments below as to prices for her guides.
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=324384&id=370199729251

Here is a profile of Carolyn written by Janet Perry in 2006.
http://www.nuts-about-needlepoint.com/carolyn-hedge-baird-designer-profile

Melissa Shirley has added a brief profile of Carolyn to her stitch guides page on her MSD website.
http://melissashirleydesigns.com/galcol/index.cgi?index=1311383453_23059&col=158

An incomplete list of Melissa Shirley canvases that have Baird guides is below. Any pricing is what Carolyn says that guide costs at Chaparral. Retail prices vary slightly, but Carolyn says $20 is the average cost of one of her guides.

1) A Rainbow of Stitches for Melissa Shirley's Noah's Ark and Animals
2) Merry Easter Eggs (stitches for Easter, not for any particular designer)
3) Wacky Stitches for Melissa Shirley's Wacky Halloween Houses
4) Melissa Shirley Circus Dogs
5) Melissa Shirley's Valentine Victorians ($10 each)
6) Melissa Shirley's Pilgrim Kids
7) Melissa Shirley's Little Witch series
8) Melissa Shirley's 4th of July Pig ($25)
9) Cooper Oaks bee skip
10) Chaparral's Merry Christmas letters series
11) Melissa Shirley mermaid and school of fish
12) Political Animals--Democratic donkey and Republican elephant stand ups

Amy Bunger Opens Her Stitch Guide Library

2011-08-31T22:31:00.001-04:00

Amy's just announced that she is soon going to release 8-10 years' worth of custom stitch guides she's written for purchase. The details are in Amy's September 2011 newsletter.
http://www.amybunger.com/f/Amy_s_e-newsletter_September_2011.pdf

Amy's done a lot of guides over the years and many canvases may be no longer available, but since you might have one she wrote a guide for hidden away, waiting for just this opportunity, make sure you check out the lists (which will be PDF files you download from her website that are updated periodically) when Amy makes them available. The process will be for customers to email Amy asking about a guide in case it uses a lot of threads which are no longer available. She'll have to update the guide in that case and might even have to borrow your canvas to do this. The guides will be available for purchase with the purchase of the canvas or the thread kit, or both, just like the new custom guides currently listed on Amy's website (link below).
http://www.amybunger.com/custom_stitch_guides.html

ABS Designs Stitch Guide

2011-08-26T10:04:00.001-04:00

The Ring Bearer Pillow

Anne Stradal has just announced a lace ring bearer's pillow she showed off in her column in the July/August 2011 issue of Needlepoint Now has a stitch guide by Sue Dulle available. The gorgeous "lace" border is based on Judy Harper's lace patterns and is just fabulous, whether you have a wedding in your future or not.
http://thecapestitcher.blogspot.com/2011/08/stitch-guide-news.html

Why You Should Collect Stitch Guides

2011-08-24T10:05:00.000-04:00

The Front Range Stitcher's using a stitch guide by Tony Minieri she found in the July/August 2011 Needlepoint Now to stitch a very similar Mindy canvas.
http://frontrangestitches.blogspot.com/2011/08/mindys-whimsical-christmas-flowers.html

I collect stitch guides just for this reason--to use the ideas on similar canvases. Not many of us will be lucky enough to find a guide for a canvas very much like our own, but we all can use great backgrounds, hair stitches, a really cool clothing idea, etc. on our own designs. Stitch guides are done by folks with a lot of experience. Why not tap into that expertise by collecting guides from folks whose work you admire?

PFOS' New Stitch Guide

2011-08-19T12:20:00.000-04:00

Pocket Full of Stitches has just posted photos of the newest finished canvas done from one of their guides. The elephant canvas is from Maggie and it's wonderful!
http://pocketfullofstitches.blogspot.com/2011/08/maggies-elephant.html

Smilin' Jack Stitch Guide Available

2011-08-15T08:00:00.000-04:00

Smilin' Jack

I've finished the first of three Fash Insert canvases from Leigh Design and a stitch guide is now available. Smilin' Jack is his name and charm is his game!
http://www.leighdesigns.com/Grp761x.html

Smilin' Jack in the Lee Nylon Tote

The Fash Insert line is a series of 8 1/2 by 4 inch canvases on 18 count meant to be used in Lee's nylon totes. But of course you can finish these canvases any way you like.

Leigh specifically asked for simple but elegant stitch guides, so all three of the Fash Insert guides I plan will be significantly shorter and cheaper than my usual stitch guide. To make Smilin' Jack elegant I used lots of beads and silks and metallic threads. He's a pretty quick stitch, too, and is meant to be a seasonal touch for your purse to be switched out for a new design once Christmas is here or spring time makes you want something more pastel and feminine.

Email me at sgfromchnp at gmail dot com to order a Smilin' Jack guide. If you are a shop, wholesale pricing is available.

Aristeia Stitch Guide Tidbit

2011-08-14T11:08:00.000-04:00

Several years before the Chilly Hollow Stitch Guides Blog was born, I did a quick review of the stitch guides that Wendy Harwood of Aristeia did. Here's the link. There's a random photo of a page from one of Wendy's guide in the slide snow.
http://chillyhollownp.blogspot.com/2009/04/interview-with-ruth-dilts-plus-stash.html

Vicky DeAngelis, Stitcher Extraordinarie

2011-08-10T06:00:00.000-04:00

I first noticed Vicky DeAngelis’ work through studying the photos of Exhibit winners on the ANG website. Have you seen these? If you haven’t explored this site, or if it has been a while, take a nice long look at the wonderful work on display.

http://www.needlepoint.org/whatis.php

Vicky has a huge number of blue ribbons from ANG Seminar Exhibits. Look at what she did with Brenda Hart’s assistance with this Sandra Gilmore canvas.

http://www.needlepoint.org/WhatIs/2002/midori.php

Check out the gorgeous patterns on this stylized kimono piece from Terry Enfield.

http://www.needlepoint.org/WhatIs/1998/DeAngelisKimono.php

And on this one from the same designer.

http://www.needlepoint.org/WhatIs/1998/DeAngelisDream.php

And look at what she did to create this wonderful Tapestry Tent cat portrait with the help of David McCaskill.

http://www.needlepoint.org/WhatIs/2001/lazy_cat.php

If you are a Christmas fan, you’ll be amazed at the Kelly Clark seasonal Santa collection she did.

http://www.needlepoint.org/WhatIs/2008/images/4010p-1st%20&%20christmas%20them.jpg

In case you think she can only do the fancy stuff, check out this all basketweave geisha portrait.

http://www.needlepoint.org/WhatIs/2007/images/4003-22.jpg

Clearly this is a stitcher who is wildly talented. I am happy to say that Vicky is now creating stitch guides for Needle Deeva and for Ruth Schmuff. The first link shows off her Needle Deeva pieces.

http://www.needledeeva.com/stitch_guides.html

The second shows models from last June’s trade show while the third shows off the latest Needle Deeva hearts to be released at the Baltimore trade show next week.

http://needlepointstudyhall.blogspot.com/2011/07/cute-models-from-needledeeva.html

http://mostlyneedlepoint.com/08/05/needle-deeva-is-getting-ready-for-tnna-2/

Vicky is the author of the Silly Sassy Sparkly Sock club that Ruth is sponsoring. This is coming to a shop near you this fall.

http://www.bedeckedandbeadazzled.com/clubs.php

She’s also stitching a series of Pixies for Ruth’s Just For Fun line of canvases. First up was the dishwashing pixie (Don’t I wish I had one of those!)....

http://mostlyneedlepoint.com/06/19/the-dishes-are-done/

....immediately followed by the needlepointing pixie, who apparently comes out at night to stitch those miles of background! I need one of those, too.

http://mostlyneedlepoint.com/06/26/shes-finished/

I’m sure this is just the beginning of great things from Vicky when it comes to stitch guides. Did I mention she works for Needlepoint Now magazine, helping turn out the fabulous stitch guides for the various painted canvases that come in each and every issue of the magazine?

A multi-talented lady indeed.

Amy Bunger Guides on the Cheap

2011-08-02T10:18:00.000-04:00

Stitch guides from Amy Bunger are pretty expensive, but she's started doing short guides that are only $15 with the purchase of either the canvas or the thread kit (or both) for the double-sided clip on bird canvases from Labors of Love. The bird canvases themselves cost between $60-75, depending on how large they are and whether they come with a Tony Minieri stitch guide. (Amy's working on some that don't already have a Tony guide so there's no overlap, sadly. Having both Tony and Amy working the same bird would be a great treat and quite an education! ) Here's Amy's announcement. She's done the Baltimore Oriole already and is starting on the peacock.
http://www.amybunger.com/f/Amy_s_e-newsletter_August_2011.pdf

If you want to see the entire flock of canvases, visit the Labors of Love website.
http://www.laborsofloveneedlepoint.com/gallery.php?category=53

Reviewing Robin King's Stitch Guides

2011-08-01T06:15:00.000-04:00

Robin King kindly sent me a PDF version of her stitch guide for Kelly Clark's Katt Z. Witch canvas from Kelly's Halloweenies series for review. This little Halloween witch is 7 3/4 inches high by 5 3/4 inches wide on 18 count canvas. I've seen the bare canvas in person as well as a hard copy of the stitch guide and I must say, Robin's stitched details add a lot to the teenaged witch's personality. The stitch guide is printed on white paper and is inside a large plastic bag to keep it pristine. The shop I saw it at sells both the canvas and the guide for one price, but your local shop may sell them separately.
http://www.amybunger.com/catalog/item/6292564/7740392.htm

The guide is twelve pages long. The cover page has a large full color picture of the finished model and the last page lists all the threads and other supplies needed to follow Robin's instructions grouped by manufacturer. This makes it easy to buy all the threads you don't have or to have the canvas kitted up for you by your local shop.

Of the remaining ten pages, three are crammed full of stitch diagrams which are large and easy to read. Not all the diagrams are numbered, however, so some stitches such as crescents will have to be looked up in another stitch book if you don't already know the thread sequence needed to create them. There are good diagrams for unusual techniques such as picots and needle weaving but Robin also directs stitchers to the "How You Do That?" technique DVD #7 called "Techniques of Needleweaving" from Amy Bunger/Kelly Clark for more information about how to weave sections of your canvas. Could an experienced stitcher do needleweaving without buying the DVD? Sure, unless you happen to be one of the folks who learns from watching others. Then you will certainly want the DVD but it will be helpful for anyone who wants to try this on other projects.
http://www.amybunger.com/catalog/item/6256888/7437353.htm

The instructions themselves are clear and concise. They cover 6 1/2 pages and would have been shorter except that Robin includes plenty of close-up photos of each section to help you work it properly. (I counted 27 small close-ups.) The last page of instructions has a complete list of stitches used and a reference section of helpful books and DVDs, most of which are by Amy Bunger. (Robin works for Amy and is part of the production team that produces Amy's DVDs.)

Each section of the guide tells you what to do where and with what thread. This is important because 64 different threads, silk ribbon, memory wire, 22 gauge wire, invisible thread, three colors of beads plus two findings are needed to exactly copy Robin's stitching. The instructions will enable you to replicate the wonderful portrait Kelly Clark created and Robin King brought to life, however.

If all Robin's guides are this quality, they will be wonderful additions to your stitching library, whether you actually stitch the canvas they describe or not.

