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December01, 2005 - The Needlework Nutshell >> |
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The Needlework Nutshell~~~November 1, 2005 Volume 1, Issue 1 November 1, 2005 <*><*><*><*><*><*><*><*><*><*><*><*><*><*><*><*><*><*><*><*> THE NEEDLEWORK NUTSHELL Needlework news, musings, tips contests, and what??™s happening now at FUNK & WEBER DESIGNS <*><*><*><*><*><*><*><*><*><*><*><*><*><*><*><*><*><*><*><*> Editor: Jen Funk Weber Mail to: mailto:mail@funkandweber.com Web site: http://www.funkandweber.com Your privacy is important to us. Our subscriber list is NOT made available to others. *********************************************************** IN THIS ISSUE *********************************************************** 1. Needlework Musings 2. Tips and Tricks 3. What??™s New at Funk & Weber Designs 4. Readers Ask 5. Contest 6. Contact/Subscribe/Unsubscribe *********************************************************** 1. NEEDLEWORK MUSINGS *********************************************************** The very first musing in The Needlework Nutshell! Ah, where to begin? Perhaps I??™ll take Lewis Carroll??™s advice and Begin at the Beginning. In the beginning, Jen created the lion. It was my first embroidery. I was 5 or 6 years old. I glued the canvas onto a shiny poster of a red, orange, and yellow lion. Then, with my blue plastic needle and worsted-weight acrylic yarn, I poked through the paper and stitched my lion in what I later learned was the tent stitch, sorta. Even then, if the stitches weren??™t perfect, I ripped them out. Perfectionism must be innate. I??™m still fussy about my stitching. Oh, I??™m sure there are better stitchers out there (and I hate you!), but if a stitch isn??™t *my* best work, I rip it out. Yup, I??™m a slow stitcher. And, as you might guess, the backs of my embroideries don??™t look too shabby. So that means I??™m stitching right, right? Perfect stitches and tidy backs are requirements of needlework right? Wrong. To fret over perfection or what something unseen looks like, is to miss the point. Needlework is first about fun, enjoyment, relaxation, and entertainment. You miss that if you??™re feeling badly about your efforts. Needlework is also about creating something you like, whether it??™s for you or someone else. If you like what you see on the front, who cares what the back looks like? If you can??™t tell from the front, who cares if you looped your thread over a dozen stitches in the back? So why do I rip less-than-perfect stitches? Because dumb as it sounds, doing so makes me happy. I am a perfectionist, and achieving perfection (or as close as I can come to it??”I am not completely deluded!) makes me happy. Mike and I are building our house. I am the electrician. (How scary is that?) Many times I made micro-adjustments to the height of outlet boxes, or the running of the wires inside the walls??”things that no one will ever see. Bit I did it. It made me happy. I think my needlework has improved since I undertook the lion, and I no longer use blue plastic needles, but one thing hasn??™t changed: I stitch in a way that makes me happy. I hope you stitch in whatever way makes you happy, too. *********************************************************** 2. TIPS AND TRICKS *********************************************************** STITCHING ON BLACK FABRIC We have a number of designs stitched on black fabrics, and 2 stitched on dark blue fabrics: The Neighborhood, the 7 LET THERE BE NIGHT Stitchlings, Twilight Treasures, and The Trail Home. Some people claim they cannot stitch on black fabric, others complain that it??™s hard. Here are some things that I do when I stitch on dark fabrics: ~~~HAVE GOOD LIGHT. While caretaking, I had nothing but propane lights. I rearranged furniture so I could sit directly under one. One year, I papered the wall around my light with butcher paper to help reflect the light. The wall beneath was dark brown and it absorbed what little light there was. (That??™ll make you think twice before putting faith in my decorating tips, eh?) ~~~LIGHT ABOVE, LIGHT BELOW. In addition to good light above your work, light below the work illuminates the ???holes??? where your needle goes. Now, you don??™t want the lower light shining up in your eyes, but any indirect light is good. Daylight from a window does the trick. But that doesn??™t work so well at night, which I would guess is when most of us stitch. ~~~WHITE BACKGROUND. A white or light-colored background behind the dark fabric also ???illuminates??? the holes between fabric threads. This could be a pair of light pants, a piece of paper, or an afghan on your lap. ~~~USE A MAGNIFIER. If the above tricks don??