Aug23

Liberty – Seminar 2018

Posted on August 23, 2018 by dmbstitch

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.

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!

Edited with BlogPad Pro

Aug23

American Plains

Posted on August 23, 2018 by rosielunde

Standard

Hi Everyone —

Today was my first day of class. I am taking American Plains with Toni Gerdes. It is a kimono-style dress of the type worn by American Indians in the Plains. Sort of like this one from the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian.

Toni’s design is based on one that she saw in the Metropolitan Museum that was made of white leather that was painted bright sky blue. When I arrived at class, the sign announced that the class was American Planes; it was fixed by lunchtime!

The Inspiration for American Plains

No one in the class appeared to be assigned as the class angel, so I volunteered. Mainly my duties are to take attendance, keep track of time, and help Toni with anything that she needs.

We stitched steadily today, but I fear that my progress doesn’t reflect it.

American Plains — Day 1 Progress

Tonight was the Opening Banquet in which they announce the major award winners from the Seminar Exhibit. NJNA couldn’t all manage to sit at one table, but I did get the group together for a picture.

The only face that you may not recognize is Moira C who used to be a member of our chapter and whose arm was twisted to join again!

I’ve been asked to let you know that Marge K is posting seminar updates on our NJNA Facebook Page: NJNA Facebook Page. (You might have to send a request to Sylvia via Facebook to join the group.)

Cheers, Rosie

Aug23

Seminar 2018 – Day One

Posted on August 23, 2018 by lindam55

Standard

Today was the first day of my class – City Lake taught by Gail Stafford. It turns out that Sharon B is also in the class and is the Class Angel.

We were given a line drawn canvas with a few areas already painted. One of our first assignments was to paint the sky using acrylic paints. Painting is not one of my accomplishments so I was particularly intimidated but it turned out okay. We started on some stitching and then had to draw the outlines of the trees onto ultrasuede using carbon paper. Who actually remembers carbon paper?

Here’s my progress at lunchtime today.

D40F657B-4487-4C57-B477-A35EB1CC0D8C After lunch we painted the trees we had traced onto the ultrasuede. If I characterized myself as intimidated by the sky I would have to say I was traumatized by painting trees! We had to shade the trees and get some color variation as well. We will attach the trees tomorrow.

The rest of the afternoon was spent stitching other areas and there was a lot of random stitching, again not my specialty. But I think I’m off to a good start. So here’s my piece at the end of Day One. I’m going to clean up some of the spaghetti tonight to prepare for whatever Gail has in store for us tomorrow.

B5B4266F-748F-4652-AD17-E488232EBE84

Aug23

Getting ready for seminar 2018

Posted on August 23, 2018 by carolkingbarrow

Standard

I wanted to see if my links still worked. Hope to see as many as possible at seminar

Aug23

Day One at Seminar

Posted on August 23, 2018 by carolkingbarrow

Standard

I arrived yesterday by train yesterday with Jill and Diane. We had dinner in the hotel and settled into our rooms.

This morning, I began my first class, Liberty. Our teacher is Dawn Donnelly and she is wonderful! She handed out a line drawn canvas with a generous thread package. Here is my progress so far. I hope to tie off my stragglers before class tomorrow.

Happy stitching!

Aug22

And You Thought You Could Dance…

Posted on August 22, 2018 by rosielunde

Standard

Hi Everyone —

Sue C and I spent the day sightseeing (and riding the METRO) in DC today. We started out at the National Museum of the American Indian. I wrote about the awesome Inka Road engineering in my other blog, but I saved the BEST for this blog.

An Embroidered Collar

All of these are beaded!

The US Flag done entirely in seed beads. If you look closely, you will see the names of all the American Indian nations beaded into the white stripes using matte beads instead of shiny ones. And note the quotations in the blue field.

A display of parrot feathers on the left and a tunic where the cloth is made of feathers on the right.

So — if you have a free day at seminar — this museum offers a wonderful array of stitching and other American Indian arts.

