Hi, Everyone!

Here it is:

Woodlawn!

Can you imagine a more elegant setting for a massive needlework display?

Sue and I had a wonderful time today!  We got to Woodlawn around 10:00 AM — it’s only a few miles down the road from our hotel.  We paid our entrance fee and started gawking!  The first room contained the White House exhibit.  A number of years ago, I saw a large rug that Barbara Bush had needlepointed — it was glorious with lots of woodland creatures on a light green background.  So I was happy to see a smaller rug that she had done on display today.  It, too, contained woodland creatures but on a white background and significantly smaller in size.  We also saw Julie Nixon Eisenhower needlepointing at the White House.  And in her official White House portrait, Eleanor Roosevelt is knitting!!

Then we moved onto the rooms displaying needlepoint.  There was a room for people, for samplers, for spring, for goldwork, for animals, for Christmas, for needlepoint and for “other”.  I’m sure the committee wouldn’t agree with my room categories, but I call them like I see them!  Probably my favorite was a piece put together by the Constellation EGA chapter from Baltimore.  This was a matrix of 8 by 7 small pieces with a curvy red line running through every piece and the words — We share a common thread — written out on 20 of the 56 pieces.  Each piece was done in a different needlework technique — blackwork, beading, Or Nue, surface embroidery, basketweave, applique, Hilton stitches, and more.  The first square contained a knot and the last one a needle!  Some pieces used the red “thread” as a prop (for example a bird sitting on a wire) and some just used it as a design feature.  A really wonderful group project!

At lunch at the Nelly Needler’s Cafe (delicious), Sue and I discussed how wonderful it would be for NJNA to put together a display for next year.  The Woodlawn property is home to a Frank Lloyd Wright prairie style home and they sell many items related to him in their gift shop.  So we thought — why not a group display of our “Frankie” pieces?  Then we learned that it is becoming harder to staff this event every year, so Sue went and talked to them about our volunteering to work the exhibit for a few days next year!  We were thinking that it could even be an NJNA community project!

So — the following designs which I have personally done — were on display by others:

• Dominoes and Squares by Jane Zimmerman
• Atlantis Rising by Ro Pace
• 2013 ANG SOTM by Debbie Steihler
• Irresistible Iridescence by Nancy Cucci
• Stella Polaris by Michael Boren and Carole Lake
• Plus a few that are still in my stash — Shhhh!

We saw a woolly lamb on display that HAD to be Susan H’s design.  I was disappointed that they only showed the name of the stitchers and not the names of the designers in the exhibit and in the program.

Rona — your Cinderella pumpkin coach was prominently displayed in a downstairs display case!

Melita — your river looked wonderful — so original!  We were proud to say that we knew you while you were creating it!

Now we are going to decide where we should stop on our way home tomorrow!

Cheers!  Rosie

Hi, Everyone —

Sue and I drove to DC today and plan to tour the Woodlawn needlepoint exhibit tomorrow.  Today, we braved the snow showers and made a side trip to Bedecked and Beadazzled in Lutherville, MD.

What a blast I had buying assorted threads and beads for Kurdy Bigg’s “A Different View”!  Our SOTM group decided to do this beautiful piece in 2014.

The Lovely Threads

Do you see those three balls of thread in the upper right hand corner?  I bought those Finca threads just because I thought they were so beautiful together.  So what could be better than to use them as the base for MY “A Different View”?  Stay tuned!

Cheers!  Rosie

Hi, Everyone —

A few months ago, I met Janis Note of Noteworthy Needle and she was stitching the lenses for a pair of her trade-marked Cross Eyes glasses.  I thought the sun glasses would make great stocking stuffers for my girls so I bought a few kits.

Today I finished the stitching on Marisa’s glasses and I wanted to share the result with you.

Cross Eyes by Janis Note

And here’s a close-up of the design.

Close-up of Lens Stitching

Janis assembles the pre-drilled glasses into a kit which also contains an eyeglass case, Size 28 Needle, Beadalon Big Eye Beading Needle, Waxer, Needle Grabber, detailed instructions, and two charts.  Marisa picked her own thread colors at JoAnn’s.

In addition to sunglasses, Janis sells magnifier glasses as well as several colors and types of sunglasses.  I think this is a way cool idea and a unique stitched gift and conversation starter!  Don’t you agree?

Cheers!  Rosie

Hi, Everyone —

This past weekend, Sue R and I took a “Learn to Weave” workshop that was sponsored by the Jockey Hollow Weavers Guild!  Each student had a small, 4-shaft loom at their workstation.  We learned how to thread the loom — what an interesting and complicated process!  Luckily, we had an NJNA guild member, Dee, to help us figure it out.

The teacher, Daryl Lancaster, was absolutely fantastic!  We learned so much!  Finally, with only two hours left in our 7 hour day, we actually started to weave!

My Woven Sampler!

Daryl had provided us with a “draft” or pattern so that we could see the effect of different threading sequences, weaving sequences, and color sequences!  We also learned how to “read” a draft!

Sue and I now understand the weaving process better and can appreciate why hand woven goods are so expensive!

Cheers!  Rosie

Hi, Everyone —

The third and final day of my Atlantis Rising class was a bit of a disappointment.  Our teacher wasn’t feeling well, so she just went through the instructions page by page and left as soon as she finished.  A few people stayed through about noon to continue working on whatever threads we had hanging out.  When I got home, I continued to work on the bargello portion of the project and so I was able to get a second pass in.

Today, I decided to try the next “fancy” section of the design — Sprat’s Heads that fill the four square boxes in the bottom of the mountain.  I ripped the first box out at least six times and after about two hours, finally, I decided to throw away the charts and just do the motif so it sorta filled and centered in the boxes.  My head hurt pretty bad after all that thinking!

Atlantis Rising Progress

I think I’ll do another row of bargello next and then move on to another section with fancy stitches.

I helped Dottie on Saturday with the double fans (below those awful squares) and as a thank you, she fixed the scissor fob that I bought in Anaheim and then she made (!) me a scissor fob and a threader fob to match my stitching supplies bag!  How cool is that?

Fobs: Two New and One Improved

The threader to the right of the red beads is the one that Dottie removed to fix the fob.  It seemed like such a good idea when I saw these in Anaheim, but the threader has hooks instead of holes and the hooks got caught on everything from stitches to tablecloths to sweaters.  So now the threader is relegated to my magnetic needle box and the red fob looks awfully handsome on my hemostats!

All in all, I am glad that I came to take this class in person because I met so many wonderful people!  I’ll definitely be back to stitch another day!

Cheers!  Rosie