Gilded Cabochons - Updated 3/9/22

March 9, 2022--Won 1^st Place Ribbon in the Canvaswork-Multi-stitch category at Woodlawn's 59th Annual Needlework Exhibition in Alexandria, VA.  So pleased.

September 5, 2021--Just had this project framed at Michael's Arts & Crafts and love how formal it looks.  Now to find a special spot in the house to place it.

Gilded Cabochons Framed

July 1, 2021--Fini, Done, Finished!  Yay.  I don't know why I procrastinated so long before tackling the stuffed detached buttonhole oval and rectangular cabochons, but I did.  I found every excuse under the sun not to buckle down and just DO IT!  Well, this morning, I finally did just that--I DID IT!  

Fortunately Debbie Rowley has some wonderful videos attached to her Zoom classes which explain easily what to do.  Mine aren't exactly in the perfect category, but to most eyes, it'll look fine.  Now off to the framer I go.

Gilded Cabochons Completed

BTW, I did not add two rows of extra stitching around the edge for easier framing as I wrote about in May (see below).  Just couldn't wait to get this off the stretcher bars and now hope my framer can deal with any wonkiness that may have occurred.

May 14, 2021--Plugging along on the lower left quadrant, just a bit past Lesson 11.  Hospitalizations, surgeries, etc. for both myself and my husband have slowed down my stitching immensely.  But I really love this project and want to complete it more than ever.  

I'm also trying to figure out if I should stitch a row of 2 threaded satin stitch around this thing so the framer has a teensy bit play of room for mat placement.  This extra bit of color is becoming important for a few reasons:  1) the canvas may be a bit wonky and isn't as straight as it should be for matting; 2) I'm mounting the canvas incorrectly on the stretcher bars--pulling too tightly on one edge vs. the other causing the edges to warp.  Either way, blocking doesn't seem to fix this, so satin stitching around the edge may be the easiest solution.

Gilded Cabochons through Lesson 11

April 25, 2021--The upper left quadrant is completed and ready for the detached buttonhole stitch to be worked up in the rectangle and lower right quadrant.   Don't know if I'll do that now or wait until everything else is done.  We'll see....  Here are photos of my progress to date.  Love all the shine and texture.

Gilded Cabochons through Lesson 10

Gilded Cabochons through Lesson 10 Side View

February 14, 2021--Finished stitching the lower right quadrant through Lesson 6.  I'm leaving the area open for a cabochon which is done using the detached buttonhole stitch.  There is a cabochon in another quadrant which utilizes this same stitch, so I'll do both at the same time after I practice a bit in the margin.   Will pick this up again in a month or so.  

Gilded Cabochons through Lesson 6

November 15, 2020--The right quadrant, through Lesson 4, is stitched.  Whew--this is definitely a learning process for me so please don't be distracted by the bad stitching.  I can't tell you how many sections I've had to rip out due to miscounting or just getting the stitch sequences wrong.  My eye doctor tells me I'm ready for cataract surgery, and I guess she's right.  I do love the thread colors and how much dimension there is to the "cabochons" and center medallion.  I'm going to take a break before starting another quadrant, picking this up after the holidays (but maybe sooner).

Gilded Cabochons Through Lesson 4 (Right Quadrant)

Gilded Cabochons Through Lesson 4 (Right Quadrant)
Side View

November 5, 2020--ANG CyberPointers Chapter offered Gilded Cabochons by Debbie Rowley as an online class beginning in October, 2020.  I love this type of project, so immediately signed up opting for the Blue Topaz colorway.  So far I've managed to complete the stitching through Lesson 2.  This is an immense challenge--I've either forgotten how to count or need new glasses, or both.  There's a lot of shine and dimension which hopefully you can see in the second photo.  I'm muddling through and below are the results:

Gilded Cabochons Through Lesson 2

Gilded Cabochons Through Lesson 2 Side View

Below is a list of threads used for this project:

2021 Year in Review - 12/31/21

December 31, 2021--During another year of ups and downs with COVID, I managed to complete the stitching on 10 needlepoint projects.  Here they are from most recent (December) to oldest (January).

Many have not yet been finished into ornaments, framed, 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 2021.

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.

SOTM Stratigraphy Framed

Friendship Circles Framed

Bargello Rose Framed

Holiday Ornament Red Light Completed

Cashmere Santa Completed

Gilded Cabochons Framed

Blue Diamond Ornament

North Wind Santa Completed

Brocaded Elegance Stocking Finished

Candles Bright Completed

Projects that were stitched in prior years, but "finished" in 2021:

Let the Good Times Roll Purse

My Vintage Heart Finished

Delicate Flowers Stocking Finished

A Star in the Meadow Stocking Finished

SOTM 2021 Stratigraphy - Updated 9/12/25

September 12, 2025--Won a 1st Place Ribbon in the Canvaswork/Needlepoint category at Rehoboth Beach Museum's 13th Annual Needlework Exhibition in Rehoboth Beach, DE.  So pleased.

December 26, 2021--This fun project is now framed and hanging in my guest bath.  Looks wonderful--the colors are spot on.

