2020 Year in Review & A Preview

December 29, 2020, 9:06 pm
Filed under: General comments

Thanks to the 6,700 visitors from all over the world who took time to visit my blog this year. It’s always nice to see your comments. It’s been a great year of needlepoint and little else due to coronavirus. Thankfully, most everyone I know has avoided this virus.

My blog is 10 years old now. WOW! WordPress gives 3 GB free storage space. It took me 10 years, about 780 posts, and over a 1,000 photos (because each post has one photo & some more) to run out of free space. So, I upgraded to the Premium version with 13 GB. It has lots more features that I don’t understand but I can work on that over the next 10 years!

My first project begun in 2020 was Carolyn Mitchell’s Making Stitches Work For You and it was finished in 2020. I ended up with a 12″ x 9″ design of 21 beautiful bands. The instructions are being proofread by two people in my chapter. Thanks so much Linda & Lori! I just love this design (all stitches and threads were my choice).

Other finished pieces included Blanton’s Bottle, Barbara’s Patchwork (ANG Stitch of the Month 1999), Welcome Fiona (great niece baby piece), Build Your Own Geometric with Kurdy Biggs (ANG Cyber Workshop), and Vases with Curly Bamboo (Sharon G canvas stitch guide and class begun in 2012 with several members of my ANG Main Line chapter and restarted in 2019 as we compared with 2 other stitch guides).

I also completed Steps 2 and 3 (with distinction) of the EGA Master Craftsman Canvas Certification program. Steps 1, 2, and 3 will be on display in the Education area of the Chicago EGA National Exhibit.

Two pieces finished in 2019 were published in articles in ANG’s Needle Pointers magazine including Lotus Kimono (Jan/Feb 2020, A Tale of Two Stitchers) and Flying Cranes Wedding Kimono (Mar/Apr 2020, Constructive Criticism and How’d She Do That?).

As always, a few pieces got started and not finished: Klimt Kimono with Toni Gerdes (ANG Cyberpointer’s Cyberworkshop), ANG 2020 Stitch of the Month called Star of Stitches by Kathy Rees), and Rainbow Ribbons by Kam Wenzloff using wonderful threads from Lorraine at Color Complements. I didn’t have time to start Hearts of Gold from Michele Roberts (ANG Correspondence Course) but it looks like a lot of fun and they are wonderful instructions.

The ANG National Seminar moved to an online venue (as most things did due to coronvirus). I learned a lot from Susan Hoekstra from her Teaching Needlework 101 class (which I would not have been able to take in person because it conflicted with my other classes). I proposed Overdyed Spools to EGA THaP (Take Home a Project) intended to let a person get used to teaching (a 2-hour class). It is taught to as many as 30 people to take back to their chapters for teaching as group class similar to the ANG Chapter Project Book. It was accepted and now I can use tools learned in Susan’s class to prepare for the Regional EGA meeting in the Fall of 2022. The design is in the 2017 ANG Chapter Project Book.

The other two classes I took at the ANG Seminar were with Linda Reinmiller: 21st Century Designer (learned publishing tools) and Interchange (learned pull work and designing a stitch sampler on the diagonal). Interchange was fun stitching and I finished it (one of the benefits of a virtual seminar which allowed class to last a month).

The last class of 2020 was Painting Needlepoint Canvases with Nancy at Fancywork Finishing. Another great class. I painted and stitched a geometric design on a 13 count and 18 count canvas. A floral piece was more challenging and has not been stitched yet. I have another project in the works to be painted and stitched too.

My EGA Brandywine chapter invited Ann Strite-Kurz to talk about the history of EGA and Lois Kershner discussed achieving perspective in stitching. Both were excellent.

Instead of vacationing (Branson, MO & Whistler, BC, Canada will have to wait for coronavirus to subside), I spent money on getting many of my finished pieces framed (even splurging on museum glass for most of them). These are now framed: Crazy Quilt, Sisters, Vases, Lotus Kimono, Wedding Cranes Kimono, A Dusting of Snow, Scotch Flower and Hearts, and Crescent Journey Beach colorway. I’ve been keeping Romeo’s & Reppening’s busy this year! I took Fiona to Michael’s (in Feasterville) and Interchange, Build My Geometric with Kurdy Biggs, Blanton’s Bottle, and a small geometric to Michael’s (in Pottstown where our newest chapter member, Meghan, works in the framing department).

Although travel was limited this year, I did manage to visit a new store Needlepoint For Fun in Lititz, PA.

While I have done well using Excel to create diagrams, I believe I need to take diagramming my designs to the next level. Thanks to Marilyn O and Needle Pointers, I have the opportunity to learn Adobe Illustrator by becoming an Assistant Graphics Editor for the magazine. It’s great to learn and give back to the ANG organization that I enjoy so much. And, it’s a perfect time to learn a new tool.

The EGA Seminar is being held in Chicago (drivable and my husband’s favorite city). I signed up for some great classes including learning how to manipulate overdyed threads from Gail Stafford in a notebook class, learning stumpwork from Alison Cole by making one small flower, and learning ribbon embroidery from Deborah Mitak on Congress cloth by making a 9″ x 9″ bouquet of flowers. I won’t be going to ANG’s Seminar this year because I don’t want to fly to Kansas City, MO and because there is a magic convention being held in Pittsburgh (drivable, one our favorite cites, and my college town) in July. Bill enjoys magic (I dabble in it) and he deserves a special event too. As long as we get vaccinated by then, wear masks, and the new strain doesn’t make things much worse, we’ll be traveling in 2021.

As we start 2021, I am starting Step 4 of the EGA Master Craftsman Canvas program. It’s a bargello design and I am working out the design as I practice using Adobe Illustrator. Here’s a sneak peak of my border.