I finally made a trip to Needle Me to use my gift certificate from our Christmas exchange. I found a purse half off (& with the gift certificate was half off again). While the piece of needlepoint isn’t a perfect fit. It will be fine for a while.
And, look at what 40 yards of Watercolours looks like!
To thank members of the Board for our efforts, our President Patrick B, gave us laying tools that he made from an African porcupine quill. He added the decorative top bead. Some people are so creative & handy! Thanks again Patrick.
Filed under: ANG Keystone Garden Chapter, Fuchia Needlebook by Merrilyn Heazlewood
One of the projects from my second local ANG chapter, the Keystone Garden chapter, is a needlebook called “Fuchia Needlebook”. The designer is Merrilyn Heazlewood & this was published in Needlepoint Now Mar/April 2014. I’m happy with how it turned out! It’s a stem stitch connecting the pages mainly to the lining but I picked up enough from just below the lining that it doesn’t pull up the lining. This is going to be donated to ANG auction. I’m not sure it’ll be sent in time to make it into this years auction or next.
Filed under: ANG Correspondence Courses, ANG CyberPointer's Chapter, Spirit of Jean by Kathy Rees
The ANG CyberPointers chapter voted to offer Spirit of Jean by Kathy Rees, a current Correspondence Course, to our members & I signed up! Recently, I obtained some great stash from Mae V-D, a past member of my local chapter, Main Line Stitchers, who passed away. So, the basis of the colorway came from her threads. Plus, Mae is my middle name & my grandmother’s name!
You can see in the upper left side of the photo the Watercolours tag that has the color and lot number handwritten – now that’s old! And, I’m not sure what the overdyed floss is on the far left but it goes with the Watercolours perfectly. It is amazing that all the threads are over-dyes and makes it more challenging to select threads.
I met Ginny, another CP and member of my other local Keystone chapter who signed up too, at Fireside Stitchery the weekend that the instructions arrived in the mail (thanks Candy for all your work) to select our threads. But, I used some Weeks Dye Works with very little variation to get what I wanted. I was thinking how much easier it would have been to select the optional kit but I love these colors. It’s been very fun stitching although it requires very careful counting!!
The seventh part in the Stitching Games 2015 run by stitcherie offered two choices: (1) You can pick one of the clues (but not a technique), do the usual thing or (2) you can play tic-tac-toe!
From the combinations of clues and techniques that were available, I selected couching/laid filling, eyelet stitches, and Lima.
Since Lima is a coastal city in Peru, I stitched the east & west “coasts” of my piece in a couching/laid filling technique from parts of ANG’s Stitch of the Month in March 2005 to create a border. And, because there is a Lima in Ohio I decided to add a couching around each of the circles to represent the Os in OhiO. Lastly, half square eyelets (not sure what else to call them) fit into each corner.
Filed under: General comments
For future reference:
The sixth clue in the Stitching Games 2015 run by stitcherie is “lilliputian”. From Gulliver’s Travels, a race of very small people; also meaning very small. So, the smallest area left on my canvas is the other circle (the one on the right).
I created my own round Amadeus based on my learnings from my Jean Hilton books.
Filed under: General comments
No studio or office for my stash. But, my 5 foot 5 inch tall (36″ wide) cabinet (pictured below), 5 drawers (15.5″ x 19.5″ x 13.5″), 5 bags (2 large totes, 3 small totes), and a bin are now reorganized (charted projects, ground material (painted and colored 14 or 18-count canvas/perforated paper/vinyl/linen), bars, bags, threads, tools, finishing materials including objects such as boxes/coasters/ornaments/frames/rulers/snow globe). Most of my storage containers came from The Container Store (what a wonderful place). I had done this a few years ago but couldn’t find stuff easily. It took me 5 days but I’m done! And, happy to get back to stitching!
Thanks to Linda (in my ANG chapter) for the idea of binders with top loading sheet protectors. I got ones that hold up to 70 pieces of paper not that many hold that much but it allows threads to fit with instructions for small projects (of which I have a few). Now, I will actually be able to find things! It was an eye opener to see how many projects I want to stitch. I think road trips in the future may have to be focused on purchasing threads for projects I already own. Of course, my husband reminded me that I should try to “shop at home” in the one drawer & one bag already filled with threads before buying more!
Filed under: ANG Main Line Stitchers Chapter, Pansy Secret Garden by Laura Perin
I finished Laura Perin’s Pansy & loved seeing it come to life. It would be interesting to see this stitched with some silks. Before I take it to the framers, I want to stitch a companion piece. I have the threads ready to go. However, I have a few other pieces have to get done first. Hopefully, it’ll be done before next spring!
Melitastitches4fun's Blog 
Filed under: General comments
It had been awhile since I was at Strawberry Sampler on Wilmington Pike (Route 202) in Glen Mills, PA. So, I had to show Linda! And, we both managed to find something we had to have.
I just loved the colors of this cross stitch piece, Baked Alaska, by Cheryl Granda. It is from a Mandala series of A-Maze-ing Desserts Collection. I am afraid to look for the others in the series!
They carry mostly samplers and cross stitch projects. Very nicely arranged, bright, and a huge stock. They carry DMC floss, Sampler Threads, and Weeks Dye Works Floss.