Filed under: ANG Main Line Stitchers Chapter, Brandywine Chapter, Embroidery Guild of America, Fiber Art
My EGA Brandywine chapter had a challenge to stitch on paper. I had saved a print from New American Paintings, a catalog of the fourteenth open studios competition, a juried exhibition from Feb 1998 at a flea market. Many of the pictures were interesting, different, and colorful. I did Fruit Basket by Stacy Thomas-Vickory last time when I had suggested stitching on paper to my ANG Main Line Stitchers Chapter (search ‘fiber’ on my blog). This time I have a print of leaves by Jamie Brunson, an artist in Oakland, CA. I used 1 strand of DMC 935 to stitch the veins on some of the leaves. The rest of the leaves won’t be stitched.
Needle Pointers magazine has published Scotch Stew in the May/June 2018 issue! The magazine is late reaching our homes but it got posted online a week ago. So, I knew that it wasn’t on the cover. But, it’s so rewarding and fun to see my design published. I can’t show much of what was published due to copyright issues but this should be ok.
Again, Pam Gardner did a magnificent job of diagramming the stitches and clarifying text I suggested. I was able to send her better diagrams than previous published pieces and she said that made it much easier for her. I sent everything to her shortly after Seminar last year and was able to practice using computer skills that I learned from Cynthia Thomas.
This was my second attempt at an all Scotch stitch design. Here is the piece framed (by Repenning Fine Arts in Audubon, NJ). It received a third place ribbon at Seminar last year. Both of my Scotch pieces will look great on our newly painted bedroom walls.
Postscript 1. I was thrilled to hear that a favorite designer of mine stitched this in another colorway and shared it with me – very pretty. Also, nice to hear that it was easy to follow the instructions and diagrams. She’s going to use it as a lead-in to a meeting program about changing colors or threads in a published project.
Postscript 2. I got a lovely thank you note from Diane from Needle Pointers magazine for sharing the design and I got an extra copy of the magazine.
Postscript 3. An ANG chapter stitched my design in another colorway and posted it on Needlepoint Nation (https://www.facebook.com/groups/NeedlepointNation/permalink/3636499066427225/)! It turned out great and made my day!
This is Lotus Kimono by Lee (SPM 279) with the Lily Pads (right upper and lower green areas) and Trumpet Leaves (left olive green areas) stitched.
I wanted similar but different stitches for these areas. And, I was ok with some canvas showing through. In fact, I thought it would be better even though the threads I selected match the canvas so well. So, for the Lily Pad, I selected a stitch that lies on the true diagonal, a Double Woven Plait. The Trumpet Leaves has more of an angle. So, I settled on Herringbone Ground I. Both stitches came from Keys to Canvas Embellishment by Julia Snyder.
I didn’t break the pattern crossing the shifts in colors. I just used the thread closest in color to most of the canvas for that single stitch. So, the Double Woven Plait was always over 3 x 3 and Herringbone was always over 2 x 3. I’m not going to go into what stitches either stitch guide recommended except that one is full coverage and the other is very open.
The veins are done in outline/stem stitch with Splendor S801 Black in upper right corner, Gloriana Elizabethan Green 117 in upper and lower left corners, and Kreinik #8 Braid 002V.
Remember, this is the piece that other Main Line Stitchers Chapter members are stitching based on stitch guides from Fireside Stitchery and Amy Bunger. I, on the other hand, am selecting my own threads and stitches. Join us tomorrow night at Starbucks (218 Lancaster Ave) in Wayne, PA and see in person how we’re coming along on our canvases.
I got my letter from Kathy Rees about my ANG 2018 Seminar class, Designing Geometric Samplers! And, there were 3 fantastic colorways to select. I went with ‘Bright’ which has Tahiti Watercolour as a key thread. It’ll be a fun and exciting opportunity.
After seminar last year, I was so excited about registering for her class, I tried designing a geometric piece but put it aside after selecting way too many threads for my design. Now, because I am excited again about learning how to design from another teacher, I pulled out my magnetic quilt triangles and decided to play with them. I came up with a couple of patterns.
The first 2 are symmetrical and the other 2 are not. The first one has triangles, squares, hexagons, parallelograms, and corners which would allow me to use Sandra Arthur’s Shapes of Needlepoint books, Series I and III. The colors repeat in an interesting pattern. The second has a simpler pattern but has different colorways as the pattern moves outward. The stitch patterns wouldn’t be as varied as the first unless you used scotch patterns which can be endless. My least favorite is the third one. You can’t get a good one every time. And, the fourth moves color patterns into various quadrants of different sizes with a good variety of shapes. But, it doesn’t thrill me as a design.
This design was my first attempt at an all Scotch stitch design. But, I almost didn’t finish this design because of the reversed heart pattern in the corners. It was a tricky pattern that I needed to chart out for each corner because the hearts remain upright. I couldn’t rotate the canvas.
For the rest of the outer border, I used Scotch and Smyrna stitches.
The center flower used a Watercolours, Baby Breath. The skein is from the stash of a deceased member. It has a hand written dye lot but no color number assigned. So, it’s quite an old skein. I love the colors and was particularly careful to have the threads color movement match on each side. And, it goes with peach and teal/turquoise very nicely including Crystal Braid CR17, Vineyard Silk Classic C-079 & C-184, Trebizond TRA701, and Splendor S818 (I’m not sure what Kreinik threads I used). I charted the center using offset scotch stitches over 3, 4, 6, and 7 threads before stitching.
