Appealing, to a younger generation!

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29 July, 2016

21 July, 2014 By: Catlady

Aloha All,

I have been catching up on blogs recently and came across “ The Comfy Cottage “. I happened upon this site from Barbara Bergsten’s “ Create Needlepoint “. It is really a great site aimed at the younger generation, twenty-somethings, thirty-somethings, and older. What I really liked is how they have categorized the canvases on their site into, “beginner, intermediate, advanced”. Thus making it easier for the newer needlepointer to decide if the canvas may be above their comfort level or not. I am all about trying to stitch more intricate canvases, but I do remember when I was new to needlepoint and purchased some canvases that yes, intimidated me!

Needlepoint can be an expensive hobby. Purchasing a beautiful intricately painted canvas is appealing but how do you then stitch it. Not everyone wants to basketweave, and a new stitcher may have a difficult time putting together their own stitch guide. This may then lead to the canvas sitting untouched, with a bag full of threads. Of course you could go back to the store and ask for help, but who wants to do that! What I am getting to, is that it is easier to look and see how the canvas is labeled, easy to advanced. The Comfy Cottage has done this in their on-line store and are carrying several well known designers that appeal to all generations. Shopping on-line is a reality! The younger generation do this all the time. They don’t want to take the time to go into stores, they have grown up with computers surfing the net. Millennials are adept and finding things on Pintrest, Facebook, & Instagram. We as a needlepoint community have formed Needlepoint Groups on Facebook and Pin canvases, stitches, etc. on Pintrest. In doing this it makes it easier for new people to find about needlepoint, see that it is not just for “Old Folk’s”. These are the people we need to teach and excite! Knitting has already done this, with fun and funky fibers and they label their charts from easy to advanced, which frankly I love. I like to think that I knit, but really I look at charts and buy wool, very occasionally I to knit something, but I always check to see how easy the project is.

The next step will be to have more stores identifying canvases by level of stitching ease. It wouldn’t be too hard for shops that already have an on-line store to do this. Of course it will be time consuming but I think worth it. Eventually designers do this themselves. Of course needlepointers may not agree always agree on how a canvas is labeled, but after all, it is just a guideline and not set in stone!

Now what some of you were waiting for, the stitch for today.

Small Swirl Stitch

I saw this stitch on Steph’s Stitching in a post where she was highlighting her stitched canvases using different “Sky Stitches”. I think this is a great universal stitch and looks great in a sky when stitched with 1-2 strands of silk. Overdyed threads works wonderfully, but you could also use a white and a sky color, mix it up to give the illusion of big puffy white clouds.

The zoo is doing well although I do think the girls may be missing the outside this summer. It is their first summer inside, and they have been outside previously for two summers. They watch the birds in the back yard,

Stimpy eyeing the bird feeder

Beardie stretching after dinner

Beardie watching the girls inside.

When it is raining out they could care less about the outside, but on a summer day they watch their mum, Beardie.

Finally here is a photo of my snapdragon’s, I did not plant one of these this year. The flowers last year propagated and I had no idea these were going to appear since snapdragon’s are supposedly annuals! I have a few dwarf snapdragon’s behind these, but you cannot see them.

Till next time, enjoy the summer and stitch outside!

Sheena

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