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The Needlework Nutshell—May 1, 2006 Volume 2, Issue 5 May 1, 2006 <*><*><*><*><*><*><*><*><*><*><*><*><*><*><*><*><*><*><*><*> 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. Make it Yours! 5. Readers Ask 6. Contest 7. Contact/Subscribe/Unsubscribe *********************************************************** 1. NEEDLEWORK MUSINGS *********************************************************** I’m spending a lot of time designing right now. Shocking, right? I’m a designer, after all. But you might be surprised. I may call myself a designer, but the truth is, I’m a Business Owner. I spend way-yonder more time answering e-mail, filling orders, bookkeeping, filing, maintaining the web site, laying out patterns and catalogs, working with printers, locating resources, writing instructions and newsletters, and so on. And then there’s my children’s writing biz. Designing, it turns out, is a teeny-tiny part of my life. Mike and I design differently. He’s not a needleworker, so he draws everything on the computer. I’m amazed at what he can do with squares of color. Of the two of us, he’s the artist, whatever he may tell you. I, on the other hand, doodle. I keep a piece of 28-ct white Lugana (from Zweigart) on scroll rods as a doodle pad. There, I test fibers, color combinations, stitches, and patterns. I doodled oodles of optical illusions for DO YOU SEE WHAT I SEE?, more than made the cut for the final pattern. Some illusions worked on the computer, but not on fabric, and vice versa. Some worked better with certain colors. And a couple materialized as I doodled, gifts from my muse or the fiber gods. I didn’t know what illusions worked until I stitched them. Doodling provides an added benefit of practicing the stitches and pattern before crafting the final model. If the size 5 pearl cotton looks bulky, I can try size 8. If my couching is spaced too far apart, I can decrease the distance between the stitches on the display piece. I rip stitches less often when stitching the final work, and it looks better. Stitchers used to *practice* stitching. That’s what samplers were for: practice. Girls weren’t permitted to stitch important items until they had practiced and proven their skill. Nowadays we don’t practice. We just stitch and expect the result to look nice. In fact, I suspect some (dare I say many?) stitchers would consider practicing boring, or a waste of time. If we’re not *making something*, what’s the point? I can think of at least two points to practicing, or Not Making Anything. The first is the improvement in skill. If you’re one of the many stitchers who can’t make French knots, what do you suppose would happen if you spent a couple of nights practicing French knots with different kinds of threads? Improving skills may or may not be important to you, but I think we would have to agree that practice improves stitching skills. The other point of just practicing—Not Making Anything—is perhaps more interesting: creativity happens. Last month I related how I mistakenly used 2 threads on some stitches of a doodle and 3 threads on others, but discovered that I liked the effect. Now, I can employ that technique to deliberately achieve that feeling of depth. Sure, I could have conceived that mentally, or followed instructions to do it, but I *discovered* it, and that’s not only more fun, but it has a greater impact on my memory. While doodling one optical illusion, I discovered another by accident. I designed a number of blackwork patterns by doodling, as well as backgrounds and borders. Entire designs can grow from doodles. Watching something take shape from nothing is one of the greatest joys I know. Mind you, more of my doodles wind up in the garbage than in patterns, but that’s okay. It’s like washing pan after pan of dirt, looking for that gold nugget. The process is pleasant, the anticipation is exciting, and the reward gratifying. The best part is anybody can doodle. If you sit down with fabric and thread, determined to just practice, creativity will happen. Try it! *********************************************************** 2. TIPS AND TRICKS *********************************************************** Discover for yourself the adventure and benefits of needlework doodling. Save your fabric and fiber scraps—even the tiny ones—then doodle. Because it’s May, and “April showers bring May flowers,” why not try doodling a flower? Not a flower person? Then go with Mayflower, and doodle a boat. Make up a stitch, or try something geometric. It’s a doodle, it doesn’t have to be good. The materials started as garbage, they can end as garbage. But what if it’s not garbage? We don’t want to waste it. What do we do with a good doodle? Where do we put it? Where doodles belong, of course: on the fridge! Buy a magnet sheet from a craft store, or re-cover a magnet that’s already on your fridge. (Why do I have a magnet advertising a dentist I’ve never visited, anyway?!) *Trim around your doodle. *Cut a magnet the same size, or slightly smaller than your doodle. *Glue