Filed under: ANG Keystone Garden Chapter, Christmas Ornaments, Melita's Other Completed Pieces, Other People's Designs, Santacicle, Snow Globe Santa, Triangle Santa Ornament by Peg Dunayer
This Snow Globe Santa by Janet Casey Ziegler was stitched by Linda from my ANG Main Line Stitchers chapter. I was thrilled when she gave it to me last Christmas but I forgot to place it on my blog. So, here it is for posting this Christmas!
And, I was just as happy to get a Christmas Basket this year from Linda. Yes, she’s also a beautiful sewer.
I did make pillowcases for a charity, Ryan’s Cases for Smiles, earlier this year. Linda helped me with them too because it had been 40 years since I’d used a sewing machine. The two we made are in the upper left corner of the picture. Then, I made 2 more at our Community Day at work using a regular machine and a surger. It was fun. One of the women in my group enjoyed the event so much that she is getting a sewing machine for Christmas. Linda kept her eyes open for sales & found a great deal from Steve’s in King of Prussia, the Anna model, half off for just $200 and a great machine for a beginner. It almost makes me want to take up sewing!!
But, I have tons of needlepoint projects started and ideas of my own that I want to work on and 3 big events with classes coming in 2017. Linda and I are both attending Blue Bonnet for Toni Gerdes’ classes Fire & Ice and Bronze Purse in February and Nashville Needleworks in April with Laura Taylor for Embracing Horses. Then, I will take a 4-day canvas embellishment class at ANG Seminar in Anaheim with Cynthia Thomas after taking her Creating Diagrams and Stitch Guides using Microsoft Office class. I didn’t forget about my husband, Bill. We’re extending each trip to take in local sites. And, we have a non-needlepoint train trip across Canada planned for July-August (actually, I will stitch but no classes). We’ll be married 30 years in Oct 2017 – lots of fun times ahead!
Finally, the proper weather to get back to stitching Patti Mann’s Nov Mums (9110) which I got at Rita’s Needlepoint over the summer. The stitch guide is from Betsy at Fireside Stitchery. She had that ready after I got back from seminar. Working on the background (a mosaic darning pattern) today.
I am reading Wicked by Gregor Maguire. And, I find a reference to trapunto! While I haven’t done any, I do know the term.
According to wiki, Trapunto is Italian for “to quilt,” ans a method of quilting that is also called “stuffed technique.” A puffy, decorative feature, trapunto utilizes at least two layers, the underside of which is slit and padded, producing a raised surface on the quilt.
Glinda approached slowly, either through age or shyness, or because her ridiculous gown weighed so much that it was hard for her to get up enough steam to stride. She looked like a huge Glindaberry bush, was all the Witch could think; under that skirt there must be a bustle the size of the dome of Saint Florix. There were sequins and furbelows and a sort of History of Oz, it seemed, stitched in trapunto in six or seven ovoid panels all around the skirting.
I had to look up furbelows. I found out that means a pleated or gathered piece of material like a ruffle.
This example of trapunto (brown puffy areas) is from Sandy Arthur’s Gated Secrets, an ANG Correspondence Course.
Filed under: Christmas Ornaments
This is called “Poinsettia Ornament” and is a companion to another ornament called A Hilton Holiday also designed by DebBee’s Designs.
When it comes back from the finisher, I’ll post both together.
Filed under: Grandma's Heart
Grandma’s Heart is for Rose (a dear friend) to give to her granddaughter. Isn’t it adorable?
It’s Paragon Needle craft counted cross stitch kit from 1986. It’s on 14 count Aida, used DMC cotton floss, and is 5″ X 9″.
The larger flexible hoop with the wood grain finish looked a lot nicer than the wooden hoop surrounded by lace would have looked.
By ordering earlier and having my husband put them away, I had totally forgotten about the first two needlepoint gifts shown below.
This is a Mindy canvas called Hearts in Heart.
I’m sure that I’ll learn a lot from this color tool.
And, I’m finally getting a subscription to this magazine. I resisted for years because I didn’t want to be tempted by more projects. But, it’s fun to read anyway!
The kit was given to me as a thank you gift from Michele Roberts (her design was to read “stitch on”) & I continued the thank you by stitching it for Roya (coworker) who gave me the Queen’s canvas. Roya has family in the UK & she knits (easily switched). So, this seemed perfect. And, she liked it!
The frame is from Michael’s.
Thanks to Jury Duty today, I finished the red background on the coin purse! It feels great to be stitching again. But, it is back to reality tomorrow. If I worked 24/7 for a week on various obligations (work & non-work), I might get caught up. However, I will make sure I get some stitching in every day – I’m not going 3 weeks without that relaxation again!
I will have to get this lined. It makes a great project to throw in my purse & stitch without much concentration. I still have the larger matching clutch to work on.
I am using Hyla’s High Cotton thread for the Stitch N’ Zip purse and card case set. I am not separating the threads using the thread as it comes (all 5 threads). I am quite sure I’ll have to line the inside (or get someone to line it).
As you can see, only the white & black parts gone done over our recent 10-day cruise. There was a group of quilters working in a conference room who got a lot done but I wanted to sit outside & it was a tad to breezy – so, I did some stitching but I finally finished a book that I’ve been trying to read.
While in San Juan, we stopped at El Convento for dinner (converted convent into restaurant and hotel) & I saw the only piece of needlepoint on the trip! Interestingly, the wreck of Columbus’s Santa Maria is off the first island we stopped at which was Haiti. So, this was a rather appropriate design for the trip. I enjoyed our BOSS Underwater Adventure (google it!) while at St Thomas which made this stop one of the best. St. Maarten was interesting because they have a Dutch and French side of the country. No needlepoint stores on any island but lots of souvenir and jewelry stores! Here is the large wall tapestry hanging in El Convento in San Juan.
In Old Town Needlework, the third and final store of the day, I spent most of my time selecting Vineyard Merino threads for Bargello Techniques (which will be the subject of another blog). But, I found this counted cross-stitch design of Monument Valley from Doherty Designs which is on the Arizona-Utah border. It was like the scenes and colors we saw in Sedona.
For $5, I had to get it. They had Aida cloth and DMC threads in the kit for $24 – pays to have stash! There are only 12 colors. The colors were so vibrant in person – I may try to stitch one my photos. There is a magnet sitting in the middle of the booklet in the photo. I was impressed with the Grand Canyon when we saw that a few years ago & this is just as or more impressive of an area.
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