For more information about the stitch guides currently available from Robin King, read yesterday's posting on her guides.
http://chstitchguides.blogspot.com/2010/06/robin-king-stitch-guides.html

A Guide to Robin King's Stitch Guides

2011-07-31T09:40:00.009-04:00

Besides working on stitch guides for Amy Bunger, Robin King teaches at Amy's shop and also has started branching out to do stitch guides for other designers' canvases. You may also know that Robin works behind the scenes producing Amy Bunger's How You Do That? series on DVDs. She also designs and maintains websites in her spare time! Recently Robin updated the Needlepoint Study Hall blog with a list of her available commerical and custom stitch guides by designer. This is a work in progress and isn't complete yet but it worth bookmarking and keeping an eye on.
http://needlepointstudyhall.blogspot.com/p/stitch-guides-by-robin-king.html

Robin wears both her webmaster and her stitch guide writer hats for Needle Deeva. She's created the famous Creepy Creatures monthly club for Needle Deeva that will be in the shops starting this fall and is teaching a new Creep that I call Bones that isn't part of the club at Ruth Schmuff's shop this fall. She will also teach one of the original Creeps at the TNNA show in August to shop owners.
http://needlepointstudyhall.blogspot.com/2011/06/creepy-characters-group-photos.html

http://www.bedeckedandbeadazzled.com/visitingTeachers.php

Here's a shop review of the Creepy Creatures set.
http://www.needlepoint.com/blog/?p=875

Here's the Needle Deeva website, with a listing of all the stitch guides available from folks like Robin, Debbie Bowers, Vicky DeAngelis, and Cynthia Thomas. Remember, Robin didn't just write some of the guides--she also created this part of the Needle Deeva's website. Talented lady!
http://www.needledeeva.com/stitch_guides.html

You can get the Kelly Clark Katt Z. Witch canvas with Robin's stitch guide included from the Amy Bunger website if your local shop doesn't have it. I saw this canvas and Robin's guide at Waste Knot recently. You won't believe the wonderful touches Robin adds to the canvas to make it even better than the original. But that's what stitch guides are for. They make for a fabulous collaboration between the canvas designer, the stitch guide writer and the stitcher!
http://www.amybunger.com/catalog/item/6292564/7740392.htm

If you are a fan of Robin's guides, keep a careful eye on Amy Bunger's website. There's a section for custom stitch guides there that is updated periodically. There you'll find many of the guides by Robin (and Amy, too). They can only be purchased if you buy either the canvas or the thread kit from Amy's shop. Details and clickable thumbnails of the custom guide canvases below.
http://www.amybunger.com/custom_stitch_guides.html

Robin's finished Debbie Mumm's Harvest Fairy. This canvas is distributed by Melissa Shirley. Robin will be one of the featured stitch guide writers on Melissa's website once the new stitch guide writer Hall of Fame is finished.
http://needlepointstudyhall.blogspot.com/2010/11/harvest-fairy-update.html

You can see the Harvest Fairy and the Zecca Bird and Worm canvases Robin created guides for finished in the December 2010 e-newsletter from Amy Bunger's shop.
http://www.amybunger.com/f/Amy_s_e-newsletter_December_2010.pdf

Melissa Shirley has added a profile of Robin to her website as well as a list of all the guides Robin has written for MSD canvases.
http://melissashirleydesigns.com/galcol/index.cgi?index=1311746466_17148&col=158

Cynthia Thomas Stitch Guides UPDATED

2011-07-31T07:33:00.001-04:00

Cynthia Thomas writes a great many stitch guides for Melissa Shirley designs. Search on Melissa Shirley to read about them here in an earlier article. There is a link about a new stitch guide series for cute old fashioned Halloween pails from EyeCandy Needleart here.
http://www.notyourgrandmothersneedlepoint.com/2010/06/trick-or-treat.html

Melissa Shirley's website has a profile for Cynthia.
http://melissashirleydesigns.com/galcol/index.cgi?index=1311779095_10303&col=158

Cynthia has stitched the seasonal tree ornament set by Rebecca Wood. A slide show on the Rebecca Wood home page shows these off beautifully!
http://www.rebeccawooddesigns.com/

By the way, Cynthia has started a blog. Follow the adventures of The Hill Country Stitcher here.
http://hillcountrystitcher.blogspot.com/

Melissa Shirley Stitch Guides

2011-07-24T09:52:00.002-04:00

Melissa Shirley makes it easy to see if a stitch guide is available for her canvases by listing them all on her website. There is a brand new section for guides from shops, as well as a brief bio of many of the folks who write stitch guides for Melissa Shirley Designs. (To read the bios, click on the thumbnail photos, not the name under them.) If you have a Facebook account, Melissa often adds new guide photos to her Melissa Shirley Designs FB page before they make it to her website.
http://melissashirleydesigns.com/galcol/?col=123

Please note that there are free stitch guides for her Shimmery Snowy Angel and the Yellow Apple Purse on this page.
http://www.melissashirleydesigns.com/galcol/?col=123

Melissa Shirley herself explains how she stitched her Brown Tiger Butterfly purse (1363-A for 18 count and 1363-2A for 13 count) on my blog. Here's the direct link.
http://chillyhollownp.blogspot.com/2010/02/february-canvas-of-month-melissa.html

Melissa Shirley guides are available from the following stitch guide writers:
Amy Bunger
Carolyn Hedge Baird
Beverly Churchfield (Aristeia)
http://www.aristeianeedlepoint.com/SGuides.html

Wendy Harwood (Aristeia)
http://www.aristeianeedlepoint.com/SGuides.html

Gina Liuzzi (A Stitch in Time)
Tony Minieri and Cynthia Thomas
Janet Perry and Holly McGuinnes
(Napa Needlepoint and Golden Touch Crafts)
Nancy Reeves (Old World Designs)*
*Two of Nancy Reeves' guides are on DVD, not printed out in hardcover.
Needle Orts Inc. (Debbie Bowers and Dennis Masellis)
River Silks
Ruth Schmuff
Lynne Segill (Wellesley Needlepoint)
Laurie Weldon (Chandail) - Pink Ribbon Candy
Terry Christopher (2 the Point Needlepoint)
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/fbx/?set=a.10150231516604252.362281.370199729251

Laura Taylor (Aristeia)
http://www.aristeianeedlepoint.com/SGuides.html

Cynthia Thomas (Needle Artisan)
http://www.sandygrossman-morris.com/index_files/StitchersFinishers.htm

Many of the stitch guide writers or shops listed above have websites. I'll write separate articles about each as time permits.

Needle Orts (owned by Debbie Bowers and visited often by Dennis Masellis) is in Florida. Here's the website.
http://www.needleorts.com/

Announcing House of Koi Stitch Guide

2011-07-19T10:25:00.001-04:00

I have finished a custom stitch guide for House of Koi (Leigh Designs) and am posting it here for sale per the agreement with the gentleman who originally requested the guide. He asked for something subtle and elegant, that would draw the viewer in to see more and more detail as they looked. I hope I met his expectations! It's a wonderful piece, especially the water and the gold trim on the building. If you are interested in this stitch guide, email me at sgfromchnp@gmail.com. Wholesale pricing is available for shops of course.

This is one of a series of fantasy pagodas by Leigh Designs. I also have done a stitch guide for Temple of 1000 Cranes. You can see the entire series on the Leigh Designs website. All are magnificent and beautiful and dream-like, aren't they?
http://www.leighdesigns.com/Grp714x.html

Witch Hats with Stitch Guide by Kelly Clark

2011-06-17T18:28:00.000-04:00

Kelly Clark Witch Hats

Folks love Halloween and they love Kelly Clark's designs, so naturally when Kelly designed witch hats for the June 2011 TNNA show, people got excited. Here are the bare naked canvases on display in Kelly's show booth (very last photo). Click to enlarge it.
http://kellyclarkneedlepointhandbook.blogspot.com/

The hats seem to be made up of two pieces--a triangular hat top and a semi-circular brim. This will make finishing and display easier. I'm not sure about the size but they look too large to be ornaments.

Nimble Needle (Atlanta, GA) says that there is a spiral-bound stitch guide book for all six witch hats. The photo that illustrates this article is from their newsletter. I'm sure they are going to get it in stock. Here is their website in case you don't have a local shop that can order the stitch guide and a canvas for you.
http://www.atlantanimbleneedle.com/

Needle Works in Austin has another photo of the Kelly Clark witch hats on their shop blog. Of course they can order for you, too. (second link)
http://theneedleworks.typepad.com/the_needle_works/2011/06/more-fun-stuff.html

http://www.theneedleworks.com/catalog/index.php

Many thanks to both shops for keeping us informed!

Terry Christopher (2 The Point Needlepoint)

2011-04-30T12:30:00.000-04:00

2 the Point's Terry Christopher has quite a few wonderful Melissa Shirley stitch guides available. Melissa posted photos of some on Facebook today.
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/fbx/?set=a.10150231516604252.362281.370199729251

You can read a bit about Terry's approach to stitch guides on the 2 the Point canvas clubs page. Click on the links to see her work.
http://www.topoint.com/canvasclubs.htm

Needlenook Does Stitch Guides

2011-04-11T08:44:00.002-04:00

Needlenook of La Jolla (California) has updated their website with a new look. Now there is a reference to custom stitch guides and a link to a sample page of what you can expect. Pricing is available "upon request."
http://www.needlenookoflajolla.com/custom.html

Barbara Elmore on Stitch Guides

2011-03-27T19:48:00.003-04:00

Here is a charming essay on stitch guides and their writers by the incredibly talented Barbara Elmore. The modern guides I've seen written by Beverly Churchfield and Wendy Harwood continue this tradition of hand drawn charts and notes, and the books by Carolyn Hedge Baird all have mostly hand written text and drawings to illustrate her points.
http://web.me.com/bedezines/Stitchpography/stitchpography/Entries/2009/11/30_the_wonderful_world_of_stitch_guides%21.html

Why Buy a Stitch Guide?

2011-03-21T08:42:00.000-04:00

This morning I stumbled across an interesting article on the Ridgewood shop blog that talks about a painted canvas embellishment class Jan took at the ANG Seminar. This class was team taught by Suzanne Howren, Tony Minieri, Beth Robertson and Meredith Willett. Jan came home with a stitch guide she developed under their tutelage but she wasn't happy with the sky so she posted a question on the ANG email list asking for ideas. You can follow the link Elaine put in her article if you want to see the piece and Jan's thoughts on it.
http://ridgewoodneedlepoint.blogspot.com/2011/03/new-horizon.html

The reason I mention this (besides it's being a quite interesting discussion) is that I wanted to point out there are many reasons for buying a stitch guide. Most people buy one because they don't know how to stitch a painted canvas they bought except for tent stitches. That isn't something everyone wants to do these days, so a stitch guide is very helpful.

Other folks use a stitch guide as a jumping off point. With a guide, you don't have to make every decision yourself. Many folks want all the decisions made for them so they can just sit and stitch in a relaxed manner, but others take the guide as a general map and substitute threads and stitches for spots where they have ideas of their own they think will work better. That is what Jan ended up doing and in my experience, many folks have very decided ideas about how they want to stitch a piece--they just have a problem area they are unsure of or they need help figuring out how to execute their plan.

The third reason for buying a stitch guide is to learn. Each stitch guide writer has an individual style that probably is different than your own. I love reading stitch guides to analyze them to learn how a master approaches a certain canvas. I keep them and re-read them periodically, using the stitches diagrammed inside in other similar places, and just for the joy of watching a really good stitcher at work.

Whatever your reason for adding a stitch guide to your collection, I hope you have great fun stitching your piece with a stitch guide leading the way.

Art Needlepoint's "Stitch Guide"

2011-03-16T22:29:00.002-04:00

Art Needlepoint's blog just mentioned what they call a stitch guide, emailed free to anyone who has bought from them in the last year. It appears to be a collection of twenty-two diagrammed stitches along with hints on where to use them. It is NOT what we generally refer to as a stitch guide, which is usually what a road map plan for a specific canvas is called by modern needlepointers.
http://artneedlepoint.com/BlogRetrieve.aspx?BlogID=1264&PostID=69700

Please note that Art Needlepoint sells glicee printed canvases (and some hand painted ones--see Doreen's Comment below) that reproduce various paintings. Their work is not stitch painted so if you are not comfortable with canvases where you have to figure out what color goes where, you should avoid their designs.

