Filed under: 2022 Christmas in Williamsburg, Needlepoint Shops, Needleworkers Delight
Michael’s usually has cute ornaments and this one caught my eye. It sat on my kitchen counter waiting for inspiration.
I had picked these designs up at Christmas in Williamsburg. Yesterday, I saw the ornament and remembered there were snowflakes in one of the four designs.
So, I selected the closest in size to my space and tent stitched the design, added some felt, and finished this ornament!
Filed under: 2022 Christmas in Williamsburg, Greystone Needlepoint, Needlepoint Shops, Needleworkers Delight
In the last post, you probably couldn’t see the partial sky I stitched using Silk Lame Petite SP02 White in the Colorful Forest (SS050) by Stitch Style Needlepoint. So, I ripped it out and restitched using a heavier overdyed sparkly light blue/white by ThreadworX (91015). Then, the snow fell into place.
I found this lovely piece of fabric for finishing this ornament (& hopefully others) at the Needleworkers Delight tables. They have an amazing collection of grounds of all kinds. I’m not sure anyone would stitch on this because it has so much pattern on it but it is perfect for my needs.
The fabric was fused to Skirtex (for stability) and the edge glued with Aileen’s glue. I folded back the edges of the canvas – no glue.
I placed 2 layers of felt behind the trees to fill in the space created. Another piece of fusible web went between the Skirtex and felt which only helped keep the 2 sides together as I sewed the cord into place using invisible thread.
A few final thoughts. A round shape is easier to finish than a heart. Additional stiffness from a piece or 2 of magazine board and additional layer(s) of felt would be good. If you puff up the front, then I suspect that you have to make the back slightly smaller so it isn’t bigger than the front because of the lift drawing it in and up. A piece stitched and finished in 10 days is a record! The overall ease of doing this one has encouraged me to tackle the rest of the ornaments. The rest? Yes, I have 4 Christmas ones and a seashell. ‘Tis the season and still early enough in December to accomplish this and enjoy them this year.
Filed under: Color Complements, Framed Sevens - Mar/Apr 2022, Needlepoint Now Magazine, Threads
In order for Framed Sevens to fill in the 7.5″ x 7.5″ visible design area in Carol’s Fancywork Box by Sudberry House (Item #99021), I filled in the surrounding area with the T stitch using DMC #5 Pearl 310 Black. It fit exactly with 9 stitched and 2 empty canvas threads on each side without blocking of any kind. I’m using the glass to cover it.
Framed Sevens was published in Needlepoint Now (March/April 2022) and a thread kit is available from Colour Complements: https://colourcomplements.com/product/framed-sevens-thread-kit
Needleworkers Delight put on a very nice event in Williamsburg. Because the ANG NJ Needle Artists’ table was too full for Buff and I to join, we sat at the next table. There we met some lovely ladies, including Cindy who had been in my EGA MAR Overdyed Spools class last year and her friend Janet. Over the 3 days, a variety of other people joined us which was fun too. Even more people stopped to look at Crescent Journey (I brought the lavender colorway) which I displayed on our table with photos of the other colorways. After explaining it is the ANG Stitch of the Month for 2023, three people were interested enough in joining ANG to stitch it. And, I found the closest local chapters for them.
Despite the time spent in 2 classes, looking at other people’s pieces, chatting, and shopping, I did finish the trees, trunks, and part of the sky of Colorful Forest during the Stitch-in. Although the stitches came in the stitch guide, I didn’t quite follow it completely correctly. Nobody would know except me, Buff, Cindy, and Janet because they were there when I realized what happened. Starting at 10 am without my full cup of coffee caused me to miss that the stitch guide writer, Jenny Barney McAuliffe, started stitching the back trees first instead of from left to right which is how I started. No harm done (2 trees swapped stitches). And, the last stitch on the dark blue tree was supposed to be a double reverse Nobuko but doesn’t reverse here. And, I am fine with that too because that gives both blue trees a vertical effect.
Buff is an excellent travel companion and roommate but has the same delusion as Bill – that I snore!
Filed under: 2022 Christmas in Williamsburg, Needlepoint Shops, Needleworkers Delight, Silver Needleminders and Earrings
I took 2 classes with Michele Arsenault to make silver pieces and forgot to take pictures of my Day 1 class where I made 3 needle minders. So, here will be the photos of my Day 2 pieces before firing and polishing. She takes them home and finishes the process and mails them to us.
Believe it ot not, the “silver clay” is 99.99 silver content. The clay burns off in a kiln leaving the silver particles which bond together.
The clay gets pressed into the molds. Then, you pop it out of the mold. I used a cookie cutter-like piece to cut out the round pair and a different tool to carve around the other. Besides Michele describing the process, the longest part of class is going through her molds to find what you want. She has hundreds of them.
