Filed under: ANG Keystone Garden Chapter, ANG Main Line Stitchers Chapter, Christmas Ornaments, Christmas Ornaments, Melita's Other Completed Pieces, Santacicle
Here’s Santa’s row – they are so cute together hanging in the hallway. The one on the left is my Santacicle by Janet Casey Ziegler from a class at my first ANG seminar.
Linda’s Snow Globe Santa by Janet Casey Ziegler is in the center.
Peg Dunayer’s Triangle Santa ornament from Needlepoint Now (Nov/Dec 2007) was finished through Nimble Needle and I absolutely love it! The sparkles just make it a little more special. My ANG Keystone Garden Chapter stitched as a project in 2014 and when I got it back I forgot to post it too – been slipping on my blog.
Wishing one and all a happy holiday and a healthy New Year!!
Filed under: ANG Keystone Garden Chapter, Christmas Ornaments, Melita's Other Completed Pieces, Other People's Designs, Santacicle, Snow Globe Santa, Triangle Santa Ornament by Peg Dunayer
This Snow Globe Santa by Janet Casey Ziegler was stitched by Linda from my ANG Main Line Stitchers chapter. I was thrilled when she gave it to me last Christmas but I forgot to place it on my blog. So, here it is for posting this Christmas!
And, I was just as happy to get a Christmas Basket this year from Linda. Yes, she’s also a beautiful sewer.
I did make pillowcases for a charity, Ryan’s Cases for Smiles, earlier this year. Linda helped me with them too because it had been 40 years since I’d used a sewing machine. The two we made are in the upper left corner of the picture. Then, I made 2 more at our Community Day at work using a regular machine and a surger. It was fun. One of the women in my group enjoyed the event so much that she is getting a sewing machine for Christmas. Linda kept her eyes open for sales & found a great deal from Steve’s in King of Prussia, the Anna model, half off for just $200 and a great machine for a beginner. It almost makes me want to take up sewing!!
But, I have tons of needlepoint projects started and ideas of my own that I want to work on and 3 big events with classes coming in 2017. Linda and I are both attending Blue Bonnet for Toni Gerdes’ classes Fire & Ice and Bronze Purse in February and Nashville Needleworks in April with Laura Taylor for Embracing Horses. Then, I will take a 4-day canvas embellishment class at ANG Seminar in Anaheim with Cynthia Thomas after taking her Creating Diagrams and Stitch Guides using Microsoft Office class. I didn’t forget about my husband, Bill. We’re extending each trip to take in local sites. And, we have a non-needlepoint train trip across Canada planned for July-August (actually, I will stitch but no classes). We’ll be married 30 years in Oct 2017 – lots of fun times ahead!
Completed the mystery project, Keystone Garden Patch! It was designed by Tony Minieri for the chapter many years ago. It’s nice that is was recycled because many of us were not here then. It’s been fun watching it grow monthly since February.
I decided to mount it on a Rosewood gift box (8″ x 6″ x 2″) that I ordered from woodcrafter.com. An extra finishing edge (binding stitch) was added so that I could cut right up to the needlepoint. I used an acid-free mounting board with a sticky side. And, I finally got out my glue gun to attach it to the box. Glad I practiced because the glue dries fast. It was my gift for our shuffleboard group and Janice ended up with it. And, she sent me a wonderful thank you note. I’m so glad that she appreciated it.
Filed under: ANG Main Line Stitchers Chapter
A few of our ANG Main Line Stitchers (MLS) Chapter members met last night at Buff’s house for a wonderful evening! Food & friends – what could be better? An ornament exchange!! We drew numbers and did the steal (sorry Buff – I swear I won’t steal from you next year). But, I already have a red & green one (center one in picture) that this will go great with!!
It was great to see Nancy, Marnie, and Carole who have been absent for various reasons for a couple of months. We always appreciate the effort they make coming from Delaware & New Jersey! Patrick, Yvonne, Linda, Buff, and I completed the group last night.
