When I joined ANG Central Jersey Chapter (CJC) in Colonia, NJ, I was really surprised that new members get a painted canvas for a name tag, and it was designed exclusively for the chapter by Lee’s Needlearts. Very pretty (design area is 5″x3″).
The instructions were included, but I stitched it up differently.
I decided to start it this past Friday for the Saturday chapter meeting that turned into an all Zoom meeting/Stitch-in due to our winter weather that hit over the weekend. After 715 days of less than one inch of snow, the Philadelphia area made up for lost time. It was our second snowfall this month. Snow days are great stitch days! We stayed in all weekend, and I had hoped this piece would be done over the weekend. No such luck. My stitch selections did not work up quickly, and that’s OK! I love how it turned out.
My stash came through for this canvas.
I used tent stitch with 2 strands of Wildflowers 6042 for the outer purple grid lines and 2 strands of Impressions 6040 for the center rectangle. The Impressions is slightly heavier than Wildflowers, helping the name tag area to increase in prominence.
I did basketweave with 2 strands of DMC Floche Blanc for the white stripes.
For the green stripes, I stitched the fern stitch with 2 strands of Splendor S1058. I always worked towards the small dark green square.
For the purple stripes, I stitched a pattern from the ANG Lone Star Chapter’s Grab -n- Go Stitches (pg 87) with 2 strands of Splendor S812. I always worked towards the light green stripe.
Each little (3 x 3) square turned into 3 steps thanks to a Jessica variation a pattern I saw in Grab -n- Go Stitches (pg 3): first, I worked a Jessica with 2 x 1 stitches all the way around with 2 strands of Bijoux MMT #452 Green Agate (not pictured in the thread photo as it was a late addition); next, I added small cross stitches over 1 at the north, south, east, and west sides with 1 strand of DMC Floche white (they look like little hearts to me); lastly, I placed a cross stitch over 1 in the center with 2 strands of the same green Bijoux. It’s a cute little motif to add some interest to the background, and I love using Bijoux!
It always surprises me when a skein looks like one color as a skein and then looks differently when stitched. The green au ver a soie, soie d’alger 2136 looks significantly darker than the green 2126 as a skein but not when stitched for the leaves. Oh well!
Using Silk Lame Braid for 18 count, allowed the small cross stitch over 1 and oblong cross stitch over 2×1 to be slightly raised for the center of the right 3 flowers. For the larger flower, I made a small diamond Jessica and then placed a cross stitch on top for a significant raised center. But, after I added the petals, it looks like an upright cross stitch. Oh well again!
The blue-violet flowers were formed by straight stitches using 4 strands of Splendor S1086, 2 strands each of Splendor S1086 and S882, and 4 strands of Splendor S882 for the dark, medium, and light petals, respectively.
My name was cross stitched using 2 strands of Planet Earth 6-ply Silk Eclipse 1101 (a dark gray). The background around my name was done in Alternating Continental (as recommended in the stitch guide) with Kreinik #4 Braid (as recommended) 5760 Marshmallow (a little whiter than 032 Pearl as recommended in order to match the white Floche stripes). It is a great stitch for this area because it covers the open hole from the traveling thread below the canvas. The Kreinik added some sparkle to the name area which helps draw attention to that area. Seeing your name is the goal!
Filed under: Amanda Lawford's Christmas Angel
I’ve learned that Vallerie Needlepoint Gallery now owns the Amanda Lawford line of canvases. I didn’t see any tree top angel canvases, but you can contact them directly.
Here is the back of the angel with her gold trim done. It used an unlabeled wooden spool of Kreinik from my stash and another new spool. I had 2 new spools, and one was a perfect match. The other seemed just a tad less gold. Overall, though, Kreinik seems like a very consistent product over the years.
Her back is all done.
I delivered her to the delighted owner, Linda in Media, earlier today. She got emotional because she started this over 40 years ago! It’s a shame the sparkle in the wings and trim doesn’t photograph well.
Thanks to Needlepoint Nation, I found a store experienced in finishing tree top angels and let Linda know about them.
