Showroom

by Bette on January 30, 2012

It has taken me a while – 5 weeks in fact, instead of the couple of hours that it should have taken, but I have finally finished cleaning out the junk from the showroom, ready to set it up for open days.

 showroom

 From left to right, when you walk in the door and look to your left, you are looking towards the kitchen end of the bungalow.  On the showroom side of the dividing wall, you can see a lot of boxes – this is some of the stock that I now need to set out in the store.  The white unit – that is my service desk.  And I am trying to decide what exactly to put on the wall behind the service desk.  Originally it was going to be my model wall, but I have changed my mind.

The centre picture is the airconditioner wall.  It has a 2m table here that I have taken from the study in the house.  One of the bonuses of having this table is the storage underneath.  Because the bedroom is my studio, I don’t have a lot of storage for the shop, so I have to use what space I have.  I am planning to use this wall for my models.  the opposite wall is my thread wall.  So far I have 2 peg boards ready to receive the threads.

The final picture is of the the 4th wall, the one to the left of the door as you walk in.  I was very lucky to receive some old DMC racks, which I will be using for various threads.  They fit very nicely into this space, with the fabric cabinet in between.  The bags in front of the racks contain books and things that belong in the house, which I will be bringing down today.

One of the things I really need here is a good window treatment.  I am thinking of white wooden venetians, as the white repels the heat and the wood provides insulation.  And as they will be closed all the time when I am not using the show room – dusting should not be an issue.

So now, I need to set up the show room.  Pictures of the finished showroom will be forthcoming …

A Day at the Beach

by Bette on January 3, 2012

A

Country Cottage Needleworks - A Day at the Beach

As I was entering the new charts today, this particular one caught my eye.   On a day when the temperature was destined to be more than 30C for the 3rd day in a row, the beach is where many in Melbourne can be found!

A Day at the Beach is just one of the charts that have been uploaded to the site today.  To see them all, just head on over to The Needlework Boutique and visit the New products page…

5 Easy Cross Stitch Designs.

by Bette on November 26, 2011

(NB.  this is a cross post from my personal blog, Bette’s Needlework Musings www.bettesmusings.com.)

When I started cross stitching over 20 years ago, I chose a kit of the Serenity Prayer.  It was a beautiful design, stitched on 32ct linen.  It was a large design, with many colour changes.  This kit ended up in the rubbish bin.  Why?  I made a mistake in counting somewhere and could not find it, and was not about to fudge the count elsewhere.  It is a pity, because I still like the design.

So often beginner cross stitchers will choose designs that they like, little realising that the chart may be more difficult than they first thought.  As a Needlework store owner, I see a variety of different charts all the time, and I would like to recommend the following to those who want an easy design to stitch…

1. Any designs by Lynn’s Prints/Dianne Graebner.  These cute designs, based on the Amish culture, are designed with Aida fabric in mind, therefore using few, if any partial stitches.  Most of the colours are stitched in blocks, so there usually is little need to carry the threads across the back.

2. American Folkarts is another designer that has quite a few charts suitable for the beginner.  Again, large areas of one colour, with few threads carrying over on the back.

3. The various Flip Its series from Lizzie Kate are usually good for the beginner.  These are stitched on linen, but again, there are large blocks of one colour, and each flip it can be a stand alone design, or you can stitch the lot on one piece of linen.

4.  Any of the ‘primitive’ designs would be useful.  Particularly some of Niky’s designs, where she uses a single motif, making this not only a simple design, but quick to finish too.  One of the best things about the Primitive designers is that if you make a mistake in counting somewhere, you can often make this part of the design.

5. Many of the designs by the ladies who make up The Trilogy could also be classed as good for the beginner.  This includes the designs that they make under their individual names, Twisted Threads, Heart in Hand Needlework and Bent Creek, as well as The Trilogy.

Cross stitch

1. Lynn’s Prints – The Bluebird Quilt; 2 Lizzie Kate – Double Flip – Yuletide Comes; 3. The Trilogy – Neighbour Ray; 4. Lynn’s Prints – Fresh Water

Coming Soon

November 6, 2011

It took me a while to decide to carry this, but I am expecting the 2011 Just Cross Stitch ornaments to arrive in store soon.  I think it will be price at around AUD15.  I have only ordered in limited numbers, so if you want yours reserved, please email me.

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Busy

October 16, 2011

As we rapidly approach the end of another school year, I will be online only sporadically over the next 2 weeks while my year 12′s finish their formal classes and prepare for their end of year exams. I will be checking my email every day and will endeavor to send out orders in a timely [...]

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Fobs and pin keeps…

October 10, 2011

Recently I participated in an exchange through the Hooked on Exchanging group.  The theme was ‘Fall Pyn Keepe’.  I had so much trouble trying to find an appropriate design, that I ended up being very late in sending out the finished item.  At the time I tried to think about what I had in the [...]

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Did you know…

October 9, 2011

that The Needlework Boutique currently has 137 different colours of Sampler Threads and 63 different Crescent Colours? Next is to count all the different colours of Weeks Dye Works, Dinky Dyes silks, and NPI silks…

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New in store

October 7, 2011

The Sampler Threads page has just been updated, with 25 new colours.  Just $3.70 a skein…

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shop makeover

October 4, 2011

Ever since I started making over the studio, at the bedroom end of the bungalow, the shop has been a complete shambles. (The photo shown here is from when the studio was being redone.  all of that junk has been put away in the sewing room, but this was in the shop!) Over the last [...]

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My 10 Favourite Cross Stitch Designers…

October 2, 2011

I have long loved my cross stitch, and today was thinking about who my favourite designers would be.  I decided to restrict the list to only 10, but I could easily add many more… Blackbird Designs – Farmhouse Blackbird Designs - I have loved their designs for many years, with many of the designs being quite [...]

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