Filed under: ANG Main Line Stitchers Chapter, Or Nué Star Lily with Brenda Kocher
Please join Main Line Stitchers on Saturday May 18, 2013 from 9:30 am to 4:30 pm for:
Or Nué Star Lily with Brenda Kocher
Brenda Kocher is a needlepoint designer and teacher (http://www.brendakocherdesigns.net/). Brenda participated in The Hand Dyed Fibers Needlework Exhibit in June 2011, showed new designs in The Online Needlework Show in April 2012, and is exhibiting through February at Half Moon Handwerks.
You’ll find that Or Nué can be quite addictive and is a wonderful way to use your stash of threads. The Star Lily is a quilt pattern with beautiful splashes of color. Gold threads are covered with couching threads which create the design (2” x 2”).
Proficiency Level: Beginner/Intermediate Skill Level; Pre-stitching Required: None
Guild Membership: Not required to be a member of ANG or the ANG Main Line Chapter
Class Fee/Details: Class cost is $70 which includes the instructions, threads, and 18-count canvas (choice of black or white) and covers the cost of the room, the teaching fee, and travel expenses. This is non-refundable unless the class is cancelled. If you can’t attend, you will still get your kit (a $25 value) or you may find your own substitute to take your place in the class.
Please note: Once 14 students enroll, the cost will drop to $60. And, if we reach the maximum class size of 20 students, the cost will be $50. You will get a cash refund at the class. This is on a first-come-first-serve basis. So, register now to learn this technique!
Register Now: Please give me your phone number, email address, and indicate whether you want a black or white canvas. The model is stitched on black but white will be easier to work on.
Make your check out to Melita Glavin and mail it to: 4331 I Street, Philadelphia, PA 19124.
Please note: Students must supply their own stretcher bars (6” x 6”), regular stitching supplies, and lighting if desired. A stand or frame weight will help keep your hands free. You’ll be using several needles threaded in different colors that you will park on the sides of the canvas when you aren’t using them. So, magnets may be good to have too. You should bring a bag lunch. Iced tea (regular and diet) will be provided.
Location: St. Luke’s Lutheran Church. GPS: 203 North Valley Forge Road, Devon, PA; Free parking
Questions: Please contact Melita Glavin at glav257@yahoo.com
On behalf of ANG MLS Board, we look forward to seeing you in May!
The Central PA Gathering of Fiber and Needlework Guilds in Harrisburg, PA was quite an event with 14 participating guilds (see http://www.gatheringofguilds.com/). It was such an interesting variety of crafts. There were talks going on all day and workshops offered.
I had the pleasure of meeting a couple of ANG members, Maddy who taught the ornament class and Carol from the Apple Needlepointers Chapter of ANG. It was interesting to participate in a class for people who just want to try needlepoint in a brief 1&1/2 hour class. She did a nice simple project that worked up quickly although it couldn’t be done in the short time we had. But, everyone was far enough along to take it with us and finish at home (seen below). I went rogue though and padded the area under the brown basket! Actually, that was begun by accident once I exceeded the stitch area making it uniquely my own. And, I added a reinforcing Nun’s finishing stitch (learned from the Ornament Quartet piece) before adding the outside border. There was no way I was getting out the iron to use the backing she provided so I used felt with an adhesive side. Done!
I also had a nice chat with Carol at their table and look forward to seeing her and hopefully a couple of more members again for an upcoming September class (subject of a future blog). Big surprise – I found a book that for $1 I couldn’t pass up on 4-way Bargello (like the last bookend I finished).
I was particularly interested in the straw artist, Linda Beiler (www.wheatweavingand straw art.com). Her work is just beautiful. Her 1-page bio that she hands out with each piece of her work describes the history of the art form, pays homage to the woman who introduced her to the craft, and shares that she has published a book on the topic. There is an international Wheat Weavers Association and she is a member of several state and local guilds/councils of arts/crafts.
Filed under: ANG Main Line Stitchers Chapter, General comments | Tags: needlework
Something different today for my 300th posting since I started blogging. I came across a website with various needlepoint quotes (http://www.quotegarden.com/needlework.html) that I want to share.
The reason I went looking for quotes was to find one to use in thank you notes that I am preparing for an upcoming class our ANG Mainline chapter is offering. More on the class in a future blog.
I think of one of our members, Patrick, when I substitute wife for husband because he says he is constantly losing needles (I have had my fair share go missing despite trying to use magnet holders):
My husband is a human pincushion. ~Author Unknown
Most of us can relate to this one (I have a 5&1/2′ x 3′ cabinet, 4 files drawers (20″ deep x 15″ wide), 10-12′ of books on shelves), and still have a couple free-standing bags of projects):
Sewing fills my days, not to mention the living room, bedroom, and closets. ~Author Unknown
As you can see, I agree with this quote:
Sewing: A creative mess is better than tidy idleness. ~Author Unknown
And, who doesn’t agree:
Any day spent sewing, is a good day. ~Author Unknown
When you have time, read more on the website for some wonderful quotes. Which one makes you smile?
This is so exciting! I couldn’t say anything until now but I am published! What I didn’t know was that it would be on the cover of Needle Pointers!! I worked with Pam G. who took my hand drawings and turned them into beautiful diagrams. And, she really helped with describing how to execute the stitches from what I had provided. So, I hope you can stitch it without a problem. But, if you do have questions, I’ll be here to help. I just can’t get over how wonderful it turned out.
