Our Nature’s Alphabet chart can be adapted to needlepoint very easily. We made ours into a lovely and useful draft stopper for the base of a door. It was stitched over 18 ct canvas and measures just about 36 inches long. You can purchase the chart as a PDF Download, print it on your own printer and start stitching tonight. Of course, all of this can be done while you wait for your bonbons to be delivered and your grapes to be peeled!

The lovely weather these days gives me reason to work with my hands in a totally different forum, my yard. Sometimes one needs to get outside and breathe in the fresh air and get our hands dirty. But not too dirty. I always wear gloves because I don’t like getting dirt under my nails!

We just finished trimming about 12 feet off our hedge along the back fence. That was quite an undertaking, but now we can see the sun shining into our yard once again.

Now I’m inspired to work on a larger cross stitch pattern. The Spring Cat Sampler by Nancy Rossi is a beautiful piece. It can hang alone in any room, or the set of four samplers is a lovely way to decorate a wall.

The design I chose had lots of satin stitches that are tiny little letters of the alphabet and the words: “G is for giraffe”  and “R  is for Rabbit .” The letters are so little that after some trials, I decided to just use back-stitching and outline the letters. It looks better with just the outlines and it’s way easier to do. I have a bit of ripping out to do on the first attempts.

Does anyone know what to do with the wrong side of the bibs? The backside of stitches is pretty ugly and the stitches may come out after lots of washes. Can I use some kind of lining or even a fusible web for the back? Any ideas would be great!

The knitted afghan for my nephew is finished and in the mail, so I was looking for a small project to work on for a change. Baby Bibs are fun to do. They make great gifts for a shower, every baby needs them (some more than others, my oldest was a world-class drooler) and they don’t require framing.

We have some really cute sets of bibs that may interest you. My niece is expecting her first child in September and not knowing if it’s a girl or boy, I chose our cute Buttons and Bows pair of bibs. All I have to do is stitch them. The bibs are already put together so no finishing is required. It can’t get any easier than that.

KDS guest speaker at the SF EGA meeting

Here is an image of some of the ladies checking out merchandise! ~Basha

This Spring, have you been wishing for a fresh new project to stitch? Maybe a small project will help you get a fresh outlook on the changes that are taking place outside our windows. Tea Towels or Guest Bathroom towels make lovely little gifts to give to a hostess or new bride.

Our Variegated Floral Borders booklet has forty different borders that can be used to decorate these towels. You can find the blank towels at your local craft store or stitch the border on a piece of Aida fabric and sew the finished border onto a regular hand towel that you can find in the soft-goods section of your favorite store.

Using variegated floss makes the stitching look like you worked harder than you really did to get the subtle shading effect. The designs also use a lot fewer colors than traditional floral borders. Some of the borders use only one color!

In the Winter, every home has a handy box of tissues in almost every room. I like this Poinsettia holiday designed tissue box cover that would look very nice in just about any room in your house.

Stitching needlepoint on plastic canvas can be fun and rewarding. The project can be finished in very little time.

I know some people think tissue box covers are a little out-of-date,and old-fashioned. However,  I think they are a good way to decorate or even disguise that ubiquitous winter-cold necessity, tissues.

Small beaded chandelier

An elegant way to decorate a small chandelier is to make Beaded Bulb Covers.

My daughter wanted a bit more style added to the lamp in her room. The bulb covers in the book, Beaded Home Decor, featuring designs created by our own Basha Kooler were the ideal project.

I bought enough beads to make the covers plus two strands of beads that are strung on flexible wire to wrap around and drape the chandelier. The finished piece is a very charming light fixture that will add pizazz to any room.

Buy it here as a PDF Download or a printed chart that will be mailed to you right away.

http://www.koolerdesign.com/shopproductdetail.aspx?ProductID=1115&StoreSect=Shop