Turkey time!

Oh my goodness, time is flying! I haven't prepared a design for you since summer! So, without further ado, here's a turkey in time for Thanksgiving!

The size of the file is 144 stitches x 144 stitches...if you work on 18-point, it should be just right for the 8 1/2 side of an 8 1/2 x 11" frame...fill in the rest with family sayings, or the date!

'Til the next time, have fun stitching this design based on a free Microsoft image (thanks, Microsoft) for your personal non-commercial stitching fun!

Can YOU see your shadow?

I have adored Groundhog's Day ever since I saw the Bill Murray film. He's such a delight, and infused that comedy with real meaning.

In honor of the day, here's...
More...... ...a sweet little groundhog, easy to stitch, which I created for your personal non-commercial stitching pleasure by capturing the free Microsoft graphic (MC900301420), and then importing it into the marvelous StitchPainter program.

Because the original graphic was so simple (that's a hint for you, if you want to try your hand at designing your own stitching projects, especially if you're new to it), I didn't even have to tweak the results at all.

Enjoy!

Back-to-school bookish apple and worm

I miss working on my needlepoint, so, despite the mountains of work waiting for me even on a Sunday, I couldn't resist whipping up this back-to-school pattern for you. Thanks to the Microsoft free clip art, I found this cute apple and worm (MC900438366) to which I added the glasses for a fall touch for your personal non-commercial stitching pleasure.

Enjoy!

Happy Birthday to me! (to my blog, anyway)

Hello there! Were you wondering where I was? I'm here, just workin' like a dawg, but couldn't miss sharing the joy of my blog's second anniversary with you.

To celebrate, here's an adorable little gargoyle-like stone decoration on Via Boscovich in Milan.

Want to know more about it? See my blog dedicated to Milan, "My Milan (Italy)": http://mymilanitaly.blogspot.it/2012/02/neo-romanesque-fun-on-via-boscovich.html

Enjoy! (confetti thrown here!)

Happy Birthday, Rome! (April 21)

Happy Birthday, Rome! Legend has it that Rome was founded by Romulus (one of these two cute twins) on the 21st of April in 753 B.C. The origin of the little twins in this sculpture is indisputed: they were added in the Renaissance. The origin of the wolf is another story...More......

It traditionally was dated to the Etruscan period (some Etruscans perhaps were the last kings of Rome before the Republic was founded in 510 B.C.), but long boiling disputes burst into fairly recent carbon-dating (probably on remnants of the sculpture's core left after the bronze was poured into the mold) that seems to date it to the Middle Ages, perhaps from the 7th and 8th centuries A.D. (that's the Carolingian period, she said ponderously). Interested in the diatribe? You can see a few words from 2008 (!) about the dating of the sculpture on: http://english.sina.com/technology/1/2008/0711/171023.html.

Just who were Romulus and Remus? For starters, here's a snippet from the Encyclopedia Britannica online: http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/509038/Romulus-and-Remus.

Why did I say "Carolingian" so ponderously? For more info about the importance of ancient Rome to Charlemagne, try http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/03610c.htm. (Though dating to the beginning of the 20th century, this encyclopedia is considered by many scholars to be more thorough and accurate than the more recent version. Though its Catholic origins tend to peep through, forewarned is forearmed.)

For the rest of us, it's just an occasion to celebrate Rome and to share a fun needlepoint design, which I created uploading a freely available Wikipedia image into my StitchPainter program, then turning it into a BMP for your personal non-commercial pleasure on my blog.

If the design is too complicated for you, just simplify it by picking out at least three major groups (dark, medium, light) for the shapes and proportions. Print out the design, and have at it with a felt-tipped pen! You'll do just fine!

Enjoy!

Wordless Wednesday

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Milan Monday (37): another lion!

Milan Monday, again, already! Time has been flying, I've been so busy at work. Now that it's vacation time, I hope to spend more time with you.... More...

To kick things off, here is another lovely lion on the façade of the Palazzo dei Giuresconsulti in Milan (if you want to know more about the building, see my other blog: http://mymilanitaly.blogspot.com/2011/08/lion-motif-corbel-on-palazzo-dei.html#0).

I turned my photo into a StitchPainter diagram, then into a BMP to share with you for your personal, non-commercial enjoyment.

On an 18-point canvas, it should work up to be about 16" wide by 14" tall.

Hope you like it!

Milan Monday (34): Wings for your new week

Doesn't seem possible, the weeks just fly by: it's Milan Monday, already, again.

Here's a stunning Pegasus I created by capturing one of my photos, turning it into a StitchPainter diagram, then into a BMP for your personal non-commercial use, to wing you on your happy fruitful way for the week.

If you'd like to know more about the image, see my blog My Milan Italy: http://mymilanitaly.blogspot.com

Enjoy!

Milan Monday (32): another amazing lion

Another amazing lion...if you start looking, Milan is full of them.

In case you need a fan-shaped design, this is a good one, created for your personal, non-commercial use with my StitchPainter program out of one of my recent photos, then turned into a BMP to load onto this site.

