ANG 2020 Stitch of the Month - November

 I finished the November portion of the American Needlepoint Guild's 2020 Stitch of the Month.

The upper right and lower left corners are the November Stitch and it is called the Hungarian Stitch.

Past posts with this project include:  October 23 and August 16

That about covers it for now! Happy Stitching everyone.

SANQ 2012 Band Sampler

 Sampler and Antique Needlework Quarterly magazine had a year long project in 2012 that I fell in love with. 

I started in May of 2012 and got this far by August of 2012. I am working on the final section of Part 2 and probably a little over half of the entire sampler is done. However, part three has a LOT of stitched area and not very much open space, so while I may be over half way down the fabric, there could be more than half the stitches still to go! I hope that made sense.

When I finished the Maria Antoni Sampler, I decided to start this one back up. 

When finished the stitched area will be approximately 26" x 10"

It is stitched on 30 count cream linen using two strands of DMC floss over two threads, with some specialty stitches.  

These links should take you to previous posts about this sampler if you are interested.

 https://www.suncitystitcher.com/2012/01/stitching-gods-are-against-me.html

 https://www.suncitystitcher.com/2012/05/miss-maddie-new-start-sampler.html

 https://www.suncitystitcher.com/2012/05/band-sampler-update.html

 https://www.suncitystitcher.com/2012/05/band-sampler-progress-report.html

Well, 2020 seems to be the year of samplers for me. I have more than I thought in my stash and since many are on a higher count fabric, I thought I would try and get them done while my eyes let me.

Maria Antoni Sampler FINISHED

 I am finished with this sampler. I made a few changes, but am happy with it so that is how it will stay!!

Many of the areas in the lower third called for long arm cross, but there were areas with a lot of color change and I just could not get the hang of the stitch, so I did regular cross stitch. 

Also, there is some other lettering and numbers under her name, but I could not figure out what they said and left them out. I did put my initials and the year in an empty space to the right of the tree.

I started this at a Sampler Guild of the Rockies Retreat in 2015. All I got done then was the black and yellow stitches in the motif at the upper left. I picked the project back up in April of this year and have worked on it most evenings since. Finishing it on October 24.  It is 12.5" x 17" on 36 count linen and uses Soie d' alger silks.

Here is a close up of the beaded area:

Now on to other projects. This is one plus of being retired during a pandemic, I am getting a TON of stitching done and I try to look on the bright side.

Happy Stitching!!

ANG 2020 Stitch of the Month

 I  finished the October sections for the American Needlepoint Guild (ANG) 2020 Stitch of the Month.

October is the top and bottom middle sections, called the Willow stitch. Next month we finish the corners. 

In case I forgot to mention it, the September stitch is a Diamond Pavilion.

I have been working on Christmas stitching, but can't show those in case the recievers read my blog!

That about covers it for now!!

A Halloween Finish, Finish

 I was going through my finishing supplies and found a 6 inch finishing form. Wondering what I could use it for, I went into my box of finished, unfinished items. Those are projects for which the stitching has been completed, but they have not been finished into anything (framed, pillow, bell pull, etc.).

I found this piece called Hey Diddle, Diddle, which I completed in 2010! It is from the Sept/Oct. 2003 issue of Just Cross Stitch magazine and had a companion piece in the Nov/Dec issue of a reindeer hopping over a Christmas tree.

More information in this post from the past.

Here is the back:

It just shows it is never too late to finish, finish something!!

Maria Antoni Sampler Update

 I have been making pretty good progress and I am close to being done. I did make one change. On approximately the lower third, it called for the long armed cross stitch for all. I am ok with long stretches of this stitch, but the design had individual elements using this stitch, changing colors etc. So, to save my sanity, I did these in regular cross stitch. 

I took this picture at the end of my stitching day on Saturday, October 17, 2020.

Happy Stitching!!

A Little Beading and A New Project

 My local bead club decided to try a zoom meeting and suggested a project to work on. It was fun and more of a get together to chat and bead than a learning class. We all worked on the same project. This was the first time zoom was attempted and it looks like the club will keep it up as an open beading event twice a week. 

The project we worked on was 3D Peyote Squares by Kelly Dale of Off the Beaded Path. It was a lot of fun and as you can see I did quite a few and played around with colors a little. I made them into earrings and a necklace! This project used No. 11 Delicas.

The "chain" for this necklace is a spiral rope using No. 11 seed beads that matched the Delicas.

I also have an update on the Maria Antoni Sampler, progress as of August 26:

A little closer up here:

Last June I took advantage of an opportunity to get a limited edition kit commemorating the journey of the Mayflower to America. Designed by Brenda Gervais of With Thy Needle & Thread, it honors the Women of the Mayflower by listing their names in the sampler.  I am doing it on 40 count (the smallest I  have ever stitched on) because I loved the fabric color choice for that count. It is kind of mottled. I ordered my kit from Sassy Jacks Stitchery in North Carolina. I knew the owner when I lived in NC.

The kit arrived a couple of weeks ago and came in a nice box and included a cute pilgrim needle minder, a label for the back when finished and framed, a ring to hold threads and a card to put on the ring to mark the project the threads were for. Of course the fabric, threads and chart were in the box too!  

It also had a bonus chart and some fabric to use as backing if we wanted to make the bonus into a pillow, along with finishing instructions to get the best use of the fabric. It is a reproduction of the page of Mayflower passenger William Bradford.

Since 2020 marks the 400th anniversary of the Mayflower, the general idea was to start the Sampler on September 6, the day the Mayflower set sail, and finish the sampler on November 11, the day the Mayflower landed in Cape Cod. It was a 66 day journey.  

Since I am doing it on 40 count linen the finished size will be approx. 6 1/4 inches by 21 inches. Here is my progress so far:

I will be doing this with lots of lighting and magnification!! I am looking forward to it since I love history and this combined with my love of stitching! 

Happy Stitching!!