I was about 24 inches short of the Kreinik for the wedding sampler so I called around and found that The Gazebo in New Hope had a spool.  A quick trip over there was an experience.  The place is hard to find the first time as it is in the back of an odd shaped outdoor mall with several buildings.

They are both needlepoint and knitting.  They have tons of fibers, canvases, and charts.  Fortunately I was on a mission so I couldn’t spend a lot of time because I would have spent a lot of money!!  Gwen had mentioned how good it was and I would totally agree.  The place is small but well organized to show all the fibers, canvases, charts, and supplies.

Definitely worth the initial trip and many future trips!!!

I was in Philadelphia Thursday evening and knew I needed a few fibers for my SOTM and another project I’m doing as well as a few other items like magnets.  Since I was right around the corner from Rittenhouse Needlepoint and had about 1/2 hour free, I just needed to stop in.  What a great experience.

The shop is on the 2nd floor and you must ring a bell to be admitted to the building.  The space is packed with tons of fibers, canvases, and ideas for finishing projects.   I was immediately greeted by one of the shopkeepers whose name I didn’t get and Russell, one of the owners.  The woman helped me find the fibers I needed and offered to order what they didn’t have.  Meanwhile she encouraged me to spend time and just look around; she was leaving but Russell was there if I had any questions. Russell then gave me a “back room” tour where they do custom finishing on-site and custom painting of canvases.  While not large, they have made wonderful use of the space they have.

For finishing, they have lots of ideas and you can either take your piece in to be finished or send it to them.  They make custom wood trays that are gorgeous.  If finishing with fabric, they have lots of fabrics to choose from.  If you take the piece in, they will work with you testing out different fabrics, cording, etc.  If you send it in, they will select some ideas and email you photos so you can decide what you really want.

They have a lot of canvases and I did not have time to really look although I did pick a few I’m really interested in doing – next time I’ll be sure to allow more time!   They have a stitch notebook with samples they let you peruse if looking for ideas.

Their website (http://rittenhouseneedlepoint.com)  is wonderful; their canvases are grouped by type rather than by designer.

I could have spent  a lot more time (and money!) if I hadn’t had another commitment.  It was definitely worth the stop and I know I’ll be going back!

Ordinarily, I wouldn’t choose to blog about the completion of my St. Margaret’s Star. However, after many frustrating attempts to post about the NJ Needle Festival using my iPad mini, I ended up back on my regular laptop. Now the point of getting the iPad was so that I could blog while traveling without having to lug the laptop and its myriad of cords around with me. And with apologies to those who “follow” the blog for the test messages — this post is actually a real test with pictures, captions, and all!

So, for this post I am using the application called Blogsy ($5 at the App Store) which I downloaded to my iPad at my daughter’s recommendation. I added my WordPress blog to it and after a brief tutorial, I am now writing my first independent post. So first I had to get the picture downloaded from the camera — that was easy! But I have to edit the photo in the photo application on the iPad and save it as a new photo. OK — did that, but I’ll probably need some practice with the approach — I like using my mouse better!

St. Margaret’s Star

Whew — I forgot how to insert the picture for a moment, but now I remember that I had to drag it into the post with my finger. Then I double tapped it to bring up a screen that allows me to add a caption. Unfortunately the caption doesn’t show up in the posting screen, but I know it’s there and that it will show up when I publish the post. (Because I tried it a lot of times during the tutorial!)

OK — I think I am ready to publish this. Blogsy is nice because it gives me font options as well as MS Word features like centering, bold, and underline. I’ve used my iPad mini, my flexible silicone full-size bluetooth keyboard, my camera, a special camera cord which is about three inches long, and that’s all! This set-up (if it actually works) will be easier on my back, but more challenging to my brain!

Cheers to all!

Rosie

Today was the second annual New Jersey Needlefest in Pluckemin, NJ.  The NJNA was well-represented at this event.

First, it was organized by Susan H of Foxview Needlepoint who is our reigning NJNA president!  She had Sue R and Ellen T helping with check-in and food and coffee service.  Our own Anne M from Mrs. Stitches was one of several vendors and it appeared that she was doing quite a business.  (In fact, I heard several women discussing the need to make a visit to her shop in Mendham!)

There were seven stitchers at our NJNA table and Sue C, Gwen, Rona, and Mary were all sitting with other groups.

Pam, Dee, Carol, Diane, Linda, and Kathy at the NJNA table!

