I’ve been keeping up with the monthly project since we started in February but I just haven’t blogged about it. And, I don’t have the progression captured but most of the multi colored thread went in March (took time to do as a mirror image for the right/left and top/bottom sections), the 4 diamond shaped Rhodes stitch went in for April, and I just added the 4 stars on the left and 4 on the right with a blue (ish) ThreadworX surrounded by purple Splendor in an interrupted Pavillion stitch. And, it’s fun seeing everyone’s colorway come together.
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Made great progress in the week after class (Sisters by Nancy Cucci). It’s so fun watching a piece develop. The bead buddy worked great.
Filed under: General comments
After dropping Bill off for golf, I headed to Stitch by Stitch in Cape May, NJ. Glad I went early because construction is causing some slow down.
They carry DMC, Sampler Threads, Weeks Dye Works (including #5 Pele that I never saw before), Crescent Colours, lots of Mill Hill Beads and charms. Tons of charts (mostly samplers and cross stitch) but they also have hand-painted needlepoint canvases including Cape May scenes by a local artist.
They carry various hand creams but they said ‘Gloves in a Bottle’ is the best!
Filed under: General comments
I hardly unpacked before I packed again. Thanks to my husband’s golf outing, I got to see Scrim Discovery in Ocean City, NJ on Friday on the drive to Wildwood.
Sally was very pleasant and has a lovely store. Great light. And, tons of threads & canvases! I love how she displays everything – see the purses hanging from the ceiling & canvases placed on the ceiling on the right side!
She has a lot going on (find her on Facebook to keep up on everything) & she had this cute bead buddy that will be handy for the Nancy Cucci piece. It’s got a magnet on the bottom so that you can place it near your stitching! Perfect as I hope to stitch as my husband golfs.
A wonderful group of stitching sisters met in Rehoboth Beach Delaware for a 2-day pilot class of “Sisters” with Nancy Cucci. Thanks to Roseanne J for organizing this event, we all had a great experience. But before class . . .
My husband, Linda, and I headed down on Saturday. We got some shopping in on Saturday (for summer sandals) & again on Sunday (at the outlet shops) when my husband golfed in some of the most perfect weather ever.
Then, Linda & I enjoyed the Needlework exhibit at the Rehoboth Museum on Sunday. What’s great about this display is that tags mention the stitcher’s name and name of the piece making it easier to track it down if you like it. I did track down some of the cross stitch pieces for you thanks to 123stitch.com.
It’s always fun to see Patrick B, our current chapter President, showing his pieces: Autumn (love the colors) and Tortoise & Hare (a cute scissors sheath). And, I loved seeing the piece my mother stitched for my husband “Irish Blessing” (I didn’t note the stitcher’s name – sorry) – “May the road rise to meet you . . . and until we meet again <> may God hold you in the hollow of His hand.”
Roseanne J won 1st place in the Beadwork category for BEADazzled and in Canvaswork for Golden Opportunity, and a 2nd place for Winter Crystals (all Nancy Cucci designs).
Brenda C’s “Let It Snow” (designed by Toni Gerdes) got 2nd place and “Beachcomer’s Booty” (designed by Ann Strite-Kurz) got 3rd place both in Canvaswork .
Geri W did well too in Canvaswork with Summer Surf (designed by Nancy Cucci) (2nd place), Walking the Water’s Edge (designed by Diane Herrman) (3rd place), and Three Santas (designed by Janet Casey Ziegler) (Honorable Mention).
The other category’s were well represented too! I’m only mentioning a few of the lovely pieces.
- Counted Thread:
-Shirley G’s “Tiramisu” (1st place) – reversible blackwork band sampler displayed so at you could see both sides – I found it is 29″x 10″ & was an EGA Correspondence Course by designer Dakota Rogers.
-Shirley G’s “Metamorphosis” by Ink Circles (2nd place) – a medallion worked 7 times from top to bottom with more added to the design as it progresses down & becomes darker.
