Author Archives: dmbstitch

Sep26

Autumn 3 Ways – Day 1

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I’m taking Toni Gerdes’ class called Autumn 3 Ways. Believe it or not, we did no stitching until this afternoon as we spent the morning learning to attach fabric to the canvas and needle felting today. Just picking the fabric to use for the leaf on the top left was an experience! Learning to needlefelt the leaf on the right meant picking what colors felt roving we wanted, then figuring out placement on the canvas, as well as learning to use felting needles with the felting block (hint: the needle must go in straight!)

Learning to Needlefelt

As you can see, I haven’t made much progress as I’ve spent a lot of time frogging both the blanket stitch around the fabric leaf and some of my needlefelting.

Day 1 Progress

I’ve definitely been outside my comfort zone in this class but Toni is an excellent teacher. Her instructions are very clear, she repeats instructions, and she is more than willing to answer questions. I’m looking forward to Day 2 of this class.

Diane

Sep25

Welcome to Myrtle Beach Seminar 2015

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I arrived at the Sheraton this afternoon in prep for Seminar classes starting tomorrow. After checking in, I registered and then visited the the boutique, which is run by The Needle Nest of Columbia, TN. They have lots of painted canvases, especially some interesting ones that once stitched are finished as 3D sweater ornaments.

Then Sue, Rosie, and I found an interesting little restaurant called Croissants Bistro & Bakery and had an awesome dinner. It started with the fresh, hot baguette they brought to our table with cream butter with Maldon sea salt and black eyed peas hummus. For those who don’t know, Maldon sea salt is from England and is hand-harvested with the distinctive flaky texture and taste that lends a certain piquancy to virtually any dish.

Sue was looking for something light so she had crab asparagus salad with avocado and mandarin orange vinaigrette. Rosie was also looking for something lighter so she had 2 appetizers: mini crab cakes and then tuna poke with balsamic vinaigrette for which she also asked for some extra baguette, which was a perfect complement. I decided to go with a regular dinner of the Bistro Chicken, which was 2 large chicken breasts stuffed with prosciutto and cheese on a bed of pasta, spinach, dried tomatoes, and tomato sauce. It was to die for and I even have lunch for tomorrow!

Then Sue and I decided we needed to have dessert after looking at this wonderful display case for the entire meal.

Dessert case at Croissant Bistro

We chose the triple chocolate mousse cake, which like the rest of the meal was outstanding.

Triple chocolate mousse cake

For those attending Seminar and looking for an interesting place for dinner, we highly recommend Croissants. Its website is http://www.croissants.net and it’s a 5 minute drive from the hotel.

Now, it’s time to get some sleep as class starts at 8:30 tomorrow. My stitching bag for Toni Gerdes’ Autumn 3 Ways class is ready to go!

 

 

 

 

Sep25

NJNA Myrtle Beach Retreat 3

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Today dawned a bit rainy and overcast. Lucky for us, it slowly cleared, a watery sun came out, and it started to warm up. I took a long walk on the beach which had a lot of others walking, relaxing, hunting for sharks' teeth, and even swimming! Despite a strong breeze from the north, it was a great walk.

Later, Carol and I decided to play tourist and played a round of miniature golf at the Hawaiian Rumble course, the #1 rated course in America and endorsed by the PGA. Unfortunately due to the rain, the volcano wasn't working so we didn't get to experience its rumble! Neither of us managed to hit par, however we did each get a hole in 1! It was a lot of fun especially since neither of us had played mini golf in years.

Meanwhile Sue did some more stitching on her humbug. Carol and I also got to do some more stitching before it was time to finish cleaning up and get ready to go to the Sheraton for seminar.

Thanks Carol for arranging a wonderful spot for us to relax and get in some stitching and camaraderie before Seminar classes begin.

Sep24

NJNA Myrtle Beach Retreat 2

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Rosie left Wednesday morning and Diane arrived in the evening after a minor detour inadvertently to the same address in Myrtle Beach, which unfortunately was 1/2 hour south of where she was supposed to be in North Myrtle Beach! When will I learn to check the map rather than just trusting the GPS?!

Carol, Sue, and I had dinner Wednesday at a lovely Bistro that Rosie and Carol had eaten at earlier in the week. The food was fresh, plentiful enough to bring home for Thursday’s lunch, and quite delicious. The apple vinaigrette salad dressing was unique and light but flavorful. We passed on dessert, although the tiramisu was really tempting.

