Hi, Everyone —

Last Sunday, Susan Hoekstra conducted a pilot class for NJNA for her piece “A Color Interaction Study — A Thread for All Seasons.”  Each of the participants had signed up for either a Pastel, Seasons, Brights, or Jewel Tones colorway.  Our kits were elegantly appointed  — A+ for presentation!  One interesting aspect of the kits was that NOT everybody doing the same colorway had the same threads!

Since this was a pilot class, Susan asked us to stitch either by quadrant or by stitch so that she could see which worked better!  Additionally, yours truly didn’t follow the oral instructions and started my stitching from the center instead of from the top.  This resulted in my having different compensation than everyone else, but Susan said she was happy to see how my starting point would affect the final product!

About twenty minutes before our lunch break, and again about twenty minutes before the end of the day, Susan requested “needles down” so that we could each observe the different effects of colors and stitch order had on the various colorways.   Amazing!   I learned a lot about contrasting color values as well as complimentary colors.  Susan certainly proved herself to be an excellent teacher  and we all learned a lot.

Pilot Stitchers for “A Thread for All Seasons”

Sorry, I won’t post a close-up of the design since Susan hopes to teach this at a future ANG seminar.

Every other year, the Morristown Hospital Auxiliary does an enormous fundraiser called “Mansion in May”.  So today, our NJNA President, Diane, and I met to tour the mansion in Peapack-Gladstone and to enjoy the onsite cafe for lunch!  It was a beautiful sunny day and the estate was incredible.  The way that this works is that various decorators vie for the opportunity to decorate a room in the mansion.  The winners have to create their room in a few months and ultimately put the room back to its original condition — unless the owner decides to “buy” the room.  The house, Blairsden, was awesome and Diane and I saw many wondrous things, but apart from a few rooms, the decor was decidedly modern for the house.

Diane poses in front of the reflecting pool!

Here’s a close-up of the house:

Blairsden!

Our lunch was delicious and I forgot to mention that several of the NJNA members have been volunteering to help at the cafe or as docents in some of the rooms!  It was quite an experience — but apart from a needlepoint rug, not much needlework.  But I think we have a new idea for organizing our stash!

It’s always fun to stitch  (or to tour mansions) with friends!

Cheers, Rosie