I put the piece away quite some time ago and just recently found it. So, I decided that my own design wouldn’t beat me! And, it didn’t. It’ll make a nice companion piece in our recently repainted bedroom.
If I were to do this again, I wouldn’t be so particular about the color movement in the center flower. And, I would use a Mosaic stitch on the sides instead of all Smyrna stitches just for variety.
Filed under: Come Design With Me by Orna Willis
All framed and ready to hang. I need more walls!
This is from the online class with Orna Willis, Come Design With Me where she explained how she designs a piece as she goes. Orna set up a private Facebook group where we could ask questions and share our progress. It was interesting to watch this design develop and have her explain her thought process. At the end, class members named the design, Come Dance With Me. The instructions are on sale at her website Adorn By Orna. Use your stash to make your own colorway.
Thanks again Orna for taking us on that journey. It was an excellent learning experience.
Metalforms Part 5 and the last had four areas to stitch. However, I added a fifth area which is near the upper left middle because it seemed too big to leave empty especially after remembering Linda stitched the Jagged Linking Block larger. By the time I thought about it, it was too late because the edge had compensating stitches. So, I added the small mosaics (over 2) above both the Triangular Scotch (over 3) and the Scotch Cross Corners (over 5). Hopefully, what I added blends in because I related the stitch to the surrounding stitches and made them smaller. I used Silk Lame Braid SL52.
This was challenging at times but that’s a good thing.
A beautiful piece of stumpwork greeted Linda and I as we entered Fort Hunter Mansion in Harrisburg, PA. Then, we enjoyed meeting and joined Judy and Joanne from Reading, members of ANG Apple Needlepointers, for a tour of the mansion by a lovely docent. We missed you Carol T! Feel better soon.
There were so many more pieces than I expected. Because some had multiple components, there had to be close to 150 items on display. They were distributed in all the rooms. We were able to get close to them. And, there were antique pieces of needlepoint throughout the mansion too!
Participating guilds include Apple Needlepoint Chapter of the American Needlepoint Guild, Molly Pitcher Stitchers, Susquehanna, Nittany Valley, York White Rose and Lancaster Red Rose chapters of the Embroiderers Guild of America. The pieces represented about 2 dozen forms of needle arts including beadwork, blackwork, canvas work/needlepoint, counted cross stitch, counted thread, crewel embroidery, goldwork, hardanger, hock swedish weaving, Japanese embroidery, lacework, petit point, pulled thread, Rozashi, surface embroidery, stumpwork, thread painting with machine, and wool felt applique.
We were allowed to take photos without flash. But, there were so many and I’m only going to post a couple of the exhibited items and a couple of vintage ones.
Stumpwork
Pulled work. Notice that the right in all white is the same pattern as the one on the left stitched with colored threads. Thanks to the docent for pointing that out to us.
These are excellent stitchers and the participating guilds should be commended for putting on a stellar exhibit.
Antique firescreens
Vintage sewing box and tools. Having the spools draped across the front makes such an efficient use of space and is pretty.
And, we can’t go that far without stopping by Half Moon Handwerks. While Debbie helped Linda find fabulous fabrics for her quilt projects, I drooled over the Chameleon threads which I have only found here. Chameleon Threads are hand dyed in Africa and are wonderful. I especially love the Shades of Africa Two Oceans. But, they also have amazing colors in Perle 8, 12, 16 (not in this store but according to what I found online), Soie d’ Alger, Soie de Paris, Au Ver a Soie, and stranded cotton.
I looked through a half dozen books and settled on the Balloon Stitch from Sharon G’s Simply Essential Needlepoint Stitch Explanations for the background. Perhaps I was influenced by her saying it has a bit of an Oriental flare to it and suggested it for a kimono. Several Lantern stitches from Keys to Canvas Embellishment by Julia Snyder were nice options too.
It’s a dark blue thread, Impressions, which makes seeing the pattern a little difficult in the photo (used 1 thread). The black collar, cuffs, and hem are just a Satin stitch using 4 strands of Splendor.
Interestingly, one of the stitch guides recommended a lovely open composite stitch. It looks really nice but since it is for a background, I wonder if it might distract the eye from the focal point. So, I selectd a completely filled in pattern that will certainly remain unobtrusive.
Filed under: The Thistle
The Thistle by Carole Lake and Michael Boren is a free project from my ANG Keystone Garden Chapter. We got an antique blue canvas (8″ x 8″) and similar colored threads from what’s listed in the instructions from Needle Pointers magazine (Sept 2014).
The thistle was stitched first and I made the green leaves bigger than I realized. So, I had to make the border a little longer causing the side gold areas to be adjusted to fit the open area. Turned out fine. The design is not large-only 3″ x 4&1/2″.
I switched the navy DMC floss to the navy Impressions 7011 mainly because I didn’t want to lay the two borders of backstitch. And, I’m very happy that I did because it made wrapping the backstitch borders so easy and gives a very uniform appearance.
And, instead of the muted lavender blue overdyed Watercolour 162 provided or the baby blue white overdyed Thread Gatherer Silken Pearl 15/3 SP5 081 recommended, I used Thread Gatherer Sheep’s Silk Lilac SPS075 for a more imposing realistic appearance.
The chapter encourages participation in projects by awarding points toward a gift certificate. The more completed, the more money. This is my first completion for one point this year (June 2018). Larger projects are worth 2 points. And, showing up for our meeting during the busy month of December gets you one point.
It took me until June 2022 to frame it as a gift for our friend Debbie. Hopefully, a flower will perk her up after losing her 18-year old dog, Ollie.
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