New Products – June 2008

I want to send a big THANK YOU to Theresa of Homestead Needle Arts in Michigan, a fantastic store! Theresa’s newsletter and her posts from shows are the absolute best way to keep up-to-date on what’s happening in the needlepoint world. I really want to thank her for them.

Because of TNNA, there are a ton of new product announcements. So, without further ado, here’s what’s up.
THREAD NEWS: RAINBOW GALLERY has 26 new colors in Silk Lame: Lite Surf Blue, Surf Blue, Antique Blue, Dark Antique Blue, Lite Lavender, Lavender, Dark Lavender, Baby Pink, Rose Pink, Raspberry, Garnet, Burgundy, Chiffon, Orange, Copper, Coffee, Eggshell, Lemon, Buttercup, Chartreuse, Dark Avocado, Caribbean, Lagoon, Dove Gray, Pewter and Mint. Plus 2 new colors of Crystal Braid (Blue Pearl and Northern Lights,),one new Neon Rays Plus (True Blue) 7 new Soft Sheen Fyre Werks (Lite Tree Green, Espresso, Ocean Blue, Pink Pearl, Lilac Pearl, Peach Pearl and Mint Pearl), 3 new Petite Treasure Braids (Orchid, Aegean Blue and one Shimmer color – Ecru), 5 new Wisper colors (Coffee Brown, Pearl Gray, Dark Pearl Gray, Hazelnut and Dark Hazelnut), 1 new Size 12 Treasure Braid (Orchid), and one new Petite Sparkle Rays (Gold).
VINEYARD SILKS has 6 new pinks, one very light yellow, a green and a light blue. CONJOINED CREATIONS has combined several of their Soy Silk shades into two Holiday Collections in 30 yard skeins. One is lovely autumnal shades, which would be lovely for a fall forest scene. The other has reds, greens, and a couple of blues for Christmas projects.
NEW COLORS FROM GLORIANA SILKS are here. THIRTEEN new colors: Denim Blue, Bordeaux, Pumpkin, Coffee Bean, Pacific Blue Dark, Aubergine, Arnhem Heath, French Blue, Mocha, Iris, Tulip Festival Pineapple and Birch Brown. I have a skein of Birch Brown and it’s just lovely, a much-needed medium to medium light brown.
NEW COLORS IN KREINIK #24 BRAID: Kreinik has announced 12 new colors in Canvas (#24) braid. If you like working on 14 mesh canvas, this braid is great. The new colors are: 008HL Green Hi Lustre, 011HL Gun Metal, 019 Pewter, 023 Lilac, 051HL Sapphire Hi Lustre, 080HL Garnet Hi Lustre, 085 Peacock, 093 Star Mauve, 235 Red Ember, 308 Colonial Red, 2094HL Heather, 3215 Peridot, 3228 Topaz, 3231 Moonstone, 3533 Purple Mambo, 4639 Light Aqua, 5003 Dragonfly, 5004 Love Potion.
CARON COLLECTION just announced 12 new colors: Primrose, Geranium, Claret, Sunflower Seed, Prairie Grass, Ink, Porcelain Blue, Cornflower Blue, Barely Blue, Spearmint, Black Hils and Garden Path.
A possible replacement for Medici is from Strand fibers of New Zealand. It is a merino/mohair blend in a 2 ply crewel weight wool blend which is a bit thicker than most crewel wool. There are 174 colors.
CHARTED CANVAS NEWS: JANE ZIMMERMAN: Jane has announced that she is going to bring out two more volumes of her wonderful stitch encyclopedia. Volume 3 will cover composite stitches. Volume 4 will cover multi-step/layered fillings.
She has also now made available project packs for the samplers on the covers of the first two volumes. They are $25 each and have materials lists, but no materials. They contain all the stitch diagrams as well. If you have the books and want to check out what they look like, they are pictured completely on the back cover, with a close-up detail shot of part of it on the front of each volume of the encyclopedia.
STITCHING TOOL NEWS: JOHN JAMES has a new packaging system out for their needle called Pebble which combines needles in a great carrying case. LEAH BANJAMIN DESIGNS has come out with sunglass versions of their reading glasses, just in time for vacation stitching.
PAINTED CANVAS NEWS: SALLY COREY is a talented needlepoint designer and author of two of my favorite needlepoint books on Weaving Designs and Japanese Motifs in Needlepoint. She has brought her considerable designing talents to the world of painted canvas designs. You can find them at http://www.needlepointdesigningwoman.com. You’ll go crazy for these lovely designs. Her books, published when her name was Sally Nicolletti, are no longer in print, but you can often find them at book sales and used bookstores.
The popular cross stitch designs of The Prairie Schooler have been brought to painted canvas by STITCH-ITS (http://www.stitch-its.com) 8 Santas are currently available (on 13 mesh) but any other designs are possible, ask at your local shop.
VOILA! C’EST FINI! Has come out with a line of mini-socks in their signature colorful style. FLEUR DE PARIS has added Designs by Tonya, a line of Judaic painted canvases to their line. CBK NEEDLEPOINT COLLECTIONS has added the artwork of Cecelia, an artist from British Columbia to their line. Tales of the Caribbean, one of her series, has four canvases in it. CAMUS INT’L has brought the hand-painted English designs of Kirk & Hamilton in London to the US market.