Hope everyone is enjoying the holidays. I decided to take some time off this week to relax and get caught up on my needlework projects before starting some major projects for next year.

This past weekend I was able to finish Thank You Jean by Karen Garinger, the class I ghosted through the ANG Mt. Rainier Chapter.  I thoroughly enjoyed this project and I think it is just a great piece.  It will be an ANG Cyberclass in 2018 for anyone interested.

Over the rest of my week off I hope to finish a few more pieces that were started this year.

I hope you all have a very Happy New Year – best wishes for 2017!

This past week I started the second class in what I’m calling my “Alternative Seminar”. I am ghosting a class through the ANG Mt. Rainier Chapter – Thank You Jean, which is a study of Jean Hilton stitches.  The designer is Karen Garinger, a member of that chapter. We have a Facebook page so that we can ask questions, share photos, and get advice from Karen.  She told us that the piece was originally intended as Frank Lloyd Wright-inspried but as the design evolved it was clearly using the stitches devised by Jean.

I originally saw the piece on Facebook and signed up immediately.  I am stitching it on black 18-count canvas although it was also available with red and green canvas.  The threads are all silver/gray.  Interestingly, the project also includes a piece of chiffon which is mounted between the canvas and the stretcher bars.  When we first got the kit (which was beautifully shipped, by the way, and included a project bag), I assumed the chiffon was provided to give the piece some “texture”.  However, Karen explained that when she stitched the piece she found  some of the threads showed through the canvas and, since there was no way to avoid some dragging, the chiffon provides backing to help hide those threads.  I have heard of stitchers who mount felt or other material behind their canvases so that they don’t have to worry about dragging threads, but have not done so myself before now.

The threads include Shimmer Ribbon , Silk Lame Braid, Kreinik, Neon Rays and DMC rayon floss and perle cotton, and Sulky Metallic. The first step was to complete the outer and inner borders which are stitched in #8 perle cotton in satin stitch. I started stitching last weekend and was able to do only an hour or two a day during the week. It was a very stressful week at work so those few hours in the evening were therapeutic for me. I managed to finish the borders on Thursday night.

Step 2 is to place Waffle Stitches along the long side between the inner and outer borders. The Waffles are stitched in two colors of the Shimmer Ribbon. I did get a few of those done last night and will continue with the Waffles today. Here you can see the placement of the Waffles. These are done in a silver Shimmer Ribbon and the stitches in between will be done in a darker gray Shimmer Ribbon.  

I am looking forward to sitting down later today to complete the areas between the borders.  I’ll post progress in a few days.

Happy Stitching!