ANG 50th Anniversary Flower Round

August 29, 2023, 11:13 am
Filed under: 50th Anniversary Flower Round by Danji, Other People's Designs

Since the ANG 50th Anniversary was exceptionally special for me because my Crescent Journey was announced as the 2023 ANG Stitch of the Month, I purchased this canvas and stitch guide by Sundance Beads from The West while I was at the Tucson Seminar. We discussed the stitch guide for this at our last monthly ANG Main Line Stitchers meeting.

I’d seen this stitched on a presentation they gave (their talk is free if you’re looking for a Zoom presentation for your chapter/guild). The stitch guide came along with the canvas (Danji: CH-639). I purchased the threads and beads at Edwardian Needle in April.

This was going to be my round ornament for a finishing class in October with Kelly Starke hosted by NJ Needle Artists but I’ve got round down pretty good. So, I will take only the irregular shaped class. I digress.

I added 1/4″ of basketweave around the outside so the decorative portions of the design would be seen after finishing.

Using heat to press back the tabs worked well enough (a Kelly tip) but I wanted them securely in place so I laced each tab to the Craf-tex (cut slightly smaller than the stitched piece). I could have folded back more (which is what Kelly does on her YouTube video) than I did but I like the gold edge showing.

The fabric for the back is actually the back of a small fabric swatch that I’d won at a Valley Forge Quilt Show raffle and held in place by Scotch Tape Runner, a double-sided tape, on Magazine Board (a Brenda C tip) instead of a second piece of Craf-tex. I’d cut the template the same size as the stitched piece but by turning back the edge around the Craf-tex, the back ended being slightly larger than the ornament. That turned out to be great. I was able to attach the cord along that width by grabbing a little fabric, going through the Craf-tex towards the front, going through the cord towards the back, going through the fabric, going through the Craf-tex towards the front, etc – all the way around. I used invisible thread again which is more difficult to work with but it wasn’t terrible.

Silk Lame Braid for 13 count was used for the cording and is color matched to the gold previously used. I used the Kreinik cord maker, assisted by my husband, and really twisted this time. Better.

The loop started off center (not on purpose) and there was no going back and starting all over again! So, I extended the cord along the ornament edge to where it would hang straight. Another happy accident. I like that look. For a larger size ornament (4″), I finished late in the evening but I did finish 2 ornaments in one day. This may be my best one yet!