Our ANG Main Line Chapter met tonight & I gave each of the board members a gift. The woman got a felt purse, good for carrying small needlepoint projects, that I purchased at the Philadelphia Flower Show. And, I made this change purse for our male member who, as Past President, is on our Board. This is the inside:
And, the outside is stitched with Needle Necessities Spring II (355) and Splendor Designer Collection Deft Blue (S858, S868, and S860) threads using the Swirl stitch from Stitches To Go by Suzanne Howren and Beth Robertson. I got the change purse a few years ago at Needle Me in Havertown, PA.
Filed under: ANG Main Line Stitchers Chapter, Christmas Ornaments, Christmas Trees, Melita's Other Completed Pieces
Our ANG Main Line Stitcher’s Christmas meeting is tomorrow night and I have been working steadily over the past few days in order to finish this for the meeting. I “stole” it last year because I thought it was beautiful and I love Christmas ornaments! I talked about this piece previously (https://melitastitches4fun.wordpress.com/2011/12/31/christmas-trees/). But, I found the tree pattern from Stitch Landscape by Little Shoppe Canvas Company for the middle tree (16) that I selected quite difficult and time-consuming. I think that is why I put off working on it for so long. So, I switched to tree pattern 13. And, I switched to slightly less bright white threads (Fuzzy Stuff FZ27 and Arctic Rays AR3). The grass was supposed to be grass pattern 4 but the top cross thread looked messy. So, I skipped that and added some white Fuzzy Stuff to add the effect of fallen snow. For the snow just below the trees at the top part of the grass, I layed Snow (00 White) by Caron and couched it with Fuzzy Snow. Then, I layed one thread of Fuzzy Stuff on top of the Snow and couched that with Fuzzy Stuff.
There is no way that I’ll pay extra for a rush to finish it so that it can hang on my tree for this year – but I finished stitching it! Thanks again Connie!! Happy Holidays. And, what will I “steal” tomorrow tonight???
The woman who made and sold these ornaments was only asking $1 for 3 of them! I gave her double that & still feel guilty. She should have gotten at least $2 for each! The embellishments were put on with a bit too much glue (I cleaned them up some). And, the continental/tent stitch is done slanting left to right instead of right to left. But, they are cute & are decorating my office at work!
I made several attempts to eyeball the placement of the 6 points of the star before I realized that I must have missed something in her directions. Back I went to Mary Corbet’s Needle ‘n Thread article on Stitch Play for Stars and Snowflakes (http://www.needlenthread.com/2012/07/stitch-play-petals-spokes-spacing.html
Am I glad I did. There is a website that graphs these points out based on your specifications (http://incompetech.com/graphpaper/polar/). Very helpful! Looking much better now! I have it plotted out on graph paper if anyone is interested. Happy Holidays!
What can you do with these supplies?
All I used were those 2 glues (one for fabric and another for metal), two paper clips, 2 earring hooks, and one 40″ thread of Vineyard Silk Shimmer (S-515, Toffee) to make these earrings:
I cannot take credit for the idea! One of the women from work shared the link with me (http://evie-s.com/news/2011/02/10/art-from-everyday-objects-paperclips-string/. Great way to use up your stash & make something unique, not expensive – just in time for holiday gift giving! They turned out nice.
I do know a lot of readers. It is just that these suede bookmarks were $30 and so they need to go to someone special! Normally, I would not have purchased them but my husband hit at the casino right before visiting Nimble Needle, shared his winnings with me, & so I splurged!! These are Anne Brinkley Ultrasuede Self Finishing Needlepoint Canvas Bookmarks.
Well, I know Bill gets the Shamrock and I am keeping the Fuchsia! And, I think 2 are going to my previous boss and my current boss – I will let them pick from the 4 remaining. That leaves 2 of these lovely bookmarks looking for a home! I am thinking of my shuffleboard partner who is a member of a book club and our friend in the Poconos.
They are well made & I used FABRI-TAC, a permanent adhesive, around the edges to finish them that I purchased a while ago at the recommendation from Rittenhouse Needlepoint’s finisher. That was one reason why I got the bookmarks – no further cost to finish them.