-Patrick G’s “Four Seasons” by Janlynn (1st place) – 4 cross stitch designs of the seasons must have taken multiple seasons to complete but worth it.
-Ann S’s “Fish Tank” (2nd place) – with 3 fish finished on wooden dowels of different heights making it look like they are swimming in a fish tank with rocks & seaweed.
-Agnes C’s “Winter Reindeer” by Dimensions Gold Collection (I think it was on a cover of a magazine last year or so). Stunning. - Embroidery:
-Janice C’s “Camellias”, a piece of Brazilian Embroidery (2nd place), was lovely – pink & white flowers with green leaves. - Heirloom Sewing/Quilting
-Patricia S’s “Mom’s Enmeshed Embellishment’s” was interesting because the tools, such as a pair of scissors, curved basting pin, round items, buckle-like things, and keys (sorry, I forgot to ask Linda to identify them for me as she is also a quilter).
-Ludmilla M’s “Endless Possibilities” (1st place) was very impressive – lots of curves & there were areas not sewed down (I can’t explain it very well – again, sorry). - Miniature & Sampler categories were nice but not my area of interest. Jean T & Theresa B are names I see year after year here & at Woodlawn – both do lovely work.
- Shirley H won Best in Show for “Roses”, a piece of lovely ribbon embroidery.
My husband golfed again & did his own shopping on Monday & Tuesday after he dropped us off at class. In no time at all I realized that I’d forgotten my Elan needlepoint stand (for holding my piece on bars). But, I find it difficult to get much done in class anyway. I like to read, study, and digest the instructions before I dive in but you can’t do that in class. And, nothing is in the right place like it is at home. So, I was unstitching some on both days – my count was off by one thread once and I applied too many beads in every row instead of every other row in another area. But, I wasn’t the only one who did that (I won’t name names Dana!). And, some got more done than others especially those who went home & stitched until midnight! Roseanne reminded me that after the Nancy Cucci class in Oct 2011 (Stitches in Sterling which still isn’t done), I went to a bar & stitched in the evening! But, I needed to rest my eyes, back, and brain in the evening this year (everything is almost 5 years older now!).
And, as Linda said, “It’s not a race.” I really enjoyed learning about how Nancy designed the piece with beads, Kreinik, and floss in different areas to obtain depth. It’s a great piece – very pretty (being taught in New Orleans at ANG Seminar in Aug 2016). I’m making progress on Block 1 now that I am back home in my comfy chair! This is what I did just while I was in the 2-day class. You can see Nancy’s finished piece at: http://needlepoint.org/Seminar-16/classes/images/20105-Sisters-NC-6508.jpg
The Cheer Center makes a nice lunch & tables are set up in the back so we could all sit & chat for an hour! I enjoyed seeing people I usually only see rarely such as Janice G and Christine L at ANG Seminar; Roseanne J, Brenda C, Geri W, & Pat vdA when I get to Delaware Seashore Chapter; Kathy B, one of the owners of Richmond Virginia’s The Stitching Studio where I’d stopped in May of 2015 (sorry it was without you Linda!); & I enjoyed meeting Dana, a recent new FB friend along with all the other stitchers from 7 area states (4 of the women stopped at Nimble Needle in NJ & enjoyed meeting Karen). Of course, spending time with Linda & my husband is always tons of fun!!
I didn’t get everyone in the picture but here’s the class hard at work!
Filed under: ANG Main Line Stitchers Chapter, ANG Stitch of the Month, 2016, New Jersey Needle Festival
Great weekend! Buff & I headed for Beyond Knits & Needles in Caldwell, NJ on Friday morning. I got some threads & Buff found a canvas. Wonderful store. Anne Marie is very nice and has friendly, helpful customers (Jane). Love the selection of canvases & threads. Incredible light in each of the 3 rooms.
