New Tool For Straightening Threads - 2/28/18

February 28, 2018--I have a new favorite tool--a Vinida 2-in-1 cordless hair straightener ceramic flat iron and curling iron that is rechargeable with a USB charger. It was a little more expensive than some others, but I wanted a portable, rechargeable flat iron because we are unable to plug in appliances while taking classes at the ANG national seminar.   It is recommended the iron be turned off after each use, but that isn't a problem--when you turn it on, it heats up immediately and then cools quickly when you're finished using it.

Vinida Portable Flat Iron

I had some experience with similar irons brought into classes for students to use, but didn't think they were necessary.  Well, I'm a convert now.  I've been using it to straighten out everything--from RG/Neon Rays to RG/Splendor (love what it does to silk).  I find the threads don't kink up so much and are easier to "lay" flat and smooth.   I'm going to experiment using it for all threads.  Yes, it's an additional step to stitching, but at this point, it seems worth it.

Fire and Ice Class - 2/26/18

February 26, 2018--Just finished taking a 2-day class called Fire & Ice taught by Toni Gerdes and hosted by the ANG Checkerspot Chapter of Silver Spring, MD.  Had a wonderful time learning new stitches and starting to "build" this wonderful project.  Toni designed this piece by selecting threads, colors and shapes based upon the Museum at Prairiefire in Overland Park, KS.

Have lots of "thread spaghetti" to untangle when I get back to this project--and it is calling to me.

Museum at Prairiefire, Overland Park, KS

Toni Gerdes, Teacher and Designer of Fire & Ice

Fire & Ice at Class End

Fiber Talk Podcast - 1/15/18

January 15, 2018--A few months ago I read or heard about a new podcast called Fiber Talk hosted by Gary Parr and Christine Williams for and about needleworkers.  I've never bothered with podcasts before, but I love, love, love this one. 

Every week since January, 2017, Gary Parr and Christine Williams interview needlework artists, as well as have a mid-week chat with just the two of them talking.  I'm currently binge-listening to these podcasts and getting to know teachers, designers, shop owners, etc., etc., through these interviews.   There are so many wonderful needlework artists out there.

Kudos to Gary and Christine for what they are doing and I look forward to their future podcasts as well as catching up on their older ones.

Fiber Talk Podcast Logo

Pine Cone Santa - Updated 1/10/18

January 10, 2018--Another Janet Zickler-Casey Santa done!  This is the 5th kit ordered through the Shining Needle Society and I love doing them.  So much so that I have all the past ones in my "planned to stitch" pile.  They are too cute.

There's lots of texture to this little guy--sequined pine cone on the cap, little button nose, fluffy moustache and beaded beard.  Lots of stitching variety.

Pine Cone Santa Completed

Pine Cone Santa Side View

December 29, 2017--Recently signed up to take the Shining Needle Society's annual Janet Zickler-Casey santa class.  This year's is called Pine Cone Santa.  Two lessons have been posted to date on the project's private Yahoo Group List and I've yet to begin.  Will do so once the holidays are over--lots of fun traveling with visits to friends and family.

Wishing everyone a very Happy and Prosperous New Year for 2018.

Tablet Holder for Floor Stand - 1/5/18

January 5, 2018--I recently purchased a tablet holder from Amy's Golden Strand for my K's Creations floor stand and love it!!!   I'm able to adjust the height, angle, etc. of where I want the tablet.  It's great for watching movies while stitching. 

Below is a picture of what I see in front of me. 

Right now I'm using the tablet holder to view the stitching instructions for my current project.  All I did was scan the instructions, save it to a directory in "the cloud" (I have OneDrive), then open that saved file on my iPad.  No more pieces of paper flying all over the place (usually landing up under the chair, etc.).  With 2 fingers, I'm able to enlarge the graphs for more detail, enlarge the project photos, etc.  Sweet.

