Nashville, TN Ornament - Updated 7/29/18

July 29, 2018--The ornament was presented last Thursday to the birthday girl while celebrating in Nashville, TN.  I was fearful she wouldn't recognize the building, so before giving the ornament to her, I brought Nashville's skyline to her attention, pointing out how the building was referred to as the "Batman" building by the locals.  Problem solved.   I hope she enjoys it for years to come as a memento of the wonderful time we all had.  Below is a picture of the building in question.  I think it was well represented by the artist.

Batman Building in Nashville, TN

April 10, 2018--Finished this Nashville 4" ornament commemorating my husband's niece's 40th birthday being celebrated in Nashville.  The cording is made out of 8 strands of 1/8" satin ribbon in 4 different colors:  white, gold, blue and black, on a kumihimo braiding round.  The embroidery on the back of the ornament was stitched on my Bernina 1530 sewing machine (an oldie, but a powerhouse goodie). 

The gold backing fabric comes from a drapery sample book given to me by my sister.  She used to fabricate draperies and bedspreads and when she retired, she gave me all of her old sample books, and they are the perfect size for ornaments.

Then the whole shebang is glued together.  I don't place glue directly under the stitching nor under the backing fabric that you see, but the parts that wrap around the mounting board and padding are glued down.  The cording is also glued in place--all faster than stitching.

I hope my husband's niece likes it.

Ornament Nashville Finished Front

Ornament Nashville Finished Back

February 21, 2018--The ornament to celebrate my husband's niece's 40th birthday in Nashville is done.  The little gold design in the moon is the zodiac symbol for the Lion.  I like how it came out.  I have time between now and July to finish it into an ornament with cording and some ribbons (not too many--am not into fru-fru).

Nashville, TN Ornament for 40th Birthday

Side View of Nashville Ornament (beads are more visible)

February 15, 2018--My husband's niece is turning 40 in July and she invited her world to celebrate with her in Nashville, TN.  We've been there once, but it was a quick in and out type of thing, so we responded Yes!  So, what do you get a beautiful woman (and one of the nicest ones too) with a handsome husband, two gorgeous children, a home on a lake, etc.?  Needlepoint!  I'm sure no one else in her life does needlepoint, also I'm quite confident that no one in her family reads my blog, so this will be a surprise.  After inquiring of the wonderful readers on Facebook's Needlepoint Nation as to where I might find a Nashville theme related ornament, I received some nice responses and found one I could order and receive immediately (needing all the time in the world to get this done).  It also had a stitch guide and threads.  Glad it came as a kit--I only had two of the many threads used in this piece.

Below is the canvas designed by Tina Timberlake exclusively for Nashville Needleworks.  There's a lovely white space inside the full moon where I'll stitch in the birthday gal's name, the date or just "40".  Not sure yet.

This is called the "batman building" ornament and I had to google what that meant.  After seeing photos of Nashville's skyline, now I understand why.

Looking forward to getting started.

Ornament Nashville, TN

Holiday Ornament Blue Bell - 7/23/18

July 23, 2018--Completed the stitching of another one of Susan Portra's Holiday Ornaments.  This one is a beautiful blue bell with lots of dimension and shine.  A silver jingle bell will be attached as the clapper.  So far I've stitched 5 of the 15 published to date in Needlepoint Now Magazine.  Ready to start stitching the next one.

Holiday Ornament Blue Bell, Susan Portra Design, 

Project Bag Free - 7/19/18

July 19, 2018--I recently purchased some blankets online and they came in the most wonderful plastic bags to reuse as needlepoint project bags.

The one pictured below has a sturdy handle on the top and a zippered opening.  The size is 24" long by 16" tall by 4" wide--perfect for those extra large projects which, if purchasing a similarly sized project bag from a vendor, would require a hefty price.  This one was free.

And free is very, very good!!

PS.  The project bag is modeled by my current WIP:  Let The Good Times Roll which is on 22" x 14" stretcher bars.  Fits perfectly.

Blanket Bag aka Needlepoint Project Bag

Project Bag Handle

Project Bag Zipper Pull

Table Clamp - 7/12/18

July 12, 2018--Yesterday, in the mail, I received an order placed with BeStitched Needlepoint in Arizona early last month, and couldn't be happier.  It's a K's Creations Table Clamp which can be used with the swivel head from my K's Creations Floor Stand.  Below is a photo of my "trial" setup.

This is going to be very handy at seminar, retreats, etc. where table space is limited.  I'll be able to work off the table to stitch my project and keep the table space for all my "stuff".  The clamp will also be much easier to carry around than a heavy floor stand.

BeStitched has a video on how to set up the clamp.  It can be found here.

K's Creations Table Clamp

Canvas Thread Management - 7/1/18

July 1, 2018--I recently read or heard about using little plastic clips as thread management tools (to keep thread spaghetti neatly out of the way of stitching, etc.) and thought I would give it a try.  I understand the clips were glued to magnets, so I tried that--FAIL.  They were unwieldly when trying to hold the clip open to pull thread tightly into the clip before closing.  Then the clip came unglued from the magnet and everything flew all over the place.

Solution:  Since the clips themselves have a little metal piece on their underside, I used a powerful little magnet (the kind purchased from a hardware store) on the backside of the canvas to hold the clip.  Now it's much easier to open and close the clip and the metal piece on the clip's front doubles as a needle minder.  SUCCESS.

Little Clip Holding Thread Out of The Way and Used as Needle Minder

Back of Clip Showing Magnetic Metal Piece.