Category Archives: NJNA 2018

2018 SOTM – Wrap-Up

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This is a bit late but I didn’t want to miss the opportunity to share everyone’s progress on our 2018 projects.  Many of the group worked on Lorene Salt’s Autumn Kaleidoscope this year while others continued to work on SOTM projects from previous years.  A few of us finished while others have a little more stitching to do.  We all had a great time at our monthly sessions and will be sharing our 2019 projects.

Barbara finished and framed her Stars for a New Millennium (Tony Minieri Designs) in time for the Woodlawn Needlework Show.

stars finished - barbara

And the roll call of Autumn Kaleidoscope; note that in addition to changing the colors many of our stitchers also varied the borders.

january 2019 - amy

Amy

 

january 2019 - diane

Diane

january 2019 - janet

Janet

january 2019 - janice

Janice

january 2019 - jill

Jill

january 2019 - linda

Linda

january 2019 - mally

Mally

january 2019 - marge

Marge

january 2019 - nancy

Nancy

january 2019 - noelle

Noelle

january 2019 - robin

Robin

january 2019 - rosie

Rosie

january 2019 - sue c

Sue C

january 2019 - sylvia

Sylvia

What a great project!  Thank you, Lorene!

 

SOTM – December

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I know I’m very late in getting this posted, but it’s a busy time of year!

The December SOTM gathering is especially fun as we not only stitch but also enjoy a pot-luck lunch. This year was no exception as we worked our way through a reuben casserole, several different salads, deviled eggs, and delicious desserts. The food was fabulous and the friendships are priceless!

Many of us are finishing with Autumn Kaleidoscope (designed by Lorene Salt), which was the SOTM this year.  By the time you see this, a few will have completely finished.  Those of our group who chose their own colorways were deciding on bead colors and will be making a trip or two to find the perfect beads!  And I apologize – but something seems to have gone wrong with my photos of this month’s progress.  So, no photos this month.  But we’ll try to get them back in January for a full display!  In the meantime, check out the NJNA December Meeting Summary for some of the completed pieces.

The SOTM project for 2019 will be the ANG Mystery Project.  We are looking forward to seeing this project develop!

Until January – happy holidays, happy New Year, and happy stitching!

 

 

Sandy Jenkins Needlepoint in Fredericksburg, TX

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I am on a bike trip through the Texas hill country west of Austin. I didn’t quite look at the weather forecast before we left (or perhaps I looked but decided to not believe the forecast!) so was not prepared for the extreme cold snap here. Sunday’s biking was a bit rainy but doable; Monday morning was not too bad it by afternoon, the winds had picked up and the temperatures fell so the biking was cut short quite a bit. The tour leaders decided this morning was way too cold and windy to be safe for biking so we headed into Fredericksbug. I quickly checked out if there were any Needlepoint shops in town. There is a fabulous museum to the War of the Pacific and a cute downtown. And of course, I found the Needlepoint shop!

Designer Sandy Jenkins (www.sandyjenkins.com) has a wonderful shop with all her own designs. I had to admit I was not familiar with her work. Since she gave up teaching and traveling to market, she does her own painting as well as designing. She welcomed me immediately even though she was working with a client pulling threads. When I responded that I was a stitcher, she encouraged me to look around at the designs and finished samples and reminded me not to touch samples (standard practice as we all know) and not to take pictures due to copyright issues since these are all her own designs.

Since I decided to limit myself to just one canvas, I had a tough time deciding! There was a lot of variety of style and themes. I chose a fun Thanksgiving Sampler, which she offered to kit for me. Since I was limited on time, I decided to not kit it for now. I did listen in as she was helping the other client pick threads and was impressed with how she worked with the client. While her thread selection is not vast, it was varied and I would have had no problem finding any threads I wanted or needed.

Sandy Jenkins’ shop in Fredericksburg, TX

While I couldn’t take photos inside, she did allow me to take an outside shot. She does host stitching retreats, so we may need to think about a road trip!

SOTM – November 2018

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Twelve of the SOTM group met today to stitch and share conversation. It was a bright autumnal day and our stitching area was well lit. We even had a surprise visitor – Tina was able to join us to stitch today as she has been visiting from Wisconsin! It was great to catch up with her.

Here is our progress as of this month. All of the projects look fabulous!

November - Barbara

Barbara’s Stars for the New Millennium

Autumn Kaleidoscope progress.

November - Ellen

Ellen

November - Jill

Jill

November - Joan

Joan

November - Linda

Linda

November - Nancy

Nancy

November - Noelle

Noelle

November - Rosie

Rosie

November - Sue C

Sue C

November - Sylvia

Sylvia

November - Tina

Tina

And, no, you didn’t count wrong – Margaret is being shy about her progress on Stars but we’ll get a picture soon.

