Aurore Boréale

So much has been happening in my little part of design world that I felt it might be a good idea to get everyone up to speed.
My most exciting news is Aurore Boréale.  Last fall, the editor of Needlepoint Now contacted me about having one of my designs in the magazine.  I had to think about it for all of 2 seconds before I said yes!  The offer came at an interesting time in our lives when I was actually thinking about shutting down my business, due to my husbands illness, working full time, and trying to manage that full time job, home, care for my husband, and deadlines for designs.  It was a time of lots of prayer for guidance.  That offer confirmed to me that everything was going to work out and we would come out stronger on the other side, and yes....I needed to continue to design.
I really didn't have any idea of what to put in the magazine, but suddenly it seemed like everywhere I turned, I would see a photo or an article about the aurora borealis. I mentioned to my husband how great it would be if we could go somewhere where he could photograph it (he's passionate about photography!) The design just suddenly started to take shape.
The design has lots of dimensional stitches using 9 different Kreinik metallics in shades of purple, turquoise, pale mauve, lilac, silver night, Bahama blue, periwinkle and my favorite: purple mambo, all set on the background of the night sky.
You can see the photo below, or check out www.needlepointnow.com.  Go to "current issue" and check out the back cover.
It's worked on black canvas, but don't despair if you find that difficult to see.  My wonderful photographer husband came up with an awesome solution!  If you have an ipad, there is a FREE photography app called Color Softbox.  I have no idea what it does for photographers, but it has numerous colored screens that are lit.  You can place your ipad on your lap and choose the color that works for you.  It's very easy to see the holes on the black canvas with the color shining through.

Tootsiebubbles: Pinwheels & Whirligigs

I've promised some photos of Pinwheels and Whirligigs in different colors. Thank you to Irene Ashkenas and Dorothy Lounsbury of San Diego.  They have done an incredible job proofing the last several designs. I truly appreciate their input and expertise. They've also stitched several of the designs and used some great colors. Pinwheels & Whirligigs is one of those designs and I just have to share them.

The photo above is Dorothy's color choice. Doesn't it look great?

This is Irenes.  Looks totally different in the softer colors.  I love the shades of purple.

 

During the online needlework show I received another photo from Helen Klimeck-Jones. She's not finished with it yet, but you can tell it's going to be very dramatic.



 

I have the lists of threads that were used in each of the designs. I would be happy to share them with anyone who contacts me.

Now on to the winners.  If you browsed the Needlework Show online last week you probably saw that there were several contests.

Here are the winners from my contest:

Julie Savard: Lancaster Stars

Kate Rice: Or Nue Evening Star

Cross Stitch Etc from Knowxville TN is stocking their new shop with Flower Patch

Congratulations!

Looks like we'll be having some nasty weather the next few days.  The Governor of PA has advised us to stay home and be safe.  I guess I'll just have to stitch!

 

It's the Online Needlework Show!

It's that time of year again, the leaves are an incredible palette of orange and red. It's time for hot spiced cider, cold crisp mornings and the scent of woodfires in the air.  It's also time for the Online Needlework Show.  There are tons of new designers (at least new to me) and an incredible array of talent. You really must check it out: www.theneedleworkshow.com
While you are there, check out my booth: Brenda E. Kocher Designs.  I'm fortunate that everything is alphabetical and I'm toward the beginning :-).  Once you've had a chance to look at everything, decide which is your favorite design and email with the name.  I'll enter your name in the contest to win a pattern of your choice.
I've always been fascinated by history and antiques. I love to go antiquing and find unique items that had a very important use in it's time, but now are just an oddity to us.  I love firescreens and designed several of those in the past.  My newest interest is hornbooks.  Did you know that hornbooks have been around since the 1400's?  They were a very important part of a childs education.  A child's first lesson, the ABC's, were written on a piece of parchment.  That was placed on a flat board with a handle.  To protect the parchement, a cow's horn was placed in cold water for several weeks so the horn could be separated from the bone, It was then heated in boiling water and flattened between boards. Now it was translucent and could be placed on top of the parchement and fastened to the board. The first laminating!
Schooltime Memories is a series of three hornbooks, all worked on Congress Cloth that can be framed individually or mounted on hornbooks from Images Stitchery Design.

I decided to design some smaller, quick and easy designs for a change :-)
The next design is also a small one: Hearts in Bloom is approximately 3" x 3" when worked on 18 count canvas.