Tapestry Fair Stitch Guides on Website UPDATED

2011-03-08T21:12:00.005-05:00

Partridge and Pear Stitch Guide

Hurrah! Tapestry Fair has added a new section to their website--stitch guides! There are only a few listed (and the two for their Day of the Dead canvases have to be ordered directly from Tony Mineri) but it's a great start. Click on the stitch guide covers for a better view.
http://www.tapestryfair.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=92&Itemid=73

Here is what Peggi says about the guides on her blog.
http://tapestryfair.blogspot.com/2011/03/new-stitch-guide-page.html

UPDATE: A new stitch guide has been added with more on the way.
http://tapestryfair.blogspot.com/2011/04/new-stitch-guide.html

Also, Maryann Barber of Absolutely Needlepoint in Miami has redone the stitch guides for three of the Tapestry Fair line drawn geishas and will be teaching a class on them in mid-May 2011.
http://tapestryfair.blogspot.com/2011/05/new-stitch-guides.html

How to Write a Stitch Guide (Robin King)

2011-02-27T09:34:00.000-05:00

Writing on the Needlepoint Study Hall blog, Robin King tells us a bit about how she writes a stitch guide. It's fun for other stitch guide writers to see how a peer approaches the task of documenting their road map to a canvas.

http://needlepointstudyhall.blogspot.com/2011/02/do-it-then-write-it-down.html

Cyberpointers and Stitch Guides

2011-02-22T10:07:00.000-05:00

Janet Perry is going to be doing a cyberclass of sorts about doing your own stitch guides for Cyperpointers' March online meeting. Cyberpointers is the American Needlepoint Guild's online chapter for folks who can't get to real life chapter meetings. Janet talks about what she plans here.
http://www.nuts-about-needlepoint.com/learn-about-stitch-guides-at-cyberpointers

To learn more about Cyberpointers and to join, visit their website.
http://www.cyberpointers.org/

Review: Vintage Pears Stitch Guide

2011-02-16T06:00:00.003-05:00

Beverly Churchfield's Vintage Pears Stitch Guide

Through the kindness of a friend, I've borrowed a copy of Beverly Churchfield's stitch guide for the Vintage Pears canvas (design by Melissa Shirley on either 13 or 18 count) to review for you. Please note that the stitch guide doesn't specify whether it is for the 18 count or the 13 count version of the design but I understand the guide is for the 13 count canvas only.
http://melissashirleydesigns.com/galcol/index.cgi?index=1235692312_5378&col=123

This is a comb-bound booklet, with clear plastic protector sheets on the front and back sides. There is a color photo of the finished canvas on heavy paper inside the front plastic protector sheet. Inside the booklet is a list of the necessary threads and beads on one page, followed by a black and white copy of the canvas with the pears numbered for reference purposes, and ten pages of instructions with hand drawn charts for the stitches that go on each pear or in the background. There is space at the top of each instruction page for you to make notes.

A peak inside....

This is a straightforward and bare bones guide without any tips on beading (there are a lot of beads on this piece), information about the stitch path you should take, or any tips on securing threads on this light coverage design, all of which makes it unsuitable for a beginner. There isn't much explanatory text at all. The photo above of a page chosen at random, is pretty typical.

The stitches are both unusual and lovely, and the finished piece is gorgeous. The hand drawn diagrams are clear but the stitches are not always numbered. It is up to the stitcher to figure out how best to execute the recommended stitches. This guide sells for $20-25 depending on where you purchase it.

I would certainly buy one of Beverly's guides for a canvas I wanted to stitch but I am not a beginner. If you are, I can only recommend this guide if you are very determined and have access to a good shop that can help you understand what you should do.

Beverly Churchfield writes several stitch guides for Melissa Shirley painted canvases. Search on Melissa Shirley to see the guides she has written that I know about. Beverly can be reached via Aristeia Needlepoint.
http://www.aristeianeedlepoint.com/

Thanks for the loan of the guide, Marj!

Brenda Hart Stitch Guides

2011-01-18T06:00:00.001-05:00

Brenda Hart teaches all over the country but she also occasionally does a stitch guide. When you can find them, trust me, they will be fabulous! I'm going to list all the guides I can discover. If you know of others, please let me know in the comments so I can update the listing.

Brenda has collaborated with Red Thread Designs to write many stitch guides for their canvases. You may be familiar with her book
It's In The Bag, which is a series of purse canvases from Red Thread Designs which Brenda stitched and published guides for.
http://www.redthreaddesigns.com/Pages/BagBook/BagBook.html

Her book A Banner Year is done the same way. It shows how to stitch a series of monthly banners from Rebecca Wood.
http://www.needlenookoflajolla.com/storedir/proddetail.php?prod=banneryear&cat=8

More traditional stitch guides for a single canvas can be found here and there. Here is a tree canvas with one of Brenda's guides (from Red Thread) that pictures a little girl leaning up against the trunk, reading a book.
http://thenimbleneedle.blogspot.com/2010/06/summer-reading.html

Ruth Schmuff has asked Brenda to write many guides for her modern and colorful canvases. I believe that Brenda's guides are free with the canvas purchase. Here's Fuchsia Lady. Love that pony tail!
http://www.tistheseason.org/ptddetails.php?pid=732&nFirstCatId=17&cname=946&pname=Fuchsia+Lady

Yellow Lady also has a Brenda guide.
http://www.tistheseason.org/ptddetails.php?pid=733&nFirstCatId=17&cname=947&pname=Yellow+Lady

Top Hat Lady is the third in the series and she also has a Brenda guide.
http://www.tistheseason.org/ptddetails.php?pid=734&nFirstCatId=17&cname=948&pname=Top+Hat+Lady

If you can't decide which canvas you like best, then pick Party Girls, which is a larger design that incorporates all three woman and has a Brenda guide to stitching.
http://www.tistheseason.org/ptddetails.php?pid=731&nFirstCatId=17&cname=945&pname=Party+Girls

Shoppers is one of my favorites. The stitch guide for it is for the 18 count version only.
http://www.tistheseason.org/ptddetails.php?pid=511&nFirstCatId=17&cname=970&pname=Shoppers

There is a Summer Shoppers version with a Brenda guide.
http://www.tistheseason.org/ptddetails.php?pid=9591&nFirstCatId=17&cname=725&pname=Summer+Shoppers

Here is Shorebirds' lovely peacock canvas, for which Brenda has written a stitch guide.
http://www.bedeckedandbeadazzled.com/details.php?pid=11862&pname=Peacock

Brenda has written stitch guides for several SharonG canvases. I know SharonG's Cat Walk and her Winter Stream have Brenda Hart guides and I believe there are more SharonG guides available.
http://www.sharong.com/catalog/landscape/images/CT22Catwalk.jpg

http://www.sharong.com/catalog/landscape/images/CT16WinterStream.jpg

Brenda has done guides for four of the eight big canvases in the Guadalajara series from Leigh Designs.
http://pocketfullofstitches.blogspot.com/2010/06/guadalajara-series.html

Patty Paints with Stitch Guides

2011-01-14T10:02:00.001-05:00

The charming Patty Paints website has a nice stitch guide page that has thumbnail photos of some of the canvases that have stitch guides. Click on the tiny photos to have a better look. The list of canvases at the top of the page to the right of the photo are the various categories of her canvases. I think --but don't quote me on this!-- that only the little thumbnail canvases have guides but they are included in the price of the canvas.
http://www.pattypaints.net/Designs%20with%20Stitch%20Guides.htm

Patty Paints usually creates small, simple designs that are perfect for fancy stitches and creative embellishing. I love her mermaids in particular (they are in "Beachy") but I think her hilarious animals, the nutcrackers and the wonderful Stirling bag inserts are her most popular designs. Have fun browsing, whether there's a stitch guide available or not.

Temple of 1000 Cranes Revealed

2011-01-12T14:26:00.000-05:00

Temple of 1000 Cranes Unstitched

Leigh Richardson has just revealed her latest series of eight canvases at the January 2011 TNNA show in Long Beach, California. I am stitching the first in the series of what Leigh calls "fantasy pagodas."

Note the Five Cranes on the Roof

My design is called Temple of 1000 Cranes. You can see the rest of the series on the Leigh website.
http://www.leighdesigns.com/Grp714x.html

Another Angle

These are large designs. They are all 14 inches high and 11 wide on 18 count canvas. They are on sage green mono needlepoint canvas and because they are all dream landscapes of Asian-themed temples, each fades away into mist at the edges of the design.

Rocks and Carved Stone Steps

Because of the size, I can't scan the entire canvas but the photos above are snippets of what I have stitched so far. I've been amazed at how effective fairly simple and common stitches are on 1000 Cranes. My stitch guide for this piece will be available the end of the month. The building, rock and vegetation stitches can all be used on other designs in the series, although you may have to slant the stitches another way, depending on how your fantasy pagoda is painted. I also think the Foo Dog Gateway will need different building stitches than the ones I used since it is built differently than the rest. In all cases you will need to add your own touches. The stitch guide isn't totally transferable to the other canvases.

Stay tuned for me to finish and post an overall photo here.

Amy Bunger's Stitch Guides: A Review

2011-01-04T06:00:00.002-05:00

I’ve long been a fan of Amy Bunger’s stitching. You may know of Amy because of her shop in Memphis, or you may have heard of her as a teacher, or perhaps have watched some of her “How’d You Do That?” videos. Recently with the explosion of stitching blogs, you’ve probably seen Peggy McGown’s Needlepoint Study Hall blog that talks about Amy’s Home Study canvases and posts hints and help for Amy’s students who are stitching them. (Amy tells me Peggy’s blog is in no way tied to Amy or her store other than the fact that Peggy wanted to work and write about the Halloweenies as she works them. We owe Peggy a big thank you for her volunteer efforts to help her fellow stitchers.) So I was very very happy when Amy agreed to send me two of her stitch guides for review.

But before we start, here’s the section of the Amy Bunger website that talks about her custom stitch guides. http://www.amybunger.com/custom_stitch_guides.html

Many (but not all) of the custom stitch guides available from her shop are listed above. Please note that any guides written by Robin King instead of Amy are clearly marked, and that the guides are only available for purchase if you buy the canvas and/or the thread kit from Amy’s shop. We’ll talk about why Amy works that way in a minute but first, let me quote Amy herself about her stitch guides.

“I actually write more than one type of stitch guide. One type of guide is a custom stitch guide written as a request for a class participant for a class in my shop. When the class is over and the student has received their guide, then I will sometimes open the guide for purchase by other people. These guides are written without having been stitched by me and will rely partially on the experience of the student to put the stitches and thread suggestions into practice. I try to be as thorough as I can be without spending an excessive amount of time writing them. (These guides are commissioned at an hourly rate and can become quite expensive.) I require that a person purchase either the canvas and/or the thread kit to quality for the purchase of a custom guide. My style has changed through the years and now sometimes these guides include drawings as well as stitch diagrams.”

Amy loaned me a copy of her 2005 guide to Maggie’s Piece of Cake #M-722 canvas to serve as a typical sample of one of these custom stitch guides. http://www.amybunger.com/catalog/item/6289714/8153335.htm

This particular guide comes as loose sheets paper-clipped together which Amy says is her usual practice. There are four pages of bare-boned instructions followed by five pages of stitch diagrams. The instructions list each section of the painted canvas and tells the student the stitch, thread and number of plies to use for that section. The stitch diagrams are excellent. Each stitch used is diagrammed (unless it is a very common stitch like a tent stitch). The diagrams are usually black and white (or shades of gray) and most are numbered so you know where to start each stitch. Some stitches have more than one diagram so you see how each row works together. There is one line drawing that illustrates how to do a technique in this particular guide.

Note that there are no tips. After all, this custom stitch guide is for a class where students will be able to ask Amy about anything they don’t understand. A colored photograph of the finished piece is not included. There also is no master list of threads used since this custom stitch guide was intended to be part of a kit. The student will have the threads pulled and waiting when they arrive at Amy’s shop to take the class. This means that anyone who buys one of Amy’s custom stitch guides to use at home will want to at least pick up the thread kit so that everything is right there. Going through a custom guide and making a list of threads yourself is not a hard task but many stitchers will prefer having their threads included with the guide especially since the custom stitch guides don’t tell you how much of any one thread will be needed. (However, an experienced stitcher should be able to estimate amounts if they read the guide carefully.) Amy explains about the lack of a thread list in the custom stitch guides this way--

“The custom guide does not come with a thread list. Many of the earlier ones don’t even have one--we have to make it if we get an order for the canvas (or guide). The thread lists change continuously as threads are changed in color or discontinued and we make those changes when the guide is ordered if possible or desired. The Home Study Guides do come with a thread list since I know exactly what and how much was needed for every stitch of the canvas from experience. We do make every endeavor to kit adequate amounts of thread for the custom guides without over-pulling threads, but we can only estimate on these guides.”