Thursday was gloomy although the sun kept trying to peek through. Sue and I tried walking on the beach but were turned back by the rain. We enjoyed being inside stitching, listening to the rain, while staying dry. Diane made progress on another block of Serengeti and the first ribbon on Razzle Dazzle, Sue made significant progress on Summer Humbug and Kurdy Biggs’ Diamond design, and Carol has begun work on the sky on her Cow Jumped Over the Moon nightlight.

Thursday progress

We did venture out to do some food shopping particularly for breakfasts during seminar. Meanwhile, there were a few brave fisherman and others on the beach right outside our condo.

Looking North from our condo

Looking South from our condo

Dinner at Flying Fish was excellent. The fish was fresh, delicious, and plentiful enough to bring some home for lunch Friday.

Tomorrow we head over to the Sheraton for the start of Seminar and the arrival of many of our members.

Diane

Aug12

2015 SOTM

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The Stitch of the Month group met for August at Rosie’s house with 7 of us in attendance making progress on our Razzle Dazzle project.  Our focus this month was the center star and the leaves.  While most of us were still filling in petals, Sue and Jill started on the leaves, which involves lots of counting and couching  Actually a lot of this piece involves a lot of counting, which means we need to focus on what we’re doing instead of chatting!

Since Nancy and Rosie are doing the same colorway with different accent colors, it was wonderful to see the impact of the accent colors. Unfortunately Nancy left before we took the picture so we’ll have to wait for next month to show it.  As usual, one of the highlights of this project is the different color combinations with some of us using Anne Strite-Kurz’s colorways and some of us designing our own colorways.  Choosing what color to use for those designing their own colorway leads to some interesting discussions and insights into each other’s preferences for brighter or more subtle color.

Meanwhile, most of us still are making slow progress on the Smyrna stitches outlining the ribbons.  Who knew how long it would take to do all those Smyrnas!  We need to have one quadrant done for next month to start working on the ribbons.

To top it off, Sue brought a fabulous Blueberry-Zucchini cake – check the recipes section of our website for the recipe.  Jill and I would gladly have finished the entire cake, it was so moist and tasty!

For anyone interested, these sessions are wonderful therapy.  It’s a great opportunity to get together with friends, spend some time stitching, talking, discussing books and current events, etc.  The time passes way too quickly!

Unfortunately Nancy and Mary left before our picture was taken.

IMG_1926

Jun8

Serengeti Progress

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Since I keep having other commitments on the 4th Saturday each month, I thought I'd post my Serengeti progress. I'm down to block 32, although as you can see There are about 8 blocks started but not finished. Between laying threads, the congress cloth, the stitches, and size of the blocks, I quickly lost interest in them and decided to move on and come back to finish them later. I have been marking in my directions when I've finished a block so I don't forget as I often do!

Serengeti 6/8/15

I haven't decided if I'm enjoying this piece or not. I would probably enjoy it more if I could make our stitching sessions. Some days I really enjoy working it and other days I don't want to deal with it. For now, I'm planning to finish it eventually. I do like many of the stitches and fibers. I DO NOT like Mandarin Floss or Tiara! I'm learning a lot and finding I don't mind working on Congress Cloth and I LOVE the canvas color.

I am glad we decided to do this piece despite all the little boxes!

 

Jun8

Harvest

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As many of you know, I enjoy doing painted canvases and usually do my own stitch guides. I saw an online mystery class with Sandy Arthur advertised for Harvest, a painted canvas by Robbyn’s Nest, and fell in love with the canvas. Plus, I figured it was about time to take a class with a stitch guide.

I have to say, I’ve been very pleased with the first two lessons, even if, as usual, I’m way behind! The border is perfect for the canvas. Sandy suggested either a rectangle border or an arch across the top depending on how you were going to have it finished. I decided the arch fit the canvas design better than just a rectangle but wanted the rectangle for framing. I printed an oval the width I wanted and then cut it out to trace onto the canvas. It took a few tries before I got the right placement. Stitching the left side seemed to flow rather easily; the right side was a challenge since the stitches are opposite the left side. I’m not entirely happy with it but will see once I get the basket weave inside.

I’ve started the H, the tan pumpkin, and the green pumpkin. I’m still playing with them a bit to get the right look! I was going to start the flowers and leaves but realized I bought the wrong thread for the leaves. It’s a ThreadWorx and they use the same numbers for all their fibers of the same color with an extra number or two at the front. I accidentally bought Perel #5 instead of floss.

 

Anyway, here’s my progress so far. Like I said, I’m really enjoying this piece. I’m just trying to fit in all the other projects I’m doing as well !

 

 

 

 

Nov17

Progress!

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I love it when I can see progress!