For the first class we worked with 10 grams and second class was 20 grams. So, I made 2 pairs of earrings and poked a hole near the top so that Michele can make them into earrings. The Day 2 class was more in depth than Day 1. And, if I were to take the Day 3 class, I could try making a ring which offers the opportunity to join 2 pieces together. But, I’ll pass. I’m good with what I have now. More pictures once these are returned.
Filed under: 2022 Christmas in Williamsburg, Greystone Needlepoint, Needlepoint Shops, Needleworkers Delight
Buff and I won a free registration for Christmas in Williamsburg event sponsored by Needleworkers Delight at 2021 and 2022 New Jersey Needle Fest events, respectively! Buff had deferred hers and now we’re here together.
We drove in rain throughout the morning but it broke around Washington DC. A break for lunch and we are checked in at Kingsmill Resort. Quite a lovely place. Our registration package included a piece of Anne Cloth Fabric with instructions to make 8 cute holiday designs. However, I can use the cloth on my dining room table underneath the centerpiece poinsettia!
During the Stitch-in, I will be working on Colorful Forest (SS050) by Stitch Style Needlepoint. The stitch guide is by Jinny Barney McAuliffe. I picked it up at Greystone Needlepoint earlier this year. It’s a perfect project for a holiday Stitch-in! I kitted it from my stash.
Talk about serendipity. And the instructions and threads fit perfectly in my lovely project bag that Linda made!
I may switch out Trio in favor of Pepper Pot Silk Cream 003 because it is whiter and providing better coverage. I threw that in at the last minute. But, between the lecture on appraising needlepoint, silver classes, and shopping at the boutique, will I get to the white background before I leave on Sunday? What are silver classes? Stay tuned!
Filed under: ANG Main Line Stitchers Chapter, General comments, Ginkgo Leaves, Needlepoint Shops, Other People's Designs, Threads
The Lee canvas (design size 8.5″ x 3.75), BR67, Ginkgo Leaves, was easy and fun to stitch. The Gloriana Duchess Silk threads I got from Busy Lizzy were great to work with – so soft. I mixed in some sparkly threads on the edges of the leaves and in the patterns of four leaves.
Patterns are from a variety of sources including Desert Island Vol 1 and 2 by Carole Lake and Michael Boren, Lone Star’s Grab-n-Go Stitches, Needlepoint Dictionary of Stitches by Susan Sturgeon Roberts, and The Needlepoint Book by Jo Ippolito Christensen.
Patterns in the top row from left to right are from: Desert Island, Vol 1, pg 29; The Needlepoint Book, Byzantine #1; Needlepoint Dictionary of Stitches, Carl; and Lone Star, pg 50.
Patterns in the bottom row from left to right are from: Lone Star, pg 37; Lone Star, pg 53; Desert Sand, Vol 2, pg 30; and The Needlepoint Book, Byzantine #2.
Basketweave with Pepper Pot Silk, Cream filled in the background.
I found a Vera Bradley bag online that has a lovely interior fabric and good pockets.
The front of the bag had a large enough area to apply the canvas. I cut out the design leaving 9 canvas threads on each edge (1/2″). I cut a piece of ultrasuede allowing a 1″ border on each side. Then I cut the window out to fit the design exactly. The piece of vinyl is about 4 canvas threads larger than the design area and rests on top of the design without being attached in any way. A little Aileens fabric glue attached the ultrasuede to the outer edge of the canvas not covered by the vinyl (waited 2 hours), more glue to attach the ultrasuede to the bag (waited 2 hours), and glue again to place the black trim on the outer edge. Thanks to Jacqui C for the trim suggestion – it really makes a difference although from a distance you probably can’t see black on black. But up close you can. Also thanks to Jacqui for telling me there is such a thing as fabric glue! I was going to use E6000. This was so much easier and faster than ornament finishing!
For those of you super observant people who noticed a piece of wood sticking out from underneath the bag (bottom right corner of photo), the bag came with straps on the bottom. They said it was for a yoga mat but it holds my Elan lap stand! I wouldn’t “travel” with it there but for going back and forth to class this bag will hold the stand, my charger, light, travel supply bag, bottle of water, and perhaps a small project bag.
Postscript: I realized months later that I put it into the purse upside down from how I stitched it! Oh well.
When last I posted, I was stalled on JP’s Orchid and Bamboo canvas. That’s an understatement. I was up against 2 brick walls. Nothing was working for the orange or green areas of the Orchid.
The Silk Lamé Braid for 13 count was way too heavy so I switched threads to a reddish orange, orange, and light orange Impressions using a packed stem stitch. It follows the colors of the canvas nicely. I did skip adding the little green spots that were painted on two of the petals. It took quite some time to finish all 5 petals and got kind of boring packing stem stitches in such a large area but I am very happy.
