Melitastitches4fun's Blog

EGA Brandywine Guild, Cross Stitch and Beyond by JoAnne Westerhaus, Stitched and Finished into a Thread Bed

I’d picked up Cross Stitch and Beyond by JoAnne Westerhaus (with some additional rows) off and on over the last couple of months.

EGA Brandywine Guild held our Quarterly meeting last Wednesday and I stitched rows 9 and 10 there and finished it during the baseball playoff games. I have stitched the Montenegrin stitch (row 13) before but have done it differently.

Then, I finished it into a thread bed. That is a place to lay to rest some working threads until you need them again while working on a project. Patrick made his into a thread bed and it looked like a great idea and useful.

I make up my finishing as I go and use what supplies I have on hand. This is just for me!

I didn’t want anything too thick. This peel and stick backing is super thin and been in my stash for years! I cut one large piece and had a strip left over that fit perfectly on the end. And, I added an edge of double sided foam tap that’s also been in my stash for years.

The Congress Cloth folded over and came together in the center. It was meant to be!

I trimmed, folded, and glued the ends in place with Aleen’s Super Fabric Adhesive.

I used this double stick fusible web (the last one in the package).

I cut the fusible web and felt to size and attached white Command Strips rather than Velcro because my Velcro squares were black. I wanted white and these link together really nicely whereas Velcro rips the one side apart. So, I’m glad I used what was available.

Is it possible the fusible interfacing is old and not working well? Also, I was not happy with the puckering in the fold area. Any recommendations for next time on how to not to get any puckering?

I sewed around the edge using Coats and Clark Quilting & Piecing 35 wt thread. While I was at it, I tacked the Command Strips in place using a really sharp leather needle and a thimble being very careful not to jab myself. It’s much better now.

Here are a couple of threads ready for bed. You can leave needles threaded because the lining is felt (not craft felt which isn’t good for needles).

Now they are tucked away for bedtime!

EGA Brandywine Guild, Cross Stitch and Beyond by JoAnne Westerhaus

The EGA Mid-Atlantic Region hosted JoAnne Westerhaus at Camp Wannastitch in January 2024 for a Take Home Project (THaP) class. THaP classes are open to the member who will be taking the project back to the chapter as a program. It’s supposed to be inexpensive and easy to teach. And, it allows someone an opportunity to try their hand at teaching.

Sue from my EGA Brandywine Guild attended the Camp Wannastitch class and taught it in March 2025 to Brandywine members. I was away, but Patrick picked up the instructions for me. I decided to use the leftover variegated Heather skeins from other designs from Beautiful Stitches/Ann-Marie Anderson-Mayes. I’ll probably still have a full skein leftover and the solid colors.

JoAnne suggests it can be a needle book, coaster, sampler, or bookmark. I will make it a little differently at 4″ x 4″ when folded rather than 3.5″ x 5″. I’ll add 2 rows to make it longer. To make it wider, I made sure it was divisible by 4. I’m using eggshell Congress Cloth.

I basted along the left side because there needs to be 4 empty rows between each stitched row to reach 4″ x 4″.

The top row is a slanted cross that I can not recall seeing before. The diagonal stitch goes in first and then the upright stitches. About twice as much thread gets used on the upright stitches, so the color shift is quicker.

This was not one of my goals for the year. So, it’ll take a back seat and is good for travel. I stitched one band just to have it ready.

The second band was stitched during a Zoom talk given about making technology work for you as you age such as using Uber, setting reminders to get up and move, grocery/meal delivery services, and alert service if you fall in your home.

The next two bands were both the same and stitched Saturday with ANG Central Jersey Chapter at their May meeting after I demonstrated finishing for a round coaster. For Band 3, I went left to right and right to left with the same thread so the colors do not align as they do in Band 4. I started both trips across Band 4 on the left and started with the color matched other end of the thread. Remember that these skeins are symmetrically dyed. You know how much I love symmetry!! So, both bands are the same stitch but both bands looks different.

I got through some of Band 5 during the business portion of my last EGA Brandywine Guild Quarterly Meeting and finished it later that night.

It’s now August and I joined ANG CJC yesterday for the day to stitch on Band 6. I needed to pick up the kit for Winter Lights by Jennifer Riefenberg who is having 2 Zoom sessions in September. CJC is making it difficult to not add more projects to my list! They have a dozen projects with interest sign up sheets. I’ve already stitched one and do like a couple of the others but I resisted (for now).