New Designs from Kelly Clark Studio!

What's New from 2016 January TNNA MARKET?

LOTS of NEW DESIGNS!

Kelly Clark & Brenna Pollok of Colonial Needle

at the Kelly Clark Booth

All the new designs are loaded onto the web-site

www.kellyclarkneedlepoint.com

check out the new finished pieces on the front page slide shows!

Then click on the What's New link and peruse through 

the photos of over-80+ new items!

I am very excited to announce my new color palettes for

Presencia America., available thru Colonial Needle Company

HALLOWEEN & HOLLY

These are available pre-packaged in Finca Floss

Perle No.8, &  Perle No.16.

The packaging makes it so simple to toss in your travel bag for an 

Ornament Project!  Quick and Easy without the worry of pulling alot

of threads.  The Floss packages come with 3 skeins of each of the 6 colors!

Have your Local Needlepoint Shop call and order for you today!

But first, I wanted to talk about Perle No.16...

It is my new favorite skinny thread!

FAVORITE!

Check out how cool these stitches look in Perle No. 16:

Color #8069 for the Diagonal Long Stitch

 Colors #4228 & #4799 for the Laid Vertical Channel Stitches...

just look how that skinny thread creates just a whisper of Background!

I LOVE it!

Color #8069 is used in two different stitches here.

On the left it stitches the open reverse slant Scotch in the background.

On the right it is a Double Elongated Cross at the intersection of diagonals created by the Velvet.

Color #4812 wraps the wire stem and frames the leaves.

And here are some additional Pictures of new items:

The Winter Village is available with Stitch Guides!!!!!

Item numbers from left are:

KWV 7-18, KWV 4-18, KWV 1-18, KWV6-18, KWV 11-18, KWV 2-18 and KWV 3-18

KCA 29-18 Folk Art Flower Sampler

Available with Stitch Guide, Accessory Kit for all the wire and Appliques and a 

Presencia Thread Kit of all cottons used!

Chubby Pears Front and Back views!

From left: KCA 1426, KCN 1428 & KCN 1429

Available with Stitch Guide & Presencia Thread Kit!

And from the Tiny Basket Series:

 KCB 01-18 Shells at the Seashore

 KCB 03-18 Halloween Tricks

 KCB 02-18 Christmas Baking

Now, quick go check out ALL the new Items on the website!

Here is that link again:

www.kellyclarkneedlepoint.com

Happy Stitching All!Kelly

Stumpwork Bumble Bees, Needle Felting and more!

In the Bee Skep Series, my goal was to stitch each of the eight canvases with completely different techniques and styles for both 

the skep baskets and the bees.  

It was easy peasy to come up with varying stitches for the baskets.  

However, on the Bumble Bee front, as they were all about the same size,

it was quite a Challenge!

The fifth piece in the series is below:  

Bee Skep in Fieldstone Wall

I LOVE the Bumbles on the fifth canvas!

They were Needle Felted with Colonial Needles Blue Grip Felting Needles.

Here is a photographic progression of the felting process: 

1. a small amount of Wool Roving in place. 

2. The start of the felted shape is about halfway complete

3. This is from a different spot on the canvas than the first two pics, 

but it is the final felted shape prior to

adding all of the finishing stitches.

4.  Adding the Stripes and Head,

using Embroidery stitches and 2 ply of Amy's Burmilana

Wool blend thread in Charcoal

5. Once the stripes and head are stitched, it is time for wings

(Now back to our original Bee,)

This is 26 gauge white vinyl-coated wire.

It is not necessary to use white wire, gold or any neutral 

shade will do just fine.

6. The wing wires are stitched with Buttonhole Wrap

or Cast On stitches to completely cover the wire.

~See Stitch Diagram below~

As you can see from the diagram, the stitch forms a linked ridge,

this ridge is rolled to the inside to optically

'fill in' the shape. 

Finished Needle Felted Bees:

 

The final framed piece in place on the Hutch in

my family room! 

Stumpwork Sampler FINISHED!!!!!

