Summer is very busy – like these bees! I stayed with this design and only changed flowers & bees. The flowers are Jessica surrounded by a stem stitch. And, the bees are padded satin. Enjoy the rest of the summer everyone!
Filed under: Melita's Other Completed Pieces
My husband, Bill (Happy Birthday!), graduated from Penn State & I thought it would be nice to commemorate his college by doing this piece. The seal is a counted cross stitch from Heirloom Needlecraft, Inc. (Missouri) & from the collection of Marjorie N Ross. I stitched this sometime after 1988 (thanks to copyright date & well after he graduated).
The piece was more challenging than I expected for a counted cross stitch piece because of the three quarter cross stitches. And, because I really had to get it right in order to have everything fit where it was supposed to. An error could have thrown off the whole alignment. So, I had to do alot of careful counting & double checking. At least there were not a lot of colors. And, it’s not a large piece, design area is 5&1/2″ x 5&1/2″.
Filed under: General comments
I celebrate 6 months of blogging with my 99th post (Cypress Tree) today! I’ve gotten about 22,800 hits since I started in mid-Jan. And, I accomplished what I set out to do – connect with the needlepoint community! This has been a fun 6 months – you’ve seen some good & some bad.
And, I’ve posted most of my completed bodies of work (at least ones’ I still have or have taken pictures of before gifting them). I’ve saved a couple for each month & the first of the month’s calendar. So, you won’t be seeing as many new posts unless I am reporting on my progress of ongoing projects (SOTM or Sun Flower). It does take time to blog. And, if I’m blogging, I’m not stitching. Now, hopefully, I will be able to check in on other bloggers more often.
Thanks again everyone!!
Filed under: Cypress Tree
I am intrigued by the cypress tree at Pebble Beach in CA. So, I bought a pair earrings and an etching when we visited the area a few years ago. And, the earrings became the inspiration for this piece, a “Pinsations” original design & stitch selection.
I didn’t actually “finish” this one – probably because I’d like to make the overall size larger & more round. I would also like to redo it though & improve on the sun. I think a different stitch would look better. But, I am very happy with the black rock stitch which is Bunger (from The Needlepoint Book by Jo Ippolito Christensen). The leaf stitch works well for the tree. And, the overdyed Watercolors is nice for the sky. The pin is perfect for the piece. I love it when stuff comes together like they were meant to – the earring, the pin, & the stitches. So far, this is one of my favorites.
Filed under: Uncategorized
This piece was done by my sister, Anita, for me. It is her own design. Very clever use of bargello to frame the sheet of music paper. The note pins are placed on the needlepoint on the sheet music corresponding to the notes B and A – which spells what my brother nicknamed me as a child, Ba, because he could not say Melita. My sister, Anita, is known affectionately as Na. I played flute & violin – thus the musical theme. My room at our childhood home was & is decorated in pinks/reds.
Although I see the piece daily (now it resides in a corner of my upstairs hallway where a pink/red piece works ok), I did not consciously link the use of pins in my needlepoint to this piece. Perhaps, this piece was my inspiration to begin stitching needlepoint specifically for a particular pin. So, if “Pinsations” ever becomes a “Sensation”, I’ll credit you, Anita, as my “Inspiration”!! Either way, love you & thanks again!
Filed under: Sun Flower with David McCaskill at Fireside Stitchery
I’ve got the background ready using 3 different overdyed thread colors. Occasionally, I even used just portions of threads to compliment the painted canvas which proved challenging. Now, I’m left with more of the green surrounding the petals & laying the dark thread on top & couching it. It is actually quite difficult to see in person where the dark thread should be placed – the pictures may actually help me figure out where to put the dark thread. I’m having a hard time photographing this piece – never seem to get the same amount of light. I’ll try outside daylight & see what happens.
I unearthed photos of the flag I did for our Chapter project (ANG Main Line Stitchers in Wayne, PA). I had the 1777 Maryland flag. Marnie sketched them for everyone. Not everyone has finished stitching & funds for the intended museum ran out. So, this is still an ongoing project.
Another flag-waving holiday! What better time than now to remember our soldiers fighting overseas, but also soldiers long gone – may they never be forgotten. Our ANG Chapter (Main Line Stitchers) is working on a project to donate to a museum of a piece with a soldier surrounded by different flags from the Revolutionary War. I forget what State mine was but it was a larger version of the one for my calendar. I used slanted Gobelin for the flag. All of the flags used a star pattern darning stitch for the background. I find darning patterns a difficult stitch to compensate (have to pay less attention to TV!).
Enjoy the holiday & family & friends . . . because soldiers made that possible.
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