A lot of our NJNA stitchers were working on St. Margaret’s Star and we attracted a  good deal of attention as others stopped by to view our different colorways and even variations in the same over-dyed threads.  Later in the day, Joan and Nancy stopped by to say “Hi” and to shop at the vendors!

Some (but not all) of NJNA attendees!

The lunches were made by the DAR who donates all proceeds to the Veterans Hospital.  We are so grateful that Susan chooses them to be the lunch vendor.  Don’t these look delicious?

Ham Sandwich Lunch

Vegetarian Lunch

Gwen and Sue C both won door prizes — so even though the NJNA table wasn’t so lucky, our members certainly were!

Gwen proudly displays her door prize!

Susan presenting Sue with her door prize!

Members or our chapter were thrilled to reconnect with some former chapter members and we hope that our friendliness and enthusiasm will entice them to rejoin NJNA.

All in all, we had a wonderful day of stitching with friends — and I can’t think of anything better!

Cheers!  Rosie

Hi, Everyone —

The SOTM stitchers met at my house yesterday to work on Debbie Steihler’s Bargello SOTM Project!   The ANG website was the first thing most of us checked on April 1st because we couldn’t wait to see what happened next!

SOTM Stitchers Hard at Work!

We worked diligently and two of us (Linda and Sue C) are completely done and waiting for the next steps.

Various Stages of Progress!

All the various color combinations are fabulous!  We helped each other out with placement, counting, and techniques!  I hope that we can entice a few more of you to join us on this project — it’s not too late!  Plus it is so awesome to stitch with friends!

I am eagerly awaiting May 1st’s installment….it’s like being a kid at Christmas!

Cheers!

Rosie

I was fortunate enough to go to see the Woodlawn Exhibit on Sunday and Monday this week.  It was spectacular!  There were so many things to see that I found two visits necessary and still didn’t remember everything.  My two favorite rooms included the room of small objects and the room of the geometric framed pieces.  Of course, there were wonderful pieces throughout the other rooms as well.  I saw some pieces that I recognized from the ANG seminar in Philadelphia and some pieces that our members have stitched.  Seeing all these things is inspiring to pick up the needle and stitch.  Our two guests from the March meeting had pieces on exhibit; Rona had five pieces and Mary two.  As I was going into the exhibit, I met them coming out and chatted with them.  There pieces were all in the room of primarily geometrics.  Maybe our chapter should make an effort to exhibit  some of our pieces in the future.  I was pleased to see a bargello box stitched by a friend of mine from another group (FCE) who had taken a first place!  She had not thought of entering her box, but her daughter-in-law insisted and even brought it down to Woodlawn!  And the two women I drove down with (FCE members as well) both exhibited and one took an honorable mention for a counted thread piece.

When we were not at the exhibit, we seemed to be living in the needlework shop about a mile away called In Stitches.  It has many charts and threads, some painted canvases and some knitting.  I indulged only a little, at least it looks like a small amount, but the bill was not.  That is what you get when you buy threads galore!  I hope to return next year as it is so inspirational.

Hi Everyone —

Carol and I arrived back from Mexico last night. We had such an awesome week — relaxing, productive, delicious, and fun!

We ended our “retreat” with more stitching done than when we started! Carol was able to start on the interior of her St. Margaret’s Star.

Carol’s St. Margaret’s Star

Rosie got as far as she could with the Or Nue. There were a number of errors/omissions in the article — but the one that stopped progress cold was when I ran out of Japan gold thread for the background. The article called for one spool (no mention of length), so this is as far as five meters would go:

Autumn Leaves OrNue

So, I’ll be visiting Mrs. Stitches sometime this week! I think this is a nice piece for teaching — but I’ll try to have some alternatives as well. The technique is pretty easy and I can think of a number of places where it would be dynamite!

We went back to the Italian restaurant at the resort just so that we could share the artful presentation of the food.

The flat bread had little Parmesan hearts baked into it!

The salad was tied (with an artichoke ribbon) and standing up on the plate. The dressing was sprinkled on top and the olives, cheeses and tomatoes were around the outside! Beautiful!

Ice Cream with Crescent Moon Cookie!

We also made the most unusual find at one of the shops — titanium necklaces! You can spread them or mold them into different configurations — truly unique and fashionable!

Titanium Necklaces with a few ruffles to demonstrate how they work! Cool!

We would love to do another retreat with more of you able to attend — so start brainstorming and we’ll see what makes sense…

Cheers! Rosie and Carol