™t allow you to stitch joyfully on dark fabrics, consider investing in a magnifier, if you can. Those things are amazing! I don??™t own one yet, but I will one day. ~~~CHOOSE DIFFERENT FABRIC. If black fabric is impossible in your eyes (pun intended), consider changing fabrics. I saw a gorgeous SILENT NIGHT stitched on 10-ct blue Heatherfield (Wichelt). Still dark, but large, and thus easier to see. And someone even stitched that pattern on a white opalescent fabric with brown overdyed floss. Bizarre! But very cool. The opalescent fabric gave a snowy feeling even though the stitches were brown. Be creative! Have fun! *********************************************************** 3. WHAT??™S NEW AT FUNK & WEBER DESIGNS *********************************************************** BRACELET BASICS & BEYOND ONLINE CLASS, NOV. 9-14 There??™s still time to register! The bracelets stitch up fairly quickly and make great holiday gifts. Four lessons provided in a private Yahoo! Group will guide you through the process: the decorative griffin stitch, the edge stitch, finishing the back side, and stringing the beads and clasp. See our web site for further details and to register. ~~~~~~~~~~ WHAT IN THE WORLD IS ON THE COVER OF GAMES MAGAZINE! That??™s not a question; it??™s an exclamation! Our design, WHAT IN THE WORLD?, is the cover puzzle for the February issue of GAMES magazine. The February issue comes out in early December, so heads up if you want to look for it. It is one of my personal missions to put needlework in non-needlework places, to expose non-needleworkers to the beauty, versatility, joy, and art that needlework is. I can??™t wait to see it. If *you* get needlework out into the Wide World in an unusual place or way, I'd love to hear about it. ~~~~~~~~~~ STITCH-N-SAFARI 2006, JUNE 24-JULY 1 Dates for the 2006 Stitch-N-Safari are set! If you??™ve ever dreamed of coming to Alaska, we hope you??™ll consider joining us for this trip. Mike and I both spent a number of years guiding for ALASKA WILDLAND ADVENTURES, and are now proud to offer this special adventure through them. We will visit protected wild places, enjoy spectacular scenery and (we hope) wildlife, then relax and stitch at comfortable wilderness lodges in the eveing, while someone else prepares dinner! Visit our web site for further details, the itinerary, and costs, or contact ALASKA WILDLAND ADVENTURES http://www.alaska-wildland.com (1-800-334-8730) for their free brochure. Be sure to ask about the Funk & Weber Designs Stitch-N-Safari. We??™d love to show you our Alaska! *********************************************************** 4. READERS ASK *********************************************************** You??™ll have to e-mail me with questions for this section. Until then, Bev recently asked if we were snowed in yet. No. We got a couple of inches of snow in mid-October, but nothing since. That couple of inches is still around, though, in spite of the sunny days. It??™s nippy! *********************************************************** 5. PUZZLE CONTEST *********************************************************** Play with me! I??™m a puzzle fan, and have sold over 200 puzzles to children??™s magazines and web sites. My first children??™s book, due out in March 2006 from Sasquatch Books, is??¦you guessed it??”a puzzle book! Specifically, it is an Alaska natural history puzzle book, illustrated with Mike??™s photos. Solve this puzzle, and be entered to win a free Funk & Weber Designs pattern! Winners will be randomly selected from all correct entries. E-mail your answer, with ???PUZZLE CONTEST??? in the subject line. The deadline for this month??™s puzzle is midnight (Alaska time, of course) November 4, 2005. The winner will be selected on November 5, 2005, notified by e-mail, and announced on our web site and in the next NEEDLEWORK NUTSHELL. To avoid sending e-mail attachments, contest puzzles will be uploaded to our web site. I will provide a link to the puzzle only in THE NEEDLEWORK NUTSHELL. The contest is intended for subscribers, not the publ 70581/98750_wip.PDF be subscribers. To the puzzle! http://www.funkandweber.com/pdf/wip.PDF *********************************************************** 6. CONTACT FUNK & WEBER DESIGNS *********************************************************** Send a blank e-mail to SUBSCRIBE: 57410-subscribe@zinester.com Send a blank e-mail to UNSUBSCRIBE: 57410-unsubscribe@zinester.com ARCHIVES: http://archives.zinester.com/57410 Jen Funk Weber mail@funkandweber.com http://www.funkandweber.com Copyright 2005, Funk & Weber Designs |
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