We decided to go with “unfinished” ornaments so we could finish in whatever manner we preferred. The designs were all from the Kick Back & Stitch series by Terry Gifford (someone donated a variety of different instruction booklets). We distributed them last summer so people could work on them. Not everyone participated (which is fine) and the 2 “finished” ornaments pictured below were augmented by some handy stitching supplies.
We were happy to welcome Kristen and Kathy this year to MLS. Best wishes for a healthy and happy year to all our members! Hope to see you and more new members in 2017. Please join us at 7:00 pm on the second Monday of the month at St. Luke’s Lutheran Church. GPS: 203 North Valley Forge Road, Devon, PA.
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Filed under: ANG Main Line Stitchers Chapter
A few of us at ANG Main Line Stitchers chapter started the 2012 Stitch of the Month which is the 40th Anniversary Heart. Area 3 is a composite pattern. It’s so tough to get the right color of lavender/purple & the small Kreinik x s aren’t sparkly enough in the photo.
Filed under: ANG Main Line Stitchers Chapter, ANG Stitch of the Month, 2016
November’s portion of Susan Hoekstra’s Feuilles d’ananas (Pineapple Leaves) are giant diagonal mosaic stitches alternating with small mosaic stitches. Again, I centeted the giant mosaic to start. This worked up quickly.
I can tell we’ll have a lot of couching Kreinik next month. Plus, there are beads to add.
Filed under: Cross Stitch Retreat
My travel buddy Linda & I headed out Thursday for Harrisburg , PA to join 145 people (including at least one male) for a 3-day event.
They handed out a nice bag full of goodies (not all the free designs are pictured).
There were about 9 vendors including 2 designers (Sue Hillis and Jean Farish) selling a nice variety of stuff. The amazing store, Needleworker’s Delight, brought a variety of fabrics in wonderful colors. They relocated since we were there. Apparently, it’s a better space for retail shopping (181 US Highway 1 South in Metuchen, NJ).
I managed to find a cute design from Sue Hillis without much difficulty and fabric from Needleworker’s Delight I’ll need for it. There are needles I never saw before. And, that’s linen lacing thread for finishing that won’t stretch like cotton. The laying tool is more substantial than the trolley needle and has a pretty celtic design.
I didn’t get a picture when all the tables were full because some people took classes.
Linda and I shopped, sat & really enjoyed stitching with our new friends Stephanie (standing right) and Patty (standing left). I enjoyed seeing all the different projects people were stitching and the various tools everyone was using.
Linda and I did get a chance to visit Debra at Half Moon Hand Werks. She is the orgainizer of the February event formerly called Festival of the Guilds (http://www.fibreworksresource.com). Linda got beautiful fabric for sewing. I found some threads and tools.
Finally, the proper weather to get back to stitching Patti Mann’s Nov Mums (9110) which I got at Rita’s Needlepoint over the summer. The stitch guide is from Betsy at Fireside Stitchery. She had that ready after I got back from seminar. Working on the background (a mosaic darning pattern) today.
Filed under: ANG Main Line Stitchers Chapter, ANG Stitch of the Month, 2012
With the new year kicking off last month, we started the 2012 Stitch of the Month from ANG’S website. That’s the 40th Anniversary Heart design. Several of us are doing it in red and one in another colorway. One person is doing a quatrafoil instead of the heart.
Here’s September’s (T-stitch) & October’s (Criss-Cross Hungarian) areas completed.
By adding the 2 outer rows as final borders, we are almost done with the mystery project at my ANG Keystone Garden Chapter. But, there is something mysterious that will “be revealed” next month before we finish. Hmmmm.
Wednesday night at our meeting, I got the first border done and last night I added the outermost border. And, thanks to the longest 9-inning post-season game in major league baseball history, I added beads in the 2 large diamonds. They were optional but I liked that they made the top bluer and the bottom greener than the threads alone. I was worried about the top having more beads than the bottom and being top heavy. But, the bottom green ones are larger Mill Hill Beads and the top blue ones are smaller seed beads from Beads By Blanche (via Trish V who purged her stash last year). Of course, I could always turn it upside down had it been top heavy. I think it is looking great!
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