The Workbasket : The Silver Needle, Fine Needlecraft Materials


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Here's a small sampling with a Pennsylvania Dutch flavor by The Workbasket. Delightfully different than so many other samplers, I especially like the two long designs, as they are so full of color, neat motifs and such cool shapes!!!
Giving Thanks The Workbasket has a pair of designs sharing some of the same motifs with a Thanksgiving flavor. Squirrels and squash accompany acorns and corn on the cob. Charted for Classic Colorworks silks or DMC floss... the silks are almost $8 each... pull the DMC and convert those to hand-dyed cottons! Then, see about doing some contour stitching on here. See the squirrel? See the horizontal lines on him? If you stitch him following the outside curve of his tail, he will look much better. The basket is OK with horizontal lines, but the pumpkin needs vertical lines as well. The hand-dyed colors on the corn and leaves are spaced well... see what you can do with threads on that squirrel and pumpkin to give this your own special touch! Both designs are presented in this chart.
Memory Keeper Workbasket has a wonderful design... a large, square envelope to hold friendship notes -- inspired from the early 1800's Netherlands custom of creating a lovely box to hold notes and poems. They have combined it with the French custom of Postal Art... stitched envelopes that were actually mailed through the post, using real stamps! (I've seen stitchers do this NOW... they stitch things and then MAIL them LOOSE, to get that ink postmark ON the needlework!!!) This 12 x 12 envelope keeper is awesome! Stitched on Week's 35ct Parchment Linen, with dusky, softly faded shades of Belle Soie hand-dyed silks, the design is coded for DMC floss as well. When you fold the corners in and finish this, you'll have a lovely 2--sided envelope. The front design includes the 'stamp' (the bunny in the upper right-hand corner.) The Address -- To a Friend's House. Notice the Quaker motifs on the left-hand edge... when we turn over the piece, they are the tops to a heart! On the backside, you'll find the envelope flap, decorated with a valentine and smattering of antique buttons from your stash! Offered as the chart, this is SO unique! I absolutely fell in LOVE with it when I saw it. So beautiful to hold in your hands, so different, and actually very functional -- if you have special cards and notes you really want to hang on to. Stitched on a 31 x 31 square of linen... you'll have some generous corners left-over for smaller ornaments or sewing cases. Such a pretty presentation for needlework!
Old McMary's Wow... A Re-Print! We've had a shop model of this for YEARS, and it's been too high on the wall to take down, and we just couldn't bear to do that anyway!! Mary and Candy have finally listened to my whining and here it is... back in print! A charming pastoral scene, we have always loved the colors in this, all the animals in the pretty meadow, and that stunning barn! Worked in Weeks Dye Works hand-dyeds, it uses 17 colors, 2 of Rainbow Gallery's Wisper, and 2 Kreinik #4 metallic braids. Finishing approx 10 x 10 on 32ct, it can be done in regular crosses, or you can follow the stitch guide to add a few specialty stitches on the barn boards, the roof, the animals, the evergreen fronds... actually lots of places. Offered as a leaflet -- we are THRILLED -- an instant shop model!!!
Faith, Hope & Love Inspired by the costumes from the Isle of Marken in The Netherlands, this is such a striking piece! It is charted in one color, and when stitched on 36ct, measures 3 x 21! (So... on a 25ct Lugana, for instance, this would finish approx 4-1/4 x 30) Lots of diagonal borders and sampler motifs, it reminds me of all the Quaker designs that are popular right now, but when you look at this... its not Quaker at all! Neat story attached to this, as well; Candy, who lives in The Netherlands, stitched this, and then waited till she came to the US to mail it to Mary in CO -- to lessen the risk of the model being lost in International Mail. Guess what? The original piece is still riding around in a saddle pack of the US Pony Express System! So... kind friend, Ruth, practiced the lessons of the sampler, and surprised Candy with a new stitched model for the leaflet cover!
Humble Home I love this design! Very Quaker feeling, to me, this Humble Home nestled into the mountainside is full of texture from both the geometric patterns in the motifs, as well as the special stitches that are scattered throughout! Stitched on 32ct linen in Weeks overdyed flosses, you can add satin stitches onto the sheep for his wool and the cow for his spots. Stitch the roof and barn planks with rows of alternating elongated crosses... or not! (They give you instructions for all regular x's, too!) Anyway, lots of luscious greens, golds, brick reds, chestnuts and lavenders, there is just so much going on in the yard outside, that every time you look at this, you see something new.
4 Way House This is an awesome little design!!! Very clever... let me let you read what the designer says in her intro! 'This design intrigues me for several reasons. Some have suggested that each side is a season. I like that the large flower stems and tree trunks share their tops between two houses. Is there an up or down to this design? Because that is not immediately clear, I especially like the finishing on a diagonal. It would also be striking framed on the diagonal. Pretty cool, I think!!! This finishes approx 9 x 9 on any 28ct linen, and is stitched in Crescent Colours overdyed flosses. I think the palette is a bit on the pastel side... and really am intrigued by that 4-seasons idea! You could adapt the colors a bit... the spring side has the sheep, summer has the rabbits, autumn has the peacocks and winter features the reindeer! Suggestions are given for adding special stitches, if you're inclined, as well! Very creative, this is a FUN design! Offered as a leaflet.