Next time I post, it’ll be finished and on top of her tree. She promised to send me a photo.
Filed under: ANG Chapter Book Projects, Embroidery Guild of America, Needlepoint Shops, Nimble Needle, Overdyed Spools THaP, Petite Projects
My closest needlepoint store is Nimble Needle in NJ. Karen relocated to Merchantville a few years ago, making her a 20-minute drive for me. She has a great variety of everything, gives a 10% discount for ANG and EGA members, and always has the threads I need in stock. As if that isn’t good enough, I was even more thrilled when Karen showed me Overdyed Spools with her store name stitched where the spools originally would have been!
Patti, a customer and current President of EGA Colonial West NJ chapter, stitched it for Karen. Apparently, Patti has stitched a few of them as gifts. This is an EGA Petite Project, free to all members. It’s also a free project for ANG Chapters through the 2017 Chapter Project Book. One skein of Watercolours is used, and the thread is manipulated to create the color flow in the upper left and lower right corners.
It seems to be more popular with EGA than ANG, and I’ve seen several exhibited at Woodlawn (one of which was Patti’s with spools as seen in this 2022 post: https://melitastitches4fun.com/2022/03/31/woodlawn-needlework-exhibit-2022/). In this one, the spools have been replaced by a name tag and even made into a picture frame. Karen is going to attach it to a small project bag. I love it. Patti’s stitched another great one and Karen said I could post this!
Filed under: A Spring Sampler, Brandywine Chapter, Embroidery Guild of America
At the end of October, we had a 4-hour workshop for A Spring Sampler with members from my EGA Brandywine Chapter.
Since it had been a while since I designed and stitched the piece, I decided I better stitch along with them. So, I selected threads from my stash and decided to make it less wide than the original. The overdyed thread, Gloriana Cinnamon 151, has much less variation than I expected, but I am interested in finding out how it’ll look. So far, I like it.
Earlier today, we had a second workshop.
Brenda is coming along nicely on hers (https://brendasneedlepointstudio.blogspot.com/2024/01/spring-sampler-updated-1624.html). She’s got Bands 7 through 17 done in the original width. Unfortunately, Brenda couldn’t join us today, but I do hope we’ll both make it to our EGA Brandywine Quarterly meeting on January 18th (weather permitting).
Patrick’s using an overdyed thread with quite a few colors, and it’s turning out great. The holidays got in the way for others in the group. Hopefully, today, they got back on track.
Filed under: ANG CyberPointer's Chapter, ANG New Jersey Needle Artists Chapter, Tumbling Stripes by Marilyn Owen
A few years ago, ANG Cyberpointers offered Tumbling Stripes by Marilyn Owen and has remained in my To Do pile since. Well, ANG New Jersey Needle Artists decided to kick off 2024 with that project. Several folks stitched different coloways, and we got to see them in person at yesterday’s Holiday Luncheon at The Grain House in Mendham, NJ. Jacqui will be leading us over the next few months.
Although the event lasted until 3:30 pm, Show & Tell and business was conducted in between courses so several people could leave a little early and beat the worst of the weather. Bill came up with me and hung out at the Library where the chapter meets (he’s familiar with the place) and got lunch across the street. We did encounter snow on leaving but then as we neared Philly, it turned to rain.
I especially enjoyed seeing that several folks finished Crescent Journey and a few more are getting them framed. I really am happy that so many NJNA members participated. We had 3 round tables of 10 per table. Very good to see and talk with everyone.
Our assignment for Tumbling Stripes is to gather threads and baste. The first thing that I did was review the Cyberpointers’ notes and their photos. I saw Gretchen from Cyberpointers stitched one as an ornament without the borders, which would be 86 canvas threads or almost 5″ on 18 count or 3.5″ on 24 count Congress Cloth. So, I went to my canvas stash and what should appear on the top of the pile, but a small piece of Congress Cloth just begging to be used. It measures 6.25″ x 7.25″. Away to my bars, I flew in a flash to find 8″ x 8″ Evertites awaiting a project. [My Christmas decorations are inspiring me!] You might think that’s not going to work, but you lose 1/2″ across the sides where you attach the canvas with tacks on Evertites. So, one side was fine. I don’t have 7″ Evertites and am not going to buy them. But, I can lace one side. That was something I learned from Kay Stanis in A Toast To Tiffany (an unfinished project). I didn’t note what thread to lace with. So, I doubled Londonderry Linen 80/3 which worked great.