As I said before, I finished the stocking I've been working on but still needed to block it and find the fabric for the lining and backing. Wednesday night i was able to start blocking. I found the lining material in my stash but didn't have the right color or fabric for the backing. As it turned out, I was meeting my sister for lunch on Thursday south of New Hope and saw there was a Joann's about 15 minutes further south on 611. After a delicious lunch at a new small place we found, I was off to Joann's and found exactly what I needed. Thursday night I was able to finish the stocking before we headed to the lake for a long weekend! One project down!

Since I was done the stocking, I now had a chance to start to catch up on my “A Different View”. My goal was to get the border done over the weekend and I actually succeeded, despite needing some frogging where I didn't count quite right! I'm amazed at how much better I'm liking the piece with both colors of the border tying it together. My goal for our next SOTM group meeting in December is to have 2 of the octagons done and the other 2 started. I picked up some additional fibers to play with in the areas I didn't like the ones Kurdy Biggs had specified for the Koral Kiss color way.

I didn't have time to do pictures. I'll bring to our meeting this week to show off both projects !

Happy stitching!

Diane

Nov12

Finished!

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Yes, I have actually finished stitching Freezin' Seasons, the stocking I've been doing for my daughter's long-time boyfriend! I had a great time picking stitches, colors, and fibers to get the effects I wanted. I love most of it; not entirely happy with how the green scarf came out as you can't really see that it's the two ends off on the right. I'm working on blocking it and still need to pick up felt for the back, which hopefully I can find tomorrow (I have no idea if I had it and lost it or never had it)!!

 
 

I did an overall shot and one of each of the snowmen! I hope to have the finished product at next week's meeting.

 

 
 

Happy stitching!

Diane

 

 

Aug28

Reflection on Seminar

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Now that I’m back home after 5 days at Seminar, I thought I’d summarize my thoughts on the overall experience since this was really my first full Seminar experience.  I had attended a one-day workshop in Philadelphia and had some time to check out the Exhibition and shop but didn’t get to any of the evening activities.  Taking a 4-day class is a bit draining as well as hard on the back, especially for someone who doesn’t sit still for long periods of time.  I did try to get up every 30 minutes or so even though it wasn’t break time and I waited until the teacher was done talking, but I don’t think she appreciated my need to be up and moving regularly.  I know some women use heating pads and footstools; however, I just need to get up and move – my work colleagues used to quickly learn I finished most meetings within 45 minutes because I’d be up and about at that point!  I do sit near the back but maybe I should think about being in the last row!

I picked my class because I loved the design and I still love it.  I’m really glad I realized I had to baste the sections after the first day so I could fully appreciate working on the piece.  Unfortunately, I’m about 2 months behind on the stocking I’m doing to be completed by Thanksgiving and am at least 2 months if not 3 on my Stitch of the Month!  I’m working on figuring out how I can work on all 3 as I am eager to work on Puzzle Pieces!  I got out of the class what I’d hoped in terms of learning how to overlay stitches and the different effects you can get.  I’d hoped to be a little further along in what I completed, but I wouldn’t even be this far if I hadn’t spent the time basting, so I’m happy with how much I got done!

I should have come in earlier in the day on Friday so I could have done more exploration of the Chicago area.  I did get to run or walk every day and did a lot of exploring.  However, there is so much to do such as the museums, river, and lake that I just didn’t get to.  I found Jewels Osco on Saturday at lunch and bought stuff for breakfasts, lunches, and cocktails since we had a refrigerator.  While I did get my tea every day at Starbucks and stopped a few days at Corner Bakery for lunch, it was a great savings that I could spend on needlepoint supplies!  Most restaurants I went to for dinner were fabulous – there were a few I would not recommend!

I didn’t get nearly enough time to go through the Exhibition or to review the classes for next year.  I have a list of about 10 classes I’d like to take, which we all know is not possible!  I also didn’t take enough time to look at the Opportunity Baskets or Book Store.  I’m glad I went to the Teachers Expo and spoke to most, if not all, of the teachers about their programs.  I had fun doing the Silent Auction, but probably could have spent more time and will do so in the future.  Expo was just so overwhelming for me that I have to think about how to deal with that in the future.  The store was okay, although I think the one in Philadelphia had a lot more canvases, charts, fibers, and tools.  I did buy a few things I needed, but they didn’t have several other items I needed and would have bought.  I didn’t have time to just browse in the store.

My roommate was great.  Our schedules and interests matched very well and we were not dependent on each other either.  I was definitely lucky in this regard!  And our room with a small view of the lake and fireworks was outstanding.

Being back home is  a let down and I’m exhausted!  I’m sure I’ll sleep well tonight.  I look forward to hearing from those still experiencing Seminar 2014!

Happy Stitching,

Diane