ABS Designs with Stitch Guides

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

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