Since there is no photo of the finished piece to refer to in Amy’s custom stitch guides, these stitch guides are really more useful to the experienced stitcher who will understand the instructions better than a beginner. I’m not saying a determined beginner can’t figure them out--they are very well done--but it is going to be easier if you have some previous needlepointing under your belt.

Now let me refer to Amy again to talk about the second type of stitch guide she offers:

“The other type of guide that I write is for Home Study Projects. These are ‘classes in a box.’ With these guides, I try to add the flavor of a classroom with tips and hints from the teacher about the stitches, design, and threads. Since I physically stitch these projects before writing the guides, they are more detailed. The only way that you can purchase a Home Study Stitch Guide is by signing up for a Home Study Project through our store or a local needlework shop. I do not sell these guides wholesale but I do ‘share’ a retail sale with other shops across the country. The student’s local store can sell the student the canvas and we will sell them the guide and thread kit. We refer to this as a Co-op program between two shops. There are some shops that do not opt to do this, so the student can choose which shop to order their canvas from, but the guides and thread kits are ONLY available from us. These guides are not as expensive as the custom guides because they are designed to be sold in mass quantities (as part of a kit) and will pay for themselves in that way. The example that I have enclosed is for a Halloweenies Character, Frank N. Stein, and was one of a series of either guides making up the Halloweenies Character Series.”

(To see Frank N. Stein and the rest of the Halloweenies as well as the companion Halloween House in this Home Study Series, check Amy’s website.)
http://www.amybunger.com/home_study_all.html

The Home Study lesson that Amy sent me for review arrived sealed in plastic. There is a cover page with a full color photo of the finished Frank N. Stein and a full thread list along with any other items you might need (such as size and type of needles, size of stretcher bars, etc.). The photo and the thread list face out through the plastic so it is easy to check in your thread kit that arrives with the guide. Remember, the guide is ONLY AVAILABLE with a thread kit. There is also a reminder in this Home Study guide that some of the leftover threads from that lesson’s Halloweenies character will be used with another of the set.

There are 12 pages of instructions in the Frank N. Stein guide. Each section of the canvas is described, and there are tips for working each section under the description of how each section is worked. Amy lists the stitches, threads and number of plies needed for each section and refers to the diagram for the stitches used. There are seven pages of diagrams and drawings that explain fully how you stitch each section. The diagrams are in black and white and in color when color helps explain what you are to do. The stitch path is numbered to make it easy to understand how each stitch is done.

For those who are interested, here are links to the Needlepoint Study Hall blog run by Peggy McGown so you can see how the Home Study guides are packed to be mailed to students.http://needlepointstudyhall.blogspot.com/2010/01/little-coffins.html

http://needlepointstudyhall.blogspot.com/2010/01/you-asked-for-them-and-here-they-are.html

The Home Study guide Amy sent me for review is very, very detailed and full of Amy’s personality. I think even a beginner could stitch Frank himself with only minimal help. Amy has certainly achieved her goal of making these Home Study guides a real “class in a box!”

Reading through Amy’s custom and Home Study guides is an inspiration to stitch guide writers like me. They are beautifully done and the diagrams out of this world. Amy has managed to include useful information in the Home Study guides as well as making her own unique style accessible to folks who aren’t able to take one of her classes.

However, I do have one criticism of the custom guides. They are quite expensive and are also not available unless you buy either the canvas or the thread kit (or both) from Amy’s shop, which increases the price even more. So I asked Amy if she’d consider at least having a yearly sale of her guides to make them more affordable. Here is her answer. You are going to be surprised by why Amy prices her guides this way!

“Your criticism is noted and I know shared by others. Experience has taught me that guides are purchased once and then copied many times for friends, etc.... I can only write about 85 guides in a year (and am getting slower each year) and it really sticks in my craw when I find out that the guides have been copied with no remuneration for me or consideration for the person that commissioned them in the first place. By forcing the purchase of threads or a canvas with each custom guide and Home Study Guide I have put in place a partial protection against ‘sharing’ with friends or reselling the guide by other shop owners. I would love to sell my guides by themselves, but I try not to be foolish in my business practices. Maybe that is why I have been able to keep a retail business open through thick and thin for over 30 years. Every time I break the shop rules, it comes back to haunt me somewhere down the road. I would love to sell hundreds of each guide that I write, but I am happy to sell just a few, or only one, and protect my customers from finding that the guide that they commissioned, at what I feel is a high price, is available to everyone without having to buy the threads or pay for a class.”

Those of us who pay attention to the world of cross stitch know how copyright violation has put quite a few cross stitch designers out of business and put a serious dent into profits for many others. I am not sure that cross stitch will ever recover from these thefts. However, it never occurred to me that our needlepoint world was threatened by the same thievery. As a beginning stitch guide writer I knew that I ran the risk of selling a guide and having it xeroxed and sent to the buyer’s ten closest friends, but it never dawned on me that Amy Bunger’s business was seriously enough impacted that she was forced to only sell her custom stitch guides with a thread kit or canvas to protect her investment of time. This makes me worry about my fellow stitch guide writers and about counted thread designers like Laura Perin and the folks who publish Jean Hilton’s charts. Are these going to become less available through the greed of stitchers who refuse to pay for charts or stitch guides?

We have only ourselves to blame for the high cost of Amy’s stitch guides. Believe me, Amy’s frank discussion of her guides and their pricing will make me re-evaluate my own stitch guides and how much they cost, and it will certainly make me more rabid about copyright theft since I know now just what it costs us in higher prices as stitchers!

Free Associated Talents Stitch Guides from DMC

2011-01-01T06:05:00.000-05:00

This morning I was happy to hear that DMC's blog has links to free stitch guides for the Associated Talents shop canvases. These little painted canvases show various storefronts, all embellished with DMC's memory thread (which is copper wire wrapped in DMC cotton floss). Here's Robin's message that tells you about the canvases and links to the free stitch guides which are PDF files.
http://needlepointstudyhall.blogspot.com/2010/12/great-memories-at-dmc.html#comment-form

Click on her photograph of the stitched examples for a better view. As a bonus, Robin has included a photo of the cover of her latest stitch guide for Zecca's Bird & Worm canvas. Congratulations, Robin! Very professional looking indeed!

Pirate Cat Stitch Guide to be Released January 2011

2010-11-16T06:46:00.000-05:00

The stitch guide for the Pirate Cat is finished! Come next January, shops will be able to buy it from the designer along with the canvas. Here's the Patt and Lee Designs website. Check their blog for further information on availability.
http://www.pattandleedesigns.com/

Tony Minieri Stitch Guides

2010-11-10T09:19:00.001-05:00

Gone Stitching's Blog Talk Radio has announced on their November 8, 2010 show that Edwardian Needle is busy cataloguing all the stitch guides Tony Minieri has written over the years with the idea that the guides will be listed for sale on their website eventually.

HURRAH!

Now nothing is ready yet, so don't call Pam at the Edwardian Needle and ask. But you can keep an eye on the shop's website to see when these start going up. By the way, the site says Tony has written over 2800 stitch guides for classes and shops. Stay tuned....
http://www.theedwardianneedle.com/Edwardian_Needle/About_Us.html

The French Knot Does Halloween

2010-11-02T11:06:00.000-04:00

The French Knot in Texas has updated their website with photos of the Halloween canvases they have stitch guides for. It's spook-tacular!
http://www.thefrenchknot.com/z-halloween.htm

Canvases from Associated Talents, Birds of a Feather, Melissa Shirley, Mindy, Needle Deeva, Raymond Crawford, Rebecca Wood, Renaissance Designs and Shelly Tribbey are featured.

Gone Stitching Does Stitch Guides

2010-10-29T14:37:00.000-04:00

Gone Stitching has updated their website with a partial list of the stitch guides they have available. The guides are usually for canvases from their line but I've seen a guide for a JP Needlepoint canvas. The site shows whether the stitch guide is included with the canvas price or if you have to pay extra. I know there are more plans to add items with guides here so if you are interested in designs with a Jewish theme that have guides, this is the place to start.
http://www.gonestitching.net/index.php/available-stitch-guides.html

Adrienne Spencer's Custom Stitch Guides UPDATED

2010-10-29T09:29:00.007-04:00

Close up of Adrienne Spencer's backgammon board

Adrienne Spencer teaches needlepoint and also creates custom stitch guides for designers and regular stitchers like you and me. She does beautiful work which you can see in the Gallery section of her website (including the lovely backgammon board above). Unfortunately, her website doesn't talk about charges for custom guides but I expect that depends on the size and complexity of the design.

http://www.adriennespencerdesigns.com/index.html

UPDATE: Adrienne has added a page that lists all the stitch guides she has available and their prices. You have to go to her Gallery to see photographs but she has made that easy by including a link on the stitch guide list page. Click and go!
http://www.adriennespencerdesigns.com/stitch-guides.html

Bongo Does Stitch Guides

2010-10-26T08:20:00.000-04:00

If you are a fan of the simple graphic designs Kathy Paterson does for Bongo, you will be happy to hear that she's doing larger canvases (that's Eternity above; there will be a companion piece with a gingko leaf center shortly) and stitch guides are going to be available.

So far there's no mention on her website of which canvases have guides or if there is an additional charge for them. Hopefully more information will be added to the website soon.
http://www.stitchbongo.com/stitch-guides.html

The Brazil Cha-Cha Stitch Guide is Now Available

2010-10-14T17:47:00.003-04:00

Leigh Designs' Brazil Cha-Cha

The newest Chilly Hollow stitch guide is now available. Just email me at sgfromchnp@gmail.com and I'll tell you how to order and pay for it. The PDF version of the stitch guide costs $20 while a hard copy mailed to your door is $75, postage included. Wholesale pricing is available if you are a shop.

Brazil Cha-Cha is twenty-eight pages long and has a section especially on light coverage stitching. There are extensive instructions on how to attach the Ultrasuede head and how to form the silk ribbon wings and tail feathers which are done in River Silks silk ribbon. There is an additional four page list of threads with plenty of information to help you substitute other threads if you can't easily get the ones I used.

Cha is one of a series of eight canvases celebrating Brazil and its exotic bird and plant life. You can see the whole series on the Leigh Designs website.
http://www.leighdesigns.com/Grp403x.html

You can order the lovely silk ribbons used on this piece on the River Silks website. There are tips on using silk ribbon here and in the Cha-Cha stitch guide.
http://www.riversilks.com/stitch_instruction.html

Pocket Full of Stitches Clubs and Guides UPDATED

2010-09-29T12:29:00.006-04:00

Melissa Shirley Flower Vase Canvas

Pocket Full of Stitches is well known for their monthly clubs. They were one of the first, if not the first, shop to offer this service. Here's a complete list to date of what is available. I'm unable to say whether you can pick up one canvas from a club or if all the clubs are still available. There's a club membership fee plus you pay for the monthly kit you receive. Details are at the bottom of the page.
http://www.pfos.com/ChristmasClubs/clubs.htm

Their blog states that Sara (no last name) is stitching three of Melissa Shirley's floral still life canvases and there will be stitch guides available for them. This might be a class at the shop, but I am not certain. I'll update this article with more information if I find out more about this or the monthly clubs.
http://www.pfos.com/ChristmasClubs/clubs.htm

UPDATE: They've posted photos of the stitched models for this year's Christmas Fab Firs tree club.
http://pocketfullofstitches.blogspot.com/2010/10/9-fab-firs-all-stitched-up.html

There is also a page of stitch guide booklets they have available.
http://www.pfos.com/SalePages/PocketFullofStitchesStitchGuideBooks.htm

Painted Pony and Eye Candy Stitch Guides

2010-09-26T12:39:00.002-04:00

Painted Pony's Surfing Star Angel

This week I discovered a list of which Painted Pony and which EyeCandy designs have stitch guides. Painted Pony's guides are written by someone named Susan (no last name) who apparently is also working guides for some of their series. If anyone has Susan's last name, please let me know. I'd like to credit her properly. The design above is he Surfing Star Angel, one of their new canvases.
http://www.paintedponyneedlepoint.com/stitch.htm

EyeCandy's Seasonal Tree for Fall

EyeCandy's guides are written by Susan Allanson in most cases, although I found one by Janet Perry and Ruth Scmuff did a guide for their Counted Puzzle pattern.
http://www.eyecandyneedleart.com/EyeCandy_Needleart/EyeCandy_Needleart_Catalog/Pages/Stitch_Guides.html

I haven't seen guides for these canvases written by either person so I can't give you a review of them. However, since EyeCandy's seasonal tree series is going to be featured in Needlepoint Now magazine starting with the September-October 2010 issue, you can probably get some idea of their guides if you subscribe to this magazine. The photo above is EyeCandy's Seasonal Tree for Fall.
http://www.needlepointnow.com/current_issue/current_issue_toc.html

O'jishi In All His Glory

2010-09-23T10:53:00.002-04:00

The O'jishi Pillow

The Noh Theatre mask I stitched as a model for Leigh Designs is back from the finisher. Isn't it magnificent?!