SOTM 2021 Stratigraphy Framed

 

December 5, 2021--The last lesson, published this month, is done and this project is now ready for framing.   All that had to be done is a Slanted Gobelin stitch over two threads all around the piece as a border using the last color labeled as D6.  The lesson also called for stitching the blue sky on top in a Nobuko stitch which I had completed last April.  

Below is a photo of the completed project along with information about what threads I used and in what month.  If you are thinking about doing the 2021 Stitch of the Month, hopefully this additional information will be helpful in figuring out what colors were used and when.

All in all, a fun project to work on

SOTM 2021 Stratigraphy Lesson 12 December and Completed

Thread List

Threads Used Each Month

SOTM 2021 Thread Choices

November 8, 2021--I may now be finished stitching this project.  The lesson for November covered the rest of the layers or rows (9 of them this month) for a total of 42 layers, so that's done.  I believe the only thing to cover in December is the top or sky area, which I've already stitched.   

The thread colors in the photos below look different, dependent on the lighting available to me.  I apologize for that since this makes it hard to figure out exactly what colors I've used.  Also, we weren't given the number of skeins/cards needed for each color, so when I put my threads together from stash, I did run out of a few colors and, rather than ripping out previous stitching, just went with a different thread, but with a similar color.  Hope it's not too noticeable.

Below are two concerns about the November lesson:  

1) So far, I have not used the last thread identified as "D6" in the January suggested thread list.  Since this is identified as a black thread, I'm wondering if it's used as a border around the project.

2) The last layer, a Slanted Gobelin stitch, is worked over 2 threads except under the second column.  There we are instructed to work the stitch over 5 threads.  I believe she meant to say over 4 threads.

SOTM 2021 Stratigraphy Lesson 11 November

October 7, 2021--The October lesson consisting of 7 layers is now done.  Coming into the home stretch with darker colors becoming prominent.

SOTM 2021 Stratigraphy Lesson 10 October

September 6, 2021--Here is Stratigraphy stitched through the 9th lesson in September.  We're now over halfway through the design layers and it's starting to look interesting.

SOTM 2021 Stratigraphy Lesson 9 September

 August 7, 2021--The August lesson is stitched and there are now 22 layers or rows.  I'm working up this project using threads from my stash and learned I don't have enough of a few colors, so had to reorder more.  Unfortunately, dye lots have changed, so some of the layers look a little different than earlier stitched ones.  Oh well, it's not enough to make me start over or rip out previous layers.  

SOTM 2021 Stratigraphy Lesson 8 August

July 3, 2021--This piece is moving along nicely.  Here's a photo with 7 months of lessons done.  I know this is less than half of the project, so I suspect we'll get really busy in the next 5 months (August through December).  

SOTM 2021 Stratigraphy Lesson 7 July

June 3, 2021--June's lesson consisted of only two layers, so it was stitched in hours.   It's beginning to look interesting.

SOTM 2021 Stratigraphy Lesson 6 June

May 5, 2021--There were six layers to stitch for May's lesson, so now a total of 12 layers have been done.  There are a lot of greens in this group and I'm hoping to see more color variety in the upcoming lessons.  

It took me two days of occasional stitching to work up the six layers for this month, not bad.

SOTM 2021 Stratigraphy Lesson 5 May

April 6, 2021--The fourth lesson published April 1st has been stitched.  I decided to also stitch the "sky area" since there was so little to do with this month's lesson.  I could see from the project photo that the sky consisted of the Nobuko stitch which is easy enough to do.  I chose a very light blue which wouldn't fight with my beige, blue/green and gray colors of the stratigraphic layers.  So far, so good.

SOTM 2021 Stratigraphy Lesson 4 April plus Sky

March 3, 2021--Completed the third lesson published March 1st on the ANG website for its members.  

I'm wondering why we had only one row to stitch--at this rate, there will be many, many rows to stich during the last months of the year.  I also wanted to stitch more rows to see how my colors look together before going too far. 

I'm also wondering why her M1 thread in February is darker than the M2 thread used in March as shown in her project photo.  Oh well, here's my three months worth....

SOTM 2021 Stratigraphy Lesson 3 March

 February 1, 2021--The lesson for February was fast and easy, especially now that I have my colors picked out.  Here's the result to date with three rows stitched:

SOTM 2021 through February Lesson 2

January 11, 2021--I love working on ANG's Stitch of the Month projects.  They usually require a few days of time each month and by the end of the year, you have a very nice project that was fun to work on all year long.  This year is no different.  It is designed by Jennifer Riefenberg and called Stratigraphy.  I love the two folded columns, one moving forward, the other back.  

I'm including a picture of the threads I plan to use taken from my stash (tans--4 threads, blue/greens--4 threads, silver greys--6 threads).  They aren't exactly what the designer called for, but they'll work perfectly in the room where this project will be placed (I hope 🤞).

Here's a photo of the January lesson which covered canvas types, threads, information about the design background, and the first row or layer of stitching.    I'm working this on Congress Cloth.

SOTM 2021 January Lesson

SOTM 2021 Thread Choices