At ANG’s 2025 Seminar in New Orleans, the local ANG Streetcar chapter had a table with a partially stitched Dorothy Lesher piece and this ornament. Because the canvas is marked CB6, I know the proper orientation but still not the designer. Any ideas?
Since it is a small 2.5″ round, I am following the 1-3-5 rule which I learned from Mary Shipp and have heard Ellen Johnson of Serendipity discuss as well. I selected one stitch (Nobuko), three thread types (polyester blends, metallic, and silk/wool bends), and 5 colors (red, blue, green, gold, and white). Specifically, a red Silk Lame Braid for 18 count SL08, a blue Entice E212, a green Impressions 5081, and a white Impressions 0057 (all in my stash).
I knew I wanted to switch directions on the Nobuko for the left and right sides but couldn’t decide on what to do in the middle. So, I decided to use an Upright Nobuko. I started with over 1, over 3, alternating and realized that was an upright Mosaic. So, I went to my books and found this unnamed straight stitch in Desert Island Stitches Volume 1, page 55. Perfect. I have dubbed it the Upright Nobuko Variation.
The areas are small and having to leave the gold grid open made maintaining the pattern a little tricky but doable.
The gold thread used to outline the shapes is from some kit in a baggie that’s labeled Color Twist Dark Gold. The finisher (me) prefers an outer border of basketweave. I used Kreinik #8 Braid 002J. It’s looser but should make finishing easier. The outer circle of cord is couched into place with one strand of Kreinik Japan Thread 002J.
I see a couple places that could use a stitch along the edge. Then, off to the finisher!
There were 9 bags of montees, pears, seed beads, rocailles, and bicones in the Nautilus kit by Kay Stanis. This didn’t get done in one sitting because working with 2 strands of invisible thread (supplied by Kay) was not easy either. This took alot of beads!
Kay doesn’t say what brand of invisible thread she supplied but it knotted up several times (maybe because it was wound up on a small metal spool) and I needed mine for one last area. I am done and thrilled with it. The clear seed beads allow the underlying aqua to show through just enough. And, I really like how it becomes more aqua near the top.
Here you can see the depth better.
There are still beads leftover. They would make a lovely name tag! I have plenty of alphabet books. For now, I will enjoy my last finish of 2025 and completing Goal #20.
By the time I got to this point, I could see the light at the end of the tunnel.
Once I filled in along the top right, I went back and added pink and darker aqua highlights. Then, the outline of the large swirl was accomplished using La Lame #14 Braid Rainbow to nicely pick up the various colors in a sparkly metallic thread.
On to the jewel embellishment phase with lots of beads!!
Filed under: ANG Central Jersey Chapter, ANG Seminar 2025, Christmas Ball Canvas
The ANG Streetcar Chapter had at table at Expo this summer and I picked up this little ornament. It’s marked CB6 (maybe CBK Needlepoint Collections). I have to work ‘in the well’ because the canvas measures 4.5″x5″. I could lace it to larger size bars but this should be fine.
Needing a small piece to work on at the ANG Central Jersey Chapter meeting on Saturday, I pulled threads from my stash including 2 sparkly threads and 2 non-sparkly threads for contrast. I’ll pull a gold for outling later.
Then, I went to my Sandy Arthur book for a parallelogram stitch that would work. Most were for larger areas but Nobuko should work in all the areas and will compensate easily.
Looks like a good project for Saturday!
Here’s an update on Nautilus by Kay Stanis.
Thanks to Mary Corbet’s post on handling silk threads, I can say using a larger eye needle to open the holes is helping alot. Also, even though my hands didn’t feel rough, Gloves in a Bottle helps too. I’ve had this bottle almost 10 years. I haven’t used it much because my hands aren’t a problem, generally! Just like my spool of invisible thread, this bottle will last my lifetime. I got it at Stitch by Stitch in Cape May, NJ in April 2016.
The other strategies that I am employing are starting in the smallest areas to see visible progress, using 2 strands to cover more, and staying with Trebizond (not using Silk Serica). After cutting 2 lengths of white and 2 lengths of light Turquoise Trebizond, I separate and iron them. That gives me 6 strands of each color. Once I finish stitching them using 2 strands, I have to take a break. It helps. Some.
It’s time for a break!
The ironweed flowers were fun to put in. And, as I was adding the green leaves, I noticed that I had missed 2 pods and one whole ironweed flower. I wasn’t and am still not sure if I have enough leaves but I ran out of the 7 mm green fill in ribbon. So, I am done!
Deborah Mitek really explored the Japanese Ribbon Stitch in this piece.
I’ll have to make a trip to the framer soon. Since I’ve been doing my own finishing lately including 4 framed pieces, he might not remember me!
Well, the next part of Nautilus by Kay Stanis involves more separating of Trebizond or Silk Serica. I like using stranded Silk Serica less than Trebizond and I didn’t think that would be possible.
Generally, I try to find something positive to blog about. As a kid, I remember being told, “If you can’t say something nice, don’t say anything at all.” But, I have to warn you not to strand especially when it involves this much silk thread. I had to stitch all the spirals first and will fill in the chamber with 1 or 2 strands in the Outline Stitch battling snags. None have been worse than this one but all are annoying. I’m not using too long lengths either.
The only positive is that the final piece will be lovely if I can ever fill in the chamber. It feels like I’ll be doing this for days. Two strands cover more but snags more too. I really want to get this stitched in 2025. Fingers crossed!
I have to give it a break to give me time to forget how much I dislike stitching with this thread.
I felt the urge to go for a Walk in the Woods. This is a Deborah Mitek design from ANG Seminar in New Orleans this summer.
The leaves on wooded stems included a variety of ribbon stitches with a few different overdyed green ribbons. The seed pods were tricky and are probably slightly different from Deborah’s but they are fine!
The ironweed flowers are next and I am excited about that!
I decided to work on Walk in the Woods by Deborah Mitek for a bit. It was the first of the three ANG Seminar classes I took in New Orleans.
It’s on Congress Cloth and has a photo transfer that we’re embellishing. Not everything gets covered. Her husband took the photo of ironwood a few years ago.
Her kits are so organized and clearly marked. We got plenty of needles. Partial skeins help keep kit costs down. That takes some time but makes following her instructions even easier!
Deborah has excellent instructions and I started at the beginning by finishing the border and the background fern-like grasses and wooded stems.
Now that I’ve added the stems of the ironweed and seed pods, I can tackle the ribbonwork!
There is so much going on that you can barely see where it is stitched in the photos. It’s visible up close and under my light. The ribbons will pop.
Filed under: ANG Seminar 2025, Nights in White Satin by Jennifer Riefenberg
Nights in White Satin by Jennifer Riefenberg was fun to stitch although several areas had some tricky compensation to work out. The soft pale blues with neutral colors is very calming. That completes Goal 21.
Both Howard L and I shared out finished pieces at the San Bernadino Chapter’s Show & Tell this month.
There are 8 goals left for 2025 and it’s looking like a few will carry over to next year which is OK especially because I did some other pieces throughout the year.
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