I think it would be great in Christmas colors.
Now it's time to get started on Christmas gifts!  There's just not enough time in the day to get everything accomplished that I have ideas for. I often joke that I do things in my spare time in the hours between 3:00 and 4:00 in the morning.
Jay's Stocking is almost finished so I hope to get a photo of it up online soon.

If you have a moment, check out this really neat website: www.theknottyquilter.com  Isn't that a great name?  She has gorgeous art quilts that you just have to see for yourself. Prices are super reasonable. If you need ideas for Christmas gifts, this would be a great place to start looking!

In the meantime, I hope everyone is enjoying this incredibly beautiful day that God has given us.

WINNERS!

The Online Show is over and here are the winners...Sue Bailey from Greensboro North Carolina chose Lilies of the Field.  That's the picture of it above.

Karen Spivak of the NeedleArt Closet in Portland Oregan chose Winter Forest.  I used "Fuzzy Stuff" from Rainbow Gallery for the snow.  What a great fiber to stitch with!

Congratulations to the winners!

More Stories Behind the Design-Victorian Bride's Purse

Victorian Bride's Purse

I have to confess, I'm not a sewer.  Now the world knows my secret.  When it comes to a sewing machine, I have fear and trepidation.  I  think it all started in 8th grade Home Ec.  I was scared silly of our teacher.  I remember when making a skirt in her class, she told me how to attach the waistband.  My mind was racing...how would I remember all (what seemed like to me) 52 steps of attaching this thing?  I couldn't ask her again...what would I do?  Well, I sat down and tried to figure it out on my own.  The only way I could think to do it was to attach it by hand sewing.  I completed the task and showed it to her.  She smiled, she said "that's correct", and then.....she saw one stitch that I hadn't hidden well enough.  Her next words made my heart stop...."Did.....you......stitch....this.....by.....hand???  No, it was not a good day for me.

When it came to finishing the purse I was bound and determined to  figure it out on my own.  I started reading the instructions that came with the purse handles.  What's a gusset???  After a few attempts I decided it would not be wise to leave streaks of tears on my white purse and chose to take the purse and all the materials to EGA. Surely someone would take pity on me.

I explained my dilemna, then thought I would sweeten the offer.  "I'll clean your garage, I'll bathe your dog....would someone please help me with this?"  Immediately a hand shot up.  The young lady was 8 1/2 months pregnant. "My husband won't paint my toenails" she said. "You've got a deal" I responded.

Later as we talked I assured her that I would pay her for her time. Her response...."NO....I REALLY want my toenails painted!"

She did a beautiful job, and the purse went on to play a role in a very special upcoming wedding, that of our son and very beautiful daughter-in-law.

Special thanks to Alison Clarkson for her beautiful finishing work on the purse and for writing the finishing instructions.

The Story Behind the Design

PATHWAYS



Many of my designs are created for a special occasion for friends and family members.  When our son graduated from Virginia Military Institute, I designed "Graduate" for him.  Our sons are amazing young men, and are so supportive of my business so it was an honor to create something especially for him. When his younger brother graduated from Penn State University he asked if I was going to design something for him and my answer was "of course!"

We actually didn't think he would graduate.  No...not because he was lazy or disinterested...he was serving his country.  As a family we've gone through 4 deployments with the boys.  Joshua was in the midst of his college career when he volunteered for deployment. His reasoning in addition to serving his country was "the other guys have wives and children" so he figured that would enable at least one of the guys to stay at home with his family.

The first time he was gone over a 1 year.  The second time was about a year  and a half.  Several months of that was spent on the other side of the country for training, then over a year on the actual deployment.  Each time he came home we figured he would decide to skip college and get on with a job, but each time he came home he went back on campus and picked up where he left off.  I actually thought about naming the design "Long Time Coming!", but thought "Pathways" sounded classier.

Each time he lamented that he was the "old guy on campus", but each time he worked hard and did better than he had the previous semester.

The design represents the pathways he's taken in his life.  He's always been one to scare the bejeebers out of me by jumping off the deck or the roof of the shed as a child, then the fast motorcyles and bungee jumping off a bridge in Bulgaria while he was on leave.  (yep...we've got video of that one!).  He's still a bit of an adrenaline junkie, but he's matured with a beautiful wife and 2 very precious little ones and has a career in Federal Law Enforcement.  The colors represent the countries he's been in and of course you can see the paths aren't straight, but that's my boy!