Next month those of us stitching Autumn Kaleidoscope will be working on the outside border and the beading. And, we’ll all be deciding on our project for next year!

Happy Stitching!

 

New Glory Day Two

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I was fortunate once again to start my day with a walk around the area before class.  The weather is getting more humid but it was still quite nice out this morning.

Today we started working on an additional 6 sections.  Each section has multiple steps so we attempted to get at least 2 of the steps done in these sections to begin to see the patterns.  Keeping the FyreWerks and NeonRays+ straight on both front and back was tough but necessary when working with ribbon threads.

Toni is very good about providing details of exactly where to place stitches and in what order when necessary.  She also provides options when the order is not critical.  There seems to be enough details to be able to complete these sections once class is over. Toni suggested we try to complete the white basketweave section in the top row tonight so we can work on an overlay stitch tomorrow. I think her estimate of an hour and a half to complete it is about half of what I need since I’m such a slow stitcher.

Here’s my progress at the end of day 2 before the closing banquet.

 

#ToniGerdes #NewGlory #ANGseminar

New Glory Day 1 (Day 3 of Seminar)

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Saturday was another beautiful morning for a walk before class, especially since I knew it would be a busy day.  We have been very fortunate with the weather here even though most of the day is inside the hotel. Hence it is so nice to get out and explore when I have the chance.

Saturday was the start of my second class at seminar – New Glory with Toni Gerdes.  Yes, I ended up with two patriotic classes -there was no particular reason; I just liked both pieces!  Toni handed out the canvases with the lines drawn for all the borders and sections. We started the morning painting the borders with blue Copic markers so the white doesn’t show through as much. We then played with various fabric samples to place in the 3 fabric sections.  There was lots of discussion and camraderie as we discussed each other’s selections and sought other’s opinions.  We then applied wool felt to those sections and then applied the fabric using fusible web.  The challenge was making them fit exactly, overlapping the borders part way but not too much!  Toni then taught us how to use the border thread to tie down the fabric so it doesn’t fray and puffs up a bit from the felt but keeping the stitching lines straight even though we’re going through the fabric so you can’t see the holes!  It’s very slow going!

We then worked a few more sections, including doing a burden stitch usng a new thread Stardust as the base and couching it with Accentuate.  Here is my progress at the end of the first day.

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I had bid at the silent auction on a cute witch canvas and won it for $10.  I could have done a lot more damage but only had 5 minutes to swing through and bid!  Think of how much fun this canvas will be once I get to it!

Saturday evening was Expo! and Sue C and I had volunteered to help Trish Vine.  What an experience from the other side of the table!  At least I didn’t mind the crowds as I wasn’t trying to fight through them to shop.  I can only hope I recorded everything correctly for Trish.

A bit exhausted after packing up what was left of Trish’s inventory, we headed down to the bar for a glass of wine and some apps.  There we were treated to a fascinating fashion show of people attending the Black Community Supports Breast Cancer Research Pink and White Ball.  It was great fun to watch people coming in elegantly dressed in pink and white, especially the men.  There was a man with pink and white spats and another with shoes that sparkled with LO and VE.  While there were a few questionable outfits, most were stunning.  It was a great end to a long day.

#NewGlory #ToniGerdes #ANGseminar

Liberty Day 2 – Seminar 2018

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I once again started the day with a short walk.  The weather is beautiful and his is a great area to walk around.

Then it was time to start again on Liberty.  We continued through the various sections and made a lot of progress despite more frogging!  At the end of the day, Dawn described how we would add the swirls and the fire works at the top of the “cake”.  Hopefully I listened well enough to do it once I get home and have time to finish is piece.  As you can see, I made a lot of progress.  This was a very enjoyable class with a fun project that I look to finish.

Then it was off to a quick run through the auction where I bid on a halloween piece, a Cyberpointers meeting, a Cyberpointers Board meeing, and then to the tail end of Teacher’s Showcase.  Sue C, Rosie, and I went down the street for a wonderful dinner where we met a delightful local couple and their 7-month old daughter.  We talked them into checking out the exhibit so hopefully they will.

Tomorrow starts a new class!

Liberty – Seminar 2018

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After an easy train ride from Trenton to Union Station followed by a Lyft ride to the hotel, I arrived at ANG Seminar 2018 in Washington, DC.  After checking into the hotel and seminar, I walked up Connecticut Avenue to the National Zoo since it was such a beuatiful day. I was somewhat familiar with the area since my son had lived in this neighborhood for a year so it was fun to explore it again.  The Zoo had been a favorite stop for us, especially the elephants!

After dinner at the hotel and bisiting with several NJNA members, it was nice to settle into my room to get ready for today’s class.  I started the day with a morning walk as I knew I’d be sitting inside all day.

