Melitastitches4fun's Blog

I led a class on Wednesday for my EGA Brandywine Chapter Class in Or Nué Hearts by Brenda Kocher. The chapter paid for the canvas (black or ecru) and the threads. By kitting them myself, we split up skeins and saved money. I also bought two large pieces of canvas at Nimble Needle in NJ, cut it, and taped them myself also saving the chapter money. Karen, the owner of Nimble Needle NJ is the only store in our area that gives a 10% discount to ANG and EGA members. A nice perk in addition to an opportunity to chat with Karen!

Since 6″ and 7″ bars are tough to find and because people wanted to learn lacing, we did that first. I wrote up instructions after rereading instructions from Kay Stanis. Even small bars like these took time away from the project but everyone enjoyed learning the technique. It’s handy if you don’t have the proper size bars and if the canvas becomes loose, you can tighten the lacing. Here it is in process.

Rather than using Kreinik, I had everyone use Radiance 13 for the laid thread and we couched with Kreinik Japanese Silk Couching Thread. It went well – it took a couple of people two tries to get the hang of couching in the same hole but everyone was getting the hang of it. So, hopefully, there’ll be some finished pieces by our next meeting on July 14. Mine has been done so people could see it.

Since I had Brenda Kocher’s Lotus Blossom in my stash to do, I am getting started on that piece.