Month: May 2017

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Fiber Talk with Janet Perry

Ornament stocking by Janet Perry

Our guest this week is Janet Perry, known to most needlepointers for her blogs, online classes, and books. We had a great conversation with Janet about her extensive online activities, trends she’s seeing in the hobby, and a variety of other subjects related to her teaching, design work, and online offerings. We trust you’ll enjoy hearing from one of the more visible and active people in the needlepoint world. –Christine and Gary

Listen to the podcast:

We hope you enjoy this week’s Fiber Talk show. You can listen by using the player above or you can subscribe to Fiber Talk through iTunes, Stitcher, TuneIn, Podbay, and Podbean. To receive e-mail notification of new podcasts, provide your name and e-mail address below. We do not sell/share e-mail addresses.

One of Janet Perry’s designs.

Follow Janet and communicate with her through her online channels:

We hope you enjoy this week’s conversation with Janet Perry. We’re always looking for guests, so let us know if there is someone you’d like us to have on the show.–Gary and Christine


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Fiber Talk Mid-Week Chat, 5-10-17

Angsty teens is one of this week’s mid-week-chat topics.

It’s the middle of the week and we decided we wanted to get together and talk about needlework. It’s an hour of us yakking at each other about Coni Rich, our Tess and Thorn conversation, Nicola Parkman and reproduction samplers, Gary’s stocking project and cross stitching, Christine’s early needlepoint experiences, Mary Corbet and linen quality, Gay Ann Roger’s new design, Shepherd’s Bush stockings, and Arlene Cohen’s Flosstube videos. We hope you enjoy our ramblings.–Gary and Christine

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Fiber Talk with Nicola Parkman

The Sarah Borton 1815 reproduction from Hands Across The Sea Samplers.

Antique reproduction samplers are the subject this week and our guest is Nicola Parkman of Hands Across The Sea Samplers. We had a terrific time talking with Nicola about how she acquires samplers, the reproductions her company produces, how she researches the history of the girls who created the originals, and the interesting stories behind the samplers. We also talked about her global company, the beautiful charts they produce, and Sarah Borton 1815, the latest chart from Hands Across The Sea Samplers. It was an absolute treat to talk with Nicola. –Christine and Gary

Listen to the podcast:

The original Sarah Borton sampler.

We hope you enjoy this week’s Fiber Talk show. You can listen by using the player above or you can subscribe to Fiber Talk through iTunes, Stitcher, TuneIn, Podbay, and Podbean. To receive e-mail notification of new podcasts, provide your name and e-mail address below. We do not sell/share e-mail addresses.

Follow Nicola and her Hands Across the Sea Samplers partners and communicate with them through their online channels:

Nicola’s Recommendations
At the end of the show, Nicola offered a recommendation and some thoughts. Those are below, along with the link to the pin-stitch video Gary mentioned:

“Just remember when looking at larger and more “complicated” samplers that they are not “hard”, they are just big, and just like the longest journey that begins with a single step, so does the largest sampler begin with a single stitch. Those different stitches begin the same way, by sticking the needle first in, then out, of the fabric. Only difference between one type of stitch and the other is where you put that needle and how you manipulate the thread. Think of each band as a mini sampler”

“I do believe that all things are possible if you believe in yourself and are prepared to try.”

“Remember those young girls working on their samplers they were not only learning stitches and patterns but perseverance!!”

We hope you enjoy this week’s conversation with Nicola Parkman. We’re always looking for guests, so let us know if there is someone you’d like us to have on the show.–Gary and Christine

Sarah Borton detail.

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Fiber Talk with Heather Zoppetti

Heather Zoppetti’s new Gallo shawl design.

It’s two-needle time! Our mid-week guest is Heather Zoppetti, a knitwear designer, teacher, and author of Everyday Lace and Unexpected Cables. She lives in Lancaster, PA with her husband and yarn collection. Her patterns have been published in many Interweave publications and in Vogue Knitting, Creative Knitting, and by yarn companies such as Anzula, Sweet Georgia Yarns, Manos del Uruguay, Baah!, Reywa Fibers, The Alpaca Yarn Company, and Universal Yarns. Heather is the owner and founder of Stitch Sprouts, a company dedicated to helping your stitches grow. Stitch Sprouts is a distribution company offering access to the highest quality yarns to fill your shelves and hundreds of patterns and books by popular designers.–Christine and Gary

Listen to the podcast:

We hope you enjoy this week’s Fiber Talk show. You can listen by using the player above or you can subscribe to Fiber Talk through iTunes, Stitcher, TuneIn, Podbay, and Podbean. To receive e-mail notification of new podcasts, provide your name and e-mail address below. We do not sell/share e-mail addresses.

Heather Zoppetti’s Gallo shawl with the shawl pin.

Follow Heather and communicate with her through her online channels:

Heather Zoppetti’s Recommendations
At the end of the show, Heather offered several recommendations. Below are links to those items:

We hope you enjoy this week’s conversation with Heather Zoppetti. We’re always looking for guests, so let us know if there is someone you’d like us to have on the show.–Gary and Christine