Top 3 Needlearts ~ A New Poll

Thank you Dianne and Ellice for the wonderful information on embroidery and
needlepoint. You guys are a wealth of info! And that little hint of what's to
come in January...hmmm..

Thanks again, for I am now in the know!

Top3:
1.counted xs
2.knitting (preferably Aran type patterns)
3.crochet

Want to learn
1 hand quilting (am"allergic to sewing machines- I faint at the sight of one
lol)
2. blackwork
3.
seems to me that the last two areactually quite simple and don't need to be
"learned--just have to follow the directions---oh boy now I am in big toruble,
I was born without the following directions gene lolol
kathy
san antonio

Top 3:

1. Any kind of counted work on any ground (including Hardanger and drawn
thread)
2. Knitting
3. Silk Ribbon Embroidery

Want to learn better or try out:

1. Surface work, especially Jacobean
2. Gold Work
3. beading of all sorts including beadweaving

Elizabeth

--
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~living well is the best revenge~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
The most important thing one woman can do for another is to illuminate
and expand her sense of actual possibilities. --Adrienne Rich
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ *~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

What you're saying is that embroidery is the more general term and
counted thread, etc. are specific types of embroidery, right? Like a
square is a special kind of rectangle? (Guess what I've been teaching
lately!)

Meredith

Dianne Lewandowski wrote:

Ellice wrote:
There are some that also further define the difference between
needlepoint,

and say counted thread work as "Needlepoint being done on a ground
which has
holes larger than the woven thread of the ground - i.e. Canvas.


Counted thread work can be done on any fabric . . . not just those
"readily countable" or on a mesh ground. The types of stitches and
manner they are used depends upon the ground. But "counted embroidery"
was, and still is, done on extremely fine grounds that most of us today
wouldn't tackle.

And what's readily countable by some is someone else's "coarse". Plus,
not all grounds are created equally. For instance, there is 40-count
which is fairly readily countable, and 40-count which is a stickler to
count. It has to do with the size of the threads of the ground.

Also, there's 28-ct linen that is "stiff" and 28-ct linen that is soft.
The stiff one doesn't work well for a napkin, but if you want to frame
it, makes for an easier ground to work some stitches.

Needlepoint is embroidery on canvas. However, those same stitches (such
as Algerian filling stitch) might also be done on 32-count Belfast.

I've read books pointing out "velvet stitch" and calling it a canvas
stitch, but I've used it readily on a wool ground, and it's gorgeous,
with a different look than "turkey work" which is a similar looped
stitch. This all gets very sticky when we say a particular stitch is
"only" used in one way. (I'm not saying you said this, just pointing it
out).

While

embroidery is done on a ground fabric of which the holes are smaller than
the woven threads - i.e. Evenweave, aida, linen, satin, etc" . Just a
visual
kind of easy thing to remember. Most stitches can be done on whatever the
ground - with some effort ;^)


Sorry, it's ALL embroidery, whether it's in a genre of "needlepoint"
(embroidery on canvas), or raised (Brazilian, stumpwork), or flat
(shading, normal surface stuff), or goldwork. Whether you withdraw
thread or pucker them in some fashion, as in smocking. In smocking, by
the way, you can create "pictures", just as in needlepoint with its tent
stitches, or in cross stitch.

Needlepoint is unique in that it is embroidery worked on a square,
stiffer mesh (including fine silk mesh) which supports the type of
stitches originally used. Other embroidery is worked on just about
anything you can imagine, from cheesecloth to 300-count percale to
blanketing.

Darning/weaving is also a form of embroidery.

There are many that only do geometric patterns - highlighting stitches
and
texture, rather than pictures as Needlepoint. And similarly, some who
prefer
pictures - scenics, etc. Same for other forms of embroidery.


"Pictures scenes" can be created by many mediums, including flat
embroidery that isn't counted. There's some interest in painting
backgrounds on a cloth, then embroidering on top. Some of these can be
quite beautiful.

Dianne

1. Needlepoint
2. Petite Point
3. Cross stitch

Fred
http://www.stitchaway.com

If you are on thin ice
you might as well dance!

