HAPPY EASTER to all of us who celebrate.

I realized that I have been very slack on giving my blog the attention that it deserves.  I think I really have too many irons in the fire.  However, I'm afraid to slow down for I might not be able to get my momentum rolling again.

A lot has been going on.  I have been so fortunate to have such an active life.  I am also blessed to enjoy the health that allows me to participate at the level I enjoy.  After my family, teaching needlework is my main focus.  I have been quite busy teaching, stitching models for class and writing stitch guides. What fun!

Also,  Shapes of Needlepoint - Series IV, Diagonals, Horizontals and Verticals, is scheduled for release mid-August so I am busy making last minute polishing touches.

Today, however, I have a special surprise!  I have prepared a gift for you, my wonderful supporters, which I hope you can enjoy and use.

I have created a special notebook that I have shared with various chapters over the years.  This notebook I have labeled as Stitch Samples.  The notebook is an organized way of testing a stitch by using a free stitch diagram I will be providing you.  A template is provided for you as well.  I have included pages for you to print out for your notebook.  This template shows the diagram, provides a place for notes of what thread you used, etc., and had a place to mount your stitched sample.

Here is a sample of what the individual pages will look like.  They will have the stitch name and category suggestions already typed on them and ready for you to stitch a sample and file away!

I have set up a Yahoo Group in which to download the various postings, including templates and suggestions for setting up your own personal system.

Each week, I will post a new page to the group for you to download.

If you are interested in this adventure, go to http://groups.yahoo.com/group/webstitchsamplernotebook and ask to join the group.

Feel free to remind me that I may not have posted a stitch for the week.  I hope to post stitches each Wednesday - I will list them as Wednesday Whimsies.

I would love your feedback on the adventure.  Tell your friends and let's have fun while we continue to play with one of our favorite passions.

Until Wednesday, Stitch with a Smile!

Sandy

ANG Chicago Seminar 2014

Great news!  I have been selected to teach at ANG Seminar 2014 that is being held in Chicago.
Two pieces were chosen for a total of five days of classes.

The piece that is four-days in length is way too much fun!  Are you ready for this?  It is the sequel to To The Beach.  This design is Back to the Beach:  The Girls Reunited. 

As you can see, the years have not been overly kind to our beach gals. But physical appearances have not dampened their attitudes and enjoyment of life.

The next class is a one-day class that is really a workshop.  It is Beading for Needlework.

We'll have fun playing with different techniques and ways to enhance those ornaments and projects that are just screaming for some bling to be added.

As we get closer to Seminar 2014 we will be discussing these classes further.  I just wanted to tease you right now and warn you to start saving those nickels and dimes!

Until next time, be sure to Stitch with a Smile!

Sandy

ANG Seminar 2013 - Anaheim, CA

It just seems like yesterday that Anaheim Seminar was a century away. Now it is a short few months!

My major class for Anaheim is my precious Pinkletoes. I just love this little girl. She has so much to offer in our four days together: Bargello, combination stitches, ribbon embroidery, beading, etc., etc.

I am getting ready to leave for a week-long retreat. So I decided to discipline myself to at least take small spurts and work a little by drawing a few canvases in preparation for my class. This piece has 5 canvases! (plus a little Aida for the soft bunny tail).

When checking my inventory, I had only 3 yards of Congress cloth in the creme/ecru/ivory/whatever color you choose to call it. Well, one yard is not enough to get the 5 pieces for Pinkletoes. It takes two yards to get two bunnies (come on now, you can figure out why that is). That certainly wasn't going to be a lot of progress if I were only going to do two bunnies - although I'll admit that would be two towards the goal.  So, I go to my trusted supplier and place my order for 20 yards of this fantastic fabric. I am told, however, that there is none in stock and there is no ETA for the replacement. Now, this is a LARGE supplier who orders directly from overseas.