If you want to know more about the doorknocker, go to my site about Milan: http://mymilanitaly.blogspot.com/2011/06/another-marvelous-liondoor-knocker.html.

Enjoy!

Wordless Wednesday (18)

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Milan Monday (31)...ahem...on Tuesday: more lions!

Not only does time seem to go faster and faster, but there's more and more work (which is not necessarily a bad thing, these days!). So, on Tuesday (ahem), here is the most recent Milan Monday...More......

...a delightful snarling winged lion from the back of Milan's Stazione Centrale (central train station).

If you want to know more about the photo and the building, see my blog on Milan: http://mymilanitaly.blogspot.com.

I turned one of my photos into a StitchPainter diagram for you, then into a BMP to put online, for your personal, non-commercial stitching pleasure.

Enjoy!

Milan Monday (12): another lion

Lions are so much fun, here's another one for Milan Monday!

I uploaded it into my StitchPainter program, and then turned it into a BMP image just for you. (Once you get some practice with how the images look, once transferred into StitchPainter, you'll be able to snap images that require little, or no, retouching, more easily, like this one.)

If you want to know more about my original photograph, you can go to "My Milan (Italy)": http://mymilanitaly.blogspot.com/2010/10/snarl-cont-lion-on-san-fedele-milan.html

A regal snarling lion

Had a moment of uncharacteristic crabbiness, and so felt like snarling together with you via a needlepoint design...More......

Found this perfect image for snarling (and giggling at oneself promptly shedding the crabbiness...mostly...) tucked away in my To Sort folders.

I uploaded it into my StitchPainter program, then saved it as a BMP file to share with you.

For more information about the object in my original photography, please see the entry in my blog on Milan, Italy: My Milan (Italy), http://mymilanitaly.blogspot.com/2010/10/snarl-aka-receiving-end-of-well-meaning.html

Milan Monday (09): Now you CAN make a silk purse out of a sow's ear!

Needlepoint an ancient Roman basrelief of a furry wild sow using silk threads, then sew it up into a purse. I'm sure you've been yearning to do that! Any pig farmers out there? Any fans of ancient Roman sculpture? Here's today's Milan Monday design to help you out!...More......

For further information about this ancient Roman sculpture found in Milan, see my blog on Milan: http://mymilanitaly.blogspot.com/2010/10/why-here-blame-it-on-furry-sow.html

Milan Monday (07): a lion's headed door knocker

Antique doors and door knockers are fun. I always keep my peepers open for just such an occasion: a beautiful lion-headed knocker....More......

I pasted the image into StitchPainter, and gridded it for you. It's so big, it would make a great cushion, I think. If you want to know more about the photo and where the knocker is in Milan, you can go to my blog on Milan: http://mymilanitaly.blogspot.com/2010/09/lions-and-tigers-and-bears-oh-my.html

The gridded full-size image was too big for Blogger, so I've uploaded a simple photo into this blog to give you a preview.

The full-size gridded image, in the form of a BMP file, is available on my Google site created just for such a purpose. Here's the (unfortunately long) address (copy and paste into your browser): https://8364221704685161048-a-1802744773732722657-s-sites.googlegroups.com/site/starsthisandthat/home/ars-acupicturae-stellae---star-s-needlepoint-art-1/my-designs/liondoorknockerviarovellofullsize-BMP.bmp?attachauth=ANoY7coBE8Ge1JmAXshFrdnE2QAaHU7WvtLknA3aKOoBoCqFrYyYMmQDHjgAOK_Da8STT2QOJVyl4HnUQKlpAHVMzi4O1FLx8nbk5hypBA3ShGX-HmmFm8-DymOatZm5K_qi6u7hfBONg9Bt4aCvFlAhVIqzvrycKGLEanwCPkvhCmnlntOaQLIpM3j3luhevOOy2_8OKdIyfIC4xAMExu1wmgpL7s93G9xFXcBc8apFPn2rRAHPGMgVfn4wVUpwcaDLEwbTYMQL_wTMXYLuzMPQ0HvfwgfDd2sTzR5i4HsgTMln4VmRx-5OlpMFJOYaYHGGdQS6kGh3yNA_LBawYigXQBTw2J-IPA%3D%3D&attredirects=0

or go to http://sites.google.com/site/starsthisandthat

and click on the Ars acupicturae stellae folder.

Library mouse (02) (again)

I feel much richer as a person for having learned more about William Morris (1834-1896). I knew of him as a...More......multi-talented artist and craftsman, but never realized that his aspirations to improve and uplift our daily lives by insisting on beauty in the making and using of everyday things also had extended into poetry, narrative and political activism. (For more on Morris, click on the title of this post, or go directly to http://www.morrissociety.org.)

Arthur Clutton-Brock’s William Morris (New York: Parkstone Press International, 2007) is largely concerned with exploring Morris’ interests and beliefs, with particular attention to Morris’ own writings. The book is not dedicated to translating his art into needlepoint, or cross stitch, designs, though the ample and beautiful illustrations will be an inspiration for your work.

