A new supplier of half cone sticks for stumpwork embroidery

A few months ago, I wrote a series of blog posts about a stumpwork bride’s bag that I was making, that featured foxglove flowers made out of needlelace worked over a half cone stick.

A half cone stick in use, tacked to the fabric to hold it in place while detached buttonhole stitch is worked in rows across it.

I explained that I’d bought my half cone sticks years ago, and that they weren’t that easy to get hold of, now. I subsequently did some research, and found a few stockists. But recently, a woodturner called Bruce Bassett who lives in Utah contacted me for advice, as he’s been asked to make some half cone sticks to add to his range of lacemaking tools, a few of which he recently began selling on Etsy [ EDIT November 2013: the Etsy shop is no longer active – please email Bruce instead – see below]  and the items he’s come up with are really lovely. Look!

They are available in five sizes, and the finish is really smooth.

He also sells a couronne stick (sometimes called a ring stick or hedebo stick), for making round needlelace cup shapes and flowers and for other uses in bobbin lace making.

The couronne stick.

PRICES, and  SHIPPING/HANDLING COSTS (for within the USA, and also worldwide):

For the half cone sticks, the price depends on the size: the smallest one is US$9, the three medium-sized ones are $10 each, and the largest one $11.  Add $4 per order for shipping within USA, $6 elsewhere.
The full set of 5 half cone sticks costs $40 plus $4 shipping within USA, $6 elsewhere.

The couronne stick is $20 plus $6 within the USA, $8 elsewhere.
The complete set of 5 half cone sticks and the couronne stick costs $56 plus $6 within USA, $8 elsewhere.

To purchase, email Bruce with your requirements, and he can send a Paypal invoice. With the half cone sticks, two small holes can be drilled in the foot end if required, so that the stick can be tacked to your fabric more securely if wanted, for no extra charge – just mention that you’d like that to be done when you email him with your order.

To contact Bruce, send an email to brucebassett@gmail.com

His ‘snail mail’ address is:

Bruce Bassett
420 Heather Road
Orem, UT 84097
USA

Tel: (801) 226-5267

I don’t make any money from this blatant advertising blog post! But I would like to think that by helping him get started with these lovely needlework tools, he can become more widely known for the wooden tools that he has such a skill for making, and more stitchers can make beautiful embroidery using them.

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Want to win a miniature needlepoint handbag kit?

In New Stitches magazine this month (Issue 235  – dated November – on sale 18th October 2012), there’s a Giveaway for the chance to win one of my miniature needlepoint handbag kits.

New Stitches, Issue 235 (November 2012)

8 of these kits are up for grabs altogether. They are to be stitched from a colour block chart on 32 count silk gauze, with one strand of 6-stranded Anchor thread. The design on offer is called Delicate Flowers, and it’s the white handbag that I am holding in this picture:

Three tiny handbags for doll’s house dolls. The black one is stitched on 40 count silk gauze, and the other two are stitched on 32 count silk gauze.

If you’d prefer to buy one, then the whole range of eight designs can be seen on my website. Each kit costs £9.95. Shipping is £1.50 per order worldwide, unless your order total is over £40, in which case shipping is free.

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Celtic Autumn in alternative colours – 2

This is the Celtic Autumn cross stitch picture by Lavender and Lace that I am working on, after twenty hours of stitching.

Celtic Autumn, after twenty hours of stitching

This is what it looked like after ten hours.

After ten hours

It’s quite obvious that the denser the area of stitching the longer it will take, but even so, I think it’s ‘growing’ quite fast. I really wanted to get the head and shoulders stitched, so that the picture had some meaning to it.

The colours are lovely and rich – 35 shades, altogether. So far, I’ve hardly used the green shades, as they mostly will feature in the skirt, but there are almost twenty shades of terracotta/tan/rust, etc., so the shading is very subtle at times.

I remembered, once I got as far as stitching the pale-coloured shawl, that I don’t really like stitching very pale colours on pale fabric, especially in artificial light! This close-up shows that the shades of white, cream, ecru and two shades of pale stone look great when finished…..but they were a pain to do. There are still some ‘gaps’ in the shawl, which will be filled with gold beads later.

It has made me think that, when I get to stitching the Celtic Winter design, I will definitely use the alternative colourway where the dress is in a cornflower blue, and not the pale off-white shades of the original chart. I think that all those pale colours would either drive me crazy, or I’d give up on it  🙂

The original colours for Celtic Winter – too much pale stitching for me!

An adaptation of Celtic Winter, with much nicer blue shades for the dress

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A beautiful set of doll’s house rooms with mini stitching in

Sometimes, customers of mine email me with images of the stitching that they have made from the kits that I sell. I always love seeing how people have used the kits in their doll’s houses and room settings – they are a talented lot!

Recently, a customer called Margaret, from Wales, sent me these amazing pictures of her latest doll’s house, which is a Tudor style house. She has furnished it in a Victorian / Arts & Crafts style, with Tudor wallhangings to suggest its long history. All the needlepoint items are from my range of kits.

This is the house, fully furnished.

The miniature version of a William Morris Hammersmith carpet features in this room

An attic room, with two carpets stitched on 18 count canvas, in needlepoint.

Isn’t Margaret’s house just beautiful?!

Lots more examples of doll’s houses featuring miniature embroidery can be seen in the Customers’ Gallery page on my website.

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