I’m excited to share a festive twist to this “Courtly Checks” project. This project was initially featured in the July/August 2021 issue of Needlepoint Now — this time around, we used a holiday colour palette to really bring out the seasonal vibe of the pattern.

Courtly Checks includes a series of three ornaments, each measuring about 3 inches square on an 18-count canvas designed by Kam Wenzloff using a selection of my Colour Complements threads (in this case, it’s a very festive holiday colour palette).

I know many of you will be familiar with Kam’s painted canvases and of course, she designed my What a Hoot series of owls. Early on in our discussions when planning the What A Hoot series, Kam sent me a photo of a larger pattern she had designed with Colour Complements threads. The design featured black and white checks which we both love and with further discussion Kam designed the three patterns for Courtly Checks.

Using this Holiday Colour Palette for Other Projects

Today, I’d like to share a Christmas palette for Merry & Bright, one of the three ornaments pictured above. I have stitched this sample using a selection of red and green to celebrate the holiday season.

To make things even more festive, I’m featuring a Christmas Sampler in the shop, which includes all the colors used in the “Merry & Bright” sample—and more! You should be able to stitch two of the three Courtly Checks designs and will likely have sufficient threads to stitch part of the third ornament SO it is good value AND offered ON SALE.

If you don’t feel like stitching one of the Courtly Checks designs, this holiday colour palette can be easily adapted for any smaller needlework project. Perhaps a painted canvas celebrating the season? Remember you should be able to stitch two smaller 3-inch ornaments OR a larger 5-inch canvas.

I always like experimenting with different colour palettes using published designs.

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Celebrating The Season With A Halloween Needlepoint Ornament

Once I started stitching my fall collection samples, I knew I wanted to experiment with colours celebrating Halloween for at least one of the samples – black, orange and purple! The result was this spooky Halloween needlepoint ornament.

The sample is a variation of Merry & Bright, one of the Courtly Checks designs featured in the July/August issue of Needlepoint Now.  I say a “variation” as by now most of you likely know I like to switch things up when I’m stitching. 

How I stitched This Halloween Needlepoint Ornament

I started this sample with Colour #77.  It is a blend of golden brown, golden yellow and ORANGE!  When I dye my collections I like to include one colour combination that will work well with several of the colours in the collection. Colour #77 works equally well with either colours #74 OR #75 (both new in the collection) BUT it looks great with purple so it seemed the natural choice for this one!

I’ve opted for orange and purple checks in one of the borders versus the black and white in the original.  Then I enlarged the black and white check squares and stitched a very small waffle in purple in the centre.  Finally, for fun, I added some metallic!

What colours will you need

You will require five colours of size 5 perle cotton, one skein of each is sufficient

• Colour #77
• Colour #183
• Colour #66
• Black
• White

Remember to pick up your copy of Needlepoint Now for the Courtly Checks pattern.  It’s available in the July/August 2021 issue. 

Hopefully, this will get you in the spirit of Halloween.  BOO!

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As the name of this blog illustrates, today’s stitch sample was created using the Plum Sparkle pattern.

With a name like Plum Sparkle, you would think I would use plums/purples/pinks BUT no, I opted for Colour #76 in my new fall collection.

There always seems to be at least one colour combination that comes about a bit by “accident” and Colour #76 is it in this collection. I say accident, as it was not specifically planned. Since I had already used blue in Colour #74, I knew I wanted to repeat blue but opted to replace the orange with a golden yellow. As a result, colour #76 is a combination of a darker blue, medium blue, golden yellow and of course what do you get when you combine blue and yellow – GREEN!

I chose “Plum Sparkle” as the inspiration for this pattern. This is one of three patterns featured in the current issue of Needlepoint Now titled Courtly Checks.  Since the design is a sampler, it provided me opportunities for choices of threads and colours.

What colours do you need to stitch the Plum Sparkle pattern?

• Colour #76
• Colour #175
• Colour #37 – floss and perle cotton
• Colour #77
• Colour #55
• Colour #28 – floss

I opted to stitch the border with 4 strands of floss and two different colours, #28 and #37. 

When I complete a project, I always like to do a critique if I were to stitch it again. In this situation I think I may choose to use colour #28 on the outer border versus the inner border as to my eye, it would frame the design. Secondly, I think the #37 (yellow/orange) would look better on the inner border so the #76 Gobelin would stand out a bit more.  BUT, this is always a matter of preference.

Make sure you pick up your copy of Needlepoint Now where you will find all the designs I am featuring for my fall collection samples.  Remember, have fun stitching and visit next week for more samples! 

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Introducing Merry & Bright: A Fall Inspired Needlepoint Sample

Merry & Bright is the second fall inspired needlepoint sample, this one featuring Colour #75 in my fall collection. While the name is representative of a Christmas themed project, I have opted to stitch this with a fall themed palette of colours.