W.I.P. - "Fiddler on the Roof".
W.I.L., "Romantic Venice",
"Ocean Princess", "Southwest Charm",
"Rainbow Trail", "Indian Pottery", "One Earth",
"Spirit of the Full Moon"
and "+?", "+?", "+?".


"Russell Miller" wrote in message
...
New poll time. What are your top 3 needlearts choices. Mine a
1. Petit Point
2. Tatting
3. Crochet

Want to learn...
1. Knitting
2. Hardanger
3. Bobbin Lace Making

Maureen In Vancouver, B.C.
So many craft ideas, so little money.
--
Maureen Miller C.H.

I have to get up there one of these days!
Cheryl

On 12/7/03 5:32 PM, in article
et, "Judith Truly"
wrote:

But, of course, NH has Keepsake Quilting!
"Ellice" wrote in message
...
On 12/6/03 10:46 AM,"Cheryl Isaak" posted:

On 12/6/03 10:33 AM, in article , "Ellice"
wrote:

On 12/6/03 6:49 AM,"Cheryl Isaak" posted:

Want to time to get better at!
Art quilting

Top 3:
1. Counted Thread (XS including fancy or decorative stitches, Drawn
Thread)
2. Needle Point (of course with interesting stitches)
3. Art Quilting

Want to Learn:
Knitting
Garden Gate Quilts
Making own Glass Beads, Embellishments

Need More Time For:
Finishing Quilts

If you ever get up here, I have a LQS to take you too! She specializes
in
supplies for Art Quilts and has every fiber you could wish for!

LOL - I wonder if it's the shop whose booth at the AQS Expo I spent a
fortune in! For the first (only?) time I actually bought a quilt kit - the
fabric was so perfect, and I loved the pattern booklet - so what the heck.
Thankfully - DH really likes it. When I just spent over $100 on the kit.
Fantastic shop in VT, Quilter's Courtyard, www.quilterscourtyard.com .
They
may even carry my quilted fob thingies - if I'm lucky.

You bet I'll make it your way - sooner or later. First - you're coming to
DC
for the road trip with me, Caryn and others ;^) Then, we'll make it to
NH -
since it's on DH's list of possible buy some land to retire places. We've
only got 2 - NH, and Asheville (western) NC. Especially now that we've
heard
that his truly meaner crazy Sis is contemplating moving to the Tidewater
of
Virginia (the other already has a home site in New Bern NC). The meaner
one
(lives in RI) - wants to move to Tidewater because her XH told her it's
cheap (true, low COL) and easier weather than RI. So, we're heading
away!!!!

ellice

Yes, Meredith. Embroidery simply means embellishing something. Canvas
embroidery is "embellishing with threads and stitches of many kinds" on
a mesh-type ground."

Counted embroidery is "embellishing with threads with stitches of many
types - by counting the threads to make the stitches." That's whether
there are 10 stitches to the inch or 180.

Surface embroidery is "embellishing with threads of all types and
stitches of all types - including counted work and many other types."

Surface embroidery (in my opinion), isn't very specific, and after all,
if I make a cross stitch and count the ground threads to do it, the
stitches lie "on the surface". HOWEVER, most people use that term when
they think of stem stitch, satin stitch, detached chain (lazy daisy),
fishbone . . . the kinds of stitching common since around the 1880's or
thereabouts. I had never heard the term until I came to RCTN. It was
simply "embroidery".

Most embroidery has a genre (or techniques common to it) such as
Schwalm, Hedebo, Casalguidi, raised (stumpwork), cutwork (not to be
confused with reticello or newer Hedebo), fine whitework, redwork
(principally stem stitch, backstitch, knots), candlewicking . . . the
list is almost endless. But even in these "genres" (because I can't
think of a better word), techniques cross over.

For instance, fine whitework includes the typical padded work and
eyelets, but it also incorporates needlelace and counted stitching.
Drawn fabric (pulled work) is incorporated also into Schwalm,
Casalguidi, and fine whitework. Drawn thread is used in the finest of
whitework, to the most coarse for things like needleweaving and lacey
confections.