O'jishi Stitched But Not Made Up

The O'jishi stitch guide is available as a PDF file from me. Just click on the How To Buy tab above for details. The canvas is one of a series of eight Leigh did featuring traditional Japanese masks. O'jishi is a stylized lion that guards the Bodhisattva. All the designs in the series are located here.
http://www.leighdesigns.com/Grp467x.html

The finishing is by Marlene's in San Francisco. They are expensive, but worth every penny!
http://www.marlenecustompillows.com/

New Quilted Series Stitch Guides by Tapestry Fair

2010-09-23T10:39:00.003-04:00

Large Quilted Turkey

Tapestry Fair is starting to offer stitch guides for their "Quilted Square" series. These designs are being done as a class at Family Arts Needlework in Phoenix, Arizona, and the canvases (either painted or line drawn) will be offered from Tapestry Fair with stitch guides optional.
http://www.familyartsneedlework.com/

Partridge and Pear

The Partridge and Pear stitch guide is finished. You can see it in the photo of the stitch guide cover above.

The first guide written is for the large Quilted Turkey canvas above. (There is going to be a smaller Quilted Turkey but it isn't ready just yet although the model is stitched.) The Quilted Crows and Apples design will have its stitch guide written next.

Small Quilted Turkey

Here's the Small Quilted Turkey design which is on 13 count.

You can follow news of new canvases and the stitch guides which Peggi is starting to develop at the Tapestry Fair site. Just click on the News tab and a new window will open to allow you to read all about it.
http://www.tapestryfair.com/

Apples and Crows Quilted Square

Peggi agreed to let me post photos of the Quilted series here since she hasn't had time to put them up on her website yet. Hope you enjoy them. The Apples and Crows one is my favorite because it is different from the usual autumn themed canvas. What's your favorite?

A Creative Consultation with June Mcknight UPDATED

2010-09-05T09:50:00.002-04:00

UPDATE: Stitches By the Bay has announced that it is closing, effective November 20 2010. I don't know if the web links below will be active after that, so let me summarize what they say. The first link says that "creative consultations" with June at the shop are $65/hour and are by appointment on Thursdays and Fridays. The second link is a form to fill out if you need a consultation but don't live locally. Besides your name and address, the form asks for a description of your project, how you plan to finish it, threads you like and dislike, decorative stitches you would like to avoid, and any special notes such as a deadline for finishing the project. These long distance consultations are $60/hr. and the form says small projects usually only need 1-2 hours of June's time. The contact information is the shop's, not June's. Probably if you wish to contact June for consultations after November 20, you should use the information on her website, which is the third link below. It looks like she will continue her creative consultations as before.
*************************************************

Stitches By the Bay is June's former shop. She still teaches here now that she is concentrating on teaching and writing, and of course you can buy her great little books from the shop. But the reason I'm mentioning June and Stitches by the Bay is that she does what she calls Creative Consultations for those folks who can't take a local class with her through the shop. This sounds a great deal like a custom stitch guide to me!
http://stitchesbythebay.com/services.html

Here is the direct link to the Creative Consultation form which you fill out to start the process. The cost is $60 an hour, which means it'll cost $60-120 for a small project but at least double that for a complex, large design.
http://stitchesbythebay.com/ConsultationForm.html

June also has her own website, although her books are sold only through shops, not directly. It's a great place to see her latest book and read a bit about it, though. Her email address is june@junemcknight.com if you want to talk to June herself about a custom stitch guide via a consultation.
http://www.junemcknight.com/

Needle Works: Category for Stitch Guides

2010-09-05T08:24:00.016-04:00

Needle Works in Austin, Texas has a category called "Stitch Guides" in its online catalogue. It looks like all these canvases have a stitch guide included in the price. A nice touch is that in many cases you are told who wrote the stitch guide. I place mail orders through Needle Works occasionally and their customer service is always superb.

By the way, they do custom stitch guides. The rules are here but basically, you will be asked to buy the threads they recommend with the guide they write for you if you bought the canvas from them. If you didn't, you will have to buy the threads and pay $10/page for the guide.
http://theneedleworks.com/stitch-guide-page/

Stitch guide writers include Christina Arredondo, Amy Bunger (Amy's Keeping Me in Stitches), Susan Burris, Colleen Church (she's the owner of Needle Works), Cindy Howland, Kathy Kulesza, Carole Lake, Sandra Reddell and Cindy White. Since most of these folks have taught at Needle Works, these guides are probably not available elsewhere since they are probably former class items. I'm just guessing, but don't waste a lot of time trying to find anything except the Amy Bunger ones elsewhere.
http://theneedleworks.com/catalog/index.php?cPath=27

The only other shop I know of that lists all its canvases with stitch guides in a separate category is Needlepoint.com. Here's the link--
http://www.needlepoint.com/index.php/all-canvases/canvases-with-stitch-guides.html?p=2

Artists Collection

2010-08-31T07:57:00.004-04:00

HeartString's Northern Lights Santa

Artists Collection represents three designers: Mile High Princess, SHEAR Creations, and HeartStrings.

Heart Strings is the brainchild of Pat Thode. Pat's designs all come with stitch guides and many also include buttons or charms to embellish the piece. Her work reminds me of museum quality folk art, which is probably why her fans look forward each year to her limited edition Santas and why her designs draw huge interest when one appears on eBay. I do not know if Pat writes the guides herself, never having been lucky enough to see a canvas and guide in person. (They sell out like fresh baked bread at my LNS!) The photo above is Pat's Northern Lights Santa, taken from the Needlenook of La Jolla's website (second link below).
http://www.artistscollection.net/Artists_Collection/HS_Gallery.html

http://www.needlenookoflajolla.com/storedir/proddetail.php?prod=hs2117

Mile High Princess designs are whimsical and modern. Many MHP angels and Santa canvases come with stitch guides, as do occasional popular pieces like the Princess and the Pea. The guides I've seen in person are by SHEAR Creations. They are three pages plus a cover page that has a nice large photo of the finished piece. The instructions are step-by-step, with a diagram of the suggested stitch included for each step. I don't know if all the guides come with their canvas or if they must be purchased separately. I also don't know if all the guides are by SHEAR Creations, which happens to be another company represented by A Collection of Designs. Here's the link to Mile High Princess' work.
http://www.artistscollection.net/Artists_Collection/Mile_High_Princess_Gallery.html

I've written a separate blog entry about SHEAR Creations LLC already, so all I will say here is that this company is made up of Beth Robertson and Suzanne Howren, the geniuses behind the Stitches for Effect series. Use the search box in the upper left corner to find what has been written here before about SHEAR Creations.
http://www.artistscollection.net/Artists_Collection/SHEAR_Creations_Gallery.html

The Needle Deeva Is Ready UPDATED

2010-08-29T07:33:00.002-04:00

The Needle Deeva's new website already has a section for stitch guides which has just been filled with lots of information about the guides available for these canvases. So far, guides by Vicky DeAngelis, Robin King, Cynthia Thomas and Debbie Bowers are listed but there are no photos of Debbie's guides yet. This is a work in progress.
http://www.needledeeva.com/stitch_guides.html

UPDATE: Janet Perry talks about her Needle Deeva stitch guides here.
http://www.nuts-about-needlepoint.com/needledeeva-stitch-guides-available

Rosalie Peters

2010-08-13T11:11:00.004-04:00

If you love traditional needlepoint designs, particularly flowers, you'll want to explore Rosalie Peters' website. Her lovely patterns, many of which have stitch guides available, are classics.
http://www.rosaliepeters.com/index.html

She does wonderful 3-D items, such as this French Quarter house, as well. Don't miss the second photo of this done by Silk Road Needlepoint, either! It comes with a stitch guide and shouldn't be too difficult to finish yourself, either.

Have fun exploring! I plan to, as there's a category called "Oriental" and you know how I love Asian-themed designs....

Always and Forever Needlepoint (including Stitch Guides)

2010-08-04T09:26:00.000-04:00

Lucinda Gregory Rice has been selling her printed and hand painted canvases on eBay for years. She also has a website that advertises she does stitch guides. Click on the Stitch Guides link to see what information there is about her guides. Email her at lucindagregory@msn.com for further information, particularly if you want a canvas that you won't see everywhere that has a guide written especially for you.
http://www.needleartalways.com/

Ruth Schmuff, Stitch Guides Included UPDATED

2010-07-31T10:57:00.003-04:00

Many of Ruth Schmuff's canvases come with a stitch guide included in the price. You can see them all on her Tis The Season website. A canvas that comes with a guide will be marked "complete with stitch guide" in the description you get when clicking on a thumbnail photo that interests you.
http://www.tistheseason.org/

Several folks also write stitch guides for Ruth. You will really enjoy viewing Sheena's work on the Computer Pixie.
http://www.notyourgrandmothersneedlepoint.com/2012/01/what-minx.html

Ruth also writes stitch guides for classes she teaches at her shop. These guides are for other designers' work.
http://www.bedeckedandbeadazzled.com/clubs.php

http://www.bedeckedandbeadazzled.com/mysteryClasses.php

Ruth occasionally mentions stitch guides for her designs on her blog. Here's an example.
http://www.notyourgrandmothersneedlepoint.com/2011/03/add-little-sunshine-on-otherwise-gray.html

Melissa Shirley has just added a profile of Ruth to her MSD website since Ruth not only writes guides for Melissa's canvases, Ruth also occasionally uses a MSD canvas for a class taught at Ruth's shop.
http://melissashirleydesigns.com/galcol/index.cgi?index=1309717414_16695&col=158

Warning: Thieves Steal Stitch Guides Too

2010-07-29T08:46:00.000-04:00

I stumbled across this message from a cross stitch designer in my daily blog readings. It points out just how much money is lost to thieves who copy and distribute charts among their friends.
http://mymarkdesigns.wordpress.com/2010/07/26/do-the-math-2/

This is happening with stitch guides, too. Recently Cynthia Thomas posted a message to the ANG email list stating she'd found someone selling multiple xerox copies of her stitch guides on eBay. Many painted canvas designers have had their designs copied and sold on eBay as well. I know of a company that copied the designs of at least five well known painted canvas designers and was selling them on eBay until the lawyers caught up with them.

I've also seen prominent painted canvas designers use images that they don't have copyright permission to use. Folks like J. R. Rawlings and the Disney Corporation come down on copyright violations like a ton of bricks but many other folks don't pursue thieves to such an extent. Don't buy anything you think might be copied, ok? If a thief can't sell what he or she has stolen, there's no incentive to steal again.

If you buy a guide (or anything else) on eBay and it seems to be a copy, let the designer or author and eBay know. If someone is selling multiple copies of something, try to figure out if they are the original author or artist selling off old stock or a copyist trying to steal other folks' work.

