Freebies and Links for Needlerolls

FREEBIES:

A couple of you have requested freebie links to needleroll designs, so here are a few I've managed to come up with for you:

• The Victoria Sampler - Love Blooms


• Kreinik - Victorian Silk Needleroll


• Classic Stitches magazine- Happy Days Needleroll (you'll need to sign up as a member - which is free - then head to "Stitching Zone" - Free Charts - select "Trinkets" as the category, and it's towards the bottom of the list) ... this is a hardanger needleroll, though, so the ends are done differently to how mine will be.


• Dragonfly Stitches - Blues Needleroll


• Down Sunshine Lane - Mini Valentine Needleroll


• IHLE-Design- Various needleroll designs


• The Floss Box - Needleroll


• Aurelle-over-blog- Aurelle has some great freebies, and her seasonal/monthly charts (such as this example) would be great for needlerolls

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EYE CANDY:

If you just want to look at some needleroll eye candy, check out this website from a French exchange group ... it shows how versatile the humble needleroll is, in that any small design is suitable for use! :)

Also, check out the Katrina's Webshots album - note that Katrina has stitched many of the Sweetheart Tree needlerolls, which are stunning, and there are no pictures on the Sweetheart Tree website. These designs are just printed on plain cardboard with no piccies and are quite cheap to buy - if they had photos somewhere I'm sure their sales would soar! I've always thought of Katrina as the "Queen of Needlerolls" so her album is well worth a visit :)

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DESIGNERS:

And if you want to check out some published designs specifically for needlerolls, here are a few starting points (this list is in no way exhaustive, but these designers have been chosen for the variety of needleroll designs they have published):

• Shepherd's Bush(scroll down the page to the needlerolls)
  


• The Victoria Sampler(select "VS Site Search" and type in "needleroll" for the quickest way to find all the needleroll designs)
  


• M Designs (the link should take you to the needleroll page)
  


• Heart in Hand Needleart- look for the "fobs" designs, also those designs such as "Acorn Sampler" would be a good size to turn into a needleroll
  


• Sekas & Co(mini sampler-type needlerolls - mainly alphabets)
  


• Jeannette Douglas- Jeannette has some lovely needleroll designs, but the new website design is a pain to navigate - this link takes you to the Mini Topiary series, or the Seasonal series (my personal fave is Summer at the Ocean). Also don't forget she has some beautiful ornament needlerolls in the Just Cross Stitch Christmas Ornament issues.
  

Other designers that have older designs no longer current (you could check out Ebay) is Liz Navickas and Lorri Birmingham (you can see some of Lorri's designs through Hoffman Distributors) - both have some lovely needleroll designs.

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If that isn't enough for you, here are photos of some of the needlerolls I've personally stitched and finished ... I hope everything today has whetted your appetite for more! I look forward to seeing you at the end of the month for the class :)

Tutorial Links and Stitchers Books

Just a quick note to say the following tutorials have all recently been added to the Tutorial Links page:

• Kitty Couture - fabric covered buttons (added 30 Dec 07)
• The Twisted Stitcher (Vonna) - Altoid Tin tutorial (added 5 Jan 08)
• The Twisted Stitcher (Vonna) - pinkeep (added 5 Jan 08)

Also, there a couple of beautiful finished Stitcher's Books here that are worth checking out for some exquisite eye candy! :D

If you still haven't seen enough, check out the Photo Gallery here.

And if you now have the urge to make your own stitcher's book, there is a tutorial here prepared by the talented Leena.

August FAL - Inspiration

Looking for inspiration for this month's theme?

Try The World's Largest Collection of Smalls blog as a starting point for loads of pictures of stitching accessories, which are all grouped by category. Check out everyone's gorgeous scissor fobs, needlecases, pincushions, needlerolls, pinkeeps, biscornu, scissor pockets, and tape measure covers, along with all the other beautiful finishes

Think outside the box: for example, mini biscornu make wonderful scissor fobs, like this cute patriotic fob by Linda in Iceland:

and these 3 colourful fobs by Melanie in Australia:

Or why not try out a strawberry fob, like this one by Blackbird Designs in last year's JCS ornament issue, beautifully stitched and finished by Cathymk:

More thinking outside the box; needlerolls don't necessarily have to be vertical designs - here's one I made using a horizontal design, which I adapted slightly (Homeward at Last by JBW Designs):

and if you don't fancy the idea of hemstitching the ends, just use banding, like this one stitched by AnneS:

If you've got plenty of time on your hands, why not create a matching set of accessories, like this beautiful set of LHN designs stitched by Becky:

or these fabulous Quaker accessories stitched by Nicki?

I couldn't find a tutorial for a needleminder, but the basic idea is quite straightforward. Michelle has made a couple of beautiful needleminders recently (I'm totally drooling over the Quaker one):

Sarah Moon (top) and Flower of Courage needleminders, stitched by Michelle (Cozyegg)

The instructions she used came with a kit but think metal ornament finishing forms, magnets (inside and out) and any kind of trim for the edging and it's not too hard to work out how to create your own. Or you could try a basic pincushion or fob with magnets inside to hold your needles or pick up dropped pins, like these great examples by Barbara:

and Lelia:

And finally, if you're up for a challenge and want to try something completely different, what about a chatelaine to hold stitching tools? Here's an example of one designed by Guilia Punti Antichi:

and a gorgeous one created to her own design by Helen:

So what are you waiting for? Drag out your stitched pieces and your finishing supplies and get finishing! And don't forget to post your finishes to the blog so we can all admire them. If you've not already signed up to post on here you'll need a WordPress account (free, no need to create a blog) and then you'll need to email me to add you as an author so you can post. It's quick and painless (honest!)

Have fun!

Tutorials and blog links added

I've added Niky in Italy's blog to the Inspiration page. Niky is a prolific stitcher and accomplished finisher, who does wonderful work. I can't find an online album for her, but there are loads of beautiful pictures of her stitching and finishing on her blog.

I've also added 2 tutorials to the tutorials page showing how to add a zipper to a project. I used both of these tutorials when I made my zippered project bag recently and I thought they might be useful to include here.

U-handblog zippered pouch

Twelve22 zippered pouch

Posted by KarenV

Mail Art Links

Thanks Barbara for kicking off this wonderful tutorial - I'm looking forward to seeing the results :) In case anyone wants any further ideas for designs/layouts, or just wants to drool over some eye candy, here are a couple of links for you to galleries:

AccroStitch - scroll down the left-hand side to "La galerie des enveloppes brodées et ses rondes" ... there are pages and pages of finished mail art envelopes to drool over :)

Veronique Million - picturetrail album

Liliankok - webshots album

Aniza's album - an alternative method of making the mail art envelopes

I thought I had a few others bookmarked, but can't find them ... but that should keep you busy for a while. If anyone else has some links to share, please leave a comment with the link, and I'll add them to the list :D

Here are some more from a mail art exchange I was part of last year - there were only three of us in the exchange, but the mail art was beautiful :)

To Zohrah from Anne

To Aniza from Zohrah

To Anne from Aniza