PS.  You can see a small bit of the television I'm watching on the upper right of my "stitching post".  So, when seated, I look ahead at my stitching, down to the right at my instructions, up to the right at the television (my wine glass is on a table to the left--LOL).  I do wear bifocal glasses along with "mag eyes" for magnification, so have to move my head a bit to clearly view things, but I'm so used to doing that, I no longer think about it.

New Tablet Holder for K's Creations Floor Stand

2017 Year in Review - 12/31/17

December 31, 2017-- Happy New Year!  With all the traveling we've done this year, I still managed to complete a few projects shown below.  Click on the caption of each photo for more details.  
2018 promises to be as much fun if not more than 2017 with lots of new projects.  On the agenda are trips to Southern California, Oregon State, Arizona State, ANG Seminar in Washington, DC, a class in February in Maryland (Toni Gerdes' Fire & Ice ), a stitching retreat to Winterthur in Wilmington, Delaware in March, another stitching retreat in Ocean City, MD.   Lots to keep me excited and engaged in this wonderful passion.

Rozachi Baby Iris

Rozashi Imari Study

Floral Ribbons

Trimming the Tree Ornament

ANG Checkerspot Chapter Nametag

ANG Distance Learning Correspondence Course Chair Name Tag

Holiday Gift Blue Ornament

Holiday Light Copper Ornament

Holiday Brass Bell Ornament

Holiday Gift Copper Ornament

Shades of Christmas Poinsettia Ornament

Nutcracker Santa

Theo Faberge's Jeweled Spiral Coil Egg

Star in the Meadow Stocking

American Beauty Rose

SOTM 2016 

Frankie - Updated 11/26/17

November 26, 2017--My sister sent me this picture of Frankie in its new frame.  Love the texture of the frame and filet.  She says it looks perfect in her living room.  Me---so happy she likes it.

Frankie Framed

Frankie Frame and Filet Closeup

September 11, 2016--Frankie is DONE!  And I love it.  And I wish I could keep it.

This is a gift for my sister which will be given to her when visiting next month in her new Florida home.  Can't wait to see how it will look on her walls.

Frankie Completed

August 20, 2016--Working on Lesson 7 consisting of the background stitches.  There are three parts to this lesson:  Bokhara Couching Pattern for the narrow horizontal and vertical bands, Burden Stitch for the wide vertical bands and lastly the outer border area.  The first of the three parts is done and here's a picture.

Frankie through Lesson 7.33

August 12, 2016--Lesson 6 is completed.  This lesson covered the Walnetos with Jessicas and Eight Point Stars.  Love those stars--they are quick to stitch and the results are beautiful.  The color difference in the stars is due to the fact that in one, the gold is stitched first, while in the other it is stitched last.

The last lesson covers the background or filling stitches, and the braided border.  There's a lot to do here, but now this is a good TV watching project.

Frankie through Lesson 6

August 9, 2016--Lesson 5 covering the Double Fans Doubled and Chilly Hollow stitches is done.  Only four more "diamonds" to fill in, then all that's left are the background stitches.  Rounding the bend to the finish.

Frankie Through Lesson 5

July 24, 2016--Back from traveling in New England and Canada and have finished Lesson 4.   This lesson covered stitches for the Diagonal Padded Waffle and Mini Double Fans (these remind me of pinwheels).  The colors are blending nicely.

Frankie Through Lesson 4

July 11, 2016--Lesson 3 is now complete.  This lesson included the filling for the Diamond Jessicas (which I had already stitched before wrapping up Lesson 2), the Amadeus Stitch on the upper and lower bands and the Wheat Sheafs along the outer edges.  Now on to the really fun stuff--those highly engineered Jean Hilton stitches.

Frankie Through Lesson 3

July 5, 2016--Happily stitching along and have finished Lessons 1 and 2, and half of Lesson 3 (out of a total of 7 lessons).

