First off, Squigee Designs, maker of simply wonderful painted canvases, as well as the popular cross stitch designer Shepherd’s Bush are now being distributed by Dream House Ventures. They have a whole new range of small whimsical canvases which will be seen for the first time at the June Market. Squigee joins their other well-known designers including Mindy, Bongo, and The Cricket Collection.
River Silks has a charming new picture of pansies available as a kit using their lovely silk ribbons. Leigh Designs is introducing two stunning new collections One is her small ornaments, with eight in the collection, all based on Swedish themes. They are painted on 18 mesh Victorian Green canvas and are named for a past Swedish monarch. The second also has eight canvases and explores the colors and images of Mexican street festivals.
Alice Vantrease has three lovely shorebirds done as centers with wide black on white geometric borders for a fresh interpretation of traditional style. The Caron Collection has 9 new painted canvas designs, most inspired by quilts.
The Gentle Art has four new Simply Shaker colors (sunflower, raspberry frost, autumn leaves, and chives) and two new limited edition colors (water’s edge and driftwood).
Finca, the makers of Presencia cottons, has come out with a line of metallic. There are 12 colors available in 1 and 2 ply. Crescent Colours is releasing three new colors of cotton floss; Mauvelous, Sea Shell, and Mint Julep. They are also adding 3 new colors of Belle Soie and #5 perle. Kreinik has added 10 new colors to their Japan #5 line.
The Elizabeth Turner Collection has charming magnetized holders for your needles, called needle buddies which look like little rhinestone pins. FA Edmunds has a new floor stand, the Stitch Master, which will hold scroll frames, quilting hoops, stretcher bars and rachet frames. Tamsco has introduced a new line of precision scissors made from recycled steel called Greenline. Yarn Tree has a cool new easel with swirl ends made from black iron. It’s perfect for displaying framed needlepoint on a table.
Handblessings has some new charts available, including a lovely spring wreath. Custom House has a new Finger Step design on painted canvas of five delightful and colorful fish. Needle Delights has a new counted canvas design all in greens called Emerald. DebBee’s Designs has a great new counted canvas design using my favorite Watercolours, called Tahiti Triangles. It has lots of textured stitches in bright colors.
The Caron Collection has add 12 new shades in both Watercolours and Wildflowers and 10 new Waterlilies. I’ll let you know once I have the list. Brown paper packages just added three shades to their Watery Blue family. These threads are turquoise and are simply lovely. Lizbeth is a new thread company to me, they have a fine size 20 thread (usually used for tatting or crochet) made from Egyptian cotton. There are 76 colors including some lovely variegated ones.
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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