Filed under: Architectural Stitches by June McKnight, Books in My Library, Decorative Backgrounds by June McKnight, More Backgrounds by June McKnight, Needlepoint Books, Plants and Animals by June McKnight, Shading and Thread Blending Techniques by June McKnight
Most of my needlepoint booklets are 8.5″ wide x 11″ or 5.5″ wide x 8.5″ high. But these by June McKnight are 5.5″ wide by 4″ high, and they are thick at 1.25″ with heavy weight pages printed on one side only.
June McKnight has quite a few books of which I have these 5:
Architectural Stitches: Foundations, walls, masonry, windows, doors, roofs, and fretwork.
Plants and Animals: Foilage, flowers, garden structures, and animals.
Shading and Thread Blending Techniques: Precise thread blending, random thread blending, tweeding, twilling, twiddling, shading with dynamic threads, and decorative stitches. It’s my favorite book of the ones I own.
Decorative Backgrounds: In addition to the Ten Commandments of Backgrounds, there are basketweave and continental variations, fast and easy, delicate, trellis stitches, Florentine backgrounds, pattern darning & blackwork, pulled lace, and bold.
More Backgrounds: Covers lace, satin, stripes, wallpaper, chenille (patterns combined with FrenchKnots), and darning.
Filed under: ANG Seminar 2024, Treasures from the Great Lakes - Dawn Donnelly
The third class from the ANG 2024 Seminar in Kansas City, MO was Treasures of the Great Lakes by Dawn Donnelly.
I want to finish this piece before heading to the National Academy of Needlearts in mid-March, where I am taking 2 classes.
The eyelets, for bubbles in the waters edge (top), were tricky because the thread carry couldn’t pass behind an open hole. I did finally get the swing of it. I can’t see much of a difference between the #8 (towards the bottom) and #12 threads (towards the top), but I am happy, especially with my random placement.
The Pulled Stepped Backstitch for the bubbles on the sand (bottom) was more difficult, probably because the areas were so small, and it has to follow a pattern going 2 different directions. Again, the thread can’t pass behind the holes.
Filed under: Other People's Designs, Susan Portra, The Cabochons, Charity, Susan Portra, The Cabochons, Desire, Susan Portra, The Cabochons, Faith, Susan Portra, The Cabochons, Harmony, Susan Portra, The Cabochons, Hope, Susan Portra, The Cabochons, Joy, Susan Portra, The Cabochons, Love, Susan Portra, The Cabochons, Passion, Susan Portra, The Cabochons, Peace, Susan Portra, The Cabochons, Purity, Susan Portra, The Cabochons, Rapture
From my 2024 Year in Review post, I had said,
Goals #21-28 for 2025 are to kit the eight pieces in The Cabochons series by Susan Portra that I have acquired and at least get started stitching them (to make this a realistic goal).
Final Goal #29: Don’t get any more goals!!
Well, I need to update this as follows:
Goals #21-31 for 2025 are to kit the eleven pieces in The Cabochons series by Susan Portra that I have acquired. Thanks to a recent Ebay auction, I obtained 3 more.
Final Goal #32: Don’t get any more goals?? Or, should I just let this one go?
All of the kits have the bead packs. One of the designs has all threads (Love), and four of the pieces came with canvas. Oddly enough, one of the designs doesn’t say to use Rhapsody, but I’ve got to use Rhapsody in all of them. I was able to find 5 skeins of the now discontinued thread, Rhapsody, on Ebay and/or at Janna Needle Art. However, I will have to modify the threads to match the replacement color of Rhapsody I selected for 5 of the designs.
There are at least 2 in the series that I am missing: #11 and #12. I don’t know what they are called and have a search on Ebay to alert me if any Cabochons are posted. Does anyone have any idea what they are named and/or does anyone have them to sell?
I don’t think I posted the ones I got from Alex-Paras NeedleArts. Here are those and the other designs – all now ready for kitting.
To date, I have:
I bought some threads for four of the kits that are using the suggested Rhapsody thread from Karen at Nimble Needle in NJ. She gives a 10% discount to ANG and EGA members. And, she had the current issue of Needle Pointers available for people to look through right next to the front door. Nice of her to support ANG!
I do have to substitute DMC for Anchor and substitute for two discontinued Fyre Werks but I think there are Fyre Werks Soft Sheen threads that will work.
As I search for colored 18 count canvas and work on kitting them all, I will start on the Love design, which is done on white canvas and came fully kitted.
