Filed under: A Hilton Holiday by DebBee's Design, ANG Main Line Stitchers Chapter
Our December project for our ANG Main Line Stitchers was A Hilton Holiday. I finished mine before the meeting in order to show everyone. I love how it turned out. It was a free design for signing up for DebBee’s Designs emails. I used the suggested threads.
Filed under: ANG Keystone Garden Chapter, Walking the Water's Edge by Diane Herrmann
Woo hoo! I got the starfish & beads done! What a beautiful piece to complete for my final finish of 2015. A Happy New Year indeed! Thanks again to Diane Herrmann for a great class.
Note: Gifted to Fred R, our financial advisor, of many years upon his retirement to Florida. I can’t find a photo of it framed. We presented it to him and Margo at his retirement party (2016?).
By ordering earlier and having my husband put them away, I had totally forgotten about the first two needlepoint gifts shown below.
This is a Mindy canvas called Hearts in Heart.
I’m sure that I’ll learn a lot from this color tool.
And, I’m finally getting a subscription to this magazine. I resisted for years because I didn’t want to be tempted by more projects. But, it’s fun to read anyway!
Filed under: ANG Main Line Stitchers Chapter, Gilded Acorns by Deborah Wilson
Gilded Acorns was a great follow-up piece allowing me to work with different types of gold.
It might be fun to add some gold to a future piece. I’ve got some leftover after finishing the second leaf, adding the thinner veins in both leaves, and building the second acorn.
I’m heading to the framer on Saturday with both recent goldwork pieces.
Filed under: ANG Keystone Garden Chapter, Color Delights, Camouflage by Kathy Rees
My ANG Keystone Garden Chapter had this as program last year and I finished stitching it in May 2014 (https://melitastitches4fun.wordpress.com/?s=Delights&submit=Search). Well, I finally “finished” it. I did have a nice Sudberry House Walnut Box. I covered the mounting board with a smaller piece of felt. Then, I laced it side to side on the back.
And, I used my new Kreinik Custom Corder for the first time.
And, it turned out nicely! Attaching the braid was the hardest part & I expect that I can do better next time. But, I am happy with it. Practice makes perfect. As long as you don’t use a magnifier to examine it, I think it is good or else I wouldn’t give it as a gift. Merry Christmas to Terri D from my shuffleboard league at the Philadelphia Quartet Club who ended up with the box at our Santa gift exchange (steal). It was a great evening with some wonderful women!
Filed under: General comments
This beautiful black, gray, and white scarf was from a fund raiser in Naples, NY. Each table paid a fee towards the fire department & proceeds from what each table sold they kept. In this case, the money went towards the Narcissa Prentiss House in Prattsburgh, NY – her birthplace. She was a pioneer, missionary, and teacher who traveled with her husband, a minister, from the East Coast to Oregon. Narcissa rode sidesaddled and one of the first two white women to cross the Continental Divide. The house would be interesting to see with artifacts, quilts, antique clothing, a room dedicated to the Pratt family, founders of Prattsburgh.
I’m very glad I had the opportunity to take this class from Margaret Kinsey. It was an excellent piece for a beginner.
Not only was working with gold new for me but so was working on black & it was not easy. So, blackwork on black background provided the second challenge. However, I did it!! And, I pre-poked the places to stitch the blackwork. In that way I was able to see better & be sure everything lined up. Not sure what the “needlepoint police” would have to say about that but it made my life easier!
And, here is the finished piece – looking good times three!! I am very happy with my first goldwork piece.
With the lure of crabs on a crisp fall day, my husband & I hit the road for a 2-hour drive to see the 20th year of Needle Art 2015 – a needlepoint exhibit at Montpelier Mansion in Laurel, MD. It is hosted by “Stitching Pretty” (they have a website) who describe themselves as “an eclectic collection of talented needlework designers. To include hardanger, samplers, reproduction samplers, whimsey, bold, fun designs!”
It was interesting to see that the judges (a panel of regionally known needle art professionals) awarded 1st place and honorable mention awards (no 2nd/3rd place). They also awarded 2 Judges Choice, a Special Category Award for Celebrate with Needle & Thread, and Best in Show. The exhibit & venue reminded Bill & I of Woodlawn. The pieces approximately 115 pieces were located throughout the house and lighting was not always great. But, you could get a lot closer. They were mostly counted cross stitch on various grounds (Aida, linen, Congress Cloth, etc), a lot of samplers, 12 categorized as counted canvas, goldwork, embroidery, beading, crochet, Romanian Point Lace, and other miscellaneous (including children stitching felted pieces). Signs were out “Do not touch” & the only reference to photography was not to use a flash in the Mansion booklet. So, I am not sharing all the photos on my blog – I will show them to the people in my chapter’s meeting next month.
