First, I want to thank Leticia at The Golden Thistle for donating my favorite needle threader. Somehow, it’s not in my travel tool tote! So, I really needed this.
Today, I started Heart of the Matter, a 3-day class with Wendy Moore. I haven’t taken a class with Wendy yet and this has some challenging stitches.
The kit is wonderful. Big! Two bags of thread – 37 different ones! That must be a record!! The red bag is for the first 2 days and the yellow bag for the third day. There are 3 completely new threads for me including Au Vera Soie metallic, Wonderfill Perle Cotton, and Wonderfill Dazzle (rayon). We got a glue stick for fraying threads such as Dazzle.
The needlecase Wendy gave us also has my favorite needle threader and plenty of needles. Wonderful.
Wendy provided empty thread cards for when we open a skein and have leftover threads. Amazing. It’s great that her husband helps her kit up doing a variety of tasks.
Part of coming to class is seeing what other things, tips, and tricks people have. Wendy tells us we’ll have alot of spaghetti. So, this set up from the woman behind me is clever and will help with spaghetti. I have 4 magnets in each corner.
The instruction booklet is 59 pages! At least it’s not double-sided.
Here’s my progress after Day 1. Actually looks like alot for one day.
I did clean up my 3 spaghetti strands before tomorrow’s class (didn’t bother to rephotograph).
I took a 1-day class with Kathy Rees, ROY G BIV to get her take on color theory. The threads are all ThreadworX Vineyard Silk. So, no need to lay threads! Nice since this is a 1-day class.
We got 2 canvases so we can stitch only in the primary colors (if desired) or any colorway. All the colors are getting used in the one we worked on today. I cleaned all the spaghetti threads before leaving class.
Along with other tidbits, we learned color gets the glory but value does the work! Can’t get too much information and stitch in 1 day but we have enough to go home and experiment.
There are some amazing pieces on display at this year’s ANG Exhibit. It’s always fun to see your own piece on display. And, even more fun to see a ribbon next to it. Shelly the Turtle was awarded a First Place ribbon in the Adaptation category. I am thrilled!
This was my inspirational photo.
The shell is a canvas applique of Congress Cloth placed onto 18-count canvas, the stems on the left are needle weaving over thread and wire, the growths on the rocks and frog are stumpwork both using wire. Here are better close-up photos.
My special packaging to protect the three dimensionality of the stitching was applauded by one of the woman unpacking the pieces. I’ll need because Shelly will be heading to Florida for EGA’s exhibit in October 2026 and Virginia for the Woodlawn exhibit in March 2027.
It got the Second Place Award and The Muse’s Kiss/Peggy Laflam Award for innovation or imagination at the National Academy of Needlearts Assembly in March (https://melitastitches4fun.com/2026/03/13/2026-national-academy-of-needlearts-nan-assembly/).
Filed under: ANG Seminar 2026
It’s begun. I picked up my Welcome bag and Tote Bag for the ANG 2026 Seminar in Denver, CO yesterday. I bought an extra magnet. There is a tape measure, book with post-it notes and tab markers, a cleaning cloth, and may be a gel pack that can be heated up in the microwave or cooled in the fridge for sore muscles (I haven’t verified this yet).
Attendance is at least 265 & more if everyone didn’t want their name listed. But, it wouldn’t have hit 300.
