March 9, 2022--Won 3rd Place Ribbon in the Whitework category at Woodlawn's 59th Annual Needlework Exhibition in Alexandria, VA. So pleased.
July 3, 2020--Picked up this project from Michaels Arts & Crafts frame shop today. Love how it came out--simple yet elegant. Even though it's a Christmas piece, I'm going to have it hanging in my guest room all year round.
Christmas in the Heartland Framed |
May 28, 2020--Fini! As much of a challenge as this piece was for me, I enjoyed every step of the way. The very last section contained a hardanger stitch called Greek Cross adjoining Divided Wrapped Bars. Cindy Valentine's instructions were very clear, but I took a peak at some YouTube videos on how this stitch is executed just for clarification. Easy peasy! Lastly, I found one more error and have noted it below in my Notes to the Instructions.
Christmas in the Heartland Completed |
Note: At first I thought the small bird on the lower right side was a chicken. Heartland = Chicken.
Nope, while stitching it, I realized it's supposed to be a quail because of the piece on top of its head. Can you see it?
May 26, 2020--Back in 2012, I enrolled in an ANG Workshop by Mail project called Christmas in the Heartland designed by Cindy Valentine. Because this project has many hardanger type stitches, I put off working on this piece until I was able to take a hardanger class of some sort which I did at Hardanger University in February, 2019. Glad I did wait--was able to cut the fabric for the first section in full confidence. Cindy's instructions for doing the hardanger stitches are wonderful and I especially liked her chart giving the path for stitching the needlewoven bars and dove's eyes. Perfect.
I do wish, however, that I copied the class emails and notes back in 2012, especially those that may have discussed errors in the instructions. I found a few errors myself and have noted them below in case anyone else has this project in their "to be stitched" stash. I also made an error in what type of silver Kreinik to use. The instructions called for "HL", High Lustre silver #4 Kreinik and I'm using regular silver from my stash. I now can see that the HL Kreinik would have made a much greater impact. This project is stitched on 25 count Laguna linen and has been a challenge to work on. Lots of froggin' going on. The most difficult stitch for me to get right was the Queen's Stitch. I must have restarted that stitch 4 times. Aaarrrgh!
All in all, though, I am very much enjoying this project. There's another band of hardanger cutwork coming up and I'm sure I'll get through that easily enough. Below is a photo of my progress to date. I took 2 photos, one with white fabric underneath the linen, another with a silvery color. I like the silver fabric best--you don't see the threads on the back of the linen carried from one section to another.
Christmas in the Heartland Through Band O |
Notes to the Instructions:
- A Kloster stitch is missing on Band B in the lower right section. The missing stitch is shown on Page A Master Chart, Page B Detail of Master Chart Top and on Page 5 Detail of Band B.
- The Queen Stitches Detail on Page 19 show the angles of the center stitches going in a different direction than those on the Master Chart Page A and on the Detail of Master Chart Center Page C. I used the Master Chart to determine the angles.
- The color Kreinik for the Ray stitches on Diagram O Page 21 for the blue colorway should be silver, not gold as printed.
- Band R on page 22 refers to placing beads in this section. The instructions made no reference to where those beads were to go.
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