the magnet to the backside of the doodle. I use Beacon Adhesives FABRI-TAC PERMANENT ADHESIVE. I apply it to the magnet, then gently press the doodle on. You don’t even have to finish your fabric edges since they will be glued. You can fringe the edges, if you like. I call these magne-doodles, but given that Fisher Price has a MAGNADOODLE toy, we might need to think of a different name. We could call them needoodles (needle doodles), embroodles (embroidered doodles), dootches (doodle stitches), or something else. Stick with your doodles and creativity will happen. You, too, can make something from nothing. When you do, send me a picture! Here are two doodles of my own that are now fridge magnets. They are rejects from an upcoming pattern, but not bad in and of themselves. They’ll live on my fridge until I give them away. http://www.funkandweber.com/fw/nutshell/doodles.jpg *********************************************************** 3. WHAT’S NEW AT FUNK & WEBER *********************************************************** Two new LET THERE BE NIGHT Stitchlings are now posted on our web site. In NIGHT HOWL (S108), coyotes howl and an owl perches on a cactus in the desert moonlight. LOVELY NIGHT (S109) is a mushy romantic scene, not suitable for love-squeamish children, and committed bachelor/bachelorettes. I think it’s dreamy! http://www.funkandweber.com/fw/index.html *********************************************************** 4. MAKE IT YOURS! *********************************************************** Bev did it again! This time she Bevved our SILENT NIGHT pattern. ****I used R&R Black sheep black linen 27-count fabric. Anchor Marlitt #800 for shine on ground snow. I used double by the house; I liked the idea of snow drifts there. The tree snow I used Rainbow Gallery’s Gold Rush GD10C, done in half stitch. (It was kind of thick - next time I will use Kreinik #4 very fine braid 032 - same shine, less bulk.) For snow coming from the sky, I used Mill hill beads 161.**** Get this: I see the white French knots in the sky as stars, but Bev sees them as falling snowflakes. I love it! Excellent job of Making It Hers. Have you adapted a pattern to Make It Yours? Tell us about it! mail@funkandweber.com *********************************************************** 5. READERS ASK *********************************************************** Please e-mail me with questions for this section. mail@funkandweber.com Caitlyn (age 10—if you tell me your age, I’ll post it, too!) asks how we come up with the titles for our patterns. First of all, Caitlyn, a huge THANK YOU for noticing our titles. We have as much fun with the titles as we do with the patterns. As far as *how* we come up with titles, well, I guess we brainstorm. I start by coming up with words associated with the pattern design, then play with them, looking for familiar sayings, alliteration, rhyme, double meanings—anything at all that seems interesting. The last two patterns that we named were NIGHT HOWL and LOVELY NIGHT. The LET THERE BE NIGHT series got its name because the patterns are black and white moonlight scenes, and because it’s a twist of the familiar biblical phrase, “Let there be light.” All the patterns in the series use the word “night.” I liked NIGHT HOWL because it sounds like “night owl,” which is a familiar phrase, but also describes the owl in the picture. Because the coyotes are howling, it works to describe them, too. All those connections from two little words—what can I say?—that excites me! LOVELY NIGHT, on the other hand, thrills me less. Here, I can claim that “love” is the theme of the image, and “lovely” describes any pleasant scene, but that’s as far as I can stretch it. We went through the same process, but came up with fewer interesting possibilities. That just goes to show you that you don’t strike gold every time you dig. Just like you, Caitlyn, I might like PUZZLE PISCES best. You wouldn’t believe how many people call it “Puzzle Pieces,” but, then, that’s kind of the joke, isn’t it? *********************************************************** 6. PUZZLE CONTEST *********************************************************** Play with me! 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) May 7, 2006. The winner will be selected on May 8, 2006, 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 public at large, and all winners will be subscribers. To the puzzle! http://www.funkandweber.com/fw/nutshell/soup.pdf ~~~~~~~~~~ APRIL PUZZLE CONTEST WINNER: Sisu from Marcellus, MI. Yep, April’s puzzle was a hard one. Here’s the solution: http://www.funkandweber.com/fw/nutshell/april_solution.pdf *********************************************************** 7. CONTACT FUNK & WEBER DESIGNS *********************************************************** SUBSCRIBE: 57410-subscribe@zinester.com UNSUBSCRIBE: 57410-unsubscribe@zinester.com ARCHIVES: http://archives.zinester.com/57410 Jen Funk Weber mail@funkandweber.com http://www.funkandweber.com Copyright 2006, Funk & Weber Designs |
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