Another framed piece that I forgot to post. The ANG Central Jersey Chapter (CJC) hosted the Autumn 3-Ways Workshop with Toni Gerdes in the fall of 2022 although we had to do it remotely in winter of 2023 because of Toni’s flight cancellation.
Those of you who know the piece will know the piece is framed upside down but I didn’t notice that until I got home and my husband and I decided we like it that way! Finished by Frames Plus in Feasterville, PA.
On Friday, Kristen and I made a road trip to Edwardian Needle and joined the large turnout who shop, stitch, and gab all afternoon. Very nice time – the whole weekend was great. Kristen is easy to travel with. My purchases will be the subject of a couple of upcoming posts.
On Saturday, we joined the ANG Central Jersey Chapter (CJC) for their meeting/Stitch-in. They are getting started on Crescent Journey and I displayed them as a group again. It’s fun to discus how different each design turned out because of the differences in colors and values. I saw the start of 4 of the 5 colorways and a fifth that incorporates blue instead of black with neutrals.
The chapter will also be stitching my Festive Fireworks published in the July/Aug 2017 issue of Needle Pointers. So I took that along again for them to see and talked about the project briefly.
Since CJC hosted the Autumn 3-Ways Workshop with Toni Gerdes, I took it along for my Saturday stitching project. Before I left for the weekend, I had stitched the veins and stems on the leaves. And I almost finished the 5th border, another padded long-armed cross stitch (that was also the stitch for the first border) during the Stitch-in. I did get that done Saturday night and the beads went onto the 3rd border on Sunday after I got home. The beads are Delica Beads Size 15. According to the instructions, it looked like they were intended to be stitched horizontally between the motifs but I stitched them vertically because the beads are tubular and fit in the space so much better in that orientation. And, my compensation in the corner did not leave room for a bead but that’s ok.
The ANG Central Jersey Chapter (CJC) hosted the Autumn 3-Ways Workshop with Toni Gerdes.
I stitched the shading on the middle leaf one day when all was quiet and still could not get the stitch pattern to work for me. I thought I had it right but alas, no! So, it is my variation of Toni’s Oblique Cross Stitch variation. The shading is as Toni suggested. It moves from dark on the outer edges to lighter in the center.
The fourth border, a multi-trip Herringbone, was stitched with 5 colors. I placed the first trip on the canvas at home the night before the Saturday Stitch-in with the Stitchers of Grace at the Grace Evangelical Lutheran Church in Hatfield, PA (a couple of weeks ago). This was the second time I joined them for their annual spring event. A nice group of stitchers. I stitched almost 2 trips in a couple of hours.
The last trips were finished during the following weekend’s Stitch-in with my ANG Main Line Stitchers chapter and later during some March Madness basketball games. This border was like a game with 2 overtimes! It took over a dozen trips – around and around. When I was almost halfway done, I wasn’t thrilled (or maybe just not excited about going around that many more times). Then, once I passed the halfway point, it really started to pop. It’s now my favorite border!
One border, one leaf, and beads left to go.
The ANG Central Jersey Chapter (CJC) had to change the Autumn 3-Ways Workshop with Toni Gerdes to an online class and I picked up the kit on November 19. It teaches fabric applique and needle felting. I love the matching needle minder.
Well, I didn’t want to ruin my iron again. So, I took everything with me to my November Main Line Stitchers chapter Stitch-in. I had the leaf outline cut out, the leaf window, and felt cut ready to go. The fusible web went on the felt (pressed not ironed onto place on the canvas) and then on the fabric (pressed onto the felt). Linda assisted me in the process and the applique turned out great and the iron is fine. Thanks Linda for your help and to Toni for easy to follow instructions.
The buttonhole stitches were easy enough! The stems and veins go in after the 3 leaves are done.
The needle felting leaf could have been done next or later. So, I worked on the stitched leaf instead. Got part of that leaf done and then needed something easy to stitch and worked on the borders for several stitching occasions away from home.
The class notes and 2 videos that were sent out in advance of our first Zoom class which is Thursday Feb 9 at 7 pm have been watched and read. While I would have enjoyed seeing Toni in person, her instructions are excellent and I am enjoying the piece.
Filed under: ANG Central Jersey Chapter, Autumn 3-Ways with Toni Gerdes, Ginkgo Leaves, Other People's Designs
Since the CJC-sponsored Autumn 3-Ways class with Toni Gerdes was cancelled due to Toni’s plane cancellation last month, I visited the chapter at their November meeting to pick up the kit. Since class had already been postponed a year due to covid, it will be on 2 or 3 Zoom sessions for questions. Toni’s directions are good and we’ll be getting lecture notes too. It would have been nice to have a 2-day in person class but this will work out fine.
Toni’s kit has a line drawn canvas, 2 needle felting needles, foam, felt, lovely fall colored threads, teeny tiny beads (Delica Suze 15). I don’t recall ever using Sparkle! Braid or Soy Luster and know I haven’t used Painters Threads. I love trying out new threads. Oh boy, Fusible Web is included! I hope my iron survives this. We had over a dozen different fabrics to choose from. All were lovely but I selected the original used in Toni’s design. Considering this design has been out at least since 2014 (copyright date), it’s amazing that she still has swatches of the original fabric. I love the needleminder she included which is the same as the design! So cool.
The chapter will be stitching Festive Fireworks from the July 2017 issue of Needle Pointers magazine (https://melitastitches4fun.com/?s=Festive&submit=Search) in June/July 2023. So, I took my framed piece to show them. At least one person discussed changing the colors to a Mardi Gras theme. Sounds intriguing.
I also took the 5 colorways of Crescent Journey, the 2023 ANG Stitch of the Month. The materials list and guidance for selecting threads will have to wait until January (probably the 3rd due to the holiday). They and I will be visiting ANG PA’s Keystone Garden in December and NJNA in January. Thanks so much to Linda, Lisa, and Kristen for allowing me to hold onto their stitched pieces for a local tour! They were a big hit and I discussed the lessons learned about looking at values as much as colors. The Neutral seemed to be the most popular. Beach at Night got alot of discussion because it looks so lacy but stitching on black was a concern.
While many of the CJC members worked on their month’s project, I basketweaved the background of Ginkgo Leaves, a Lee canvas. I will probably stitch on this again at my ANG Main Line Stitchers chapter Stitch-in on Saturday.
Melitastitches4fun's Blog 