The best one can hope for is a "general idea". But ALL embellishment
with threads and yarns of all types is EMBROIDERY. I think (my opinion)
that in modern times, some people want to categorize *their* particular
brand (particularly counted and canvas work) and relegate the term
"embroidery" to everything else. This isn't correct thinking. As
Webster's Lexicon says: "Embroider - the art or process of ornamenting
cloth, silk, leather, etc. with needlework." And that pretty much sums
it up.

Dianne

Meredith wrote:
What you're saying is that embroidery is the more general term and
counted thread, etc. are specific types of embroidery, right? Like a
square is a special kind of rectangle? (Guess what I've been teaching
lately!)

Meredith

On 12/8/03 3:10 AM,"Meredith" posted:

What you're saying is that embroidery is the more general term and
counted thread, etc. are specific types of embroidery, right? Like a
square is a special kind of rectangle? (Guess what I've been teaching
lately!)

In a nutshell, yes, IMHO. Geometry???? I don't envy you. I just had 2
college age friends ask "Could you help me with calculus - I bet you
understand it?" We ended up in the math discussion - with them saying they'd
always had As in high school, etc., but just couldn't get calculus.
Interesting talk - my perspective - all the other stuff - well, it's really
arithmetic and has numbers and tangibles, and when you get to "math" - the
numbers don't really matter - it's more the concepts, etc. I don't think I
could teach basic math/arithmetic - I don't know how to explain those
fundamentals anymore. But, I guess I could explain the more esoteric. I just
think, with geometry, and with calculus - suddenly a light comes on and you
get it. Until then, you're groping, and maybe managing to pass a class - but
it's not the same.. Kudos to you! At this same outing (6 hockey refs, all
out together) one of our other friends just started teaching - 7th grade -
math - at a private school (he's in his mid-30s, just career changed) - and
he's having a whale of a time with algebra. Now told us he's using hockey
examples for the basic math stuff. It would be daunting to me.

ellice

Darla wrote:

On Sat, 06 Dec 2003 00:35:10 -0800, Russell Miller
wrote:


New poll time. What are your top 3 needlearts choices. Mine a

1. Counted Cross Stitch
2. Quilt-top Piecing
3. this space intentionally left blank

Want to learn...

1. Hardanger
2. this space intentionally left blank
3. this space intentionally left blank
This always makes me LOL! Why? Because once that statement is put on
a page, it's no longer blank!!!

My three a
1. CCS (actually my passion!)
2. knitting
3. crocheting

*Will* learn someday (cuz I have some Lesa Steele and Victoria Sampler
patterns in my to-do pile):
Hardanger/cutwork

Always-wanted-to-learn-but-don't-know-what-I'd-do-with-the-end-result:
tatting

--
Joan

See my first-ever design he
http://www.heritageshoppe.com/joan.jpg

"Stitch when you are young and poor, frame when you are old and rich."
- Elizabeth's (rctn'r) sister's MIL (Barbara Marr)

Joan Erickson wrote:

Always-wanted-to-learn-but-don't-know-what-I'd-do-with-the-end-result:
tatting

How many other people use this as a criterion for buying or starting a
new project? I do and I wish I could stop. I find that I only start
things if I know what I'm going to do with them and that all the stuff
that I start for myself gets put away in favor of something with a
deadline. Drives me nuts, but I don't know how to change it. Dianne
has a lovely little whitework motiff on her website. I think it's
wonderful, but because I have no idea how I'd use it, I've never even
looked into getting it.

I am finding that to some extent these days I will buy patterns in shops
or on ebay just because I like them with the assumption that I will use
them at some point, but I never start anything just to start it, unless
it's for a class. And the last class I took, the project remains
unfinished, because I don't know what I'd do with it. *sigh*

Elizabeth
--
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~living well is the best revenge~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
The most important thing one woman can do for another is to illuminate
and expand her sense of actual possibilities. --Adrienne Rich
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ *~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*