More needlework finishes

 I made this sampler as a gift for my mother's 90th birthday.  The design is an adaptation of one by Mary Hickmott.

This is a bookmark I made for my friend Annika's birthday in 2021.  The technique is called Assisi work.

This was a yearlong stitch-along called Hope from Modern Folk Embroidery.

These beaded lollipops are another amazing design by Cindy Hambrick.

These adorable little stockings are Christmas ornaments designed by Mary Corbet.

This is a Palestinian sampler designed by Cliffside Stitches.

This piece is a combination of two designs:  the central tree is an adaptation of an Italian design by Rovaris and everything surrounding it is an adaptation of Jan Houtman's Flower Bouquet in Green (the tree replaced the bouquet).

This canvas work designed by Kathy Rees is called Serenity.

Beaded Box

This beaded box is another design by Cindy Hambrick (the first one was that cool lighthouse nightlite).  It was an online class through the Shining Needle Society and I really enjoyed doing it.

More Needlework

I have a few more completed projects since the last needlework update.

Another baby blanket.  Again, this is a pre-finished baby blanket with five embroidered panels.  The large butterflies are from a leaflet entitled "Butterfly Collection" by Rebecca Trent of Cross My Heart designs.  The smaller ones are from the leaflet "One Nighters:  63 Butterflies" by Jeanette Crews Designs.

 

I'm a bit of a fool for beads so just couldn't resist this online project designed by Cindy Hambrick.  The technique used is tubular peyote beading.  This oh-so-cute lighthouse is a night light.  I love it!  One picture is taken in daylight and the other at night.

This project is an embroidery called "Quaker Village" designed by Karen Kluba of Rosewood Manor.  I just love that fence!

 

This last one is something I designed myself to commemorate 50 years of friendship with my Penpal in Sweden.  We were able to spend a fantastic week together in September on an Amawaterways Rhine River cruise.

 

More 2017 Needlework

I have finally framed and photographed the last of the projects I finished in 2017.

 

This was a little gift for my mother. It was made from a Framecraft kit and is a handbag mirror.

 

 

I also finished two more of the four seasons bird designs by Jeannette Douglas.

 

 

 

This is a bookmark I made to fulfill a challenge for my needlework guild. It is from a pamphlet entitled "Bookmarks The Spot" by True Colors International.

 

 

This is my first try at the needlework technique called Stumpwork. It was designed by Celeste Chalasani and I took the class online through Craftsy. I especially love the little bee! That stitch is known as turkey work.

 

 

I also took a class offered by the Embroiderers' Guild of America called Creating Beaded Gardens. It was crazy quilting with beads and was designed and taught by Nancy Eha. I had never tried crazy quilting before and enjoyed it a lot. The only problem I had was knowing when to stop ... I just kept adding more and more motifs!

 

 

My largest finish for 2017 (the framed piece is 20 inches by 25 inches) is the "Spirit of Marken" sampler by one of my favorite designers, Julia Line of Long Dog Samplers.

 

 

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Needlework Update

I have finished a few needlework projects in the last year so it seems time for an update.

 

First up is a blanket for a new baby. I purchased a pre-finished baby blanket then embroidered five of the panels.

 

I took an online class through the EGA (Embroiderers' Guild of America) called Creating Beaded Gardens. It was taught by Nancy Eha. I had a lot of fun with this and it was difficult to stop adding flowers! For some reason the fabric looks a bit bluish in this photo but it is actually purple.

 

 

This is a cute little needlepoint project called Color Delights - Rainbow designed by Kathy Rees. The stitched area is only 4" x 4".

 

 

This next project started started almost 6 years ago. It all began with a trip to Gloriana Threads in May of 2011 to learn about dyeing thread and ribbon. Her colors are absolutely wonderful and she was selling single colorway sampler packs containing one each of the various types of her silk threads and ribbons. It was love at first sight for me when I saw the Topiary (color #115) sampler packs. I purchased one, confident that just the right project would come along at some point.

In 2013 I signed up for an Embroiderers' Guild of America Correspondence Course taught by Mary Long to stitch a needlework toolcase. My Topiary sampler pack of threads contained almost everything I needed for the project. It took me only a few weeks to finish the stitching. But completing the interior was a bit more difficult. The pattern called for Ultrasuede but that product is no longer easy to come by. Over the next 3 years I occasionally looked for a source of this product without success (one online shop sold what they called 'Ultrasuede' but it turned out to be plain cotton fabric dyed to give the appearance of Ultrasuede).

