Way back in 2005, I began a new concept of designs – called Needlework Building Blocks. It actually was a way that you – the stitcher – could personalize projects (should you want) and make them you own. It gave you – the stitcher – a format to lay a design out but have control on what your design ended up looking like. It developed over the course of many years, and those designs which I introduced on the website as “limited edition” freebies, became fully developed designs, and are for sale in my shop.

Do you remember, back in your childhood, the small plastic puzzles, which you’d find, that had 10 to 20 different shaped blocks, and fit together different combinations to form that perfect square? If you were like me, you’d spend hours on end trying to find all the different solutions. I wanted to find them all, and wanted to find them myself. In between, I’d enjoy coming up with all the different shapes and combinations which might not make a square, but would be interesting as well.

I look at needlework in the same way. I learned from my mother, that you always put your own touch on your needlework projects. She taught me that you didn’t have to use the exact threads or fabrics shown in the charts and that you could take pattern meant to be framed, and make wonderful ornament, pillows, afghans, or whatever your heart desired. I eventually learned to take pieces from different designs, combining them into wonderful creations. Needlework Building Blocks, I hope, was that kind of a puzzle for stitchers new and old.

Needlework Building Blocks is a series of shapes, based upon a 12 stitch block size. These shapes fit together in multiple combinations, giving a stitcher countless possibilities for project ideas. But, I’m not stopping at the shapes. You’ll find different modules – gardens, fill patterns, knots, alphabets, and other types of designs – which will fit within these shapes. Add these elements into your combinations, and the sky’s the limit.

While I won’t be introducing freebies as I did back in 2005, I am still working plans on some to be released in the future, as well as possible stitch-a-longs. Simply Color‘s discussion about color, will include some Needlework Building Blocks freebies as examples.

Find attached a document I developed in 2005 giving you details about what Needlework Building Blocks is, as well as a reference sheet showing you block sizes. All the details are here, so save it for future reference.

How do you think that this will introduce customization into your designs? Do you make your projects your own?

Happy stitchin’!

Sally