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I feel like I was at a needlepoint exhibit even though it was the Williamsburg Antique Mall. My favorite is what is described as “bungo” embroidery. I never heard of it & can’t find anything on google. It looks like boucle thread in long/short stitches.
This is ribbon embroidery.
More (of the better pieces) . . .
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I got the matching Blackbird Eyeglass Case at Haus Tirol aka as the Stitching Well In Williamsburg, VA to the small bag & coin purse that I already am working on.
They carry mostly sampler and cross stitch kits but also a nice selection of threads and blank canvases.
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I spent a wonderful morning with the ladies from the ANG Hampton Roads Sandpipers chapter. Nina P, membership, sent me their newsletter, & said I was welcome to join them even though they were having a class which I was also welcome to join. I didn’t want to keep my husband waiting that long (10-3) so I didn’t. But, I may propose this as a project for our chapter & maybe get Gtrechen to come to our chapter. The design is Tres Flores, Sundance Designs.
Karen S President, introduced me during the first half hour of the business portion. They have several new members to ANG & the chapter. So, I explained about the Distance Learning Programs & pilot stitching. Show & tell included some lovely pieces but none more spectacular than Sue H’s collection that she designed of a needle case & matching accessories that were just lovely.
I also enjoyed meeting Gretchen Janesak from Threads LLC (threadsinva.com) from Charlottesville, VA who came to teach the class. Of course, I had to pick this up from her table for my husband! I should even be able to get it done this week!
Dragon Fly is a Kathryn Molineux painted canvas that I selected at Nimble Needle for a class with Sharon G who provided the stitch guide.
I’ve had this done for a while & was enjoying looking at it but I can only keep so many pieces. So, this went to Anita, another coworker for her birthday! And, now everyone I work with has gotten something I stitched.
The design was exactly 5″ X 7″ & Michael’s cut the mat to fit exactly. I really got lucky with the color of the frame matching my design – also from Michael’s! I just cut the canvas down & left it unblocked. There isn’t the same amount of space in this type of frame to add another layer of thickness. And, my stitching doesn’t pull the canvas out of shape anyway – so, it should be fine.
I used Jean Hilton’s Stimulating Stitches to put together a matching design to Pat Mazu’s Diamond in a Square and finally got them into a pair of bookends for my current manager. That’s the fifth set of bookends!
What a great weekend! A second road trip with Linda in as many months!! We met around 8 am on Friday to visit 4 NJ needlepoint stores where we spent between 30 min to 2 hours at a shop. Details are presented in the order we visited:
Colonia for http://needleworkersdelight.com/ where we me Kevin & Alison, the owners who are getting ready to celebrate their 1-year anniversary. The variety of canvases and fabrics is impressive as is the pre-finished items (towels/blankets/tablecloths). There is more cross stitch/samplers than needlepoint. I forgot to look at threads but I thought I saw Anchor and the website says they have Presencia Finca Collection & Jar Designs hand-dyed floss and perle cotton (I wish I’d looked at them). I had no problem finding some interesting items including some Vintage canvas (they have a little tea staining effect which I’ll use for Laura Perin Secret Garden collages which has some open spaces)! The collection of 8 fabric samples pictured below was a thank you gift for first-time visitors. I’m not sure what I’ll use the heart & oval frame for yet but I love that they are self finishing! And, the leaf wire hanger was too cute to pass up. We wished Kevin & Alison the best of luck & headed onward!
Wyckoff for http://www.ridgewoodneedlepoint.com/ where we chatted more than shopped with a lovely group of ladies who were there for a “Stitch & Sit” (& a few who we saw the next day at New Jersey Needle Festival aka NJNF). The store has wonderful light (making photos difficult) & several areas to sit & stitch!
Fairfield for http://www.theedwardianneedle.com/ where we talked with Tony briefly before he had to leave but Pam & the other ladies were wonderful. We managed to shop more than chat with another group of women who were there for a stitch & chat session. A few of them were headed to NJNF too. They were kind enough to ask if we wanted to join them for lunch but we’d already eaten & so we spent time shopping. I needed threads for a project I am designing & they have threads!! I really lucked out finding the red, white, & blue Silk Lame Braid (I had to get both weights – for 13 & 18 count – it felt like Christmas & my birthday). The Dinky Dyes came in a nice red, white, & blue overdyed floss. It took more effort than I expected to find matching solids across various thread types for red, white, & blue but selected Frye Werks, Kreinik (red 421, white, 100, blue 033), and Soie Cristale silk threads.
and Mendham http://www.mrsstitches.com/ where Ann was busy getting ready for NJNF. We managed to get project organizers before anyone at the NJNF!
We were only 10 min behind schedule for meeting Brenda, Ginny, Rona, & Rosie for good food, drinks, and stitching stories at a local restaurant! I forgot to get a picture of the gang – we were too busy talking. What a great day!!
The next day was just as much fun. Lori, Linda, myself, Brenda, Naomi, and Elizabeth (from left to right) shared a table together along with more great stories! And, the room was filled with needle crafters of various varieties working on wonderful pieces – so interesting to see everything. I am restitching Gentle Waves but won’t blog about it until after seminar – it is designed in honor of seminar being held in Myrtle Beach this coming September – you can sort of see my design in the picture below (bottom left).
