I finished stitching Zapotec Rug designed by Toni Gerdes back in February and now it has been “finished” into a rug through Nimble Needle of NJ. I may get an acrylic tray to display it. For now, I will use an easel display stand.
It’s still available to stitch through the ANG Correspondence Courses. Loved working with the wool threads.
Filed under: ANG Seminar 2016
This ornament, Fleur de Mardi Gras by Jude Designs, is the second piece of 3 projects finished from the 2016 ANG Seminar in New Orleans. The charm was a gift from ANG.
The French Knot was the host shop at Seminar and I picked up this canvas and the threads there. They had a nice variety of canvases as I recall.
And, the finisher that Karen at Nimble Needle in NJ uses did such a nice job! I really like a small simple bow so it doesn’t overpower the ornament.
Filed under: ANG Seminar 2017
Needle Nook of La Jolla lived up to their reputation! Two stores, one with canvases and one with threads, both amazing. You can’t tell from the pictures but the thread walls slide revealing more threads. They are near a lovely Ocean and have an ocean of lovely threads! You really can’t appreciate how many canvases they have either on the flip boards. Good to see Vicky was there to actually meet her and displaying her award-winning piece. I had seen Nancy working in the exhibit area. All the members of the local ANG chapter did a fantastic job.
Nothing much I needed except more of the Orange Silk Lame Braid which they had. But, I did decide to get the Ruth Schmuff and Kathy Holicky CD called Stitches with 300 stitched. On the back, it says, “Use as clip art to create your own stitch guide.” If I use them, I’ll note which are from the CD versus which ones I create. Hopefully, my diagrams will be half as good. I also want to see how she organizes and names the stitches.
Filed under: Uncategorized
I had a great week with Cynthia Thomas at the ANG Seminar in Anaheim! On Monday, I learned how to diagram stitches (including a needle) using Microsoft Office tools. It’s amazing how much we learned and her excellent instructions will be a great guide when I get home. And, I was able to practice some diagrams even during my 4-day embellishment class. I love the stitches Cynthia recommended for my JP canvases. We learned a lot from listening to discussions about each other’s pieces too. Contact Cynthia for a list of her commercial stitch guides and classes (including her computer class) at needleartisan@hotmail.com (email address shared with Cynthia’s permission).
I practiced layering beads on top of beads.
And, padding with felt and Very Velvet.
Filed under: ANG Seminar 2017
A nice door prize! Eventually, everyone got something. Here’s my selection.
And, Needlepoints West, the store at Seminar, was very generous especially on Friday offering 45% off canvases & 50% off select threads. More on why I picked up this canvas another time. And, they gave the kit for the Nancy Cucci 45th ANG anniversary design away for free.
These are the gifts from the opening and closing banquets. David McCaskill got a lifetime achievement award. And, Philip B won the People’s Choice award for 50 Daisies/Flowers.
I had to stop briefly at Needlepoints Ltd on our way to San Diego. Diana and her store are very nice. Lots of threads. A nice table with magnifier/light stands (around to right but not pictured). Two other ANG members were there when I arrived.
I needed more Silk Lame Braid for my seminar pieces. And, there’s more about why that Threadworx but it to is a story for another time.
I redid the design I gave to my sister & have donated the design to the 2017 Chapter Project Book. You can see it at Seminar in the Distance Learning Program area. It is intended to teach how to manipulate an overdyed thread. This uses the same overdyed thread, Watercolours Lilac (039) as I had used for my sister.
New piece:
Original piece:
I was happy to help Marilyn Owen by proofing her instructions for the Chapter Project Book piece called Herringbone Happening. And, I am pleased to announce that I received an Honorable Mention ribbon for this at Seminar this year! Marilyn’s is on display as well and is stunning.
The threads and beads came from my stash. I used Spendor (Aqua S-880 and Bronze Porcelains S-974, S-1085, S-1131), Vineyard Silk (Butter Cream C-184), Trebizond (Aquamarine TRA701), and Kreinik #8 Braid (Antique Gold 221 and Citrine 3280).
Filed under: ANG Seminar 2017
What do you think? Are these French Knots?? Don’t worry, I won’t post all my diagrams!!!
Filed under: ANG Seminar 2017
Kudos to Cynthia Thomas for teaching 14 people how to create diagrams using Excel in just a few hours! I’m so happy it’s easy to learn. But, it will be time consuming to create my own “library” of stitches. Good thing I am retired now!!
This is another “challenge” piece intended to explore a single stitch. I selected the Scotch Stitch. And, I’m happy to say that it received a third place ribbon in origin design, non-professional category! My artist’s statement follows:
In researching Scotch Stitches, I learned that Box Stitches are described as a “series of diagonal stitches that form squares or boxes” from Jo Ippolito Christensen in The Needlepoint Book. The Mosaic Stitch is the smallest of the Box Stitches, Cashmere is a rectangular Mosaic Stitch, and Scotch Stitch is an expanded Mosaic Stitch. I found Scotch Stitch variations in The Needlepoint Book, Amy Bunger’s Keeping Me In Stitches, and SuZy’s Portable Stitches app. However, I found the Scotch Stitch variations in Scotch Stitch by Stitch by Kathleen Rake the most inspirational and educational by learning how to vary stitches with size, direction, color, and threads to create endless variations.
After having just stitched Designing with Stitches by Julie Goetsch (http://needlepoint.org/Archives/00-01/Design.php – originally published in NeedlePointers, Volume X, Number 1, Spring 1982) with my ANG chapter, I stitched the frame using the Cashmere and Mosaic Stitches instead of the Oblong Cross Stitches as Julie had done. The frame is comprised of numerous 4 by 2 units and 4 corners that are 2 by 2. This created the appropriate negative spaces: 25 areas that are 8 by 8 and 16 areas that are 4 by 4.
There are 10 variations of the Scotch Stitch in the 25 larger negative spaces (8 by 8 areas; A-G), 3 variations in the smaller negative spaces (4 by 4 areas; a-c), and 6 variations (6 by 6 areas) repeating to form the outermost border. There’s lots more variations that could be cooked up using more Scotch variations, more threads, or both!
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