In 2021, my ANG Main Line Stitchers chapter stitched Rainbow Ribbons by Kam Wenzloff published in Nov/Dec 2019 issue of Needlepoint Now. We had a variety of colorways using beautiful threads from Color Complements. It was a fun project.
I am cleaning out folders in my computer and realized that I hadn’t posted my pillow. I had it finished at Needle Me in Havertown. It’s a purple overdyed Pearl with a gray Ultrasuede border.
Filed under: Arctic Inspirations Snippets Class, Serendipity - Stitching Club with Ellen Johnson
Ellen of Serendipity Needleworks had a 3-hour Zoom class on thread and stitch choices for winter/snow scenes recently.
I went through my full-to-the brim white/off-white drawer looking for threads for snow scenes. Here’s a thread (can’t remember where I found it) that would definitely be couched to your canvas. I haven’t used it yet.
Here’s a thread that could be couched in place for a beard. Santa is always nearby with snow scenes. It looks like it would be great for anyone avoiding bullion knots.
YLI woukd be an alternative ribbon to Neon Rays+ or Kreinik (neither are included in a photo).
The PE Silk Opal (Cloud 097) has such a tiny amount of sparkle that I don’t find it’s very useful.
Nordic Gold isn’t worth the effort. It says it is very fine and easy-to-use, but it falls apart/unravels (for me anyway). Although this is not the best photo and I missed Flair too, I am not rephotographing.
Using Neon Rays N02, Petite Very Velvet V602, and Crystal Braid CR01, I stitched from left to right: Double Straight Cross Stitch, large Tied Double Cross, Slanted Beaty Stitch, small Tied Double Cross, Double Parisian Stitch, Diagonal Brick, and Burden Stitch. I hadn’t seen the Tied Double Crosses (different threads would be better) or a Diagonal Brick before (offset rather than rows would be nice to try too).
Filed under: ANG Needle Pointer's Article, ANG Needle Pointer's Timeless Treasures From the Archives, Crescent Journey, Melita's Designs
The current issue of ANG Needle Pointers is chock full of good stuff, including an article in Timeless Treasures regarding a series, Design by Susan Dawson. She reviews principles of design and color over 5 issues.
I presented a Contrast Talk based on the original and several new Crescent Journeys colorways from ANG stitchers. Learn why this is the same design, but each one looks different. Practically an optical illusion! Several of the new ones and other Crescent Journey pieces will be on display at Woodlawn Needlework Exhibit in March.
And, saving the best for last. Meghan from my ANG Main Line Stitchers Chapter stitched and created an excellent stitch guide for a Mindy canvas, Folk Heart. I did the diagrams, and her notes made writing up the stitch guide a breeze. For a relatively new stitcher (3-4 years?), she really excels. She did the finishing herself too. Her first attempt at that! Amazing!!
Filed under: ANG Central Jersey Chapter, Summer Fireworks by Ann-Marie Anderson-Mayes
The ANG Central Jersey Chapter (CJC) meet and stitch on the 3rd Saturday of every month (from 10 am – 3 pm). Since I last joined them at the November 2024 meeting, I have picked up Summer Fireworks by Ann-Marie Anderson-Mayes occasionally when a small, easier piece was what I wanted to do.
In January, it was all I could do thanks to a good old-fashioned head cold that I got from my husband after holding it at bay for 2 weeks. We went through two batches of homemade chicken noodle soup.
I hadn’t noticed it, but Rosie L is correct, Ann-Marie’s hand dyed skeins match perfectly when folded in half if you cut at the knot. There is no need to search for the repeating color, allowing colors to line up perfectly in the Scotch stitch border.
I didn’t make it to the CJC January meeting, but I did work on it an EGA Brandywine Chapter gathering yesterday where I started the outside Van Dyke border and finished it the next day during an Ellen of Serendipity’s 3-hour Zoom class on thread and stitch choices for snow scenes.
Filed under: Amanda Lawford's Christmas Angel
I blogged about Amanda Lawford’s Christmas Angel that I started in September 2023 periodically until I finished it in January 2024 https://melitastitches4fun.com/category/amanda-lawfords-christmas-angel/. In summary, it was for a woman who had started it 40 years ago and wanted it finished, but she just couldn’t find time to stitch and preferred to spend her leisure time elsewhere. So, I stitched it and she sent me a photo of it finished. I would have loved to see it on top of the tree, but I was happy to get any photo! It turned out great. She was thrilled, and so am I. Ignore the little piece of the background above her left wing that, for some reason, will not be erased even with Photoshop.
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