Cheers, Rosie

Aug22

ANG Seminar 2018 – First Timer Report

Posted on August 22, 2018 by lindam55

Standard

The big day has finally arrived – Mr. M and I showed up in Washington, DC today after visiting with Nora in Pittsburgh (hard to believe she’s starting senior year at UPitt). I have wanted to attend an ANG Seminar for many years but it has always conflicted with summer camp and then college move-in week. Since Nora has an apartment this year we didn’t have to worry about dormitory life.

We started out from Pittsburgh this morning and arrived in DC mid-afternoon. Since we hadn’t stopped for lunch on the drive down, our first order of business after checking in was to find someplace for lunch. Fortunately, the Lobby Lounge was open so we were able to grab a sandwich.

After unpacking I headed to the Registration Desk to officially start my sojourn at Seminar. I received my name badge, some goodies, and the Seminar tote that I purchased as a souvenir of my first (hopefully not my last) time at this event.

It’s official – I’m registered!

Goodies – needle minder, scissors fob, post-it notes, and note pad (from First Timers Reception)

Stitchers can never have too many tote bags – and this one has a zippered top!

I attended the First Timers Reception which was very informative. Members from National Board discussed what to expect at Seminar, including the Exhibit, banquets, stitching areas, and Expo! I am looking forward to attending all of the events, as well as my class, City Lake by Gail Stafford.

I have already come across a few people I know and I look forward to meeting some new stitchers as well. The Marriott Wardman Park is a lovely venue with lots of areas that for meeting up with other stitchers.

More tomorrow on my first day at class!

Happy stitching!

Aug11

August SOTM

Posted on August 11, 2018 by rosielunde

Standard

Hi Everyone —

We had a small but lively group stitching at Linda’s today. Nancy brought us a homemade plum cake with whipped cream for dessert. We decided that it was fruit so the calories didn’t count!

We have decided to stay with individual pictures of Autumn Kaleidoscope for the remainder of the year. Several people have said that it helps them to expand the pictures and see how some of the challenging areas have been stitched.

Please enjoy!

Diane’s Adaptation on the Original Colorway.

Sue C’s Gray, Peach, and Blue colorway. I think this is gorgeous and it is one of the only ones where the border really stands out to give a Frank Lloyd Wright-ish look!

Janet P’s Original Colorway on Beige canvas.

Amy B’s Peach and Mint colorway!

Joan’s in Lorene’s Aqua Colorway!

Rosie’s Raspberry Colorway!

Linda M’s Original colorway on black canvas.

Jill’s Aqua, Peach, and Ruby colorway!

Janice’s Chocolate and Cherries colorway!

Ellen S’s Lilac and Mint colorway! Ellen wasn’t able to attend the SOTM today, but she sent in her progress to include in this post! Looking good!

Isn’t it fantastic to see how varied and beautiful all the colorways are?

Cheers, Rosie

Jul25

Summer Salad Supper Recipes on website

Posted on July 25, 2018 by dmbstitch

Standard

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!

Jul15

SOTM – July 2018 – My Progress

Posted on July 15, 2018 by dmbstitch

Standard

As we decided to come up to the lake this weekend, i was able to get this month’s SOTM directions from Linda to work on remotely at the same time as our regular SOTM. Since we had rain off and on Saturday, i was able to do the stitching in between outside chores and the rain. I was amazed how quickly it went and that i was able to finish all the sections on Saturday. I love being able to complete the work on this project within a few days, see the progress, put it away for the month, and work on all my other projects!

While starting on the herringbone, i really missed being with the group to figure out what went where! In addition to the camraderie and discussions, getting each other’s thoughts and ideas on the same project is the real benefit of our SOTM group.

Working with the original colorway, i changed the overdye and threads to pick up more yellow/gold and merlot/burgundy instead of the teal and purple pop colors, while keeping the original autumn colors as the base. I kept all the main threads the same and continued with the black canvas and changed the pop color threads but kept the same type of thread. It is interesting to compare it to those doing the original colorway since it is so similar yet different. Here’s my progress through yesterday.

Edited with BlogPad Pro