Statcounter

Monday, March 31, 2025

Santa Holly Berry - Updated 3/31/25

March 31, 2025--The face, eyes and eyebrows are stitched, and this project is now ready to "travel".  For me that means the balance of the stitching won't require serious attention on my part since most of what's left to do consists of padding, Satin Stitches and Slanted Gobelin Stitches.  It's now perfect for stitch-ins and serious movie watching.  Easy-peasy.


Santa Holly Berry in Process through 2025-03-31

January 6, 2025--Here's the latest Janet Zickler Casey Santa from 2006 than I'm working on called Holly Berry Santa.   His beard consists of very long stitches, so I'll do that last.  The dark pink threads on his face are his "rosy, red cheeks".   I had to order large red beads for the hat to use as berries.  Once they come in, I'll resume stitching this cutie.  

A project photo can be found on the right under the page titled "In Process Projects".


Holly Berry Santa Work in Progress

Thursday, March 13, 2025

Art Deco Tree - Updated 3/13/25

March 13, 2025--Ta da -- Done!!!  I've been working on this beautiful tree on and off for the last 3 months and loved every minute.   For more information about the source of this project, please scroll down to see prior blog postings.  This post will be about the last lesson being given to my ANG chapter (Lesson 3) and the sections covered.   As was done for the prior two lessons, I've worked up lots of graphs to make the stitching of this advance level project a bit easier.

The advice I would give to anyone endeavoring to work up this project is to count, count and recount every step of the way.  Read EACH sentence carefully--there's a lot of information packed into each paragraph, and you don't want to miss a step.  Ripping out sections because the stitch was done incorrectly, or you counted wrong, will be a common theme (was for me).  Don't worry about it--just redo it and you'll be happier.  This project is very addicting, and you'll want to keep stitching on it as you see each section develop (like a flower opening its petals). 

OK, now that I've posted lots of closeup photos below--I can see how bad some of my stitching looks.  Oh well--this is a very "busy" project and from a normal distance, my wonky stitches won't look bad at all.  

Art Deco Tree Completed

Art Deco Tree Areas C4, M2 M1 Partial, T1, M4, M3, C5, T2 and Star Completed Lesson 3

Area T1, T2, M4, M3 Closeup



Area C4 Closeup




Area C5 Closeup


Star Closeup


February 18, 2025--Below is a photo of Areas B1, B2, B3, B4, C1, C2, C3, E1, E2, and M1 Partial stitched to date.  This is a large project. The completed stitching will measure about 13" tall and 11" at the widest point (the tree bottom).

Art Deco Tree Completed Through Area M1 Partial

Areas B1, B2, B3, B4, C3 and M1 will be part of the second class given to my ANG chapter in May.  I calculate I'm about 70% done with this beautiful project.  It has a ton of shine and dimension.  However, please don't look closely at the stitches and beading--some of it is a "hot mess" so to speak.  Also, my Kreinik gold threads had a dye lot change and if you study the stitches closely, you may be able to see the difference.  But the pattern is so busy, I don't believe the dye lot changes will jump out at anyone.

Here are photos of each section as stitched:

Art Deco Tree Area C3 Completed

The beading in area C3 was strung up in a line and couched down rather than attached to the canvas one at a time as instructed.  Even though this looks a bit wonky (Mill Hill beads are not as nice as Miyuki or Toho beads, for example), it looks so much better than the other way.  This is because the beads are larger than the canvas thread spacing, so you need to skip a canvas thread periodically.  I did not like how that looked.

The photos, from this point forward, are of the right side of the tree only.

Art Deco Tree Area B1

Art Deco Tree Area B3


Art Deco Tree Area B2


Art Deco Tree Areas B4 and M1 Partial

January 7, 2025--This is a section of the Art Deco Tree project designed by Deborah Reichert published in ANG's Needle Pointers Nov 2024 Magazine.  The stitching in this post covers Areas C1, C2, E1 and E2.  Isn't it beautiful?  

I have the privilege of leading this as a three-part class to Delaware's Seashore Chapter of ANG beginning in March.   My class will include lots of additional notes, graphs and instructions to make stitching this piece a little easier and more enjoyable.

Art Deco Tree Completed through Section E2


Below are photos of each section as it was stitched.

Art Deco Tree Area C1 Completed (love how the shiny rayon floss makes this look like a pearl)



Art Deco Tree Area C2 Completed (the outer edges make me think of Mother of Pearl)



Art Deco Tree Area E1 Completed