Liberty by Dawn Donnelly is a really fun project.  While it is not a challenging piece, I ended up ripping out quite a bit today of 3 of the 4 sections we did.  You can see where I ripped out what I’d done in the 2nd tier and didn’t get a chance yet to redo!  This is a very fast stitch so hopefully I will finish it sooner rather than later!  Dawn is a wonderful, fun teacher with a relaxed teaching style.  The room is very bright for stitching although a bit chilly so I’m glad to have my fleece.  Here’s my progress at the end of class today.

Liberty_day_1.jpg

Tonight was the opening banquet and it was great to at least quickly catch up with various stitching friends. The welcome gift is a Trish Vine project bag – well worth the cost of the dinner!

Summer Salad Supper Recipes on website

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What a wonderful appetizer, salad, dessert supper we had at last week’s NJNA meeting.  There were an amazing number of wonderful dishes and I certainly did not go away hungry!

I have added 3 of the recipes to the Members Only portion of the NJNA website (njneedleartists.org) – Dee’s Bacon-Cheddar-Chive Scones, Mally’s Orzo Salad, and Diane’s Warm Crab Dip.  Members can and should check out all the  great recipes on the site.   Please contact Heidi if you have forgotten the password for the Members Only section!

 

SOTM – July 2018

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It was a warm day but that didn’t stop nine of our SOTM members from gathering to continue with our projects. Eight of us worked on Autumn Kaleidoscope by Lorene Salt and Dee continued her considerable progress on A Different View from Kurdy Biggs.

This is picture-intense; we’ve decided to take individual pictures each month as it is difficult to get a good photo of all the canvases together. So, here goes.

Dee is continuing her work on A Different View, which was our SOTM a few years ago. This is one of the suggested colorways although it is up to the stitcher to choose the elements. Isn’t this just gorgeous and so rich-looking on the black canvas?

July 2018 - Dee

Several stitchers are working Autumn Kaleidoscope in the original colorway, or a slight variation thereof, while others have chosen their own colorways. Even the pieces being stitched in the same colorway look different depending on how the variegated threads are placed.

Janice is stitching her own colorway, dubbed “Cherries and Chocolate”. She started with a variegated thread from Colour Complements and then picked other threads to go with the colors in the base thread. Interestingly, her concept is based on the colors and not on the type of threads, so she makes choices in each box. This really does look like chocolate cherries!

July 2018 - Janice

Rosie is also stitching her own colorway. While she started with a concept of substituting colors one-for-one, she has improvised along the way depending on how she thinks the areas work in relation to each other. The colors are really vibrant.

July 2018 - Rosie

Marge has been traveling a lot this year so she is just starting out. As a result she’ll get the benefit of the group’s experience. Her colors feature pinks and magentas, with some “pop” colors (apologies for not taking a picture of her threads). But she is off to a good start.

July 2018 - Marge

Robin and Janet started with the original colorway for threads but changed the canvas colors (the original was stitched on black). Janet is stitching on ecru and Robin is stitching on a darker beige.

Janet changed out some of the “pop” threads and made some other adjustments in colors. It is really interesting to see how the threads look on the ecru canvas.

July 2018 - Janet

Robin went rogue and used the solid pearl cotton on the inside borders, rather than the variegated thread, as well as changing the canvas color. The result is more of a stained class look. She also changed out some of the purples and blues.

July 2018 - Robin

Mally, Nancy, and I are all stitching the original colorway on the black canvas. However, even though we are stitching the same colors, our pieces look different due to placement of variegated threads.

Here is Mally’s piece – note that herringbone stitch in the lower right quadrant. That was our “challenge” stitch this month!

July 2018 - Mally

Here is Nancy’s stitched piece.  Look at how different the center bargello section looks (and it’s not due to the quality of the photography).

July 2018 - Nancy

Finally, here is my piece. Again, it’s in the original colorway on the black canvas.

July 2018 - Linda

Please don’t think that I finished all of this month’s sections in one sitting. I finished stitching after everyone left, so I waited to take the picture until then. I lost some time during the afternoon session – I had to leave to rescue Mr. M who was in a car accident. Fortunately, he is okay although the car didn’t fare too well.

It’s hard to believe that we are more than halfway through this project. Everyone is enjoying this project immensely, and I think we are all in agreement that each month’s “assignment” is a manageable amount of stitching that doesn’t consume us, enabling us to stitch on all those other projects. We love getting together each month to chat, stitch, and enjoy each other’s company. And, we are really thrilled with being able to talk through stitches and colors and techniques with each other. Perhaps that is the most valuable part of our SOTM group.

We encourage those SOTM members who weren’t able to attend this month to share photos of their progress as well.

Happy Stitching!