And, then we headed to Edwardian Needle for more threads & EdMar needles (me) and another canvas & threads (Buff).
A fantastic dinner and conversation with Buff, Brenda, Ginny, Rona, and Rosie at the Red Oak Grille. It would have been nice if Linda had made the trip too.
After a good night’s sleep, we headed to the New Jersey Needle Festival (my 4th time I think). It’s so much fun to see everyone & what they are stitching. I think a dozen of us are working on Susan Hoekstra’s Stitch of the Month, Feuilles d’ananas.
We had a great group at our table! Sitting/standing left to right: Sylvia, Rona, Melita, Brenda, Lori & Ginny, Buff, Margaret.
And, the vendors saw robust sales! I found an eyeglass / cell phone case made by Trish Vine & Karen from Nimble Needle had the lamp I wanted. The cute bag from Susan was too cute to pass up.
Although I didn’t finish April’s portion of the design at NJNF, it was done before I went to bed Saturday night!
Filed under: ANG Main Line Stitchers Chapter, Our Heart III by Marnie Ritter
At our ANG Main Line Stitchers meeting we did our Christmas exchange (steal) (back in December 2015). I do like hearts & haven’t done a Marnie Ritter design yet but did feel bad stealing it from Buff, our gracious hostess!! And, thanks to Linda who destashed this from her stockpile of needlepoint.
I am still playing catch up with my blog as I clean up some piles at home! These projects, even the little ones, pile up faster than I can stitch them up!!! UP, UP, UP goes the stash.
The 53rd Annual Woodlawn Needlework Exhibit was fantastic again. This is my 7th year. I had 2 stitching friends with me this year (my husband stayed home & golfed). It was great fun to have Linda & Ginny come along especially because I mapped out a fantastic needlepoint shopping itinerary (3 stores on our way south Saturday) – yesterday’s post. We went last weekend & it was a busy week. I hope this encourages you to get therE before the end of the month.
For now, I’ll talk about just a few of the 510 pieces on display this year. I didn’t note how many pieces were on display in 2010, my first visit but 2011 had 681 (the most since I’ve been going). Both 2012 & 2013 had 600+ and 2014 and 2015 both had 500+.
Again, Linda was able to point out names of lots of designers of pieces & Ginny was spotting interesting things like the folk art/country piece in the doorway as you leave the sampler room that had the same piece stitched on different size ground (538 large cross stitch by Joan & 585 miniature by Wendy which won 3rd place). We all agree that listing the designer name of the piece on the card would be fantastic. But, no doubt a time-consuming task & these (mostly) ladies do a fantastic job – lots of work to put on a month-long show like this!!
Patrick B (105) from my ANG Main Line chapter submitted a beautiful Christmas stocking he’d done for his wife, Donna. There were several other lovely ones as well.
If my mom were still alive, I would have left a note for Lauren (172 cross stitch) to find out who the designer was for her flower arrangement which was bursting with mostly oranges but also blue, yellow, and red.
Kurdy Biggs had one of her Classic Facets (28) win 2nd place. I have the Amber colorway in my stash but hers was a silver & gold colorway. And, her newest piece Concepcion (29) is stunning and won a 2nd place ribbon. Both can been seen on her website (http://www.threedles.com/06012011/2015/Classic%20Facets/Classic%20Facets.html and http://www.threedles.com/06012011/2016/2016Designs.html).
I was lucky enough to meet Ruth Dilts at our stop in Waste Knot. So, it fun seeing her pieces on display (123 and 124 which won 3rd place). She was the first of the daily demonstrators earlier in March. It’s just a wonderful touch to have people doing different crafts. We saw Tamara doing tatting. And, Ginny found out that she is the grandmother of the Nissa who stitched Mandala Alpine (158 ), an amazing piece (http://europeanxstitch.com/collections/chatelaine-designs/products/alpine-seasons-garden-chat-049). The other Mandala (596 by Mary) was beautiful too. Woodlawn listed both as a multistitch sampler although 123stitch lists the Chatelaine designs under cross stitch (http://www.123stitch.com/cgi-perl/abcSearch/search.cgi?page=1&keyword=mandala&NewItems=0&OnSale=0&Clearance=0&FreeShipping=0&sortorder=relevance&searchid=&filteredby=&webpage=&type=&resultstoreturn=35&designer=Chatelaine).