As I mentioned on Facebook this January, my operating rule for 2014 is that I have to complete a

WIP

(Work In Progress)

for every new canvas I start.  A Daunting task, 

but none-the-less, try I must!

Two weeks ago I realized that it is time for me to start stitching on 

a new Retailers Club that I plan to

 reveal in April/May...

so that meant I had to finish something!  Yikes!  What would it be?

Well I pulled out my Stumpwork Sampler to have a look.

It was close.  Only the outer borders and beading and trim

around the Nosegay left to stitch!  I could do it! 

Here are a few close-up pics:

The Sampler is composed of some of my favorite things.

Each and every item stitched has a special meaning for me.  I can't wait

to have it framed and place it where I can cherish it always!

And just a tiny sneak peek at my Upcoming Retailers Club:

Until next time,

Happy Stitching all!

Webs I have Woven

I know that may seem like a strange choice for a Blog Topic.  

Here is the back story:

As you all know, I am working on my 3rd Crazy Quilt piece: Crazy About Halloween.

As I stitched, the wedge with the spider web kept eluding me.  Hum?  "Why do I not know what I want to do with that Web?" This web is troublesome because for the web wedge, (don't even try to say that three times fast!) the background needed to become an integral part of the image

...because a web has translucense!

  Unlike some of the imagery on the first two Crazy Quilt pieces where the image nicely sits on-top of the background in the wedge it is occupying.

Let us take a close-up look at what I am talking about.

On Christmas Crazy Quilt:

The lovely basket of paper whites sits majestically on-top of the 

scrumptious deep scarlet background.

 While our branch with the proud

 partridge and plump pear may indeed cross over and occupy area in five different wedges, nonetheless, this imagery sits staunchly on-top of the numerous backgrounds.

On Springtime Crazy Quilt:

Our adorable Bunny Rabbit is timidly crouched   

in a field of Silk Ribbon Blossoms.  All of which sit lightly on-top of the celery green background.

The charming basket of daffodils and snowdrops sits grandly on-top

 of the dark ebony checkerboard background.

BUT A Spiders Web is TRANSLUCENT!  What to do.  It seems like I have stitched

many spider webs, Perhaps a history lesson is in order to help launch an idea for the 

web wedge on Halloween Crazy! 

This is Mister Scarecrow KCN 92.  

This piece was my very first foray into Fancy Stitches!

There is a layer of white organza over the background to provide

 the illusion of transparency.  The web itself is stitched with two different 

weights of Silk Pearl in a classic Spider Stitch.  

Credit to Janet Perry with the technique and stitch selection.

Next up is Elvira Spidah KCN 9138 from The Halloweenies.

 First I completely over-stitched the painted webs with my background.

Then the webs were woven over the top of the background

 with Spider Stitch.  Perhaps this technique would work?  Hum?

 Next web is on Scaredy Crow KCN 9148, one of the Creepy Characters.

Same technique as Elvira.  

Just different threads, different background stitch.

I mean, this choice is a natural, right?  It just does not

grab me for Halloween Crazy Quilt.

"What to do?"

 First I applied long stitches in between the major web spokes.  They are

rather eyelet'ish in that each long stitch goes into one hole at the top

of it's individual pie-shaped segment of the web.

The thread is Highlights from Rainbow.  It creates a very

playful, shimmery, translucent covering for the background which

integrates nicely with the web!

 Then I started the background stitch.  Criss Cross Hungarian

in Gloriana Silk.  I LOVE the variegation in this shade!

It reminds me of dancing & swirling Autumnal leaves!

"Hum?  That gives me an idea for added bead-work!"

 Next step, Long Stitches in Treasure Braid 12 Strand

 for the main spokes of the web.

From this distance view and angle, it is easy to see how the initial 
long stitches shimmer!  It works perfectly to create the effect I had in mind!    
The next step will be to couch on the minor
half-round segment stitches.  I still have not decided if I will use
the Treasure Braid, or a different thread?

Oh well, the Great Web Reveal will be in my next post!

Happy Stitching and Happy Valentines!