I did these using basketweave/tent stitch. And, got 4 done over the long ‘Sandy’ stormy weekend. They did work up quickly. Here are the threads I used:
Windmill: Splendor, Designer Collection, Delft Blue, SC6 card contains S800, S860, S868, S1001, S1143, S858
The CyberPointers Chapter of ANG, of which I am a member, came up with an idea to make houses stitched by members of the various Special Interest Groups. I belong to the Hilton SIG. Luckily, the project stalled & I finally had time to stitch the house I had designed when the project was first announced. So, I’d like to welcome you to The Helen Ashland House, composed of stitches from Needlepoint Stitches by Jean Hilton.
Supplies:
18-count canvas, ecru; 10 x 10 stretcher bars; #22 and #24 tapestry needles
| Thread/Color | Location | Stitch | Page Number* |
| ThreadworX – 11212 | Outline of house and door | Half Cross | 36 |
| Watercolours – 218 Ash | Body of house | Ashland Stitch | 36 |
| Wildflowers – 118 Opal | Space between outline of house | Smyrna | 36 |
| Wildflowers – 118 Opal | Area around large upstairs window | Smyrna | 36 |
| Wildflowers – 118 Opal | Windows in door | Small Jessica | 9 |
| Wildflowers – 118 Opal | Inner circle of upstairs window | Small Jessica | 9 |
| Wildflowers – 118 Opal | Door | Elongated Smyrna | 45 |
| Wildflowers – 118 Opal | Lunette, the half-moon space above door | Sprat’s Head, Flat Top | 55 |
| Vineyard Silk Shimmer – S-537 | Outer circle of upstairs window | Large Jessica | 9 |
| Watercolours – 251 Sunflower Seed | Trees | Offset Scotch | 38 |
| Watercolours – 228 Honeydew | Grass turf (bottom layer) | Tent Stitch | |
| ThreadworX – 10471 | Grass blades (top layer) | Wrapped Coils | 33 |
| Flair – F502 | White sheer window curtains | Straight Stitch | |
| River Silks 4 mm Ribbon – 237 Brown | Brown window drapes | Oval Jessica, 1 around only* | 9 |
| Pebbly Perle – P061 | Blue sky | Helen’s Lace | 22 |
| Watercolours – 256 Barely Blue | White clouds | Helen’s Lace | 22 |
* From Needlepoint Stitches by Jean Hilton; Some were modified to fit the available space.
** More familiarly known as the Crescent Stitch from Stimulating Stitches by Jean Hilton (page 9).
The 2 predominant stitches are Helen’s Lace for the cloudy sky & the Ashland Stitch for the body of the house. That Ashland stitch is tricky especially because I was using an overdyed thread & didn’t want it to get streaky. I would probably do the sky again in a more thread-blended fashion. But, I like the movement the pattern gives to the clouds.
Hopefully, everyone is safe, stays safe, and has something fun to stitch as we weather out Hurricane Sandy. I am working on the bookmarks for Christmas gifts. Who is going to get which one? Another stash project!
Filed under: Uncategorized
You may recall that a previous blog was about the process of pilot stitching for ANG (https://melitastitches4fun.wordpress.com/2011/10/08/pilot-stitcher/). Well, I finished that blog by saying, “My hats off to the folks who match people & courses – it must be quite a challenge!!” Little did I know that person was Christine, or know that she’d ask me to take on her role of Correspondence Course Chairman (CCC) one year later while at seminar in Philly, or that the role involved matching select courses with pilot stitchers. And, I must say that being CCC is a bit more involved than I’d expected. But, I decided to take it on because I’d gotten so much out of the 3 correspondence courses that I’d taken shortly after joining ANG (https://melitastitches4fun.wordpress.com/2010/01/27/my-first-ang-correspondence-course-first-steps-with-nanette-costa/ and https://melitastitches4fun.wordpress.com/2010/01/30/understanding-design-by-mary-shipp/ and https://melitastitches4fun.wordpress.com/2010/02/02/understanding-color-by-mary-shipp/). This year’s Seminar was certainly a whirlwind of activity!
So, I am certainly glad that I have had the experience to pilot a course now that I will be more involved…
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Filed under: Vintage Markers
More finds from mom’s attic. These are 12 permanent, waterproof markers but Eberhard Faber Inc., Crestwood, Wilkes-Barre, PA. Advertised to be used on needlepoint and crewel canvas. And, the set sold for $12. Amazing but the are not bone dry. They moved most of the operations from NYC area to Pennsylvania around 1956 and the Newark, NJ facility closed by 1963. They have been bought several times and are now part of the Paper Mate brand.
Interesting directions. I’m not sure applying one over top of the next would get such a great color.
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