Hi Everyone —
I admit to being a little bit late in posting November’s SOTM picture. The “Stars of the New Millennium” pieces are truly beautiful and most of our group has managed to keep up with the monthly pacing. Aren’t all the colorways amazing?
November Progress!
I kept the photo big this month so that you can see the incredible detail and notice how the same square looks different based on the placement of threads.
Enjoy!
Rosie
Eight of us gathered for our monthly stitching, chatting, and eating. It’s hard to believe that we are getting near to the end of the 2017 project. We’re still having fun stitching on Stars for a New Millennium, My Way, and Ruby Razzle Dazzle.
Here is the latest update on Stars for a New Millennium – starting from the top left and proceeding clockwise are projects stitched by Jill, Sylvia, Margaret, Diane, and Linda.
Sue is continuing with My Way; she has decided to do one block and use it as an insert in a box. Her turquoise, copper and white combination is fabulous. Rosie is determined to finish Ruby Razzle Dazzle and is making great progress! Joan has started My Way but left before the pictures were taken.
We are beginning to think about our project for next year!
Happy Stitching!
Hi Everyone —
We had another great SOTM session today at Sue C’s. Everyone is making great progress on Stars of the New Millennium by Toni Minieri.
Aren’t the various colorways magnificent? The same star can look startlingly different from one to the next.
Of course, a few of us are working on the alternative “My Way” and some of us are still on “Razzle Dazzle” from two years ago!
We are already starting to discuss next year’s project!
Cheers, Rosie
Hi Everyone —
For once I was back in NJ for the Stitch of the Month session. My Razzle Dazzle is sure suffering the consequences of all my travels!
Here is this month’s progress:
Slow and Steady Wins the Race! From the top, right to left: Sue C’s My Way, Rosie’s Razzle Dazzle, Linda M’s Starts, Diane’s Stars, Tina’s Stars, Jill’s Stars, and Dee’s Different View!
As you can see, the Stars pieces are gorgeous and moving along smartly.
I know we’ve all had these annoying, pesky knots in our threads, so I thought you should see what my project dealt with this week:
It is the same phenomena — called a hockle — caused by the release of tension on a twisted line — in my case about a one-inch steel anchor wire! And you thought you had problems!
I am looking forward to the coming week at the EGA seminar in Asheville, NC.
Cheers!
Rosie
Back in May, I started to post an entry about my 2016 Stitch of the Month, which is finally finished. Well life got in the way and the blog entry never got published. Here is what it said:
“So I’m only five months behind, but I prevailed. I am totally finished and framed with Stitch of the Month for 2016. It is the ANG Stitch of the Month by Susan Hoekstra (a former NJNA member) It is called Feuilles D’Ananas. This is a fun way to stitch a project and I liked figuring out the variations on the turquoise color scheme.
I won’t be around much the next several months, so I won’t be able to attend our chapter’s official Stitch of the Month monthly gatherings. However, I am hopeful to take a stitch or two of this year’s project, Tony Minieri’s “Stars for the New Millennium.” I”ll keep you posted! I wish a fun summer for all.”
Well, I am now addicted to the “Stars” piece. I am having so much fun. Working on that design is keeping me from doing the baby knitting that I need done by September when my newest grandchild will be born. I agree with Jill W., these colors make me happy! I can’t wait to see how the next area showcases all of them . My overdyed thread is Silk and Colors, 994 – Kaleidoscope. All of it just pops!
So now I will really wish all of you a wonderful summer. I will miss all of you in the fall while I help out with the big sister and brother and of course the new baby. Grandchildren are the only thing that will trump my addiction on stitching the Stitch of the Month projects! Happy stitching to all.
Eight of us once again convened for another session of Stitch of the Month. We enjoyed a day of stitching and chatting, and celebrated both Sylvia’s and Nancy W’s birthdays with cupcakes, ice cream, apple pie, and cookies. There is no denying that we enjoy our stitching sessions!
Sue C, who is working on My Way, and Joan, who is finished her Stars for the New Millennium, both left before we took this picture. We’ll get them next time!!
Top left – Nancy W’s Granite; Top right – Linda’s Egyptian Nights; Middle left – Margaret’s Egyptian Nights (with some experimenting on the sashing); Middle right – Sylvia’s Royalty; Bottom left – Jill’s Black Iris; Bottom right – Tina’s Cherry.
Most of us are using colors included in the instructions with a few changes to suit individual preferences. Both Jill and Tina are stitching in their own colors and threads.
We’re looking forward to seeing everyone’s progress next month!
Happy Stitching!