We're Going to Nashville!

It's been ages since I wrote anything.  I've been running at full steam getting ready for the TNNA show in Nashville at the end of this month. I feel like I finally have a handle on everything and thought I would get caught up with the blog.

The last blog showed a partial photo of Tootsiebubbles: Pinwheels & Whirligigs.  Here's the finished design.  I imagined "Baby Jay", as his big sister Alivia calls him, playing with a pinwheel in the wind as he gets older.

I also finished Baltimore Bride: Shimmering Hearts

The colors are teal and orchid, with Amadeus stitches creating the hearts.  Last fall I had the opportunity to go to TNNA Baltimore with fellow designer Beth Seal of Summer House Stitche Works.  We decided to collaborate on some designs and chose the Baltimore Bride Quilt as our inspiration.  We'll each do several for the series, with Beths being worked in counted cross stitch on linen and mine on counted canvas.

 I've always loved quilts and Baltimore Bride is one that I've always found fascinating.  There are so many variations of the design and so many stories that go with them.  One of my first cross stitch projects when I was about 13 was a queen size quilt with the Baltimore Bride design. There were 3 panels with 4 large stamped designs on each panel. I confess I only finished one panel.  It's still waiting for me!  Even when I was that young I was drawn to large projects :-)

Finally, my exciting news is my trip to Nashville at the end of February to attend TNNA's market.  I've never been to Nashville before and I'm so excited. It will be great to be around so many stitchers, shop owners, and designers.  I'll come back so inspired!

Tootsiebubbles: Pinwheels & Whirligigs

Here's a brand new design all completed!  It's a mystery for a few more days but here's  a partial photo of the finished design.

This commemorates the birth of Jay Ryan born July 11 of this year.  It's worked in shades of green to match the nursery, but it would not be too difficult to change the colors to match a different decor.

Want to know about the mystery??  Well, it's not worthy of a big CSI investigation, rather the photo was taken rather quickly before the piece was taken to the framers, and the color looked really funky on part of it.  As soon as it is picked up from the framers I'll get the complete photo up on the blog.

Wishing all of you a blessed Thanksgiving!

Stitching Through the Storm

What an interesting weekend!  As we sat at home in a dark room (no electric, no water) and waited out the storm, we had an "am I in Kansas/somewhere over the rainbow" kind of moment when my husband saw the neighbors shed go flying through the air and come crashing down.  As the debris started pelting our home and I watched numerous pieces of siding almost hit my car (then skitter away at the last moment), one of my favorite quotes came to mind....It's from "The Young Ladies Friend" published in 1837. "A woman who does not know how to sew is as deficient in her education as a man who cannot write.  Let her condition in life be what it may, she cannot be ignorant of the use of her needle...There is a soothing and sedative effect in needlework:  It composes the nerves, and furnishes a corrective for many of the little irritations of domestic life."

They're right.  Needlework does soothe my soul.  I have used it countless times to take my mind off situations and events.  It was my steady friend while  dealing with a difficult pregnancy while awaiting the birth of our first child, being with my dad in his last months when I sat and did bobbin lace by his bed, waiting and praying through the four deployments my sons were on,  and all those times in between.  So again I turned to my needle and stitched by candlelight. It was exactly what I needed to do. It's been a few weeks since I've had some time to stitch so it was the "soothing and sedative effect" that I needed. It composed my nerves and furnished a corrective for the irritation of watching Hurricane Irene do her work.

Irene has passed through and done her damage and now the clean-up begins.  We were blessed to not have any damage besides a multitude of tree limbs that were strewn about. We are still waiting for electric, and on a side note....did you know it's possible to take a "bird bath" and wash your hair with approximately 2 cups of water?

We know that others are not as fortunate as we've been and we keep them in our prayers.

You might want to know why there is a Canadian flag at the top of this page. I had a request several weeks ago from a grandma who wants to stitch it for her grandchildren. They have dual citizenship, so she's going to use the US flag chart on my website and this one to create a pillow for them. I was able to finish it all yesterday and even got it graphed with time to spare on the battery of my laptop. It will be posted as a free chart at the website: www.brendakocherdesigns.net.  Go to the right side of the website and click on "Free Charts" It will be at the bottom of the page.

I have a friend that I correspond with quite often.  We always close our emails with 3 things we're thankful for. Here are mine:

My 3
Gods hand of protection for our family and home
Beautiful day today
Needlework

It's Finished!

