My Needlework Designs

Check this out: Not your grandmother's needlework!

I started doing four-way bargello when I was in high school, and I've been doing bargello, needlepoint and cross-stitch pretty much ever since. I almost always create my own patterns. With an engineer's brain, geometric patterns appeal to me, and I often just start stitching with little idea what it'll be. Other times, I've graphed out designs on graph paper.

I recently started using pattern software called PCStitch, and now I find myself doing a lot more detailed planning of patterns. I thought I'd put together a page of some of my work. I have the patterns from PCStitch for some things; for others, I just have a photograph of a finished piece. In any case, please feel free to use my patterns as you will, without attribution.

Click on any image below to see a larger version.

Hannah Beth's pillow
This pattern comes from Mary Norden's wonderful book Ethnic Needlepoint. I gave the pillow to my daughter. Completed 2002 or 2003.
Circle floral pattern
The design is needlepoint; the background is four-way bargello. This pattern was inspired by a pattern at Squidfingers.com (on this page). Download the pattern. Completed 2004.
Diamonds
My motivation for this pattern was the fact that all my previous patterns were done on 90 degree and 45 degree angles. I started playing around with 22.5 degree angles (diagonal done 2 stitches at a time) and this was the result. At first I didn't like the random colors, but that has grown on me. The pillow resides in our living room. Completed 2002 or 2003.
Diamonds with crosses
I graphed out one diamond for this one and started working from the center. The outside is supposed to be 3-D effect, but it's not as wide as I'd like. Also, the colors in the photo are pretty bad. It's actually darker, and the light color is gold. The pillow resides in our living room. Completed 2002.
Kilim-inspired Needlepoint Pillow
I created this pattern and stitched a pillow from it in 2002. I had been looking at kilim rug patterns for quite some time, and this is the result, though it looks very little like any of the rugs I'd seen. This was the first large pattern I'd designed completely in PCStitch; I saved my drafts along the way, and it provides an interesting view into the genesis of the design. I gave the pillow to my mother; I'll try to remember to get a photo next time I'm at her house. Completed 2003. Download the pattern or see the finished product (which differs slightly from the pattern).

Four-way bargello
These are some of the first projects I ever undertook, back in high school (1980-82 or so). I gave the yellow and orange design to my then-girlfriend Katie, and it now hangs in my daughter's room. The two blue patterns now hang in my son's room. All of these designs were taken from or inspired by Dorothy Kaestner's Four-Way Bargello.
Sophie
I created this pattern in 2002 for the infant daughter of a friend of mine. The elephant pattern is taken from one of my favorite needlepoint books, Mary Norden's Ethnic Needlepoint. The alphabet is my own creation ('Sophie' doesn't contain any of the letters that I consider more problematic for mapping). Done in 14 count cross stitch, it fits in a 5x7 frame. Completed 2002 or 2003.
Download the pattern.
Shalom
I created this pattern back in about 1993, when my wife was attending seminary. The design of the Hebrew word was modeled after a T-shirt that the seminary was selling. If done on 14-count canvas (I do it as cross-stitch and leave the background blank), it fits nicely in a 5x7 frame. Here is a photo of the Shalom hanging in our house in an 8x10 frame with a stock mat.
Download the pattern.