Once again, I have used orange but a different shade from that used in Colour #74. These colours were inspired by a Christmas Ornament I stitched several years ago, a small section of a design by Laura Perin called Jewel Box.

Colour #75 is a blend of orange, golden yellow and green. Personally, I feel this is a very versatile colour combination. While I dyed it with fall-themed colours in mind, I could envision it with either spring or summer or even Christmas colours depending on what additional threads/colours you choose.

Merry & Bright was designed by Kam Wenzloff for the July/August issue of Needlepoint Now.  The article, Courtly Checks features three ornaments, all with the addition of black and white checks!  They are fun to stitch measuring only about 3.5 inches in diameter.

The sample today is my version of Merry & Bright in a fall-inspired colour palette

What colours do you need to stitch Merry & Bright?

Five colours of size 5 Perle cotton, one skein of each are sufficient:

• Colour #75
• Colour #36
• Colour #37
• Black
• White

How do you like my version?  I wanted to show how this colour combination could work well with two of my older fall collection colours introduced in 2017, Colours 36 and 37.

Remember, the pattern is available in the July/August issue of Needlepoint Now.  Pick up some 18-count white mono canvas and you are good to get started!  P.S.  You’ll find it hard to stitch just one!

As always, experiment with colour!  More coming next week so make sure you visit the blog!     

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I’m excited to share our first stitch sample, entitled Wintergreen! This particular design proudly features one of my new fall collection colours.

I mentioned in my previous posts that my fall collection was inspired by autumn leaves, particularly focusing on the colour ORANGE!

Colour #74 was the first new colour I dyed for this collection. It is a blend of blue and variations of orange. When I dyed this combination I was thinking of oak leaves against the backdrop of a blue sky.  Having said this, I do feel the colours are somewhat reminiscent of southwestern colours as well.

Courtly Checks was introduced in the July/August Needlepoint Now issue featuring three ornaments designed by Kam Wenzloff using Colour Complements threads.  I loved these designs and have opted to stitch all three with my fall collection colours.  I wanted to demonstrate just how versatile these designs can be!

I’d like to introduce a new colour version of Wintergreen today. 

What colours did I use to stitch Wintergreen?

I used five colours of size 5 perle cotton

• Colour #74
• Colour #66
• Colour #175
• Black
• White

I will mention that I didn’t care for the white canvas showing through in the half Rhodes stitches so I opted to add a pale orange Kreinik braid – I like how it turned out!

Additional supplies include 18-count white mono canvas.  Each ornament is small measuring about 3.5-inches so your canvas does not need to be particularly large for the project.  Of course, I have no doubt you will want to stitch more than one so you might like to pick up half a meter!  

Remember, the pattern is available in the July/August 2021 issue of Needlepoint Now.

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Have you seen “Courtly Checks” on the front cover of Needlepoint Now? Did you know they were stitched with Colour Complements threads!

Courtly Checks are a series of 3 ornaments designed by the talented Kam Wenzloff featured in the July/August issue of Needlepoint Now.  I know many of you will be familiar with Kam’s painted canvases and of course, she designed my What a Hoot series of owls. Early on in our discussions when planning the What a Hoot series, Kam sent me a photo of a larger pattern she had designed with Colour Complements threads.

The design featured black and white checks – we both LOVE black and white in designs. Naturally, a rather length discussion followed and the Courtly Checks collection evolved.      

Introducing Plum Sparkle, Wintergreen and Merry & Bright – 3 New Ornament Designs!

Kam feels black enhances the vibrancy of colours and I must admit, I agree.  While I often think of Halloween with black and white, Kam wanted to demonstrate how switching colours can change the mood of a project.

Kam writes,

Plum Sparkle was the first ornament I designed. The plum, red and green exudes different feelings – from excitement to passion. The black and white checks added interest, which led me to think about other colors that I might create for more zeal and enthusiasm. Wintergreen and Merry & Bright followed. 

If I’m making a series of designs, it’s always in odd numbers, so three ornaments seemed perfect. With a variety of different stitches added to the design, it makes stitching so rewarding. Enjoy!

Want to stitch Courtly Checks?

I’ve created a custom thread kit so you can stitch all THREE ornaments. The kit includes 7 skeins of glorious colours and one skein each of black and white. You can find the kit by clicking on the link below.

Kam and I were excited to see these delightful ornaments on the cover of Needlepoint Now.  Make sure you pick up a copy – you won’t be disappointed.  We hope you enjoy Courtly Checks.   Thanks so much, Kam and thank you Needlepoint Now for publishing these lovelies! 

I think I’ll have to get Kam working on some more projects with Colour Complements threads – don’t you?

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