And, there was more shopping with vendors including Susan Hoekstra’s table where I managed to find a leather Stirling bag which I understand is now discontinued. My first attempt at Gentle Waves will go inside the bag.
Trish is going to make me a lanyard with 2 hooks instead of single center one. She is a member of my ANG Keystone Garden chapter, Projects VP, and maker of incredible items. Trish Vine Designs is not on the Web yet but you can email her for a brochure and price list at trishvinedesigns@gmail.com – I have her iPad holder, a notepad holder, & various sizes project bags from past NJNFs.
There was one vendor which makes a yarn/thread organizing system (WaterfallThreads.com) with holes along plastic bars that hang in file cabinets. This is her business card! So clever.
Karen at Nimble Needle must be a mind reader – I wanted Tony Minieri’s Back to Basics DVD series & she had all 3 at her table!
This weekend wouldn’t be possible without Susan Hoekstra who hosts the event, including her husband & friends who help make the day such a success! What an incredible amount of work to make something like this go so smoothly & be such fun. She put a cute gift in our bag from her business (foxview.com).
Most of my thanks goes to Linda who is such fun to travel with & then the ladies at dinner, my table mates at NJNF, the store owners we visited & at NJNF, and all the women we met both days! Needlecraft is thriving in NJ!!
As Projects Chairman for ANG Main Line Stitchers chapter, I have enjoyed taking information provided by National on our website. This project (http://www.needlepoint.org/Archives/RecoloringYourCanvas/index.php) will allow us to do some stitching during the meeting. No doubt we will finish at home. Perhaps we can donate them to our gift tag project.
The project “allows the color of the canvas to optically mix with the threads to create a new color” – I have the 3 colored canvases & matching threads mentioned in the article (by Kathy Holman which was originally published in NeedlePointers in September 1997).
I am looking forward to seeing these stitched!
Lavendula (210, surrounded by 209, 211, 340, 917)
Rose blush (778, surrounded by 3688, 224, 758, 3042)
Aquamarina (993, surrounded by 598, 504, 958, 943)
I stitched mine but the other ladies haven’t made it back to a chapter meeting yet. It’s tough to see the color variation in the canvas sections even in person & more so on the blog. But, I can see differences in the color of the canvas caused by the threads easier in certain sections more than others. It really is more than just the variations of the thread.
Filed under: ANG Main Line Stitchers Chapter
My ANG Main Line Stitchers chapter was fortunate to have Cleo from Busy Lizzy in Chadds Ford visit us. I believe she does more finishing now but has canvas & threads. She is busy working out of her home. So, I think it’s more by appt even though I heard come visit anytime.
In just an hour and a half, I was feeling pretty good about my ribbon French Knots (done two different ways). And, the lazy daisy was fine (nothing too tricky except playing with the twist). I forget the name of the second to the left flower on the top. That was the hardest because I kept pulling too tight.
It was great to learn something new & demystify ribbon embroidery even just a little! Thanks so much to Patrick for driving her. And, to Cleo for donating the cloth & ribbon for 12 of us!
The fourth clue in the Stitching Games 2015 run by stitcherie is 3.
Initially, I thought a 3-sided stitch pattern but with the 6-sided shapes in the vase, I didn’t think that would work anywhere.
I really wanted to work on the bottom area which is area number 3 when you start with the top area as number 1 and going either clockwise or counter clockwise around the exterior, the bottom is area 3.
It doesn’t end there. I tried 3 thread types. First was Pepper Pot Silk (Tendrils 098) which is a great match to the green bamboo in one and two threads in the Florentine and Satin pattern from SuZy’s Portable Stitches. Two was too thick and one not enough coverage. So, I tried Silk & Ivory (Lime 56) which seemed dull somehow but coverage was great. Then, I tried Vineyard Merino (English Ivy M-1197) which was so close to the bamboo color that it would detract from the focal point. And, by then, I’d stitched enough to see the diamond pattern would conflict with the 6-sided pattern.
The 3s saga continues as I searched for a new stitch pattern. The vertical look of Buildong Blocks conflicted with the vertical bamboo. So, I was thinking horizontal pattern as I thumbed through The Needlepoint Book (looking forward to the 3rd revised edition coming out soon; but, I have too many notes in this one to part with it!). Plaited Gobelin is pictured vertically but easily works in either direction. And, I can mix in rows of the dark Mandarin Floss (M914) used in the bamboo and maybe Needle Necessities/Kreinik #12 braid overdyed with greens and purples unless the sparkles conflict with the vase. But, I am happy with my 3rd stitch pattern!
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Newport News, VA has the Village Stitchery. I had a nice chat with Sheila and her husband as I browsed the store. Sheila has had the store for many years now, helped form an ANG chapter in the area, and had Jean Hilton in her shop teaching classes. She has several Hilton designs for sale & some lovely stitched samples including the Sampler and Puzzle. I have the instructions for the Sampler & am more intimidated having seen it in person. It is huge – seems overwhelming – but very pretty.
The red, white, and black Mindy canvas called Asian Circles (2220) jumped out of the window at me!
I’ll have to remember to send her a picture of it once I stitch it.
And, it really is nice to see a stitched sample – the conch shell is my favorite. So, I had to get this too.