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Welcome to the PaintingNeedle newsletter! This initial newsletter provides an introduction to Virginia Glass, the creative spirit behind PaintingNeedle designs, and some of her projects.
PaintingNeedle is an organization for enthusiastic, serious stitchers. We inspire and challenge stitchers to increase their stitching expertise to produce masterpiece needle arts. We are a design studio that offers museum quality needlework patterns and designs for the serious stitcher. We are available for one-to-one mentoring, group sessions, classes, and speaking engagements. Contact Virginia at PaintingNeedle@yahoo.com for more information.
Happy Stitching!
NYC Needlework
NYC Needlework
I found this NYC canvas in a needlework shop in Bernardsville, NJ over 10 years ago and instantly fell in love with it. Not only is it a great rendition of my favorite city, but it also depicts the World Trade Centers. The proprietor of the needlework shop explained that this canvas was part of a set of canvases designed by an architect depicting NYC. All the other canvases sold quickly, but this one didn’t sell. The architect painted the canvases based on what he viewed from his window. This canvas was painted showing only one of the World Trade Centers because that is what he saw from his window. The finished piece has two World Trade Centers. I added the second one to the back and left of the first.
This piece was great fun to work and stitched up quickly. It was fun to add decorative stitches to the buildings, water, and sky.
Meet Virginia
I am a needlework designer. I’ve been stitching needlework for as long as I can remember. My career as a technical writer pays the bills, but my passion is fiber arts and family stories.
My parents raised me in a formal household where needle arts were something that young girls learned how to do. My mom taught me knitting, crewel work, and needlepoint. During these lessons I learned a lot about my family through my mom’s stories and descriptions of needlework pieces created by my mother’s grandmother, Nanny. I learned that needlework is something women do while waiting – waiting for children, waiting for husbands, waiting for dinner to cook, waiting in doctor’s offices. That’s how my love affair with stitching started, but it has grown into so much more.
My great-grandmother, Nanny, did her needlework while she traveled the world with her husband. These voyages typically lasted 6 months or longer between San Francisco and Asia. Nanny’s babies were born in Singapore, Hawaii, and California. On one of these trips, Nanny received a white silk kneeler with a beautiful white silk embroidery border. Nanny designed and stitched the word “Baby” across this blanket with the same design used on the border and then used the kneeler as a baby blanket.
Nanny also received oriental robes covered with stunning embroidery – dragons, butterflies, flowers, and more. I am continually inspired by their stitching.
Chinese Butterfly Embroidery
My mom treasured a gorgeous hand stitched eagle – single strands of silk stitched on rice paper. When the rice paper disintegrated, my mom framed the eagle between two pieces of glass to preserve it. From a distance, the stitching looks like real feathers. You have to look closely at this piece to see the infinite number of stitches that create this effect.
Eagle – Suitable Backdrop for a Wedding (used with permission)
I love the eagle and appreciate the number of stitchers and amount of time it must have taken to create such an amazing work of fiber art! This is a style of stitching rarely done these days. It’s not difficult, but it is quite time consuming. People just don’t have the time it takes to produce such works of art these days. Machines can be programmed to mass produce similar items, but they would hardly be considered works of art.
I remember my mom worked on a rectangular piece from France while I tried new stitches on my own. This rectangular piece was based on a French tapestry and was set up in the mid- to late-1800’s. Nanny started it and stitched the petit point animals on the needlework. Nanny’s daughter (my grandmother), stitched the flowers, and her daughter (my mom) stitched the background until she ran out of wool. I tried to match the wool so I could finish the work, but couldn’t locate any wool of the necessary colors. So, I made do with leftover wool from their stitching and finished the project as best as I could. Four generations of my family put their time and stitching into this piece.
Piano Bench Cover
A childhood friend and I worked on our stitching projects together. We have an enduring friendship to this day. We actually worked on pieces based on the same pattern and still talk fiber arts and textiles when we get together.
