ANG Main Line Stitchers chapter is starting another counted needlepoint project now that Circles is done. Needlepoint Now sells reprints for $3 (https://www.needlepointnow.com/product-category/project-reprints/). We began Imperial Topaz by Sue Reed with a road trip to Busy Lizzy, a store (open on limited days behind her home) owned by one of our members, Cleo. Two of our other members and employees, Karen and Louise, were holding down the fort the Saturday we went. Linda, who already stitched the project and who is leading it helped Lori, Buff, Kristen, and me pick out threads in 3 color families which work with the overdyed thread selected. On a second road trip to Fireside Stitchery to meet 2 other members, I switched from the blue I had chosen to a blue-green that Betsy recommended. All set now!
My overdyed is Waterlilies Rainforest 168.
Color A (blue green) threads are Splendor S869 Dark Green Aqua and Silk Lame Braid Petite SP214 Lake Blue.
Color B (coral) thread is AVAS Soie d’alger 2921 Rouse Ancien.
Color C (peach) threads are Splendor S1150 Deep Flesh, S895 Dark Flesh, and S1149 Light Peach Flesh; Neon Rays N117 Medium Peach.
Kreinik #12 Braid 0013 and 1/16th Ribbon 013 Beige.
At our June meeting, Linda discussed how to find the color matching portions of an overdyed skein. Sue Reed wrote a very complete article about that topic in Needle Pointers magazine March/April 2021 page 22 in the same issue) on “Color Matching Hand-Dyed Threads”. Selecting portions of overdyed threads for manipulation and thread blending are the 2 main lessons in this piece.
No matter the light source, the Coral appears brighter in the picture than it does in person where it is slightly muted.
I am celebrating Happy Thread the Needle Day which is an entire day devoted to stitching! Hope you got some stitches in today. Even one length of thread stitched per day will allow you to progress on a project. Enjoy your time!
I finally took Blue Hills to get framed. You may recall from a previous post this was from an excellent class with Dawn Donnelly at the ANG 2022 Seminar. It is a “mixed media” piece that incorporates Dawn’s hand-made paper. It’s about 6″ x 8″ on 14 count. It was fun to stitch.
The small brown outer rows of basketweave was my idea so that none of edges would get covered by the mat. The bottom edge was the only even row. I’m very happy with how it turned out.
Filed under: ANG Main Line Stitchers Chapter, From Dawn to Dusk by Textured Treasures
The third motif required needleweaving which was easier and faster than I expected and fun. The color matching is with N-S and E-W because one length could do two of the four legs.
There are 4 Spider Webs. I enjoy making these but I couldn’t tolerate the spokes being uneven as they had diagrammed. So, out it came. This is the same 12 x 12 space but has 9 spokes evenly distributed. Plus, I prefer the center to be an eyelet rather than crossing side to side with an extra spoke added in. It’s so much easier to keep the center centered. So, here’s my diagram.
The other odd thing is that they say go over one and under one spoke where you should under two, back over one, and under two again. Here are my Spider Webs. Very happy!
The rest of the background went along smoothly except that working on 28 count is tougher on my eyes than even 24 count. I found a tube of Autumn Seed Beads (probably 11/0; manufacturer unknown although they are marked Made in Japan). They are a lovely mix of yellow, green, and amber. The amber was perfect. I needed 37 beads and had way more than enough. They added a lovely final touch.
Several weeks ago, after a few months hiatus, I finally made it back to a meeting of The Needlework and Textile Guild of Media.
My Show and Tell was all six Steps of my EGA Master Craftsman program for canvas. Everyone was quite interested. It was fun to see them all together! The fireplace is at the framer getting ready to go to Boston. I digress.
The demo portion of the evening came from Merril who showed us her felt applique pieces. Then, we selected 6 pieces of varying colored felt shapes and threads. She gave a handout with whipstitch (hidden and visible), blanket stitch, running stitch, and backstitch to use to attach the shapes to a 6″ square gray piece of felt.
I played with the shapes until I got an arrangement I liked. How would you have arranged them?
Then, I attached each shape with a different stitch.
Since we were given 2 large square bases, I made a second piece rather than use it as a backing for a small potpourri pillow.
I came up with the second design to allow me the opportunity to practice the French Knot technique taught by Judy Jerow. I learned that all felt is not created equal. I had to switch to a denser felt because the French Knots were sinking into the fluffier felt. Her French Knots are the tiniest! I used Wildflowers 027 Lemon N Lime for the flower. And, I wanted to try a scalloped buttonhole described by Mary Corbet (https://www.needlenthread.com/2013/04/stitch-fun-scalloped-buttonholed-chain-stitch.html). For that, I used Wildflowers 066 Jade. Very nice effect.
They are a perfect size for trivits. So, I ordered 2 of them from YarnTree. They withstand up to 350 degrees. The felt was just as thick as what would fit.
Join us at The Media Arts Council (11 East State Street in Media) at 7 pm on Tuesday June 13. It’s always the second Tuesday of the month. On July 11, I will share my limited experience with goldwork.
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