SHEAR Creations Canvases with Guides

2010-07-25T16:02:00.000-04:00

Bet you are familiar with the Stitches for Effect books. Did you know the authors (Suzanne Howren and Beth Robertson) also sell painted canvases, most of which come with stitch guides? Their company name is Shear Creations. They specialize in small designs with large empty spaces, perfect for embellishment.
http://www.artistscollection.net/Artists_Collection/SHEAR_Creations_Gallery.html

Pepita Needlepoint and Stitch Guides

2010-07-25T15:57:00.000-04:00

Many of Pepita Needlepoint's canvases have stitch guides which are available for an extra five dollars. Canvases with guides are clearly marked on their website.

This is the Stitch Guide page. It shows a sample page for their guides and states they will do custom guides for stitchers. There is contact information as well as thumbnail photos of some of their canvases with guides.
http://www.pepitaneedlepoint.com/stitch-guides.aspx

David's Kindergarten Nativity (and Custom Guides)

2010-07-21T09:16:00.003-04:00

Labors of Love has a new Nativity set out. It features kids dressed up as characters in a Nativity pageant and all the canvases come with stitch guides by David McCaskill. The link below shows the plain canvases which are adorable. There's an ad in Needlepoint Now that shows these finished but it's not a good enough photo to tell much about how they are done. However, David McCaskill is a dynamite stitcher and knows tons about threads, so I don't think you'll be disappointed. Besides, the stitch guide comes with the canvases for free. Here they are unstitched.
http://www.laborsofloveneedlepoint.com/gallery.php?category=66

David himself does custom stitch guides. His website contains information (including general pricing) and examples of a page from one of his guides. Don't miss clicking on More Examples to see, among other things, his fabulous guide for the Opera Singer which won all the major awards at the 2007 Baltimore ANG Seminar.
http://www.dbydstudio.com/stitch/index.html

Stitch Guide Heaven (French Knot)

2010-07-18T08:25:00.000-04:00

If you have explored my Chilly Hollow Needlepoint Stitch Guides site thoroughly, you've already visited French Knot to view its Petei stitch guides and other guides for their monthly clubs. The site has been redesigned with emphasis on all the stitch guides they have available so French Knot deserves its own posting now.
http://www.thefrenchknot.com/index.htm

French Knot has been writing stitch guides for their monthly club series and for their customers for at least five years. They have an extensive library of stitch guides and write: "Stitch guides are available for almost all stitched models, and if one doesn't exist now in our extensive stitch guide library, we will be happy to write one for you."

So explore their website and if you see a stitched model that makes your stitching heart beat a little faster, email them to see if the guide is available and what the cost might be. It looks like they sell guides without your having to buy the canvas and/or threads in case you own it already. Guides are written by Diana Bosworth or Paula Fehleison from what I can discover on the French Knot site.

Canvases with guides are available from designers such as Alexa, Boots Bailey, Canvasworks * Traditions, Danji, Joan Mahaley, Melissa Shirley, Petei, Princess and Me, Strictly Christmas, Quail Run, Raymond Crawford, Rebecca Wood/Susan Roberts, Share One's Ideas, Shelly Tribbey, Tapestry Tent, and The Studio. Something for everyone, in other words.

Here's an interview about Diana Bosworth that I republished on my other Blog, the Chilly Hollow Needlepoint Adventure. It's always fun to meet stitch guide writers who create such amazing roadmaps for the canvases we enjoy.
http://chillyhollownp.blogspot.com/2010/04/introducing-diana-bosworth.html

River Silks Ribbon Painted Canvas Guides

2010-07-15T10:19:00.000-04:00

Rishfield Designs

If you have never tried silk ribbon embroidery on your painted canvas, the silk ribbon company River Silks has kits you might want to try. The kits include the canvas (usually painted but occasionally line drawn) and the ribbons, plus stitch guide, practice canvas and ribbon and a needle. The stitch guides are also available as downloadable PDF files on their website.

Designers include Boots Bailey, Anne Brinkley, Anne Cram, Changing Woman Designs, Raymond Crawford, Danji Designs, Jean Smith, Julia's Needleworks, Keri Designs, Leigh Designs, Napa Needlepoint (Janet Perry), Pease on Earth, Rishfield Designs, Barbara Russell, Kate Schofield, Sophia Designs and Tapestry Tent.

To see the finished designs, go here. There is a link at the top to the Stitch Guides PDF page. They are listed alphabetically there.
http://www.riversilks.com/kitstogo.html

The stitch guides are basic. If you need an introduction stitching with silk ribbon, read this.
http://www.riversilks.com/stitch_instruction.html

SharonG Stitch Guides UPDATED

2010-07-06T08:15:00.002-04:00

Many of the latest SharonG canvases come with stitch guides which your shop can order from you via the SharonG website.
http://www.sharong.com/

Some of the available stitch guides are from SharonG herself. Others are by other stitch writers. Here are links to the canvases with guides I know about, listed by stitch guide writer. To find out if your favorite SharonG canvas has a stitch guide, consult the designer herself. A few guides are listed on her website but many many more are available now.
http://www.sharong.com/stitchguides/index.html

SharonG
Maria's Door (from the Positano Landscape Series) - UNDER WAY
http://www.sharong.com/catalog/architecture/images/D31MariaPositanoDoor.jpg

Dragonfly 6x6-04 (from Insect Triptych, parts of which can be used on the other two canvases)
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_GyuQnQnnEn4/Si8E0JSBQDI/AAAAAAAAAEM/nGfMyRJGp7Y/s1600-h/6x604+complete.jpg

http://sharongneedlepointdesigner.blogspot.com/2010/07/dragonfly-butterfly-and-ladybug.html

Horses from the Rear BH 02 (from the Graphic Girls series)
http://chillyhollownp.blogspot.com/2010/06/new-from-columbus-does-this-stitch-make.html

Fish Out of Water
http://www.sharong.com/catalog/landscape/images/CT24FishOutWater.jpg

Intersections
http://www.sharong.com/catalog/misc/images/CT06Intersections.jpg

Triplets II "Koi" (from the Triplets Triptych)
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_GyuQnQnnEn4/Si8E1D3pGtI/AAAAAAAAAEk/BHQWt1oJomY/s1600-h/koicropped.jpg

http://rittenhouseneedlepoint.com/index.php/books/triplets-ii-stitch-guide.html

Riveria (from the Tuscan Landscape Series)
http://www.sharong.com/catalog/misc/images/CT08Riveria.jpg

Terrace (from the Tuscan Landscape Series)
http://www.sharong.com/catalog/landscape/images/CT25Terrace.jpg

Five Vases with Curly Bamboo
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_GyuQnQnnEn4/SnnJBtUUZ3I/AAAAAAAAAE0/MvKpX9EHhx4/s1600-h/Vases01.jpg

Roulette Wheel Bra and Tap Pants Lingerie Set
http://www.needlenookoflajolla.com/storedir/proddetail.php?prod=bt81_69

10-2-4 Cat and Fish Tripytch (Side Panels Done- Center Panel UNDERWAY)
http://www.sharong.com/catalog/landscape/images/10-2-4.jpg

I believe some of SharonG's ball gown canvases and some of her fountain pen series have stitch guides but I have not been able to find specific information online. Ask SharonG if you are interested.

Here are other authors of guides for SharonG canvases (besides Sharon herself).

Birthe Cacciatore

LunaCity

http://www.sharong.com/catalog/misc/images/LunaCity-e.jpg

Carol Courington
The Vintage Geometric Series
http://www.sharong.com/stitchguides/index.html

Marianne Frost
Red Ribbon with Hearts Rectangle
http://www.sharong.com/catalog/giftbow/images/GFT07StitchGuide.jpg

Brenda Hart
Catwalk
http://www.sharong.com/catalog/landscape/images/CT22Catwalk.jpg

Carole Lake
Lavender Fields (from the Tuscan Landscape Series) - This was a cyber class that is retired but you may still be able to buy class instructions. Contact Carole Lake for more information at second link below.
http://www.needlenookoflajolla.com/storedir/proddetail.php?prod=ct07

http://www.carolelake.com/

Tony Minieri
Electri City
http://www.sharong.com/catalog/misc/images/CT01%20Anthony%20Mineiri%20Stitch%20Guide.jpg

Hawaiian Women By Pegge Hopper UPDATED

2010-06-27T08:05:00.000-04:00

Pegge Hopper's Walk Across the Sea II

Needlepoint, Etc. (located in Honolulu, Hawaii) offers some lovely canvases of Hawaiian women and local scenes by Pegge Hopper, some of which come with stitch guides. For more information, email the shop at needlepoi001@hawaii.rr.com. A phone and fax number are on their contact page at the website if you prefer using another method than email.
http://www.needlepointhi.com/catalog/people.html

Walk Across the Sea II (above) comes with a stitch guide.

UPDATE: Maggie distributes these canvases.
http://www.maggieco.com/html/drill.php?category=1&pg=9&q=

Orna Willis

2010-06-26T10:09:00.000-04:00

Orna Willis is known for colorful charted designs that are chockfull of a variety of stitches but she has stuck a toe into the painted canvas waters with a series of three bird canvases. The first canvas, the quail, has a stitch guide for $20 extra.
http://www.ornadesign.com/shop/product.php?productid=124&cat=2&page=3

The oriole and the pheasant canvases can be seen here. They don't have a stitch guide yet.
http://www.ornadesign.com/shop/home.php?cat=2&sort=title&sort_direction=0&page=2

I've not seen any of Orna's books or charts in person but her free designs on her website are well described with great diagrams.

Ruth Schmuff Stitch Guides from Mystery Classes

2010-06-22T08:56:00.001-04:00

Ruth Schmuff holds mystery classes throughout the year at her shop and encourages mail order participants. Once the class is finished, the canvases, threads and stitch guides are still available. Here is a list of the current classes with the "solved" mysteries listed at the bottom of the page.
http://www.bedeckedandbeadazzled.com/mysteryClasses.php

Canvases are available from Raymond Crawford, HP Designs, and Melissa Shirley. Note that some canvases may be unobtainable from the designer in the future, so act now if you are interested in buying a kit from Ruth with one of her guides. As far as I know, the guides are not available separately.

UPDATE: Ruth has done a Melissa Shirley beetle purse for herself and has written a stitch guide in case anyone wants to stitch this for themselves. Here's her finished purse. Click on the title of the article to go to her shop website to buy the canvas. You'll have to email her about the stitch guide and threads separately.
http://www.notyourgrandmothersneedlepoint.com/2010/07/beatles-are-coming-beatles-are-coming.html

Stuart Plaid Lion Dynasty Ornament

2010-05-16T09:24:00.000-04:00

The stitch guide for the Stuart Plaid Lion is available from Chillyhollow (that's me) for $10. This design is a four inch round ornament from Leigh Designs painted on 18 count canvas. The canvas itself is called Stuart Ornament/Coaster #8270 and it is from the British Dynasty Ornament series (see link below). Your shop may order the canvas from Leigh Designs if you plan to stitch it instead of just collecting my stitch guides as reference material.

http://www.leighdesigns.com/Grp827x.html

The stitch guide for this piece is a thirteen page document with a complete thread list on the back and thirteen photographs to help you understand how to stitch the Stuart Plaid Lion. It is available as an emailed PDF document, although for $75 (including shipping and mailing) I can print out and mail a hard copy to you. What can I say? Paper, ink and postage are expensive!

If you have questions, please post a comment after this article or email me directly at sg from chnp at gmail dotcom.

O'jishi Noh Theater Mask

2010-05-16T09:17:00.000-04:00

The O'jishi mask stitch guide is available from Chillyhollow (that's me) for $10. This design is a 10 inch square design from Leigh Designs painted on 18 count canvas. The canvas itself is called Ojishi #4673. Your shop may order the canvas from Leigh Designs if you plan to stitch it instead of just collecting my stitch guides as reference material.

http://www.leighdesigns.com/Grp467x.html

The stitch guide for this piece is a 20-page document with a complete thread list on the back and 27 photographs to help you understand how to stitch the Noh Theatre mask. It is available as an emailed PDF document, although for $75 (including shipping and mailing) I can print out and mail a hard copy to you. What can I say? Paper, ink and postage are expensive!