Despite my references to the Jolly Old Elf, I didn’t want more Christmas ornaments. I wanted to think spring. I wanted to use yellow because Jacqui is leading this. She gave a great Zoom talk on the value of using yellow in designs.
So, I went dashing over to my threads. In a wink of an eye, I had pulled my coloway! Actually, that was more involved because:
1. I had to sort through a pile of threads. I wish I could be completely organized but it’s never going to happen.
2. I don’t have a lot of yellow threads. So, I am borrowing the yellow Splendor from the Christmas Colors Designer Collection. And, I have to use DMC Floche, a cotton thread. That’s good a good sheen to it.
3. I needed 3 values of blue and found that in a bunch of threads called Pearsall’s by Tristan Brooks. It’s a discontinued line of silk threads. There are 3 values of Azuline Blue, although the light and medium are very close. The last time I used Pearsall’s, I found it difficult to handle. I’ll have to thin out the Silk Lame Braid in order to use it on Congress Cloth, but the color is great.
Pulling threads from stash is usually challenging, which makes spending time organizing them a waste of time – right! ? ! Do you find stash useful or a hindrance?
Filed under: General comments
Thanks once again for your interest in my needlepoint. It’s always fun to look back at what I stitched and framed or finished myself, what classes I took, and what road trips I took. As I look back over 2023, I surpassed 1,000 posts since I started in 2010.
My main accomplishments this past year included:
- finishing the six steps of the EGA Master Craftsman in Canvas (Step 5, Night Owl, was awarded 2nd Place at Woodlawn; Step 6, Fireside Sampler will go there in March 2024)
- beginning a series of articles dubbed Timeless Treasures from the Archives in Needle Pointers (started with the July/Aug 2023 issue). I am really enjoying going back through old issues of Needle Pointers looking for interesting articles that remain relevant today.
I’ve enjoyed my classes and amazing teachers including:
- Learn to Weave with Daryl Lancaster (sponsored by Jockey Hollow Weavers Guild)
- Finishing with Kelly Starke (sponsored by ANG NJNA)
- Pomegranate Heart with Melissa Sebring (EGA Seminar)
- Draw & Paint with Laura Smith (EGA Correspondence Course)
- Shading with Crewel with Judy Jerow (EGA Mid-Atlantic Region THaP)
The pieces that I finished and framed (either by myself, Frames Plus, or Repenning Fine Arts) were:
- Dawn by Textured Treasures
- Autumn 3-Ways by Toni Gerdes
- Finnegan by Melita
- Lady Sybil by Melita (won a 2nd place at EGA Seminar)
I finished stitching these in 2022 but the finishing was done in 2023:
- Blue Hills by Dawn Donnelly (framed)
- Mesa Triangle by Kath Rees (framed)
- JP canvases, Bird of Paradise with Bamboo and Orchid with Bamboo (pillows)
This year I embraced “finishing” in a big way by doing these (I got my finishing supplies organized, improved efficiency, and no longer dread it):
- 24 bulbs for a Christmas Lights Garland
- 4 Gold n Cross Stitch ornaments (no actual finishing required)
- 3 Or Nue Flag Magnets (I designed it for the Needlework and Fiber Guild of Media but the ANG Central Jersey Chapter also enjoyed doing it.)