Heather stitched Jean Hilton’s “Newport Sampler” (43) from Needle Pointers magazine. It was a 6-part series beginning in July 2002 (http://needlepoint.org/NeedlePointers/NP-back2002.php). I first remember seeing it on a friend’s Facebook page (Barbara L). It is impressive at 14″ x 36″ done in a combo of Hungarian Point and Jean Hilton stitches.
Joyce embroidered 3 of her dogs she’s had in her lifetime all cuddling together in one picture that was so adorable & such a wonderful way to honor them. It (521) rightly deserved a 1st place ribbon.
Catherine Jordan had a delicate surface embroidery of trees you can see through to a painted canvas background with a river flowing through the trees win 2nd place & Judge’s Choice (23). One of her Zentangle designs was on a hand-painted canvas combined with blackwork (22) and her other Zentangle was a cross between Zentangle and embroidery. Both very interesting as my ANG Keystone Garden chapter will be doing our own Zentangle later this year.
My ANG Keystone Garden chapter will also be doing Winter Scenery Variation by Martina Dey and we got to see that stitched by Barbro (527)!
Donna (220) submitted her Color Play by Jennifer Riefenberg she began at seminar last year (http://artofsunshine.com/workszoom/1566860) for a 2nd place ribbon. It’s 5 multi-colored hexagonal shapes. I was so surprised to run into her when I stopped in Nimble Needle NJ to pick up some finished ornaments yesterday but pleased to congratulate her in person! What a fun coincidence.
Marlene’s wolf done on 32 count in cross stitch (559) looked like he was going to jump out at us (it was my vote for People’s Choice)! And, her tree was done in miniature (558) winning her 1st place and Pope-Leighey Award. We saw that stitched last year & Linda ordered that design and a couple other trees but hasn’t stitched any yet. Now, she is considering what size & type of ground to stitch them on. The package on the cross stitch tree designs says “photo provided by Brand X Pictures and pattern design by Mystic Stitch, Inc.” It appears that all of Mystic Stitch designs are photographs that they convert to cross stitch. Just beautiful.
Deborah Merrick Wilson won 1st place and the Woodlawn Award for an interesting bouquet of flowers in a stitched vase (652). The flowers were a variety of embroidery, layers of felt, turkey work, ribbons, and beads – my favorite of her 15 pieces in the exhibit. Some were for sale in the actual exhibit and a couple for sale in the lobby along with a couple of kits. Pieces being on sale is new this year. Proceeds get split between the stitcher & Woodlawn. Among her goldwork pieces were 3 small bulbous flowers (651) that won 1st place, a large Tudor rose (213) that won 2nd place, and a butterfly stitched in green and blue with a center goldwork body (211) that didn’t get a ribbon but was very pretty. In all she got 2 x 1st place, 2 x 2nd place, 3 x 3rd place, and 1 Honorable Mention.
What fun to see a flamingo Santa with his flamingo reindeer from Karen from Nimble Needle (37).
Rosie stitched Spirit by Sue Reed in sage green cinnamon/rust colors. The New Jersey Needle Artists stitched A Different View by Kurdy Biggs (http://www.threedles.com/06012011/2011/WhatsNew2011.html#A_Different_View), a geometric piece – we got to see 5 colorways! They talked about it some on their blog (http://blog.njneedleartists.org/)
Mary got 2nd place for a lovely pastel colorway of Frankie by Michael Boren (505).
A first place and Judge’s Choice went to Terri for an interesting gauze fan with parrots (147).