If you have questions, please post a comment after this article or email me directly at sg from chnp at gmail dotcom.

Ch'ing Dragon Chinese Dynasty Ornament

2010-05-16T09:11:00.000-04:00

The Ch'ing Dragon Chinese Dynasty Ornament is available from Chillyhollow (that's me) for $10. This design is a 4 inch round ornament from Leigh Designs painted on 18 count canvas. The canvas itself is number Ch'ing Ornament/Coaster #8212. Your shop may order the canvas from Leigh Designs if you plan to stitch it instead of just collecting my stitch guides as reference material.
http://www.leighdesigns.com/Grp821x.html

The stitch guide for this piece is a 14-page document with a complete thread list on the back and 16 photographs to help you understand how to stitch the dragon. It is available as an emailed PDF document, although for $75 (including shipping and mailing) I can print out and mail a hard copy to you. What can I say? Paper, ink and postage are expensive!

If you have questions, please post a comment after this article or email me directly at sg from chnp at gmail dotcom.

Leigh, Raymond Crawford, and ThreadworX

2010-05-11T17:44:00.006-04:00

Remilia Stitch Guide from Leigh Designs' Ladies of the Night Series

ThreadworX is breaking new ground with their stitch guides for Leigh and Raymond Crawford canvases. They are a thread company, not a painted canvas designer or teacher. Their kit provide a stitch guide and all the threads to stitch painted canvas in a "kit" from their various thread lines. Since they offer a great variety of fibers, the kits have a lot of various thread types in them. They do a few designs of their own (currently the bird series) but right now the kits they furnish are just for a series of Leigh and Raymond Crawford canvases. You can explore their available stitch guides at the link below.
http://threadworx.com/kits.php

Leigh says that if your shop calls ThreadworX to order a guide and threads for a Leigh canvas, ThreadworX will get the canvas straight from Leigh and send it all to you without the shop having to make another call to order the canvas from Leigh.

If you are not familiar with ThreadworX threads or their fine newsletter Journal, you should explore the site a little. They are also starting a series of booklets they call WorXbooks to teach you techniques for painted canvases. Right now there aren't many details on the site for this new venture but it looks pretty interesting to me.

UPDATE: Beth has done a stitch guide for Remilia from Leigh Designs' Ladies of the Night series (pictured above). The stitch guide and thread pack will be available wholesale from either ThreadworX or Leigh Designs.
http://threadworx.com/productDetails.php?prd_id=1087

Aristeia Needlepoint and Melissa Shirley Guides

2010-05-07T07:52:00.010-04:00

Aristeia Needlepoint in Los Angeles has many talented stitchers among their staff who specialize in writing stitch guides for Melissa Shirley canvases. They've added a page to their website that shows a selection of the guides available from the shop with a purchase of the canvas there. They will do a guide for free for a canvas purchased at the shop but there is a charge for a guide done for a canvas bought elsewhere.
http://www.aristeianeedlepoint.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=79&Itemid=69

There is no price list for the guides. The ones shown are from Wendy Harwood and Laura Taylor but I believe they also sell guides by Beverly Churchfield.

UPDATE: Melissa Shirley has added profiles of all the stitch guide writers for her designs. Here is Wendy Harwood's--
http://melissashirleydesigns.com/galcol/index.cgi?index=1311381251_17255&col=158

Here is Beverly Churchfield's--
http://melissashirleydesigns.com/galcol/index.cgi?index=1311258737_6302&col=158

Here is Laura Taylor's--
http://melissashirleydesigns.com/galcol/index.cgi?index=1311384483_25605&col=158

A Collection of Designs

2010-05-06T09:32:00.000-04:00

This company specializes in Christmas- and Halloween-themed canvases that are bright and cheerful. Their website has a three page gallery of pieces that have stitch guides available but there is no information about how to order. Your shop will probably have to contact them for you.
http://www.acollectionofdesigns.com/Stitch%20Guides.htm

Tink and the Shady Ladies

2010-04-29T09:44:00.000-04:00

Tink Boord-Dill's designs often come with a stitch guide. Tink does both charted and painted canvases, although most folks are more familiar with her Shady Ladies series (Shady Lady 7 "You've Got a Friend" is shown here) or her alphabet books than with her other pieces. Some designs are available both as a painted canvas or as a chart.
http://www.tinkbd.com/stguidea.htm

Petei Stitch Guides

2010-04-24T09:17:00.000-04:00

Petei's stable of little people is very popular with stitchers and also with shops, many of which have offered some of her Santas as monthly clubs. Monthly Clubs mean you sign up for a series of designs at a shop (some places let you just buy one canvas) that are mailed to you periodically in kit form--canvas, stitch guide and all the threads needed. Often once the monthly club series is over, you can still buy a canvas with everything needed from the shop. But often you can't. It depends on whether the original canvases are still available and whether the shop wants to bother to kit out a canvas just for one buyer.

Here are Petei's canvases on her website, many of which are sets of familiar fictional characters like Peter Pan, Wendy, and the crocodile, or single historical figures like Sir Walter Raleigh and Henry VIII and his Wives, or Cleopatra or Carmen Miranda.
http://www.petei.com/line_list/line_contents.htm

The very newest Petei canvases have their own page.
http://www.petei.com/new_designs.htm

I know that Diana Bosworth has designed a great many Santa canvases for French Knot in Fort Worth, Texas. Here's an interview about Diana that I republished on my other Blog, the Chilly Hollow Needlepoint Adventure.
http://chillyhollownp.blogspot.com/2010/04/introducing-diana-bosworth.html

Here are the Petei Santas she has done for the French Knot. Some are still available as single kits.
http://www.thefrenchknot.com/models/petei.html

Old World Designs has also done some Petei canvases as monthly clubs. I believe all of these are still available as a single kit. They were designed by Nancy Reeves. Here are the 2006 Global Gals,
http://www.oldworlddesigns.com/womenpp06.html

and here are the 2005 Global Gals.
http://www.oldworlddesigns.com/womenpp.html

John Waddell has done stitch guides for the Petei Nativity set and quite a few of the Santas. They are $10 each. The bottom of the page has non-Petei stitch guides. I've feature John's work in a separate blog article. Search using John Waddell to see it.
http://johnwaddellneedlepoint.com/stitchguide.html

These kits are not exactly stitch guides since they include a guide as well as the canvas and threads needed but it is a great place to pick up a stitch guide if you are a big Petei fan.

Stitch Guides from Renaissance Designs

2010-02-25T17:23:00.000-05:00

Some of Renaissance Designs' colorful canvases come with stitch guides. Here is a listing (link below). Some of the canvases have thread kits available, and some don't, and a few also have buttons. Probably the thread kits use many of the Renaissance Designs line of threads.
http://www.renaissanceneedlepoint.com/sg/sg.html

Guides are available from Carolyn Baird, Leann Bemis, Julie Elder, Vicki Fish, Gale Martin, Gina Marie, Tony Minieri, SuZy Murphy, Cathi Rosengren, Lynee Segill, Shear Creations and Cynthia Thomas. Some stitch guides are not credited.

Old World Designs' Ready-To-Go Projects

2010-02-25T17:15:00.000-05:00

Old World Designs in California offers canvas and stitch guide sets, all of which are listed on this page. Threads cost extra. I think if there is no price, this piece is no longer offered, but you'll have to ask Old World Designs to make sure. The stitch guides are written by Claire Haldan, Laura Rich and Nancy Reeves. Note that Nancy's stitch guide is on a DVD and that Claire also has a DVD stitch guide as well as technique DVDs (one for beginners and one teaching hair and fur techniques).
http://www.oldworlddesigns.com/classprojects.html

Designers whose canvases are available here as a Ready-to-Go project are Melissa Shirley, Mile High Princess, Rebecca Wood, Artists Collection, Shelly Tribbey, Renaissance Designs, Zecca, Petei and Gimmies.

Tony Minieri's Clip-on Bird Stitch Guides

2010-02-21T07:43:00.000-05:00

Labors of Love has a series of clip-on bird canvases that come with feathers. You can see them on their website. The birds are a double-sided canvas that comes with the clip and feathers for the tails.
http://www.laborsofloveneedlepoint.com/gallery.php?category=53

Tony Minieri is writing stitch guides for at least some of these canvases. You can almost certainly get them from In Stitches in Atlanta. There is a photo of some finished birds perched in an artificial tree on their home page currently.
http://www.institchesatlanta.com/index.html

Canvases with Free Stitch Guides Included

2010-02-15T12:25:00.003-05:00

Some designers offer a free stitch guide with each painted canvas. I will list all the designers whose canvases come with a guide below as I discover them.

Barbara Bergsten's canvases all come with stitch guides. You get them from her blog and then pick up the canvas at your local shop. Here's the link. Note that this is a great place to get individual stitch diagrams, not just a guide for one of Barbara's canvases.
http://www.barbarabergstendesigns.com/stitch_guides.htm

http://createneedlepoint.typepad.com/create_needlepoint/2011/01/painted-stitches-needlepoint.html

Princess and Me specializes in ornament canvases, mostly humorous Christmas motifs.
http://www.princessandme.com/

Needlepoint.com

2010-02-15T12:21:00.003-05:00

One online shop lists the canvases that come with their own stitch guides that they have for sale. These are from varied designers. I recognize Kelly Clark, Princess and Me, A Collection of Designs, and Shelly Tribbey. Prices vary from $5-15 extra for the guide. Note that all Princess and Me canvases come with a stitch guide included at no extra charge. I don't know if the stitch guide alone is available for the other designers' canvases but one A Collection of Designs canvas comes with a guide at no charge.
http://www.needlepoint.com/index.php/all-canvases/canvases-with-stitch-guides.html?p=2

I wish more online stores were organized this way.

UPDATE: Needle Works in Texas also has a category for canvases with stitch guides. It looks like these are all canvases that have the stitch guides included in the price but I can't be 100% sure. Here's the link-
http://theneedleworks.com/catalog/index.php?cPath=27

Paid Custom Stitch Guides from Online Shops

2010-02-15T12:14:00.003-05:00

Some online shops will design a custom guide for you whether you bought your painted canvas from them or not. Here's a list, in alphabetical order. Most of the shops listed don't give much detail so you will have to contact them and talk over what you need and how much it will cost. I will add to this list as I find more shops that offer this service. Buyer beware! I don't know how detailed or good any of these guides are.

NeedleHouse in Houston doesn't mention prices or any other details.
http://www.theneedlehouse.com/jm/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=89&Itemid=91

Old World Designs (California)
http://www.oldworlddesigns.com/

Needlenook of La Jolla (California)
http://www.needlenookoflajolla.com/custom.html

Rittenhouse (Pennsylvania)
http://rittenhouseneedlepoint.com/index.php/stitchguide

Kelly Clark Stitch Guides UPDATED

2010-02-15T12:11:00.002-05:00

Kelly Clark's website has a section showing three pages of guides that are available for her canvases. Clicking on the thumbnail photo will show you some details and often the stitched version, but there is no pricing information, probably because this is a wholesale only site. Ask your shop to find out for you. Some of the stitch guides are credited to Gina Liuzzi and others have no stitch guide writer credited. I believe some of the pieces are stitched by Kelly herself.
http://www.kellyclarkneedlepoint.com/stitch

UPDATE: You can buy Kelly's Katt Z. Witch (who reminds me of Hermonine Granger if you have a Harry Potter fan to stitch for) from Amy Bunger's website. The best part? The Robin King stitch guide is included. I've seen this guide in person and it is fabulous!
http://www.amybunger.com/catalog/item/6292564/7740392.htm

John Waddell

2010-02-15T12:04:00.000-05:00

Although primarily a teacher, John Waddell offers stitch guides for selected canvases for $10 each via his website. He offers a guide for a Petei Nativity set, for quite a few Petei Santas, and a canvas here and there from designers like Raymond Crawford and Designing Women. If you are a shop, John offers wholesale pricing. Just email him at john@johnwaddellneedlepoint.com.
http://johnwaddellneedlepoint.com/stitchguide.html

Kathy Schenkel Complimentary Stitch Guides

2010-02-15T12:00:00.000-05:00

Many, but not all, of Kathy Schenkel's canvases come with stitch guides. Here is her site. It doesn't tell us what canvases come with guides. Ask your local shop for help.
http://www.kathyschenkel.com/

Patt and Lee Designs UPDATED

2010-02-15T11:54:00.003-05:00

Stitch guides are available for some Patt and Lee canvases. Patt and Lee canvases are unique in that they are available on whatever size canvas you specify, and you can also buy a charted version. This summer (2010) Patt and Lee plan to release their most popular designs as painted canvases. Right now they are solely a printed canvas company.

