It’s snowing here today and across a large part of the US according to the news. Luckily, we can stay indoors – no appointments ot plans this week except for a friend’s birthday dinner on Thursday. Fingers crossed we’ll make it there. In the meantime, football, TV, reading, and needlepoint will keep me happily occupied. In honor of our snow . . .
Here I used a wintery fabric with white, silver, and gold snowflakes for this Christmas Ball. I centered a large white snowflake on the back.
Working on a smaller piece isn’t easier! The ornament wasn’t exactly round to start with. I’d basketweaved aound the outer edge and had already stitched the outer gold ring thinking the cording would cover any irregularities but the cording is thin. One pucker is showing. I do like the loop which was stitched through the basketweave. I like the basketweave showing around the edge. But, the edges are a tad wavy. Overall, this one is ok but not as good as others. From the front, to most people, it’ll look just fine!
Stay safe all and hope you enjoy some time for stitching.
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!
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!
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