On another adventure with Orna. This is a 6-month class where we design our own geometric piece! I’m sure that Orna will make the process fascinating and fun. We have own own private Facebook group.
I picked up the kit yesterday and it includes:
- 45 threads (Soie Perlee, Trebizond, Kreinik 1/16 ribbon, Kreinik #8 & #12 braid, Planet Earth 6-ply silk, Silk Mori, Neon Rays, Gumnut Yarns, Needlepoint Inc Silk, Silk ‘N Colors, Waterlilies, and Watercolours) in wonderful colors. There were 3 or 4 options to choose from. They came in a 2-sided hard plastic box. Orna packages are always lovely. But, I wanted to spread them out to easily see them all.
- 11 packets of beads in various sizes and colors
- 3 pieces of canvas
- 24 watercolor pens and 3 brush tips (again, I wanted to spread them out to easily see them all)
- Desert Island Stitches, Vol 1 for small spaces (which I didn’t have and from skimming it today, it’s a great reference)
- Grid paper, a notebook, packet of blank stock paper, and a ruler
I’ve enjoyed looking over everything and am excited for class to start soon! It all fits in 5 of the plastic, stackable trays except for the grid paper (from the Container Store). And, I have made room in a cabinet so I can get to it easily.
Three more sections done in the upper left corner. I established the pattern for the block of diagonal rectangles and bars before stitching the band that goes across the whole piece. It made it easier to establish the proper pattern. I wish I would have done that for the other 2 sections that pass behind the band. Oh well!! That diagonal pattern was so tough to see that I diagrammed it on my computer before stitching. I finally got the rhythm as I stitched it. The other 2 sections were easy especially the 9 columns of Fern Stitch.
Just remembered that I can add some backstitch outline. Then, I’ll switch to Embracing Horses for awhile.
The upper right area around the Jessica circles is Encroaching Gobelin. It took forever (up 2 over 1) which made it perfect for doing as I watched football including our Eagles win twice (albeit not overly impressively last weekend but much better yesterday)!
The new lower left area is Rhodes Half Stitch stitched with Vineyard Silk Shimmer. That thread was surprisingly difficult to work with and felt awful. It’s 100% silk but it doesn’t feel like silky – it feels wiry. It twists up into knots and the ends keep coming apart. Using a shorter length helps. However, not everyone has the same experience – some do and some don’t. Odd!
I hope our Eagles experience the same type of playing in 2 weeks as they did yesterday!!
Filed under: ANG Main Line Stitchers Chapter, Brandywine Chapter, Embroidery Guild of America, Name Tag
For quite some time now I’ve had my ANG Main Line Chapter name tag stitched but not finished. Now that I’ve joined the EGA Brandwine Chapter, I stitched their name tag. So, I finished both yesterday. One was on Aida (EGA) and the other (ANG) on canvas. I went through my finishing supplies and found Peel n Stick Fabric Fuse. It’s a roll of 5/8″ permanent adhesive. I mitered the corners, pressed the tape across the back, and applied ultrasuede to the back. I bought a package of 10 pieces of various colors from Adorn by Orna’s website quite some time ago. They are each about 3″ x 5″. It’s not easy to find ultrasuede in a variety of colors and in small amounts. And, it’s so soft and not too thick so you can get a needle through it had I decided to use a binding stitch to attach it.
The EGA one has a pin clasp attached. And, I bought the lanyard from Trish Vine also quite some time ago. I sent her a picture of the ANG name tag and asked her to match the colors. She found the perfect fabric. It reminds me of train tracks and a conductor! We are lucky to have Trish in our ANG Keystone Garden Chapter. That reminds me, I don’t recall ever getting a pattern for their name badge. Only EGA requires that we wear one. I have the ANG Golden Needle Society name badge left to stitch. Here they are.
One program that we introduced to my ANG Main Line Stitchers group is a coffee cup canvas that we will all stitch and give to Starbucks as a thank you for letting us use their conference room for free. The store manager loved the canvas and was very pleased to know we wanted to do this for the store. Since September, we’ve been meeting there still the second Monday of the month at 7 pm but at 218 Lancaster Ave and love the better seating and lighting, the coffee, and treats! Come join us if you have the time.
This design is from The Point of It All and is called “Coffee Cups”! We got it on sale at 45% off from the Seminar shop, Needlepoints West. It is a 13-mesh canvas with a design area of 12¼” x 12¼”. The chapter bought the threads. Linda, Buff, and I chose the threads – single strand Planet Earth silks and matching Kreinik for most of the piece. And, DMC #3 pearl is being couched with one strand of DMC 310 floss on all the curved outlines of the cups. We’re all taking turns passing around the piece stitching 2 cups each. Each person can use whatever stitches they like. I did write up some general guidelines for consistency across all the rims, handles, and coffee in cups. And, I offered some suggestions for a few open laid patterns to allow the canvas to show through some.