In addition, there was a non-judged category – Heirloom – for older pieces as related to subject, history and stitches. They do not have to be made by the exhibitor nor does the stitcher have to still be living. That may be something I contribute to next year with my grandmother’s work. I’ll think about that!
The Judges Choices went to Margaret S (#199) for a 4-panel elaborate case to hold needles/scissors/threads with I think a pin cushion (all beautifully assembled) and to Sherri B for a sampler (the one that most impressed my husband – it was impressive – basically 4 samplers stitched as one). The Special Category Award went to a counted cross stitch design of a woman sitting in front of her ironing board taking a break doing some embroidery with a basket of clothes at her feet and a kitten playing. I thought it was blackwork at first because the outlined areas are filled with a pattern but up close, I could see the crosses. The Best in Show went to a chair categorized as embroidery/thread painting but I have always called it crewel. I can’t imagine ever allowing anyone to sit on it!!
Deborah Merrick-Wilson had 2 first place winners. One was traditional English goldwork of a monogram – I only saw a really fancy M but Deborah pointed out the V (now I see it) that she stitched years ago for her good friend and a past member of my ANG Main Line Chapter, Mae V-D who passed away recently. The other piece is a flower and leaves of goldwork with thread stitched on counted canvas. With Deborah’s permission, I can share these photos. Congrats to Deborah! And, either of her 2 small goldwork flowers would be great for another class next year!!
Filed under: ANG Main Line Stitchers Chapter, Gilded Acorns by Deborah Wilson
Yesterday ANG Main Line Stitchers joined with EGA Brandywine to host Deborah Wilson (a recent Woodlawn winner & author of the goldwork chapter in Amy Bunger’s Cookbook). Linda & I were fortunate to have visited Woodlawn the day Deborah was demonstrating. So, we saw Gilded Acorns on display & thought it would be a great piece for our chapter.
Class got off to a flying start when I learned about my Elan lap stand from Nancy who had one too. She showed me how the base expands (out to 29″). I have had this stand for at least 10 years & never knew about this feature!
It was interesting to learn slightly different techniques from different teachers. Deborah stretched the pearl purl by holding the end with a pair of scissors instead of by her fingers. And, she couched the end about 3 twists in but gently twisted the pearl purl to make the couched stitch on the first twist. Very cool. I learned that the tweezers I bought was really a burling iron. And, I had the opportunity to work with different types of gold including broad plate, whipped broad plate, bright check purl, and wire check purl. A wonderful follow-up class to the one I took at seminar. Deborah will be teaching a wonderful piece at NAN in 2017. Watch for that!!
We got a lot done despite the fact that we had to stitch the leaf first with Waterlilies. I wonder if most beginners of goldwork start with leaves. Both of my goldwork pieces are leaves. Or, maybe, I was drawn to them because they are leaves – fall is my favorite time of year! I am so excited that the 2 goldwork pieces are not so tough or large that I will finish both. They will look nice framed.
Melitastitches4fun's Blog 
Filed under: General comments
Thanks to everyone from 88 countries who took the time to come and read my blog in 2015 (especially Brenda & Sue). According to WordPress, I had a total of 20,000 views with 370 hits in a single day! Read all about it at https://melitastitches4fun.wordpress.com/2015/annual-report/
I followed my 2015 mantra, VISION, by using some of what I had in my stash but I brought in more new pieces some of which were finished & others were added to my stash. But, I’m happy looking back at what was accomplished. I finished 13 projects including 4 of my own designs (2 are not going to be shown here until they appear somewhere else which is very exciting), 2 goldwork pieces (1 ANG seminar class project and 1 ANG Main Line Stitchers class project which were with great teachers and I learned a lot) & 7 charted designs. I finished Walking the Water’s Edge with just 12 hours left before we rang in 2016! That’s more pieces than I realized I had done. Not only did I enjoy stitching them but also learned a lot.
Now, I am getting back to Spirit of Jean (hope to finish in Jan). And, I will spend time on another of my own designs and a small painted canvas. Since each one needs a particular mindset in order to do it correctly, I think I’ll go back to FOCUS as my stitching mantra in 2016. I think that has been a guiding principle since 2014 anyway. And, I don’t have to focus on the same piece every day until it is done. Rather, I look at focusing on finishing a particular section when I sit to stitch. That way I am accomplishing exactly what I want to do on a given day.
I did have to rest my hands for a couple of days because I was getting quite a bit of pain from too much stitching. So I spent the time cleaning up my camera & computer folders. And, I see I have been remiss in posting various stitching related items. So, the next couple of weeks will be catching up – starting with scissors. If you don’t have the proper tools, stitching is more difficult. I’ve been using the Friskar scissors for a couple years now (since Marilyn O recommended them). And, I have given them as gifts. But, I love the curved Gingham scissors I picked up using part of the gift certificate I got this year from my ANG Main Line Stitchers chapter for my efforts on projects & newsletters. It feels safer clipping closer with the curved blade. Both scissors are so sharp.