The link below is to the stitch guide section of their website. They have many more than just these, but they are adding guides to their canvases faster than they can update this page. Browse their site and check the descriptions of anything that catches your eye to see if there is a stitch guide available. No prices are listed, probably because this is a wholesale only site. Some of the stitch guides are by Janet Perry and others are by Patt herself, plus I did a stitch guide for Pirate Cat.
http://www.pattandleedesigns.com/designs_with_stitch_guides

UPDATE: Patt and Lee have the stitch guide ready for their charming Puppy Love canvas. This looks like great fun for a counted thread person who is looking to start painted canvases.
http://pattandleedesigns.blogspot.com/2011/04/st-12-stitch-guide.html

Guides for Lani's Needlepoint

2010-02-15T11:45:00.000-05:00

There seem to be two levels of stitch guides available for Lani's designs with a base price starting at $75 for the embellished fancy sttich guides. It looks to me if you buy a canvas and threads from Lani, she'll do a simple free guide for you.
http://www.LanisNeedlepoint.com/stitchguides.aspx

Other guides seem to be for sale. Email the address here for more information.
http://www.lanienterprises.com/stitch_guides.html

Free Stitch Guides With Purchase of Canvas and/or Threads

2010-02-15T11:41:00.007-05:00

Many shops provide a free stitch guide if you buy a canvas and/or threads from them. Some shops will write a guide for you for any canvas whether you bought it from them or not. The quality and detail in the guide vary. I am listing online shops that say they offer this service below. Read the fine print and talk to the shop first. Buyer beware!

I will update the list as I find more shops that offer a free guide.

Chandail Needlework
http://www.chandailneedlework.com/stitch_guides/index.php

Fancy Stitches (Texas)
http://www.fancystitches.com/page60.html

Fireside Stitchery-free guide with purchase; custom guide available.
http://www.firesidestitchery.com/fs/handPaintedCanvas/index.cfm?fuseaction=stitchGuides

Girls Raised in the South Needleworks has both free and paid guides.
http://web.me.com/gritsnp/Site/Stitch_Guides.html

Marion's Nimble Needle in New York offers a free customized stitch guide with their Special Creations kit which is the canvas and all the threads recommended in the guide.
http://marionsnimbleneedle.com/index.php

The Needle Works--Note that they say a guide may take several weeks, depending on the size and complexity of the design and on how many are queued up.

http://www.theneedleworks.com/

Needlepoint in Paradise -- A free guide comes with many of their canvases. (I think the guides are by Gloria, whose last name I don't know.) Click on Categories under the About Us section on the left to browse.
http://www.needlepointinparadise.com/content/view/6/1/

Needleworks of Homestead, Alabama offers free custom stitch guides with a canvas purchase. They also have some canvases that come with guides. There is a link to the slide show of canvases with guides here. The second link goes straight to the slide show.
http://web.me.com/gritsnp/Site/Stitch_Guides.html

http://web.me.com/gritsnp/Site/Photos.html

Janet Perry (Napa Needlepoint) UPDATED

2010-02-05T09:26:00.004-05:00

UPDATE: Janet has her own stitch guide website now.
http://www.napaneedlepoint.com/stitch-guide-site/

She's written a little about her custom stitch guide philosophy here.
http://www.nuts-about-needlepoint.com/what-makes-napa-needlepoint-custom-stitch-guides-special

Janet Perry has an article on her site about stitch guides and how to use them. There are links to some of the things she mentions but this looks unfinished right now.
http://www.aboutneedlepoint.com/needlepoint-stitch-guides.html

Here is a bit about her approach to writing guides from her blog.
http://www.nuts-about-needlepoint.com/needlepoint-stitch-guide-customized-to-you

Janet also lists sources like the Kreinik website for free stitch guides on her site.
http://www.aboutneedlepoint.com/needlepoint-stitch-guides-free.html

She will help you select one stitch for an area on your canvas for only $5. Janet calls this Quick Stitch Help and says it is intended for a few spaces or backgrounds on a canvas. It is not a full-fledged stitch guide.
http://www.aboutneedlepoint.com/needlepoint-stitches-help.html

She also will write a custom stitch guide for you. Details here, including the fact that most of her custom guides cost $65.
http://www.aboutneedlepoint.com/needlepoint-stitch-guides-custom.html

She writes guides for many designers' canvases, including Cat's Cradle, Raymond Crawford, Elements Needlepoint, Kelly Clark and Melissa Shirley. Melissa Shirley has a profile of Janet on her website.
http://melissashirleydesigns.com/galcol/index.cgi?index=1311748091_23432&col=158

UPDATE: Janet is giving away a free stitch guide for Kathy Schenkel's lobster mini sock in return for signing up for her mailing list.
http://www.nuts-about-needlepoint.com/lobster-mini-sock-free-stitch-guide

ANOTHER UPDATE: This time about the Needle Deeva canvases Janet has done guides for.
http://www.nuts-about-needlepoint.com/needledeeva-stitch-guides-available

UPDATE: Janet tells me her stitch guides are available either in hard copy or PDF form. Here is a list of all guides available currently (July 2010) with retail prices. Anything with an asterisk by it means the canvas as well as the guide can be purchased directly from Janet "at an extra price." Have your shop contact her directly at napaneedlepoint@gmail.com to buy wholesale.

Raymond Crawford Chinese Letters $12 $16
works for all colors, mesh sizes, and letters in this
series, instructions for 8 canvases in all
Denise DeRusha Cookie Collection $7.50 $10
stitching plans and suggestions for all cookies in this series
Beau Geste Snowbears $10 $13
mother polar bear and cub
DJ Designs SF Stocking $30 $35
includes historic information about the landmarks in this piece
Earth & Sky Kimono $25 $30
guides for three kimono

Melissa Shirley Designs
Box of Chocolates $18 $22
Peppermint Twist Birds $20 $25
13 Days to Halloween (Countdown Calendar) $20 $25
Critter Luggage Tags (turtle, fish, butterfly, etc.) $18 $22
Christmas Candies $30 $35
Home Sweet Home $20 $25

Tink Boord-Dill
Flower & Fruit Tiles (daisy, rose, sunflower, peach)
Complete guide $10 (each) $13
Background stitch guide only $3 (each) $5
Fruit Tiles Background only (lemon, grapes, apple) $3 (each) $5

Leigh Designs
Rhumba (bird) $16 $20
Flamenco (bird) $16 $20

Bongo
*Holiday Scottie $7.50 $10
Mai Tai $12 $16
*Heart VW Bug $3 $5
*Christmas Tree VW Bug $3 $5
-- Guides are also available for the other VW Bugs, at the same prices)

Cat's Cradle
*I love Needlepoint $9 $12
*Jack Russell Terrier $9 $12
*Log Cabin in the Mountains $12 $16
*Plaid Scottie $9 $12

If a guide has an asterisk by it, people can buy the canvas through me for an extra price.

Raymond Crawford
Drinks coasters (red wine, beer, margarita, martini) $17 $21

Shelly Trubby
Paris Bellpull $25 $30

Happy Heart Designs
Happy Spring $12 $16
Mermaid $12 $16
Poinsettia Wreath $14 $18

Denise deRusha
Patterned Apples, Pumpkins, Maple Leaves, Acorns, etc. $3 (each) $5

Kelly Clark Needlepoint
Snowman $14 $18
Santa & Farm Friends $14 $18
Snowman $14 $18
Pretty Witch $14 $18
Scarecrow $14 $18
Ghostly Treater $14 $18
Rooster $14 $18
Nordic JOY Santa $14 $18
Nordic LOVE Santa $14 $18
Musical Santa $14 $18
Springtime Topiaries $14 $18

If you have questions, please email Janet directly at the address above.

Introducing Sharon Quick of QuickStitcher Designs

2010-02-03T08:35:00.000-05:00

I did an interview and slide show with Sharon Quick on Blog almost a year ago and thought I should link to it here to describe Sharon's stitch guide services. She is a finisher, too!
http://chillyhollownp.blogspot.com/2009/02/introducing-sharon-quick.html

If you are too busy to go read the interview right now, I've quoted an excerpt below describing her stitch guides:

"I have stitch guides for several pieces that I stitched for myself. I am particularly proud of Walking to the Moon (or also called Going to the Magic Place). Other guides are the 12 Vases by JP (C-566); Sprinkler Flowers by Shelly Tribbey (FL20); Kaylene by Ewe and Eye (EW-1007); Louise by Ewe and Eye (EWE-98); Stitching Club by Melissa Shirley; Dreidel Girl by Ruth Schmuff(1284); Night Ride by Shelly Tribbey; Desire by Lani; and Chef on a Bike by Alice Peterson. These stitch guides can be obtained directly from me. You will soon be seeing my name on stitch guides from Needle Deeva, Trubey, and Dede Ogden."

Sharon's email address is bg4458@earthlink.net. Contact her directly to buy one of her guides and get her mailing address. I own her Walking to the Moon Guide which cost $50 for an emailed PDF file that is nine pages long. The stitch diagrams are very clear and understandable, and there is a photo of this Sundance design ( ) on the cover and a larger photo inside with the various areas Sharon discusses numbered.

Stitch Guides From Amy Bunger's Shop

2010-02-01T07:30:00.003-05:00

Amy Bunger and her staff (especially Robin King) write stitch guides for her classes by mail and also for selected canvases in her store. Stitch guides are not returnable. You must purchase at least the canvas and/or the threads from Amy's store as well as the stitch guide. You cannot buy the stitch guide alone. These are some of the most expensive stitch guides available. Only a custom guide written by a top name needlepointer costs more. I've never seen any show up on eBay so you know they are treasured by their purchasers.

Photos of the canvases with guides here. Each is clearly marked as to whether they were written by Amy or Robin.
http://www.amybunger.com/custom_stitch_guides.html

Currently the guides are for canvases from Alexa, Alice Peterson, Amanda Lawford, Artists Collection, Brenda Stofft, Canvas Works, Cooper Oaks, Ewe and Eye, Jane Nichols, Kelly Clark, Labours of Love, Lee, Leigh Designs, Maggie, Melissa Shirley, Needle Crossing, Point of It All, Raymond Crawford, Ruth Schmuff, Shelly Tribbey, Sophia, Susan Roberts, and Tapestry Tent.

UPDATE: Robin King announces a new stitch guide available for a Kelly Clark witch canvas. (I call this the Hermonine Granger Witch because it looks like this Harry Potter character to me.) Since I posted this update, Robin has released a second stitch guide, this time for a Needle Deeva autumn harvest heart. Search on Robin King to find a separate article on this talented stitcher and her guides.
http://needlepointstudyhall.blogspot.com/2010/02/katt-z-witch-stitch-guide-are-now.html

By the way, Melissa Shirley has added a profile of Amy to her MSD website since Amy often writes guides to Melissa Shirley canvases.
http://melissashirleydesigns.com/galcol/index.cgi?index=1311385283_27740&col=158

Ch'ing Red Dragon Dynasty Ornament

2010-01-31T09:43:00.000-05:00

Ch'ing is from Leigh Designs' Chinese Dynasty ornament series.
http://www.leighdesigns.com/Grp821x.html

The stitch guide is available from Chillyhollow by emailing me at sgfromchnp@gmail.com to arrange payment. The cost is $10 for an emailed PDF file or $75 for a hard copy of the fourteen page guide, which includes sixteen photos of the canvas as it is stitched. If you are a shop, email me to arrange wholesale pricing.