After a brief bout of panic, I get on email, phone, fax, anything I can think of to start getting my supply of needed Congress for this class. Most of the time I'm hitting a wall. Finally, thank goodness, a supplier came through with my 20 yards and it should arrive today or Monday here at my studio. I sure must be living right or something. I have always said that the good Lord looks out for me because so many wonderful things occur in my life. This is one example of why I feel that way.

So now I have no excuse for not getting a little work done during my days of play with friends (well, my daughter is in that group and she is my friend but maybe I should also say family and friends, but then that would sound like she is only included as family and not a friend - see, I can go on and on with this kind of analyzing)!

My second class at Seminar is not nearly as difficult to prepare for. Teacup Treasures - California Poppy is the beginning of a series. I hope to create different designs for different state flowers.

I have a bolt of the green and the other part requires muslin which all the fabric stores are happy to sell to me. This one-day class is a relatively simple stumpwork technique that produces my version of a California Poppy. There is also some beading thrown in for good measure. There are a few stitches that still need to be added to the model to provide a grounding for the design, but deadlines caught up with me and off she had to go. This piece is lovely as a box top or a pincushion (would anyone dare put a pin in it)?  Here I have shown it in one of those teacups that we seem to must keep and not throw away or donate because it might be a reminder of someone, etc., etc. You know how it goes. So to me, this was a practical way to make good use of it.

For those of you with your Seminar Brochure more complete details are on pages 11 and 33.

I would love to see you in my classes at Anaheim.  We will have fun!

Have a great day and remember to Stitch with a Smile!

Sandy

Delilah Stitch Guide.

Look who has been added to the online shop of www.duodesignsinc.com.  It is Delilah!  This wonderful gal is a member of Leigh Designs' Femme Fatale Series.

She is so much fun.  Look at all the great stitches. threads and embellishments used.

Rainbow Gallery, Burmilana, Caron Impressions, Kreinik, Planet Earth Silk, Sundance Sparkles, Sequins and Beads - WOW!

Hand-painted on 8" x 18" 18 count canvas, this design offers lost of bling and entertainment as you stitch it to its completion.  The stage lights incorporate the great Sparkles with added sequins and beads.  The stage curtain is stitched with burmilana.  Her fantastic hair is made up of numerous shades of Impressions.  The gown shimmers and shines with the help of Rainbow Gallery threads.  And her bling is made possible by beautiful Sundance beads and sequins.

This design is offered as a painted canvas plus stitch guide or as a stitch guide only (pdf format).  Be sure to check it out at www.duodesignsinc.com under the online shop drop down menu.

Temari!

November, December and January were very hectic months for me stitchingwise.  So, there are several ways I take a brief break from my needlepoint (horrors!).  I have been an avid knitter for years, crocheted since I was 8 (20 yrs. or so ago), do needle felting, beading, and on and on.  These past few weeks our Temari group had a challenge hosted by a very talented and generous lady Joan.  We did the Ninja Star.

This design required that we make a C8 ball before we could begin the pattern.  Once we had the ball marked we began adding bands around from north pole to south pole down both sides.

 and then we changed and added a set of bands around equator.

Once we  had the 3 sets of bands woven we changed gears.  Now we needed to add squares around the 6 areas of all 6 intersections.  Can you see a star?  I didn't either.  But, wait . . .

There, that's a little better.  We had choices of how to continue.  I chose to continue filling in between the squares with black so the star would be a little more obvious.  Not too, too bad for a first effort and I am positive my next one will be much better.  But, it was a fun challenge and I am anxious to make another.  There were some great variations created by the participants.

So, this is how I have been spending the last few days relaxing.

Now, I must get back to my other swtitching.

Have a great day and stitch with a smile!

Sandy

Stitch Guides

Good morning everyone!  It is pretty crisp here in Central Kentucky.  When it is cold I am provided  with an extra incentive to try and take care of myself and my accompanying blood clot.  Doctor says all is going well, however.  Finished with tummy injections now just working on medication and regular visits for lab work.

