Robin at North Shore Needleworks, Chicago IL

Hi Everybody... Robin here.

I'm home from teaching this past weekend in the Chicago area. What a fun time! 😀

North Shore Needleworks
1512 Shermer Road, Unit C
Northbrook, IL 60062

Located in Northbrook, IL, North Shore Needleworks is truly a lovely shop. Carol and Jake Jakimow are the owners. Nice folks. They also have talented and knowledgable employees giving great customer service. And, did I mention.... threads? Yes, they have threads galore!

Thread wall part 1
North Shore Needleworks

Thread wall part 2
North Shore Needleworks

Thread wall part 3
North Shore Needleworks

River Silks Ribbon and Kreinik wall
North Shore Needleworks

Here's a photo of the classroom. Look at the set up! Everybody gets usage of a System 4 floor stand and an Ott Lamp during class. Sweet. 😊

The classroom
North Shore Needleworks

There were 14 people in the class. We had 2 sisters from Iowa... they won the Travel Trophy 🏆. There were 2 friends from Minnesota. There was a lady from Wisconsin. The rest of the folks came from the Chicago area.

We had an eclectic group of canvases from designers including: Lani's Needlepoint; Kirk & Bradley; Julia's Needleworks (artist, Bracha Lavee); Ewe & Eye; Machelle Somerville; Maggie Co (artist, Kym Bowles); Cooper Oaks Design (artist, Melissa McLeod); Melissa Shirley Designs (artist, John Johannsen); Leigh Designs; Burnett & Bradley; CBK Needlepoint (artist, Scott Church Creative); Associated Talents; and Melissa Shirley Designs (artist, Mary Lake-Thompson).

Here are some work-in-progress photos. I'm sorry I didn't get photos from everyone.

Christmas Tree Stand Up (KB289)
stitch guide by Robin King
stitched by Lisa Abrams

Dancing Miriam (BL-100)
stitch guide by Robin King
stitched by Pat Dettman

Dancing Miriam (BL-100)
stitch guide by Robin King
stitched by Debby Fulton

Ellie (EWE 1145)
stitch guide by Robin King
stitched by Cathe McEnerney

Gardening (Maggie M-1897)
stitch guide by Robin King
stitched by Mary Beth Richards

God Bless America (CBK Needlepoint MML 921)
stitch guide by Robin King
stitched by Maureen Belzer

Machi (Leigh 5006)
stitch guide by Robin King
stitched by Ellen Turf

Penguins Out for a Ride (Scott Church Creative SC-PL44)
stitch guide by Robin King
stitched by Barb Alden

Sweet Dreams (KC 149)
stitch guide by Robin King
stitched by Karla Goodman

There was also a famous person in my class: Linda Corirossi; a national needlepoint teacher, stitch guide writer, and book author who lives in the Chicago area. Linda is one of the teachers at North Shore Needleworks. I have both of her books and have been a fan of hers for years.

Canvas Embellishment by Linda Corirossi

Canvas Embellishment (The Sequel) by Linda Corirossi

Long-time blog readers might remember another article about Linda Corirossi. You can imagine how thrilled I was to meet her and to have her in my class.

Linda had selected the "Lilac Lamb (J211-A on 13 mesh)" from Melissa Shirley Designs (artist, John Johannsen) for me to write the stitch guide. Talk about pressure! 😳 Once I calmed down, I did what I do for anyone's stitch guide: offer ideas and techniques that I like to do.

When writing the stitch guide, I noticed the Lamb's Face. There was only one eye showing.

Was this an intended 3/4 pose... exaggerating the wide-set feature of a Lamb? Whatever the reason, it just looked wrong. Eyes are so important to needlepoint, and this cyclops wasn't endearing. I mentioned this to Linda Corirossi and she agreed.

Linda threaded up the needle & thread and asked if I would get the new eye started. What an honor. I decided to "flip horizontal" the right eye. I set the gray edge and then Linda filled in the rest. Teamwork.

Two eyes
Linda added the Rya Stitch for some 3D eyelashes.

Rya Stitch
great for Eyelashes

Talk about some cuties! Both the Lamb and Linda... and me. 🐑

Lilac Lamb (J211-A)
Melissa Shirley Designs, artist John Johannsen
stitch guide by Robin King
stitched by Linda Corirossi

Last thing to mention about my visit to the Chicago area... wow, there are so many nice restaurants! And with that you have great cocktail options.

Cheers!

I had my first grapefruit beer. It was a Stiegl Radler Grapefruit: half Stiegl Goldbräu and half soda with real grapefruit juice. All I can say is that it was delicious, light and memorable. Big smiles.

Well, I'm glad to be home. I'm on the road again in 2 weeks. Time to get busy.

Until the next time... Hugs, Robin

Tapestry Fair and The Painted Elephant

Hi Everybody... Robin here.

I had another fun charting job come my way.

This time it was from Peggi at Tapestry Fair. I met Peggi while attending the Phoenix TNNA Market this past January 2012. Nice lady.

I know you are familiar with the Tapestry Fair line of canvases. Most recently, you have seen blogging by Jane from Chily Hollow about the Manuel Salas "Day of the Dead" canvas she is stitching; distributed by Tapestry Fair. Here's their website. Take a look all of their wonderful designs.

Your LNS can order any of them for you. http://www.tapestryfair.com

Peggi was needing me to chart some icons for the upcoming class being taught by Linda Corirossi called The Painted Elephant.

This information came from the Tapestry Fair blog:

The Painted Elephant (#636) by Tapestry Fair
Class taught by Linda Corirossi

Here is a summary of the class:

Choose your colors, raid your jewelry box for bling, and join Linda Corirossi for a series of classes to "paint" your own elephant.

The class includes a line drawn canvas, stitch planning "map", and a stitch guide including picture graphs to decorate your elephant. With Linda's guidance, each elephant will be exotic and original.

The first elephant class will be help October 19th, 20th and 21st at Family Arts Needlework in Phoenix, AZ.

To contact Linda about giving this class at your shop, call (847) 942-2120 or email:  lcorirossi@sbcglobal.net 

So, exactly what did I do? Peggi sent me several pages of graph paper with icons in colored squares. I made a graph grid in the computer, and then colored the boxes in the same sequence; creating these endearing icons. It was a new task to learn and was fun doing so. When I was finished,  a 4-page PDF of the 27 icons/components was ready to become part of the stitch guide.

I would love to take this class. I have been a fan of Linda Corirossi for many years. I have both of her books. You have them, too... right?

Canvas Embellishment by Linda  Corirossi

Canvas Embellishment (The Sequel) by Linda  Corirossi

I use these books often when writing stitch guides as well as for my own personal stitching. Like I said, I would love to meet Linda. If any of you take the class, be sure to let us see your progress and hear about your experience. When you stitch the little bird, you can think of me.

Until the next time... Hugs, Robin