Linda stitched the top left white cup/saucer, the top right purple/white cup/saucer, and corresponding backgrounds. I added the green one below Linda’s purple one. And, the green/white cup below Linda’s white one. I used an open pattern on the green one in order to allow the colors of the canvas to show through. Kathy stitched the red cup in the middle and the black border. Patrick stitched the white cup and green (another great open pattern) cup on the bottom right. Everyone is picking great stitches. Who’s next & what will they pick?
Filed under: ANG Keystone Garden Chapter, ANG Main Line Stitchers Chapter, Metalforms
Both my ANG chapters, Main Line and Keystone, are working on Metalforms by Jeff Kulick. I’m doing the copper on green colorway.
The border is done except for the backstitch on the inside of the border which I’ll do after stitching the adjacent sections.
I adjusted the coiled cable by separating them by one thread in order to have the paired horizontal cables flow out of each coil symmetrically. My partial diagram is shown. This was a very interesting composite stitch.
P.S. Oops! Just noticed, I forgot to repeat St. Margaret Stitch (horizontal and vertical Gobelin stitches) on the right side of the spring stitches.
Filed under: General comments
Another wonderful year! Thanks to all of you who took the time to visit my blog (almost 6,700 visitors from all over the world).
Earlier this year (2017) Anuj Agarwal, the Founder of Feedspot left me a comment on my blog and said, “I would like to personally congratulate you as your Melitastitches4fun’s Blog has been selected by our panelist as one of the Top 50 Needlepoint Blogs on the web (http://blog.feedspot.com/needlepoint_blogs/). I personally give you a high-five and want to thank you for your contribution to this world. This is the most comprehensive list of Top 50 Needlepoint Blogs on the internet and I’m honored to have you as part of this! Also, you have the honor of displaying the badge on your blog.”
I thought it was spam and forgot all about his comment until just now as I review my blog and needlepoint accomplishments over the past year. And, I realize now that he is a legit website. So, I am pleased to display the badge!! Lots of good blogs are listed there.
As far as accomplishments go, I had many finishes: Come Design With Me, 20 trivets for some wonderful people, a second Crescent River, Bronze Purse, SOTM 2012 pillow, Mystery Project, Zapotec Rug, Fleur de Mardi Gras, Herringbone Happening, and a second Color Inspirations. Finishing for several projects was done through Karen/Nimble Needle of NJ and Jim/Repenning Fine Arts in Audubon, NJ.
Festive Fireworks was on the cover of July’s Needle Pointers magazine with instructions inside. Pam Gardner did wonderful diagrams of the design! I am not near her league but I did learn how to make my own diagrams with Excel from Cynthia Thomas at ANG Seminar this year. And, they are very helpful for my own designs.
I made some progress on painted canvases including Vases, Swirling Leaves, Embracing Horses, JP Bird of Paradise & Bamboo, and JP Orange Orchid & Bamboo. I was trying to focus on painted canvases this year but it appears I worked on counted pieces more. Maybe this year, I’ll FOCUS on alternating between counted and painted pieces.
My thread stash (arranged mostly by color in drawers) and tools (in a lovely tool caddy made by Linda) were organized although keeping things in their place is challenging. It might help if I stopped adding stuff but what fun is that?
The classes and teachers at Blue Bonnet/Toni Gerdes, Nashville Needleworks/Laura Taylor, and ANG Seminar/Cynthia Thomas and retreats New Jersey Needlefest/Susan Hoekstra, Time for Needlepoint/Pam and Andrea from Edwardian Needle were fantastic. Learned a lot. And, the best part of these events is meeting old and new needlepoint friends!
I joined EGA Brandywine Chapter and enjoyed a talk by Doug Kreinik, a couple of Stitch and Chat days, and their Christmas luncheon. I haven’t met everyone yet but those that I have met are very friendly.
It’s very exciting to think about the time I’ll spend in 2018 on my various pieces in progress, another online design class with Orna Willis, a weekend ribbon class at Edwardian Needle, a 2-day class with Gail Sirna with ANG Keystone Garden Chapter, New Jersey Needle Fest, and the ANG Seminar in Washington DC for a design class with Kathy Rees. There will be lots of meetings and good times with everyone at ANG Main Line Stitchers, ANG Keystone Garden Chapter, and EGA Brandywine Chapter!
Most of all, I look forward to being with stitching friends in person and online!! Hope you all have a wonderful, happy, healthy New Year!!
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