Eight of the SOTM group gathered on Saturday to once again enjoy a day of stitching. The weather was warm and sunny but we did have some nice breezes and our stitching afternoon was quite enjoyable.
We had a small stitching crisis at the beginning of our session. Jill came prepared to start on Stars this month and had basted the outlines of the squares. She noticed that the basting just didn’t seem quite right. Margaret checked to make sure that the basting lines were all correct (how easy it is to jump over a thread or two). We made sure the stretcher bars were at right angles (they were). Jill tried remounting the canvas, which didn’t work. Finally, we got out a t-square, a drafter’s triangle, and a quilter’s cutting mat and lined up the basting lines. Lo and behold, the canvas was warped and there was a 1/2 inch difference in the line over the length of the project!
Jill was prepared to make a run over to The Edwardian Needle to get another canvas so that she could start her stitching. Fortunately, we were able to find a piece of blank canvas (and luckily it was the right size); Jill re-basted her piece and was able to start her stitching.
The rest of us continued our work on Stars and we all commented on how the individual squares look so different depending on which colorway we used. All of the pieces are just beautiful.
Dee, who is working on A Different View, completed the third octagon yesterday. It is stunning in those colors on the black canvas. She is now deciding on which design to stitch for the fourth octagon.
With apologies to Sylvia and Margaret, who left before I remembered to take a picture of our pieces, here is our progress on these pieces. Top row is Nancy’s in Granite and Jill’s just-started piece in her own colorway (which will be spectacular). Middle row left is mine in Egyptian Nights and Joan’s in Plum Honey (notice Joan is almost finished!). Bottom row is Mally’s, also in Granite. Sylvia sent a picture of hers later that day; she is stitching the Royalty colorway. (And many apologies if I got the colorway or attribution incorrect.)
Do not think that Jill has been slacking off this year, as she completed My Way and brought it along with her yesterday to share. Isn’t it colorful? And look at how Dee’s piece sparkles even without all those beads!
I will remember to take pictures of all the pieces together next month!
We are all having a great time at these monthly sessions and seeing how everyone’s pieces are evolving. Until next time …
Happy Stitching!
I had decided to do Stars for a New Milennuim for our 2017 Stitch of the Month but was still (and still am!) working on the 2016 SOTM and had not had a chance to get my threads for Stars. I finally decided to do the Jelly Bean colorway after looking at all the overdyes at The Gazebo outside New Hope. I was passing The Gazebo again and only had my thread list (without colors) on my phone so I bought what I could but decided the Tangerine threads listed were too brown for my liking.
Since I had the overdye and my canvas mounted, I decided to start stitching the middle border to see how it would look. I then took a trip to The Edwardian to finish picking my threads since I knew they’d have a better selection of threads and be easier to spread out and decide what I wanted to do. After about 3 hours and with much help from Catherine Curia and one of the workers at the shop (sorry I don’t remember her name), I picked out the rest of my threads.
I had done the center of the first block before our May SOTM and only had a short time available to stitch on Saturday but enjoyed seeing epwhat others were doing and how far they had gotten. I did get one of the squares started around the center of block 1. I was enjoying stitching it so much, I decided to try to finish block 1 this week and did as you can see.
I’m finding this a fun piece to stitch that works up quickly. I’m loving my colors, which are way outside my comfort zone! I hoping the rest of the piece is as much fun and goes as quickly. It’s amazing how different each of the color ways look. I’m looking forward to seeing everyone pieces throughout the year.
We didn’t manage to take photos of all our pieces yesterday for a variety of reasons, so here is my “My Way.” I’ve finished four of the six squares — but don’t think I’m a speed demon, I had all the borders done as well as two of the squares before NJNA started this SOTM. (It was offered through CyberPointers a couple of years ago, and I started it then.) I’ve also bought threads to do “Stars,” so I need to get “My Way” done so I can catch up to the Stars stitchers!
Here are photos of the square I just finished along with the whole piece in its current state.
Friday’s snow did not deter our Stitch of the Month group from gathering today. Ten stitchers met at Linda’s house this month to work on our 2017 projects – My Way by Carolyn Mitchell and Stars for a New Millennium by Tony Minieri – or to complete work on an older project. As always, we enjoyed the camaraderie and the opportunity to get advice about the stitching. And, we celebrated Jill’s birthday with a delicious German Chocolate Cake from Sue.
We are working at our own pace so we stitch what we can each month. Here is our progress this month from Margaret, Mally, Nancy, Sylvia, Joan, Linda, Jill, Sue, Robin, and Barbara.
Our April meeting is the same day as the NJ NeedleFest so we will be taking our stitching on the road. I’m looking forward to seeing everyone’s progress!
Happy stitching …
Linda
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