With the holidays ahead, most of us are concentrating of food and madly finishing up our needlepoint gifts. But that doesn’t mean there are no new products out there. While there aren’t as many as at other times of the year, there are still plenty of goodies out there.
My absolute favorite thing I saw was Leigh’s “November surprise.” There are tricked-out gingerbread men on 18 mesh red canvas. Each one is dressed in a different wintry outfit and they all have stitch guides. The oval ornaments are less complex than many of her designs, so they make a great introduction to this talented designer.
Threadnuts has branched out into counted needlepoint with a series of small projects based on quilt blocks. They use the various Painter’s threads and are ornament-sized. These would be really great ornaments to stitch and finish yourself. The designs are from Foxwood Crossings. Handblessings has been doing a series of charts for perforated paper that are charted versions of stamps. Their newest group is backyard birds. The designs are stitched in #8 pearl cotton.
Do you love the Accoutrements needle and bead cases? They have four new ones with their “word” designs on them. Choose from “Stitch,” “Thanksgiving,” “Cheers,” or “Merry Christmas.” If you guild has a gift exchange consider one of these.
&more has a new design to honor Texas in response to Hurricane Harvey. You can order the Texas flag canvas with either “Texas Proud” or “Houston Strong” on it. Burnett & Bradley has a series of six snowmen with big hats in various patterns. Julie Paukert has new Christmas and Harvest door patterns. She is distributed by The Wellesley Collection. Kangaroo Paws has added canvases that have state shapes. The Point of It All has a new series of six oval ornaments that are old-fashoined bikes, including a bicycle built for two.
Lee has added a larger square to the leather snap trays. This one finishes as an 8″ square and has an opening big enough for 4.25″ round canvases. Do you miss the small boxes that Amanda Lawford carried? Yarn Tree has come out with similar ones in two shapes. The round ones come in black or ivory and have an opening 3.5″ The rectangular ones come in black, ivory, or wood grain and have an opening of 2 x 2.875.
Alexa has two new stocking canvas with lots of toys under the tree. You can choose 13 or 18 mesh and boy’s or girl’s toys. Their is a new collection of more realistic canvases from Jennifer Tan, the artist behind Pippin. They are adapted from her fine art pieces. Jean Smith has two lovely new canvases. Her Zinnia Garden is in her slightly abstract, modern style. Cosmos Beauties is more realistic and has delicate blooms. BB Needlepoint has a lovely 10″ round New England wreath that has sea, beach and land with typical New England icons like lobsters, blueberries, and chickadees.
&more is now making wine coasters. They have the varietal in script on either cream & white or dark red & white stripes. The size depends on the grape’s variety. I loved the new houses from The Artist’s Collection. They are decorated and have plenty of space for fancy stitches, threads, and embellishments.
About Janet M Perry
Janet Perry is the Internet's leading authority on needlepoint. She designs, teaches and writes, getting raves from her fans for her innovative techniques, extensive knowledge and generous teaching style. A leading writer of stitch guides, she blogs here and lives on an island in the northeast corner of the SF Bay with her family
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