The instructions call for stitching each of the Diamond Jessicas (DJs) before doing the Waffle Stitches and Circular Jessicas that fit inside the DJs.  I changed this by stitching the Waffle Stitches and Circular Jessicas BEFORE stitching the Diamond Jessicas.  This made it a lot easier for me to properly execute the last stitches that go behind the first section.  So here's my progress todate:

Through Lesson 1 - Plaited Stitch Columns

Through Lessons 2 and Half of 3 - Diamond Jessicas
Filled with Waffle Stitches and Circular Jessicas

June 29, 2016--Three years ago I signed up to stitch Frankie, a project by Michael Boren and Carole Lake of StitchPlay Designs (project photo below).  It was being offered through Shining Needle Society and I was very excited to find it available as an online class.  I had planned to stitch this as a gift for my sister whose home has a bit of Art Nouveau, Art Deco and Frank Lloyd Wright styling. When I visited her that year in 2013, she even helped me to choose threads to go with her decor.

Move forward to 2016 and I've finally begun working on this piece.  The instruction manual along with all the online class materials have a 1.5" width and are quite heavy.  Just reading the pre-work portion of the instructions took some time to wade through.  Well all that's behind me now and below is a picture of the pre-work completed.  It looks a little wonky, so imagine vertical bars with stitching to cover all the traveling threads and bar tacks.

There's a reason for starting this project now--I'm visiting my sister in October to see her new home in Florida (she moved from Dallas, TX) and would like to have this project finished by the end of the visit so I can leave it with her for framing.  I plan on getting at least 75% of it done before I leave.  It's a 19 hour train ride from Delaware to Florida, so should be able to get more stitching done while traveling.

This is a beautiful project and am looking forward to putting color on the canvas.

Frankie Pre-Work Completed

Frankie by Michael Boren and Carole Lake of StitchPlay Designs Project Photo

Will There Be Enough Thread? - 10/26/17

October 26, 2017--This has happened or will happen to all stitchers.....you run out of thread and cannot find the exact dye lot.  Do you rip out the old color or try to camouflage the new.

In Elizabeth's Between The Threads Newsletter for Needlepoint Now News, she wrote about a wonderful hint from Brian Shaw, a needlepointer and manager of the Needlepointer Shop in Washington State.  He says....

"...if you are not sure how much thread is needed for a project, cut the skein or card of thread in half. Put one half aside. Using the other half to stitch, it will be easy to judge when you are halfway done with the project if you will have enough left to finish. If you see that you will need more, order right away and blend the half you had set aside with the new thread, so it won’t be obvious if the dye lots are different."

What a great idea this is, especially for projects requiring large amounts of one color, e.g., a background where a dye lot change would be highly visible.  Thanks Elizabeth and Brian.

Trimming The Tree Ornament - 12/3/17

December 3, 2017--Finished this project into an ornament in time for the ANG Delaware's Seashore Chapter annual Holiday Luncheon and Ornament Exchange tomorrow.  I stitched two--one for the exchange and one for my tree.  Here they are....

Trimming the Tree Ornament Finished

October 10, 2017--Completed the stitching of this ornament and for picture taking purposes, placed the cut-out oval on top of the canvas to confirm I've got the right shape.  Looks good.  Now to turn it into an ornament with beautiful cording around the edge.  

PS  The black edge along the oval top is caused by shadow, not a pencil.

Trimming the Tree Ornament Completed

September 26, 2017--I've shied away from finishing ornaments into oval shapes--didn't know how to draw a perfect oval template.  Well, no more.  I'm nearly finished stitching the "Trimming The Tree" ornament by Eula C. Malson published in the September, 2003 issue of Needle Pointers, and before I decide to fill in the background with something like the "T" stitch, I needed to pencil in the oval shape on the canvas.  Here's what I did.

I used Microsoft Word's shapes to draw an oval, then used an old bit of software called "Cool Ruler" to make it the length and width I needed to fit my ornament.

Cool Ruler used to measure how far to pull down the oval to the length desired

Cool Ruler used to measure how wide to pull the oval for the width desired

Once the oval shape was set, I used Word's shapes to draw straight horizontal and vertical lines through the middle and printed it out on standard 8.5" x 11" paper.  Then I placed my stitched ornament on top of the template, using the lines to help locate the exact center of top, bottom and sides, then drew my oval.

