Progress on Mellow Yellow

I am sorry that I have not posted for awhile but I got an unexpected call from carpenter to tell me that he will be starting the kitchen demolition on Monday. I have been busy packing up the kitchen.

I have made some progress on Mellow Yellow. Lessons 1 and 2 are complete and lesson 3 is about a quarter done. Ruth has done such a wonderful job on this canvas. The stitches for the flowers really bring them to life. Unfortunately, I have to put it aside for a couple of weeks.

The Nativity Elephant arrived today and I have to get him started. This canvas is bigger than the others and really has a lot detail.

Off to try to finish the yellow flower that is almost complete and then off to the Elephant.

Linda

Mellow Yellow

This is a Melissa Shirley canvas with stitch guide by Ruth Schmuff. Ruth did an absolutely fantastic job on this piece. Her thread selection and stitches are just to die for. This is such a fun stitch. The background is finished and the leaves are almost done. I have two leaves left to stitch before I attach the heshi shells. Then on to the stems and flowers. I want to try to catch up with the class schedule so I can finish up before the next Mystery Class starts. Ruth really went over the top with the piece. She has made this canvas an artistic masterpiece. It is truly a work of art. Cannot wait to see what she does with the Raymond Crawford Merry Christmas canvas.

Off to finish up the leaves before dinner.

Linda

Back from Finisher

Here are two pictures of my finished "boo" canvas. The second picture is of "boo" in its new home. This canvas is by & More with stitch guide by Amy Bunger. I was surprised that this came back from the finisher so quickly. I was hoping to get it back in time for Halloween but was not sure since I handed it in late. I gave a lot of thought into how I wanted this finished. Our LNS store had the owner of Spinning Wheel (the finisher they use) come in and discuss options for finishing. I really got a lot out of this demonstration. So I decided to think outside of the box and I came up with this finishing idea for "boo". I wanted it done as a box with wooden painted feet to match the canvas. I also wanted black raw silk fabric for the back and all sides of the box with ribbon to match the colors in the canvas. The last thing I asked for was some Halloween decorations coming out of the ribbon on top. My wish list really was granted with my finished "boo". I am just thrilled with how it turned out. It now has a permanent home in my sewing room.

I will be posting for the next couple days. Mellow Yellow is coming along and I am just thrilled with it and yesterday something I ordered arrived and I will be posting about that too.

Linda

Angel of the Lord

I just finished the seventh piece of the Kelly Clark Nativity. This piece was a really fun stitch except for the wings. I am not a random stitcher and get really uptight when I have to do something random. My first attempt at the wings was my best but I did not know that at the time. So I redid them . Each time I redid them I got more uptight and the worse they looked. After the third attempt, I finally decided that this is the best they are going to look. Aside from the wings, I love how she came out. Amy did a fantastic job with her thread selection and stitches. Amy's selection of threads really brings the stitches to life. In the Angel's dress we used two different threads and three different colors of one and two of another. Amy did an absolutely amazing job with the detail to her hair. I especially love the trim in her hair. Her banner is totally amazing and so easy to do. I am so happy that I have all of Amy's DVDs (a must have for your library). We had to applique flair onto the banner and I was really getting stressed about this until I watched Amy demonstrate how to do it on her #6 DVD. The directions in the stitch guide very clearly told you what to do but seeing it just made it so much easier. I know I say this every time I finish one to the Nativities but I cannot say it enough. Amy's Home Study stitch guides are just the best. Amy's attention to every detail in her written directions and stitch diagrams are like nothing I have ever seen. If you have a problem understanding something, you just have to email or phone and help is given to you immediately. The Home Study classes are not just stitch guides and threads. They are truly an advanced stitching experience. If you have done one of the Home Studies, you know what I am talking about. It is just like nothing you have ever experienced. I hope that someday you treat yourself to such a wonderful enriching learning experience.

I am just waiting for Jen to finish her Angel and then will ship them off to Amy for finishing. The Christmas deadline has past but we decided to send her in anyway.

Off to work on Ruth Schmuff's Mellow Yellow class. Hope to get caught up before the Elephant for the Nativity arrives.