The book spends less time than I had hoped on analyzing Morris’ approach to art, in order to be able to apply it to our own work. Even if the style of his art may not please you, after learning about his goals, you may find that you like his art better, even if you already adored it before learning more about him, as I did.

The text, despite its in-depth attention to Morris’ writings, is not for scholars, who will lament the rambling text without footnotes and the too short bibliography, but it is suited for interested fans wishing to better understand Morris’ works, and is a good source of some beautiful images full of inspiration for your needlepoints.

Better understanding his goals helps us to better translate his art into designs. Unexpectedly, but more importantly, it helps us, like Morris, to be uplifted by making beautiful things and to insist on living surrounded by beauty, even in all our everyday objects, not just because it gives aesthetic pleasure, but also because it refines our spirits.

(Originally posted July 25, 2010, this message was skipped during Google’s retroactive indexing phase, which means that not only was it not available in internet, but also that the page was not available for the in-site search feature, so the message is being reposted to remedy these two problems. Thank you for your understanding.)

Cat and mouse (8 of 9) (again)

Of course my favorite animal, the cat, had to figure in the "composite" image. It, too,...More......was designed freehand on my StitchPainter program, and inspired by the Victorian needlepoint book; see bibliography and link list.

(Originally posted July 14, 2010, this message was skipped during Google’s retroactive indexing phase, which means that not only was it not available in internet, but also that the page was not available for the in-site search feature, so the message is being reposted to remedy these two problems. Thank you for your understanding.)

Swan (7 of 9) (again)

A peaceful gliding swan (designed freehand on my StitchPainter program,...More......and inspired by my Victorian needlepoint book; see bibliography and link list) for the "composite" image.

(Originally posted July 13, 2010, this message was skipped during Google’s retroactive indexing phase, which means that not only was it not available in internet, but also that the page was not available for the in-site search feature, so the message is being reposted to remedy these two problems. Thank you for your understanding.)

Library mouse (02)

I feel much richer as a person for having learned more about William Morris (1834-1896). I knew of him as a...More......multi-talented artist and craftsman, but never realized that his aspirations to improve and uplift our daily lives by insisting on beauty in the making and using of everyday things also had extended into poetry, narrative and political activism. (For more on Morris, go directly to http://www.morrissociety.org.)

Arthur Clutton-Brock’s William Morris (New York: Parkstone Press International, 2007) is largely concerned with exploring Morris’ interests and beliefs, with particular attention to Morris’ own writings. The book is not dedicated to translating his art into needlepoint, or cross stitch, designs, though the ample and beautiful illustrations will be an inspiration for your work.

The book spends less time than I had hoped on analyzing Morris’ approach to art, in order to be able to apply it to our own work. Even if the style of his art may not please you, after learning about his goals, you may find that you like his art better, even if you already adored it before learning more about him, as I did.

The text, despite its in-depth attention to Morris’ writings, is not for scholars, who will lament the rambling text without footnotes and the too short bibliography, but it is suited for interested fans wishing to understand Morris’ works, better, and is a good source of some beautiful images full of inspiration for your needlepoints.

Better understanding his goals helps us to better translate his art into designs. Unexpectedly, but more importantly, it helps us, like Morris, to be uplifted by making beautiful things and to insist on living surrounded by beauty, even in all our everyday objects, not just because it gives aesthetic pleasure, but also because it refines our spirits.

Library mouse (01)

Do you love books? Me, too. Real ones...More......that you can hold and touch and annotate and in which you easily can hold your place flipping back and forth to coordinate information on the various pages (that’s why books were invented in the first place; scrolls were good for from-start-to-stop reading, but not for page-to-page-in-the-same-book consultation…I haven’t tried digital books, as I just can’t focus my thoughts reading on a computer, as I can when reading a book, yet). Then, like me, you’re what the Italians call a “library mouse”…so much nicer than “bookworm,” I think. I recently found some needlepoint books that I can hardly wait to share with you one-by-one, as they arrive. (When they’ve all arrived, I’ll put them in the bibliography.)

The first one to be shared is Barbara Hammet’s The Art of William Morris in Cross Stitch, n.p.: David & Charles, 1996. It’s 128 pages packed with great photos, some basic information about the fascinating fellow William Morris (who wanted to fill everyone’s everyday lives with soul-uplifting beauty, bless him), and with about 50 charted designs for imaginative projects, complete with sewing instructions and some basic information for cross-stitch starters (though the complexity of most of the designs makes them suitable only for those with cross-stitching, or needlepoint, experience, in my opinion).

With some practice at interpreting charts for doing needlepoint, I think that most of the designs (those that don’t rely heavily on outlining) can be adapted for needlepoint fairly easily. I particularly like the way that she envisions the background as an active part of the design (more on that when I talk about the book on the Beggarstaffs, which I am awaiting eagerly).

Her approach to cross-stitch and the final effect of her designs are so akin to the look of needlepoint that I’m tempted to try cross-stitching one of her designs. Because the cloth background and final product of cross-stitch projects are so much thinner and flexible than needlepointed ones, cross-stitch also can be used for lots of things that needlepoint can’t, and that makes for happy gift-planning, for example, a personalized book marker. That’s tempting, too.