My webmaster has been working very hard to try and get the stitch guides up on our website so you good folks can have the opportunity to purchase them.  Here is the link to what I think is the Online Shop of the Stitch Guides Only section.  http://duodesignsinc.com/wpsite/stitch-guides-only.  If I didn't do this correctly, it is on our website duodesignsinc.com under the Online Shop drop down menu that is contained in the banner that runs horizontally across the top of the page.

There are some of Sundance Designs - A Time for Love, Desert Garden, Heart and Flowers and Sweetest Tree - as well as some others.  Give it a look see.

Hearts From A to Z

A Time for Love

Sweetest Tree

Overlapping Oblong Cross and Van Dyke Stitches

I promised some of my classes that I would provide them with a little more information on the difference between these two stitches that I discovered through some research.

A quick little story first, however.  My trip back from CA could not be the star for long.  When I returned home, I had tremendous pain in my left leg.  I was very suspicious as I have had this condition before.  Yep, after going to the doctor and surgical offices, I have a blod clot in my left leg now.  We just caught it before it reached the 'deep' stage so I did not have to be hospitalized this time.  I did not, however, escape the wonderful injections into the tummy routine.  I can happily say that today I am finally starting to feel some relief and the burning is subsiding a bit.  The leg is still extremely sensitive and sore and I am trying to make myself be good and not over do (somehow that does not fit with Sandy????).  I am very thankful that I was able to get help and that it seems to be working.

Okay, now on to fulfilling my promise about the van dyke stitch.

It has been my observance that many refer to the overlapped oblong cross stitch diagrammed below as a ‘van dyke’ stitch.  Heck, I, too,  had incorrectly referred to this stitch as a van dyke stitch.  My problem with this version was 'what makes it any different than the overlapped oblong cross stitch'?

One of my hobbies is to browse through old books at night before I go to sleep.  Here I made the discovery that a stitch does exist that is referred to as the van dyke stitch and it is executed differently.

The traditional van dyke stitch is usually narrow at the top and wider at the bottom.  However, variations can make the stitches equidistance in length and width to create interesting effects (ut oh, I hope that's not supposed to be affects or I'll hear it from the English teachers out there - but I think this is the correct one).  The traditional execution of the stitch produces a very prominent ridge down the center of the band or border (however you choose to use it). 

I am fortunate to have a pretty good sized library of stitching books.  Here are some  references I pulled quickly  (like in 20 minutes) and they are not properly set up the way a bibliography should be, I know, I just wanted to get the info down quickly and move on –

1.    Handbook of Stitches – Grete Petersen and Elsie Svennas

Van Nostrand Reinhold Company, 1959, page16 has a 4 step illustration of this stitch.

           

2.      Embroidery Stitches, Mary Webb, Firefly Books, 2006, page 124, described as “the top stitch picks up a tiny amount of fabric at the center to anchor the whole row.  The second and subsequent stitches crosses the line from left to right, passing behind the preceding stitch at the center; no ground fabric is picked up.”

3.      Mary Thomas’s Dictionary of Embroidery Stitches, Mary Thomas, Trafalgar Square Publishing,  1998, page 50, similar explanation as given in Mary Webb’s book “the subsequent stitches should cross the row from left to right and pass behind the preceding stitches at the center…without picking up the fabric.”

4.      The illustration below is from Samplers and Stitches, a handbook of the embroideer’s art by Mrs. Archibald Christie, London 1920.

I'm sure if I took the time to research I would find many more references in some of my older books but these are some I just grabbed on the go so I could keep my promise.

A search on the internet provides many videos for executing this stitch.  Also, when reading the text you learn that the stitch can be broadened at the top and/or bottom to create an entirely different look.  This could be something like the oblong cross stitch illustrated above except the thread needs to slide under the intersection of the previous stitch, not pierce the fabric.

Anyway, this is my interpretation of how a van dyke stitch is to be executed.  Note that I said 'my'.  There are many interpretations of a kazillion stitches and we, as stitchers, will follow what the stitch guides or designers suggest to get the results they obtained no matter what it is called and love it just as dearly.

Stay warm if this is an issue for you today, be happy, and stitch with a smile!

Sandy