Hi, Everyone —

The Stitch of the Month group met last Saturday and I must say that “A Different View” by Kurdy Biggs has made a wonderful choice for this year’s NJNA SOTM.  The stitches are interesting and provide a lot of opportunity for sharing and learning!  We can’t wait to show these off at the NJ Needlefest in November.  We adjusted our “agenda” so that we will not be doing the beads in November, but will instead use October to get caught up so that we can be working on the small squares at Needlefest!

So, I thought you would like to see these beautiful pieces up close and personal!

Doesn’t this want to make you join us next year?  It’s always fun to stitch with friends!

Cheers!

Rosie

Hi Everyone!

The NJNA SOTM group met on Saturday to continue with “A Different View” by Kurdy Biggs.  In June we are working on completing our first octagon in the design.  The pattern comes with six options for four octagons, so we were not all working on the same stitches this month.  Between different threads and unique stitches — we were awfully glad that we were doing this in a group!  Linda wasn’t able to join us this month, so she sent us a photo of her finished octagon — isn’t it beautiful?

The rest of us will tell you that we didn’t get nearly so much done on Saturday — as the following photo will attest:

All of the different colorways and choices are making this a fun project! Stay tuned for more close-ups as the various octagons are completed!

Since the NJ Needlefest in November will occur on our regular SOTM date, we have decided to reserve a table for our whole group!  We’ll be adding the finishing touches of beads then!

Cheers!

Rosie

Following up to Rosie and Sue C’s posts, I thought I’d comment on mine.  I was going to pick my own threads or use stash, but time got away from me and I figured out I wasn’t going to get my threads and canvas purchased in time for the May gathering.  So going against my norm, I decided to do the Koral Kiss colorway as is – canvas and threads!  Of course by the time I ordered and got my canvas and threads, I only had time to mount the canvas on the stretcher bars before Saturday.  I LOVE the color of my canvas!  I was surprised with the colors of my threads so I’m curious to see how they’ll work out.

Even using the defined colorway, I had to decide whether I was going to cut the overdye used for the octagon outlines by aligning the colors or just cut randomly; I went with the random!!  Once I started the first octagon outline, I got 3/4 done when I realized I’d made a counting mistake and had to rip it all out!  Fortunately, I could learn from how others proceeded with their borders once I get to that.  I’m looking forward to getting to the octagons which look full of fun and interesting stitches.

Rosie asked for us to make comments specific to our own “Different View”.  Mine is the aqua one.  When I saw the list of threads and saw the pictures, it just looked too complicated for me.  So I went to Zweigart’s retail shop in Colonia and began with the canvas.  If you have seen my home, you know why I picked that color canvas.  I knew that I wanted to stitch the outlines of the boxes with a perle.  I selected both a navy and green from the Presencia perle in the shop.  My plan was to use a variety of white threads with the green which I eventually selected over the navy.  When I showed my canvas to my friend, Barbara Kelly a color guru, she suggested adding apricot to the mix.  So I did add apricot to my threads.  Mine will not have the variety of colors and threads that others will.

Sue C.

Hi, Everyone —

Today the SOTM group met at our new recurring day to stitch “A Different View” by Kurdy Biggs.  We are working on the borders and hope to have them done and be ready to start on our first octagons next month!  Two of our stitchers were out with health issues, but hopefully we will ALL be together next month.

Here’s our progress at the end of today.  Unfortunately, Robin had to leave before we remembered to take a picture.

Diane:  Coral
Dee:  Black
Sue C:  Aqua
Mary: White
Rosie: Yellow

I hope some of the participants will chime in with information about their “View”.  Mine is the one on yellow canvas.  You can see my color assortment in my earlier post about my shopping spree on the way to Woodlawn!  You can tell that I am the only one who had to get all her jessicas done before moving on to the rest of the border stitches.  I have not used any metallic thread yet — so it’s not as bling-y as the others.

We have very much enjoyed seeing the stitching of A Different View in the SBANG May meeting notes.  Dottie’s hints in their newsletter are helpful and we all made sure we saw them before we got started.  We also think that Belle was so clever to use the canvas samples to make ornaments with the different octagons.  We also found a beautiful, completed “View” at needleartnut.

Sue introduced us to Trader Joe’s brownie mix which was a perfect complement to her snickerdoodles and chocolate chip cookies!

What a great way to spend a rainy afternoon!

Cheers, Rosie

Hi, Everyone —

The SOTM group within NJNA has decided to stitch “A Different View” by Kurdy Biggs for the remainder of the year.  This project is also being done as the year-long chapter project by San Bernardino ANG (SBANG) — so we hope to develop a sister chapter mentality by sharing hints, progress, and pictures!  We have eight stitchers in our New Jersey group!

We met last Saturday to work out a plan of action for the rest of 2014.  This month we will work on getting most of our supplies and having the Smyrna crosses done for the border.  Next month we will finish the border and then the real fun will begin.  One Octagon a month for the next four months, then a month for the small squares and a month for the beading!  It sounds ambitious, but it’s great how much you get done when each month is treated as a mini-project all by itself!  The unusual beads in this project appear to be the most difficult item of procurement (but at least we have until November!).

After planning, we had our lunch and then stitched whatever we wanted for the rest of our day.  Three of us were working on “Frankie” and one was working on the “Ort Box with a Twist”, our NJNA chapter workshop and chapter program, respectively.  Only one, Robin, had her supplies and could start on her Smyrna stitches!  Dee was stitching our state mantra “Jersey Girls Don’t Pump Gas!”

A fun time was had by all!

Cheers!  Rosie

Hi, Everyone —

The Stitch of the Month (SOTM) group met at my house this afternoon.  This year’s ANG project is a set of three bracelets.  Our group decided that we would try the first bracelet and then decide whether we wanted to continue or to pick a different project.

This morning, the second installment for the first bracelet was uploaded and five us got together to stitch it.  Only Linda got into the second installment — the lattice and flowers.  Carol, Sue C., and Sue R., had gotten together to paint their canvasses — this was part of the January lesson.  Sue C. and Carol plan to make theirs into a wearable bracelet.  Linda, Diane, and Rosie are planning to combine all three bracelets into band samplers, yet each of us has a different idea of how to do this!

Next month’s installment will introduce bling!

All in all, we had a wonderful day stitching with friends!

Cheers!

Rosie