Today’s fast paced world makes it hard to create these kinds of memories and friendships. Stitchers coming together and sharing their stories during a time of waiting or personal restoration endures through time and space.
Stitch together your family stories. Create your own legacy through the needle arts.
Stitching Buddies Project
Exciting News!
PaintingNeedle.com announces the Stitching Buddies project. This project welcomes a few wonderful stitchers to create PaintingNeedle.com patterns and be part of a stitching journey culminating in a book and exhibit!
PaintingNeedle is supplying the patterns and material to create these works of art in return for professional photographs and a stitching journal. The stitcher’s stitching journey will be transformed into an inspirational book (with patterns). The finished pieces will hopefully become an inspirational stitching exhibit. Future editions of this newsletter will update you with the progress of the project and include pictures of the stitching as these masterpieces become reality.
At this time the patterns have been distributed and I am in the process of arranging for the materials for my stitching buddies. Stay tuned for updates …
Thank you, stitching buddies!
RUGC Project
I am also working on a project for members of the Rutgers University Glee Club (RUGC). This organization has a beautiful insignia shown below.
Q Clef
Using this insignia, I have created patches, personalized pillows, and sweaters for members of RUGC. This insignia may also become part of a personalized blanket project that includes the member’s names and their year of graduation.
The RUGC project has opened the door for me to help with the skirt for the Rutgers Commencement Bell, which will have a permanent home on campus and will be used during commencement ceremonies. This project displays the 17R66 insignia on red weatherproof material.
I’m proud to be able to contribute to this project!
PaintingNeedle
PaintingNeedle is a business I wanted to start for over 25 years. I’m still quite busy with my career as a technical writer, but have found enough time to launch my stitching business, blog, and newsletter. My stitching business is evolving as my love of stitching and design grows.
Inspired by the needlework and silk embroidery techniques learned from my mom and family, I have created PaintingNeedle to showcase contemporary photography and artworks as needle arts. In particular, we have patterns based on the Hubble Telescope photography, Meagan Voigt’s artwork, and Elizabeth Fitts’ artwork. Proceeds from the patterns support the artists. The website for PaintingNeedle is under construction and will showcase the artwork used for the patterns. Patterns are available as Christmas stockings and ornaments, square and rectangular framed or pillow designs, belts, and custom designs. Patterns can also be created for pet products and fashion products, such as purses, collars, yokes, vests, and jackets. (Patterns are available on request.)
I started the design business working with Hubble Telescope images to create counted-stitch patterns. To preserve the stunning colors that make up these images, the patterns are set up for petit point and use a large range of colors. Because these patterns represent space, I highly encourage stitchers to use beading and metallic floss to embellish their final pieces so they sparkle.
The following illustration shows a section of one of my space patterns. It is petit point, 28 stitches per inch. The entire pattern uses 200 colors. This section of the pattern uses about 200 colors.
Petit Point Project – 28 Stitches to the Inch
To stitch this pattern, I plunged into a petit point world of stitching. Stitching such small stitches means having a good frame and lots of magnification! I figured out a system for combining reading glasses, pattern magnification, and great lighting to make the stitching easier as well as a system to organize my floss. I stitched every waking hour when not at work. The resulting piece is a work of art worthy of a museum. This image of space is true to the original image and illustrates how needle arts can be applied beautifully to contemporary images!
Ultimately, I hope to build my business into a full-time endeavor for my retirement. This is my legacy to my children as well as an expression of my passion for the needle arts. I hope you find comfort in my designs and find a way to include my featured artists and their patterns into your stitching world. Please contact PaintingNeedle@yahoo.com for more information about the patterns and tell me about what inspires you to stitch. Together we can create a beautiful pattern that fits into your world.
PaintingNeedle is a design studio that offers museum quality needlework patterns and designs for the serious stitcher.
Happy Stitching!
Note: The PaintingNeedle.com website is under construction.
PaintingNeedle 