Monday, January 4, 2021

Candles Bright - Updated 1/4/2021

January 4, 2021--It took me forever to stitch the pine boughs and cones unto the bottom of this beautiful project.   Anything that requires randomness in the stitching causes me to fuss and get nothing done.  Well I made a resolution to finish this thing before allowing myself to work on anything else, so finish I did.  Now that it's done, don't know why I dallied--it wasn't so bad after all.   Now I have to decide how to finish it into something that can be displayed at Christmastime.

Candles Bright Completed





June 10, 2020--Finished stitching Lesson 2.  This covered all 3 candles as well as the wicks, flames and  haloes.  The haloes were to be stitched "freeform".  Ha, ha--that's nearly impossible for me--I had to graph out the curves, and even then, I'm not totally satisfied.

The lesson did not mention anything about stitching the slanted portion of the smallest candle, but I went ahead and finished it, assuming what thread to use.

The next lesson will probably cover the pine bough and cones.  Definitely a quick stitch project.

Candles Bright through Lesson 2



May 8, 2020--I registered for this ANG CyberWorkshop designed by Mary Knapp in January of this year and the first lesson arrived on May 1.  There are 3 candles and a pine bough with cones in the project (see In Process Projects Page on the right), and the first lesson covered the center candle and its wick, flame and halo.  Since all three candles have the same type of flame, I'll save that stitching until all the candles are worked up.

So far this project is easy enough.  However, I'm having a problem keeping the pearle 8 thread straight in the vertical stitches--it sometimes sits to the right or left of the hole.  I suspect it has something to do with how tight the thread twist is and if something on the backside is affecting how it lays on the front.  But this isn't enough of a problem for me to rip everything out and start over.  So here we are until next month.

Note:  the indentation on the right side is for another candle to be stitched.
Candles Bright through Lesson 1

Sunday, January 3, 2021

Janet Zickler Casey Santas Stitched to Date - Updated 1/3/2021

Click on the photo caption to view more information about each santa.


May 18, 2020--Here's the 12th santa ornament stitched so far--North Wind Santa

North Wind Santa Completed


May 12, 2020--the 11th Janet Zickler Casey santa stitched to date called Santa in the Moon.


Santa in the Moon Completed


January 5, 2020--The 10th JZC santa, Heart Santa, is stitched.


Santa Heart


February 11, 2019--The 9th JZC santa is stitched.


Star Spangled Santa


January 9, 2019--Here's the eighth stitched so far to add to the list below.


Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star Santa


November 16, 2018—Recently I counted up the number of santa ornaments designed by Janet Zickler Casey that I’ve stitched over the years.  Below are 7 out of 23 total to date.  As new ones are completed, I’ll add them to the list.  My goal is to stitch two a year (one new, one old) until all are done.  Click on the caption for more information about each santa pictured.


Candy Swirl Santa
Pine Cone Santa

Nutcracker Santa
Christmas Tree Santa

Silver Bell Santa


Christmas Light Santa

Candy Cane Santa

To see the santas yet to be stitched, please click on the 2 Pages on the right side of this blog called Planned Projects and In Process Projects.

Saturday, January 2, 2021

2020 Year in Review

 January 2, 2021

It's been a very unusal year with COVID and all, but I still managed to complete the stitching on 13 needlepoint projects.  Here they are from most recent (December) to oldest (January).


Many have not yet been finished into ornaments, etc.--I'm waiting to stitch all the projects in the collections before working them up into ornaments (e.g., Janet Zickler Casey's santa collection, Susan Portra's holiday ornament collection).

Also included in this list are the projects stitched in prior years that have been finished into pillows, ornaments, etc. in 2020.

Hope you enjoy looking at these pictures and walking down memory lane with me.  Click on the photo's caption to see more information about each project.