In the summer of 2016, at one of my Sampler Guild's stitching events, I happened to mention that I was searching in vain for Ultrasuede. One of my Guild members said she had a stash of Ultrasuede remnants and I was welcome to look through them to see if any of the colors would work. One of the colors was perfect for the project and the piece she had was just big enough to do the job. With the interior finished at last, I went on to make the remaining two items I needed. One was a decorative cord for putting around the edges and using for the closure. I made this with more of the Topiary thread using the Kumihimo Japanese Braiding technique. The other item was a button for the closure. For this I made a Dorset Button using a single strand of Topiary silk. Our group had been shown how to make Dorset Buttons in April 2013 in Shaftesbury, England while on a Mary Hickmott New Stitches tour of Southern England. I think it all turned out rather well.

 

 

These are some Christmas ornaments I finished throughout the year. They are kits from Mill Hill with threads and beads stitched on perforated paper.

 

 

Each year in February my sampler guild brings in a nationally-known needlework teacher to give a talk at our annual Tea and to teach a class or two. Last year that teacher was Jeannette Douglas and one of the classes she taught was this one called Common Thread II.

 

 

I liked her design so well I bought another small one of hers. This one is called The Spring Bird.

 

 

I have already started on Christmas ornaments for this year. This is from a kit I bought in England at the Knitting & Stitching Show. It is called Brandy Pudding and is designed by the Spellbound Bead Co.

 

 

 

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I've been busy framing

These are some projects I completed late last year and early this year.
This first one is Summer Quakers designed by Karen Kluba of Rosewood Manor. It is a companion to Spring Quakers which I posted a picture of on August 29, 2015.

Next up is Champagne designed by Alessandra Adelaide. This is a souvenir of our trip to France last autumn which included a visit to Champagne.

I took an online class in Goldwork last year from Jen Goodwin. The design is called Goldwork Bluebell. This is my first attempt at goldwork using real metal threads (as opposed to gold-colored threads) and it was the hardest thing I have ever stitched.

This is another online class I took. It was taught by Barbara Jackson and is called the Berry Bandit. This is done in crewel embroidery.

I was invited to a 90th birthday party this year so I made this card for the birthday gal. It is all done in beads.

One of my needlework guilds organized a round-robin band sampler event. Each participant purchases a large piece of fabric and stitches a band of needlework on it. We were each given the name and address of one other person in the group. When we finished our band we mailed the sampler to our designated person and we received a sampler from another person in the group. We then stitched a band on this new sampler. When finished, we again mailed it to our designated person. In this way the samplers kept moving around in a circle until we received our own sampler back.
Since there was still some space left on the piece of fabric when I got it back, I added a few extra rows of stitching at the bottom. I stitched the white border at the top with the row of flowers and leaves below it. I also stitched the four bands and the border at the bottom (from the poppies down).

And last is another online class I took last year. It is called a Frenzy of Fringes and was designed by Jeanette Carmichael. It is a sampler of beaded fringes. A most unusual idea! It was a ton of fun to do.

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Christmas Ornaments 2015

Here are some Christmas ornaments I finished recently.

 

 

 

 

 

Happy Holidays!

 

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My Designs

I have come up with a few of my own designs in the last couple of years.

 

This is a Wessex Stitchery sampler. Wessex Stitchery uses simple stitches to create a wide range of patterns. This technique was created by Margaret Foster of Bath, England in the early 1900s.

 

 

I did not design any of the peacock motifs used in the next embroidery. I just collected some of my favorites from various sources and combined them into a sampler.

 

 

This next piece is a sampler of Bargello stitches.

 

 

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Recent finishes +1

First, the '+1'. This is the first blackwork sampler I ever did (1979!) but I recently refurbished it with a new frame and no glass so I decided to include a picture of it.

 

 

This chart is from a Dutch designer, Jan Houtman.

 

 

This is from a French designer, Papillon Creations. It was published in 24 installments over 2 years and was a 'mystery' sampler since we didn't know what the finished work would look like until the end. It has stitches that are representative of countries from around the world.

 

 

This next one is called Spring Quakers and is from Rosewood Manor.

 

 

I have done a few canvas work pieces recently. This is Cleopatra's Cat by Mary Long.

 

 

And this is Daphne Reborn by Michael E. Boren.

 

 

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