What do you think?  I'm so excited that it's finally finished.  It really wasn't that difficult, just had some  interruptions.  I had the honor of being able to travel to Lousiana to help with our 19 month old granddaughter and new grandson in July for several weeks.  That means a new Tootsiebubble on the horizon!

But back to Rachel's Tootsiebubble design... I designed a different center for those people who do not want to insert a name or date.  I'll get that stitched up and post a photo so you can see what it looks like.  I added baby charms in the corners, again optional.  I took some photos with different charms and it looks neat, but again, totally optional.

Can you see the silver couching in between the rows?  I used Sullivans Metallic Perle and it worked very nicely. It was the first time I had used it and I was pleased with the result.

I'll wait another week or two to announce the winner of the "Name the Design Contest", so if you have some wonderful ideas for Rachels design, please send me an email.

I'm still catching up from The National Needlework Association fall show in Baltimore the other weekend.  What a great trip that was!  I met so many interesting people, finally got to put faces with names and had some great chats with shop owners. I didn't take as many photos as I intended, but I plan to do better at the next show.  I'll post about the show in a few days.

Meanwhile....on to the next design.  This one is for the newest Tootsiebubble, Jay.  What a precious little bundle of love!

Surprise!

What a wonderful surprise we had on Tuesday...Rachel decided she just couldn't wait any longer and decided to join us a few weeks early.
We've not met her yet, but we've been told she's just a wee little thing with dark hair and  blue eyes.
Her Mimi said she's beautiful.  I've seen pictures and have to agree.
Congratulations Lara & Tom!

As for Rachels design....well, I'm almost there.  I just have 4 corners and border to stitch.  I just finished the scalloped edges.  What a fun stitch the Crescent is!  It looks really neat in the Pebbly Perle. It adds some depth and gives it a bit of a "nubby"look.

Don't forget your ideas for a name for the design.  The winner recieves a free pattern, either this one or one of their choice, from the website:   www.brendakocherdesigns.net

Brenda

Stitching Away

I'm stitching as fast as I can!  Rachel is due July 3, and our grandbaby is due July 11.  I've not even started the second design yet!  However I'm sure our grandbaby will be understanding if Mimi doesn't have it completed by the 11th.

Here's the next completed row.

Another Row

  I'm getting ready for a needlework exhibit this weekend where I'll be teaching 2 classes, so I've not had as much time to stitch as I would like, but  I was able to complete another row.

You can see that each row gets a bit smaller, and the design is taking shape. I love the shade of lavender and I'm having so much fun putting touches of it here and there.

The name suggestions have been coming in steadily.  Thanks to everyone who submitted their ideas.

Brenda 

The Work Continues

Well, here we are with the first of several rows finished.  The colors of sage green and lavender compliment the beautiful baby quilt my sister made for her new granddaughter.
The lavender is Soie Cristale.  If you've never worked with Caron Collection silks you've really missed working with a beautiful fiber.
I've gotten some great ideas for a name for the design from several people, but I'm waiting till it's almost completed to make a decision.
Brenda

Another Tootsiebubble!

I have a passion for needlework, specifically for canvas. Several people have asked me how I create a new design so I'm sharing some thoughts.
I'm starting a new design and decided to share the entire process with you from start to finish.  I don't have a name for the design so I'm asking for your help.  Send me your thoughts and the winner will receive a free pattern.  You can check out the designs at www.brendakocherdesigns.net and decide which one you like best, or wait till the new design is published and choose that one.   I'll share some clues along the way to help with your ideas.
This is a new "Tootsiebubble".  For those of you who have never heard of tootsiebubbles, it's a form of endearment that my grandma used for the special children in her life.  We're expecting a new Tootsiebubble in July when our niece Lara is expecting Rachel.  We're so excited and can't wait to meet her!
The photo shows the center block with Rachel's name.  The birth date will be stitched in the lower part with beads.  I figured it would be wise to wait for that special day before I put anything there :-).  There will be an alternate diagram in the book with a geometric stitched with beads.
I'll try to post about twice a week with new photos so you can see the progress.  I need to stitch quickly as the baby is due July 3 and there's another Tootsiebubble due July 11when our son and daughter-in-law are expecting another little one.  It's going to be a busy month!
You can post a comment with suggestions for a name or email me at brenda@brendakocherdesigns.net