Melitastitches4fun's Blog

Wow. Lesson 4 already done! Despite not being in person, I was very happy with my ANG 2020 Virtual Seminar class, Interchange, with Linda Reinmiller.

I like the balance that the band of Byzantine offered to the earlier band of Milanese. And, that Kreinik has both the green and blue making it very appealing band.

Bargello is always fun to stitch. I purposefully selected a portion of the overdyed Gloriana that went from green on the outside corner in to the pink to pull in the same colors used in the upper left area. This is probably the first time I laid 2 strands of Kreinik rather than using a heavier weight Kreinik. It tended to tangle easily.

It was interesting to stitch the Satin stitch with such a thin thread (#12) but it balances the lightly stitched orange area in the upper left area.

The pulled Satin isn’t particularly evident because the canvas holes don’t look bigger on either edge. Once I compared with an unpulled diagonal Satin (not shown here), I found a one millimeter difference in the over 2 canvas thread stitch. So, the pulled Satin is smaller producing a tighter stitch.

Then, we ended with the most familiar pulled technique that I have seen before, an eyelet. It’s such a pretty stitch but tough to end the thread because it is pulled so tightly.

This piece certainly has challenging issues with ending threads (except for the canvas stitches) and not having them show. Piercing was the method that worked best for me except for Kreinik where I had to bury it.

Thanks to Linda Reinmiller for making this class available in the virtual world, teaching beginning pulled work, and for answering my questions in the earlier lessons. I’m also fascinated by the use of colors repeated to create a cohesive design. It was fun to stitch with such bright colors especially that Gloriana! And, it’s not often that I finish a Seminar piece within a month of starting it! Yeah!!

Lesson 3 of my ANG 2020 Virtual Seminar class, Interchange with Linda Reinmiller began with a band of crescents. If you didn’t know how to do them, you sure would by the time you finished. As I did with the crescents in my Crescent Journey piece, I used a tuck stitch near the center in order to eliminate carrying threads below the canvas in open areas. And, I buried the threads in the center of already stitched crescents as I moved down each row.

The next band was much easier with upright cross stitches. Then, we learned pulled ring backstitch and pulled 3-sided. I had no idea there were so many variations of pulled work.

I don’t see much advantage in the pulled rings versus just stitching them. The only pulls making a difference are in the right small square areas running down the center. My hand is feeling it and need to take breaks occasionally.

The pulled 3-sided was definitely one pattern where pulled stitches create a good effect. Stitching each stitch twice (rather than doubling the thread) made cinching easy before stitching the next stitch. Also, each stitch was over 3 canvas threads not 4 as in a few previous bands.

Here’s Lesson 2 from my ANG 2020 Virtual Seminar class, Interchange, a band sampler with Linda Reinmiller. It’s great doing this in weekly lessons because I can definitely complete each lesson in that time frame.

After a band of Milanese, we learned Indian Drawn Ground Filling and Pulled Step Stitch with Smyrnas.

For Milanese, working with 2 needles can be tough until you get the hang of leaving the thread on the top of the canvas before completing the last stitch of each unit. If you stitch all one color first, you really have to count carefully. Why take that chance?

I am really happy that I used a long enough thread of the gorgeous Gloriana for the Indian Drawn Ground Filling for 2 reasons. The flow of the colors is smooth without interruption and goes across all the colors. And, in order to end the thread, I pierced the threads on the one edge so that they don’t show through. Starting with a second thread might be tougher to hide the thread.

The Pulled Step Stitch was interesting mostly because of the Smyrnas which filled apparent offset areas despite them being on the true diagonal. You can see this best in the close up photo.

Then, we finished Lesson 2 with Diagonal Long-armed Cross Stitch which took some counting to start but then was easy to keep going! I like it a lot mostly because it too progresses on the true diagonal but looks oblique.

My ANG 2020 Virtual Seminar class, Interchange, is with Linda Reinmiller. It is a band sampler and we’re doing it in 4 weekly lessons.

One of the main reasons for taking the class was to get an introduction to pulled work. And, we jumped right into it for Lesson 1. I am glad that I practiced on a waste canvas. Since this is 18 count canvas, it is stiff and tougher to pull than had it been on Congress Cloth. But, opening the holes with a larger needle (and stitching with it) made it easier. I’m not sure what the teacher would say but I also used Uncle Bill’s tweezers to pinch the canvas threads together! That worked great.

I photographed with a white board underneath to try and have the holes show better. There is pulled 4-sided on the far right orange band and pulled backstitch on the far left orange band. With the 4-sided pulled work what is more evident than the larger holes is the dark center where the black canvas threads have been pulled together. If I hadn’t pulled, some of the orange thread would have shown through from below the hole. So, pulled work can create open space and closed space.

There is a pull on the couching thread of the ribbons but it’s tough to see but it is pinching the ribbon tightly. And, that’s a variety of three Jessica shapes in between the ribbons.

I may choose to more basting (over 4 threads) later but I doubt it. These long threads should be fine. The gaps in the diagonal lines in the center area are just to keep them from being way to long.

If I had been doing the basting as pre-work to going to class in person, I probably would have basted as “suggested”. But, I just don’t like tedious basting. Linda Reinmiller does say, “Do whatever makes this easiest for you to follow.” And, this was easy. It counted out correctly all around the perimeter.

My ANG Seminar class with stitching involved is Interchange by Linda Reinmiller. These fun threads will be a diagonal band sampler. This will make the third and very different band sampler for me this year! Odd how that just happened but things do tend to occur in 3s.

The other 2 classes from Seminar are notebook classes. The Susan Hoekstra Teaching Needlework 101 held over 5 two-hour Zoom classes was excellent. And, I am not sure when Linda Reinmiller will hold her computer class on publishing needlepoint instructions.

The kit for Interchange arrived and class starts Monday. More threads!! The balls of threads except for one from DMC are all Finca by Presencia (#8, 12, and 16). I will ask Linda why she selected more Presencia over DMC but I haven’t tried them before and it is always good to try a new thread. And, such pretty colors that are just so bright and bold. Fun! By working on the black 18 count canvas, the colors will really pop.