March 2013, Volume XLI, Number 2
Filed under: Queen's Silhouette
At the start of the year, I displayed many of my active projects. And, the one the most excites me is the newest canvas of the bunch! It is the Queen’s Silhouette from Tapisserie in London, England that was a gift from a coworker.
The store was kind enough to email me the PDF of the stitched model. They deviated from the painted canvas using beads for the crown. I love the Royal Blue background and powder blue profile. Since I didn’t have the same beads, I am modifying the crown to fit what I got at Fire Mountain Gems:
- 6mm Crystal Swarovski Elements Crystal Square Mini Beads
- 8mm Crystal Swarovski Elements Crystal Round Mini Beads
- 6mm Crystal Swarovski Elements Crystal Round Mini Beads
- 2mm Crystal Swarovski Elements Crystal Round Beads
I worked up a drawing and then stitched a model with the wrong color beads that I ordered, but I will use them for something else eventually. I still have a few changes to what I stitched below.
And, I wanted to use the Queen’s Stitch or Rocco using the method described in A Pageant of Pattern for Needlepoint Canvas by Sherlee Lantz with diagrams by Maggie Lane. It is unconventional & I spent an evening learning and practicing it just to decide that I didn’t like how it would look in this piece. The angle is not matching the angle of the crown. So, I will use some other background stitch. And, I am going to do the EIIR differently but will have to graph it & practice with beads and threads before I place it on the actual canvas. But, I am stitching the powder blue portion now.
When I was organizing my NeedlePointer’s magazines, I couldn’t resist thumbing through them and I found Jean Hilton’s Diamond Bargello design. It is in the April/May 1996, volume XXIV, No. 3 issue.
I modified the design to fit the 4″ x 4″ space for this set of bookends. It was originally an 8″ x 12″ design. What I especially liked about the design for the bookends was how the motion of the pattern pushes the books together.
Speaking of books, I used A Pageant of Pattern for Needlepoint Canvas by Sherlee Lantz with diagrams by Maggie Lane to showcase the bookends. I am surprised by the variety of prices for this book on various sites. It ranges from $10 to $288 (I got mine used for $4). I do like the diagrams but what I really like are the historical notes associated with some of the patterns. Most are adapted or re-interpreted from photographed needlework but some stitch patterns are invented by the author and she clearly notes this distinction.
Filed under: General comments
Just google ‘February national embroidery month’ and see what you find! There is a beautiful piece displayed on http://smithsonianlibraries.si.edu/smithsonianlibraries/2010/02/february-is-national-embroidery-month.html
Join us on February 11, we’ll be “Talking Color” as we begin Color Effects by Joni Stevenson, from the 2011 ANG Chapter Project Book (http://www.needlepoint.org/CPB/images/Color-Effects.jpg). Then, bring the stash you selected and a canvas on March 11 for “Playing with Paint”. You will paint a canvas as we continue with Color Effects. We’ll supply the paint and brushes. Cover or provide accents to your canvas to enhance your stitched piece!
All meetings will be held at St. Luke’s Lutheran Church, on the second Monday of the month at 7:15 pm. GPS: 203 North Valley Forge Road, Devon, PA
MainLineStitchersChapter@needlepoint.org
The last of the quartet ornaments is finished.
I used the same threads as before but back to using 2 strands of Pebbly Perle (P66) because now that is running low. Stayed with 2 strands of DMC Perle #8 (3071) because I had plenty of that left (and still do). And, I did go back to the solid light purple Kreinik #8 braid Color 023. This will also be for a set of bookends.
Another particularly good tip for me from CyberPointer’s Chris L for the double upright crosses was to do the full pattern before attempting the outside edges. That allowed me to get the hang of crossing in the proper direction before doing the partial crosses which are required as part of compensating. I have tended to think that compensating should not be necessary if the design is layed out purposefully. But, as I stitched this, I decided that it can serve as a border while maintaining the continuity of the design. And, in a sense, it makes the piece expand beyond the edge. How do you feel about compensating stitches around the edge?
I have one more set of bookends to make for a gift. Now, I have to pick different threads because the Pebbly Perle and Kreinik stash is depleted and because I want to work with something else! And, I need to find a pattern.
Another of the quartet, the Bargello Ornament, reached completion and worked up quicker than the first two. I stayed with the same threads but used them differently. I didn’t unstrand the Pebbly Perle (P66). I thought it would like nice to be round and match the roundness of the Kreinik thread (271). Now, I am almost out of that Kreinik, the one with the slight green and purple coloring. So, if the last ornament calls for Kreinik, I’ll have to use the solid color again. And, I ran out of DMC floss 3041, the contrasting purple color floss. But, I had plenty of the DMC Perle #8. So, I used that for the border and corner motif. Looks great. I have since replenished that floss.
I am so glad to have Chris L. from CyberPointers’s notes – her tip about following the chart carefully where you turn the corners on the border was fantastic. You get into the rhythm of going over 4 threads and can easily miss that it is over 3. I did much less restitching than I likely would have without the tip!
Melitastitches4fun's Blog 
