Melitastitches4fun's Blog

ANG Central Jersey Chapter Name Tag

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!

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