The center green areas of the orchid really appealed to me. Silk was too flat compared to the surrounding orange petals. I couldn’t get shading with Neon Rays although the padding which Cynthia Thomas had suggested would have been good. Otherwise, I really liked her stitch guide. An overdyed thread had been suggested (thanks Patrick) but then I couldn’t find a stitch to create the shading. Eventually, I opened up Judith Baker Montano’s Elegant Stitches right to the Flat Stitch which is “wonderful for filling in leaves and petals”. It was meant to be. I decided to cut up Watercolours (211 Cucumber) into dark and light shades and alternate them from side to side. For a very little padding, I added a perpendicular stitch on the dark side first. The Flat stitch solved my problem.
I filled the center with beads and was done! What a relief to be done.
Hopefully, with Linda’s help, I will find fabric for the finisher and enough to make both pillows. She knows fabric and the area fabric stores.
At least for a day or two, they (the companion piece is Bird of Paradise with Bamboo) will sit on the living room couch like this! I want to enjoy these now. Happy Thanksgiving to all!!
Filed under: ANG Central Jersey Chapter, Autumn 3-Ways with Toni Gerdes, Ginkgo Leaves, Other People's Designs
Since the CJC-sponsored Autumn 3-Ways class with Toni Gerdes was cancelled due to Toni’s plane cancellation last month, I visited the chapter at their November meeting to pick up the kit. Since class had already been postponed a year due to covid, it will be on 2 or 3 Zoom sessions for questions. Toni’s directions are good and we’ll be getting lecture notes too. It would have been nice to have a 2-day in person class but this will work out fine.
Toni’s kit has a line drawn canvas, 2 needle felting needles, foam, felt, lovely fall colored threads, teeny tiny beads (Delica Suze 15). I don’t recall ever using Sparkle! Braid or Soy Luster and know I haven’t used Painters Threads. I love trying out new threads. Oh boy, Fusible Web is included! I hope my iron survives this. We had over a dozen different fabrics to choose from. All were lovely but I selected the original used in Toni’s design. Considering this design has been out at least since 2014 (copyright date), it’s amazing that she still has swatches of the original fabric. I love the needleminder she included which is the same as the design! So cool.
The chapter will be stitching Festive Fireworks from the July 2017 issue of Needle Pointers magazine (https://melitastitches4fun.com/?s=Festive&submit=Search) in June/July 2023. So, I took my framed piece to show them. At least one person discussed changing the colors to a Mardi Gras theme. Sounds intriguing.
I also took the 5 colorways of Crescent Journey, the 2023 ANG Stitch of the Month. The materials list and guidance for selecting threads will have to wait until January (probably the 3rd due to the holiday). They and I will be visiting ANG PA’s Keystone Garden in December and NJNA in January. Thanks so much to Linda, Lisa, and Kristen for allowing me to hold onto their stitched pieces for a local tour! They were a big hit and I discussed the lessons learned about looking at values as much as colors. The Neutral seemed to be the most popular. Beach at Night got alot of discussion because it looks so lacy but stitching on black was a concern.
While many of the CJC members worked on their month’s project, I basketweaved the background of Ginkgo Leaves, a Lee canvas. I will probably stitch on this again at my ANG Main Line Stitchers chapter Stitch-in on Saturday.
Last month (October) at the Needlework and Textile Guild of Media, Sally (also in ANG Main Line Stitchers chapter) did a demo of designing and sizing images for a needlepoint belt. It was really engaging and very informative. We learned how to choose and adjust images for different sized projects. Sally’s excellent handout gives step-by-step instructions for calculating image size and placement. On reflection, we realize that this approach will work for translating images into many types of projects, such as knitting, crocheting, cross stitch, and more. Way to go, Sally!
Our take home project based on Sally’s demo was creating our own image on a square of plastic canvas. Since the canvas was 7 count, I didn’t want a complicated design. I had this Penn State cookie (more as a decoration) sitting on a shelf. So, I held it under the canvas and used a blue marker to outline the mountain lion.
It probably could have handled 3 strands because the holes are so large but I used 2 strands and had just enough Silk & Ivory, color 01 natural and color 10 classic navy. It is done in basketweave except for the white ear and blue mouth (straight stitches). It wasn’t hard and definitely looks like the model.
Step 1 is find your design. Shrink or enlarge on a copier to fit your space. I didn’t have to do anything to the size.
Outline the image (don’t use Copic markers on plastic canvas unless you want blue fingers). Rough as it was, Bill knew instantly that this was his alma mater’s Nittany Lion.
Stitch the design. Keep looking at the original since this was not “stitch painted” and adjust as needed.
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