Filed under: Melita's Pinsation's Designs
I placed a photo of this piece on the front of my Christmas cards for 2007. I drew out the design with the pin in mind so that the figures would look like part of the scene. It is another Pinsations original design & stitch selection. The pin can be removed, worn, & replaced. It is a pin that I’ve had since I was a kid.
I used the Jacquard stitch for the night sky using a black Snow thread & a Kreinik. The ground snow was Nobuko using a white Snow thread. The trees are just random straight stitches using boucle thread. The 2 trees on the right have been decorated with Bullions. And, trees are topped with a simple star in a thin Kreinik. Stitches are from Stitches for Effect by Suzanne Howren & Beth Robertson. It’s not large (5&1/2″ x 4″).
Filed under: Christmas Card, Melita's Adaptations, Melita's Pinsation's Designs
This is a Pinsations adaptation of a design from a piece of bronze wall art with stitches I selected. The pin can be removed, worn, & replaced. I placed a photo of this on the front of my Christmas cards for 2006. I had to tell people it was stitched by me – they didn’t realize that! Then, I framed it & gave the piece to my sister, Anita, as a Christmas gift in 2007.
This was my inspiration – a piece of bronze wall art clipped from a catalogue.
My sketch:
I used gold Kreinik & mostly straight stitches but also Lazy Daisy stitch for flowers & a Vandyke stitch for the vase (both stitches are from Stitch Sampler by Lucinda Ganderton).
Filed under: Cypress Tree
I am intrigued by the cypress tree at Pebble Beach in CA. So, I bought a pair earrings and an etching when we visited the area a few years ago. And, the earrings became the inspiration for this piece, a “Pinsations” original design & stitch selection.
I didn’t actually “finish” this one – probably because I’d like to make the overall size larger & more round. I would also like to redo it though & improve on the sun. I think a different stitch would look better. But, I am very happy with the black rock stitch which is Bunger (from The Needlepoint Book by Jo Ippolito Christensen). The leaf stitch works well for the tree. And, the overdyed Watercolors is nice for the sky. The pin is perfect for the piece. I love it when stuff comes together like they were meant to – the earring, the pin, & the stitches. So far, this is one of my favorites.
Filed under: Vases
My last vase is a variation of my first 2 & is a “Pinsations” original design & stitch selection. I used a couple of chain stitch flowers to match the Pin. There are either French or Colonial Knots in the center of the 2 stitched flowers.
Filed under: Vases
This is also from my Vase series & is a “Pinsations” original design & stitch selection. As soon as I saw this Calla Lily pin, I knew I’d be doing the Arrow Amadeus stitch! As the vase was being stitched, it began to pucker or puff. I liked the effect & went with it by adding a small strip of bubble wrap to maintain an even effect. It adds to the roundness of the lines on the vase. It does seem, as I look at it hanging on my wall between 2 pictures, that I should have made the vase slightly smaller for the size of the pin/flowers. Otherwise, I really like this vase.
The background is the Ray stitch (a leaf stitch). The vase is done using straight stitches gradually climbing up & to the right with overdyed Waterlilies filled in with a white DMC Cotton Pearle #5 thread. Stitches are from The Needlepoint Book by Jo Ippolito Christensen.
Filed under: Vases
This is also from my Vase series & is a “Pinsations” original design & stitch selection. I used a bone china pin as in the other vase. It is shorter & fatter. I used the same stitches & threads (just different colors). I used a fork with the outer tines bent back and the inner ones bent forward. It make a great stand!
Filed under: Vases
This is from my Vase series & is a “Pinsations” original design & stitch selection. I got the idea for the vase from looking at a clear glass vase of flowers because I wanted something that would allow the stems to be seen.
This is the first time I put a pin on the piece & hadn’t yet had the idea that when you remove it a flower or something decorative would be seen. So, while the pin can be removed, worn, & replaced, it’s not a stand-alone piece.
The leaves are various leaf stitches. The background is Split Gobelin. The stem is Stem Stitch. I just came up with the idea of weaving the threads back & forth. I worked it out on paper. The threads are DMC Cotton Perle # 3 and/ #5 and 1 thread of DMC Metallic for some sparkle. This was probably before I found the wider selection of threads at Fireside Stitchery.
Books used:
- Stitch Sampler by Lucinda Ganderton
- The Needlepoint Book by Jo Ippolito Christensen
Filed under: Crosses
These crosses were made for a dear lady, Marty, who helped take care of my mother for several years and for my niece, Molly, for her First Holy Communion.
For these, I was playing with saturation (intensity) within a hue (color) (another learning applied from Mary Shipp). I added embellishment in the form of charm or pin. I used the Triangle stitch for center portion & a Plaited Gobelin from Stitches To Go by Suzanne Howren & Beth Robertson.
They were made into wall hangings on 14 count vinyl canvas with DMC Perle #5. The canvas is available from www.crafterspride.com (under Fabrics). I cut an identically shaped 2nd piece, stitched my name & date on it, placed poster board placed between the 2 pieces to be rigid enough to hang without framing, and tacked them together, with small stitches along all sides using a vinyl thread.
Filed under: Love in My Heart
Several folks asked about the stitches I used & if I could share them. I decided if I could find anything, I’d be happy to share. Do I know my piles? In just a few minutes, I found what little there is in the way of charts in one of my piles that got put into a box when we got new carpeting. My husband hates my piles but is a tolerant guy – he knows I want to keep this stuff! I didn’t write down much & you can see that I was counting holes not threads!!
Rhodes Heart (modified to fit my piece) & Sprat's Head Heart from "Stitches To Go" By Suzanne Howren & Beth Robertson
Overall pattern, partial stitches sketched in place
Filed under: Love in My Heart
When I started this project, I only had the frame that I had purchased for $5. So, I had to make the design fit the frame. I decided to play with a few stitches that would work themselves into small hearts. I usually work it out on paper by hand. I have no computer stitch program – so, I have a big eraser & make several drafts before I get started.
It is stitched on a plastic canvas & DMC Cotton Perle from AC Moore because at the time I wasn’t aware of any specialty thread shops.
It was fun finding different stitches that worked:
And, using different thread combinations for the same stitch:
I don’t recall what stitches they were & I wasn’t writing anything down at that point. Maybe the 2 above are a heart-shaped Rhodes? And the one below a heart-shaped waffle stitch?
Hope you are loving what your stitching!
And, many thanks and all my love goes out to my husband, Bill, for all his support!
Melitastitches4fun's Blog 