Lines on Template Visible Through Canvas for Centering

Here's a picture of my ornament with a perfectly shaped oval.  The top has more space than the bottom because a star will be stitched on top of the boxes after I fill in the background.

Needlepointed Black Velvet - 9/24/17

September 24, 2017--Below is a needlepointed picture of Pam and Ray's (our friends) horse, Black Velvet (or Blackie for short).  It's all done in tent stitch and I just had to share it here.  The use of thread to "paint" the horse and background is so fine that it looks as if it were done with delicate brush strokes, not with needle and thread.

Needlepointed Picture in Tent Stitch

Close Up of Stitching

Signature on Back of Needlepointed Picture

The stitcher, a Bulgarian woman who was the mother of our friends' friend began working on this piece in 2005 using the original photograph from which the below painting was made.  Unfortunately the stitcher's name is forgotten and cannot be deciphered from the signature on the back of the piece (our friends believe the first line says "with respect").

Painting of Blackie Front View

Painting of Blackie Side View

In 2000, Blackie was commissioned to be painted from a photograph by an artist who lived in Soprin, Hungary. At the time, our friends lived in Vienna, Austria.

The needlepointed picture was given to them by their friends, Glennis and her boyfriend, as a Christmas gift in 2007 (2 years after the stitching was begun) while they were stationed in Frankfort, Germany.   Both the painting and needlepointed piece now hang in their study where they can be quietly enjoyed.

ANG Stitch of the Month 2017 - 9/21/17

September 21, 2017--Almost a year ago I was invited to pilot stitch the ANG Stitch of the Month project designed by Deborah Forney.  Almost forgot that I worked on some of this since time restraints prohibited me from completing all of the steps.  Below is a picture of what I stitched.   It really is a fun project. 

The monthly instructions posted on the ANG website (click here) will entice you to stitch each month's section and look forward to working on the next.  Of course, if you start now, the first nine months of instructions are already available.   Please post pictures of your progress--would love to see your color choices.

ANG Stitch of the Month 2017 Partial

Back from Seminar - 9/14/17

September 14, 2017--Currently doing lots of stitching, but there's nothing I can write about.  The projects I'm working on are for the 2018 ANG Seminar in Washington, DC.

But what I can write about is the 2017 ANG Seminar in Anaheim, CA I attended from August 24th through September 2nd.  Took two wonderful classes--the first with Cynthia Thomas on how to use Excel to write stitch guides.   A few years ago I wrote a stitch guide for a drawn thread class I gave to Delaware's Seashore Chapter (click here).  I used software that was .jpg based and once the work was saved, could not make changes.  A very cumbersome process.   Using Excel would have been so much easier.  Now I know.

The second class was Coy Koi, a needlepointed purse by Janet Zickler Casey.  Not only did we learn how to work the front and back sections, Janet also showed us how to mount the canvas on the pre-formed "clam shell" style purse form which was included with the class kit.  I can't wait to blog about this one.

Coy Koi Purse by Janet Zickler Casey Project Photo

Will take a break from 2018 Seminar stitching to work on Christmas ornaments soon, so that will be fun to write about.  In the meantime, my cable TV company, Verizon Fios, has given me free HBO streaming through November 30th, so DH and I are binge watching GOT, seasons 1 through 7.  We're currently up to season 4 and all I can say is WOW!

ANG Seminar 2017 Name Tag - 8/22/17

August 22, 2017--My new ANG name tag showing that I'm a member of Distance Learning (DL) as Correspondence Course (CC) Chair is ready and attached to the bottom of my chapter name tag.  I'll be sporting this at the ANG seminar in Anaheim next week.

While at seminar, I'm taking Creating Diagrams and Stitch Guides using Microsoft Office by Cynthia Thomas on Monday and Coy Koi by Janet Zickler Casey on Thursday and Friday.  I'm also working on the Hospitality Desk Wednesday morning and in the Exhibit Hall on Wednesday afternoon.

Looking forward to seeing you there.