- 2 Chottie’s Plaid bookmarks
- 2 Bargello Flag ornaments (published in the July/August 2023 issue of Needle Pointers)
- 1 each of these into ornaments (except the last one):
- Amadeus motif (from 2011 SOTM)
- Chilly Hollow motif (from 2011 SOTM)
- Waffle motif (from 2011 SOTM)
- Bells of Scotch (I designed this – watch for it coming to Needle Pointers in 2024)
- 50th Anniversary Round (from Sundance Beads)
- Dawn motif (from Textured Treasures)
- Crewel Wreath (from EGA Petite Projects)
- Circles (made into a basket lid; from 2008 SOTM)
Next year, new projects I have plans to stitch include:
- Landscape Features with Gail Stafford (ANG Cyberpointers Workshop)
- Byzantium with Lorene Salt and Treasures from the Great Lakes with Dawn Donnelly (at ANG’s Seminar in Kansas City, MO; registration opens March 4 for ANG members, March 18 for non-members, and closes May 17, 2024; Seminar runs from August 30 – September 6, 2024)
- Rainbow Butterfly, a Laurel Burch design by Danji (with Kristen for ANG Main Line Stitchers)
- Fibonaci by Olivia Hartshorn (March/April 2022 issue of Needle Pointers with ANG Main Line Stitchers)
- Ort Box with a Twist by Marilyn Owen (with ANG Main Line Stitchers)
The current projects that I will continue to work on include:
- Imperial Topaz by Sue Reed
- Amanda Lawford’s Christmas Angel
- A Spring Sampler in Cinnamon
- Medusa Sea Jelly
- Mary Maxim Quilt Magic Kit of a Poinsettia
The oldest 2 projects that I have high hopes of finishing include:
- Stitches in Sterling by Nancy Cucci (began in Oct 2011)
- Tar River Trail by Gail Stafford (began in Aug 2012; hoping more years of experience and the Landscape Features Workshop will allow me to finish it)
Last but not least, I look forward to leading A Stash Sampler for the ANG Cyberpointers May 2-6, 2024 meeting program (registration is April 15 – May 6).
Read all about it at: Cyberpointers & A Stash Sampler.
Hope everyone has a healthy and happy New Year!
Melitastitches4fun's Blog 
Filed under: ANG Central Jersey Chapter, General comments, Name Tag Lee Canvas, Tools
I decided to add a blue “mat” by stitching 3 rows of tent stitch using the same dark blue Impressions 6040 used to frame the name.
I cut 4 tabs on each side, folded them back, steamed the canvas, added a piece of magazine board, placed a piece of double stick fusible web on the canvas (about 1/2″ smaller than the canvas), placed a piece of blue Ultrasuede on top and pressed it into place with my iron. I used my ironing cloth to protect the Ultrasuede since I had and still have no idea if applying an iron with or without steam to Ultrasuede is a good idea or not! It is sufficiently stiff and not too thick. I had left about 1/2″ around the edge so I could glue the edges to the white canvas tabs on the back. Glue could not reach the front because of the magazine board. If it did, it would only be on the blue “mat.”
I should have attached the pinback to the Ultrasuede first but my curved needles allowed me to attach it relatively easily. The pinback measures 1.5″ end to end but the center part is 1″.
Have I mentioned that I don’t like necklaces? Well, I don’t! So, I’ve come up with a way to display these.
I started using my Smasta in 2022 as a travel tool kit. Here is the inside. Note the pointed metal arch at the top.
Here is the outside. Note the clear plastic oval. It has 2 magnets that are paired with the pointed metal arch on the inside (originally purchased at Barnes and Noble to hold glasses, but I never used it for that). It was in my travel tote as an extra needle minder if needed at a class.
By placing it where it is now, I can use it to display my name tags as I stitch! My Brandywine Chapter name tag already had a pinback. So, I knew this would work.
I added one to the back of my Main Line Stitchers Chapter name tag just in time for our Saturday Stitch-in tomorrow.
And, the newest name tag . . .
All 3 look great with the blue Smasta!
I believe I got this name tag holder at an EGA Mid-Atlantic Regional meeting. It holds all 3 name tags! The newest one just fit in the center zipper pocket.
That leaves New Jersey Needle Artists as the odd man out. I do have instructions for theirs. Maybe someday.