Florentine Flavors

NAME:  Debby Powell Franklin

DESIGNER:  Debbie Stiehler

I usually work projects that are painted canvases or ones that I have designed myself, but when I saw Debbie Stiehler’s “Florentine Flavors” in the May 2003 Issue of Needlepointers magazine, I knew I had to stitch it!  I have always been fascinated by the Bargello form of needlepoint, but even when it was so popular many years ago, the colors in the patterns really put me off and I changed everything around to suit my tastes.  Then Bargello seemed to fall from grace and I hadn’t really explored the possibilities for years.  But then I saw Debbie Stiehler’s piece.  Wow!  The design of the ice cream cone, the colors and patterns really appealed to me.  Though I never do anything exactly the way the pattern is written, the basic design is the same.  I changed a few colors, added some different threads, dropped some others and started some patterns in different places.  When we discussed the changes I had made with Debbie before the Nashville Seminar exhibit, she said she enjoyed seeing the changes people sometimes make in her designs.  Changes can make a piece uniquely the stitcher’s own.  What a generous, talented artist she is!

Excerpt of Conversation between Tony Minieri and Judy Souliotis about this piece
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