It’s always fun to see Janet Zickler Casey Santa ornaments!
My original design (which I still won’t blog about until a much later date for a couple of reasons) didn’t win a ribbon. Maybe because professionals and non-professionals compete head-to-head at Woodlawn, I should just enter my original designs in ANG’s exhibit at the Annual Seminar where I am placed in the non-professional category. At Woodlawn, I should enter a counted piece or a painted canvas (my first year I gor 3rd place for a painted canvas). In fact last year, I thought I should send the canvas I picked up at In Stitches that year. It is from Dream House Ventures, Inc. (DH3825) and is called Swirling Leaves by a designer Linda Richardson under the name of Elements Fine Handpainted Needlepoint. I’m still working on it – far from done but it just got bumped to a higher priority!!
A fantastic event & I was glad to support Nellies Needleers by bring home a towel they stitched.
What a great weekend! Another road trip with Linda & Ginny joined us!! We met around 9 am on Saturday to visit 3 needlepoint stores on our way south to Woodlawn in Alexandria, VA. We spent between 30 min to an hour at a shop. Details are presented in the order we visited:
Needles and Threads of Ruxton (7701 Bellona Ave, Baltimore, MD; right off 695 Baltimore; open 10-4; http://needlesandthreadsofruxton.com/) had lots of threads & canvases in a small space but well organized, bright, 3 employees available including the owner Judy. There were 2 male stitchers, several women, employees, and us but never felt crowded. Everyone was so nice. What a wonderful first stop.
We found some threads that we need for Xanadu, a Jim Wurth project that our ANG Keystone Garden chapter is doing this year from Needle Pointers. I found this bookmark that I have plenty of stash for.
Bookmark COP (JW323):
The Point of It All (5232 44th St NW, Washington, DC; deviate off Capital Beltway but not too far into Washington; open 10-4; http://thepointofitallonline.com/) had an interesting organizer called Needlecraft Palette that has 15 toggles & little pockets for specialty threads, scissors, etc. And, they had a very helpful stitched sample of each thread they sell stitched on 14- and/or 18-count canvas. We liked the red walls and canvas edging they apply.
Organizer:
Stitch samples:
Waste Knot (4502 Lee Hwy, Arlington, VA; cross into VA over Chain Bridge; open 10-5; http://www.wasteknotneedlepoint.com/; shop 30 min) – they had a Mindy trunk shop going on & I didn’t get to my first Mindy canvas yet!! I met Ruth Dilts (her back is to us on the right) & Lori, the owner (her head is behind the computer monitor on the left).
But, I found a JP canvas to make a companion piece (pillows) to the canvas I bought at Gazebo Plus where I just stopped in with Linda as she picked up her canvas not intending to buy knowing I was going on this shopping spree!! But, these are my 2 favorite flowers. They are both 16″ x 8″ on 13 mesh.
Gazebo Plus JP Bird of Paradise & Bamboo (O-038):
Waste Knot JP Orange Orchid & Bamboo (O-039):
And, how could I forget Bill!! He’ll get the Canvas Connection Golf Bag (3″ x 4″) (GB-556):
Sunday after Woodlawn in the morning, we stopped at In Stitches (8800F Pear Tree Court, Alexandria, VA; open 12:30 – 4:30 pm; http://institchesneedlework.com/). I managed to find “Painted Canvas Embellishment: An Idea Book” by Carole H Lake & Michael Boren. I like the layout of stitches by category with tips in bubbles near the stitch.
Filed under: Grandma's Heart
Grandma’s Heart is for Rose (a dear friend) to give to her granddaughter. Isn’t it adorable?
It’s Paragon Needle craft counted cross stitch kit from 1986. It’s on 14 count Aida, used DMC cotton floss, and is 5″ X 9″.
The larger flexible hoop with the wood grain finish looked a lot nicer than the wooden hoop surrounded by lace would have looked.
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