Linda

What I did this week (while fighting off a cold)

On Wednesday, I was hit by a truck. Not exactly. Just a cold, but a pretty bad one, bad enough to send my hypochondria into overdrive googling "swine flu symptoms." I did not have the swine flu, but I did feel pretty lousy. So I kept my infectious self home & decided to score a massive hit on my inventory list; I decided to do all of the teeny ornaments on hand in my stash. And so, here they are:

I tried to get these photos lined up horizontally, but apparently they had no desire to look like they were meeting an executioner, so the vertical line up it is.

All of these ornaments are from Fireside Stitchery's Teeny Mittens & Socks Club, which, in my opinion, is a great deal. You get the canvas, an ample amount of thread to stitch the canvas, decorative touches (like the button on the Peppermint Hat) or the beads on many of the canvases, needles, a very good stitch guide by Marina Ketterman & of course the canvas. You can see the club here:http://www.firesidestitchery.com/fs/clubs/index.cfm?fuseaction=getclubList&CategoryId=3&clubstate=current

Everyone have a great week!

Denise

Ferragosto in September

Today was the Ferragosto celebration in the Arthur Avenue neighborhood of the Bronx. What is Ferragosto? Well, in Italy, Ferragosto is on August 15; it is a national holiday, & basically the entire country closes from this date until August 31st for vacation. Seriously, it's the worst time to go on vacation in Italy, as all the ITALIANS are on vacation, so every vacation spot is crowded, crowded, crowded. Here, in NY, the Italian section of the Bronx, known as Arthur Avenue, has an annual festival, complete with local foodstores selling their delicious wares on the streets, including outrageous sausage & pepper sandwiches at my cousin's meat market (Vincent's Meat Market), gelato from another cousin (Morrone's Pastry Shop) & of course zeppole from another vendor (imagine, not a relative!). The weather was splendid after an awful rainy, gloomy Friday & Saturday, so the crowd was full of smiling faces. There was street music, including bands & DJ's, playing do-wop (this was Dion's old neighborhood, after all) & Italian favorites. An excellent time was had by all....

Oh, wait. Did you want to hear about some needlepoint?

Here are my two most recent items, back from the finisher. We have a teeny mitten & a teeny sock. These are part of the series from Fireside Stitchery that I've been working up. Last week, I showed you some of these that I finished myself. These two were finished professionally.

There actually was some stitching that went on this weekend as well (there had to be, it rained all weekend, so my plan to spend a little more time at the beach was foiled). I worked up another teeny sock this weekend, with a Santa face & fantastic beard. I am going to try to do one or two more teeny canvases before the Christmas finishing cut off. Then I will refocus on Ponza & the Whatever canvas. And the ANG Kimono. And my SNS project.

Sigh. Not enough stitching hours. Always too much work.

Ah, the Fall TV season approaches. Maybe I can get some stitching done then ;)

Denise

Finally, a little bit of Ponza....

Ok, I apologize....I've promised for weeks but have yet to show & tell. I kept wanting to get to a point where something seemed complete enough to show the full picture & the magic Tony Minieri worked on this outstanding canvas from Sharon G.

This first is an overview. I've done the bottom border, three of the four steps for three of the borders, & finished one border (the bottom one) completely. I've also completed the bottom right rocks, the sky & water, & started the rocks on the left.

Here's a close up of the rocks on the left. There will be at least two different types of stitches here, plus what I do with the shrubbery on top.....

And now, a close up of the bottom border, which is outstanding. Tony's creative mind amazed me.....

Can you tell that the rocks that stick up out of the water stick up off the canvas? They are french knots with random satin stitch over....pretty cool.

You can't really tell, but the water really shimmers...we are using a Sparkle Braid, one ply, three different colors, one of which is an overdye. It looks outstanding in person. Everyone I show it to goes..."Ahhhhh!"

Does make me wish I had gotten to Ponza this year...maybe next year!

Denise

Well Deserved Awards

I just learned that Amy Bunger received several awards at the ANG Seminar in Milwaukee. Amy won a Second Place ribbon and the Special Christmas Award for the completed 9 pieces of the Kelly Clark Nativity Set. This award is so well deserved. I would have given Amy first place but then I am biased. This Nativity Set is just spectacular. Amy's choice of stiches and threads is just unbelievable. The canvases are totally transformed with Amy's selection of stitches and threads. Amy also received The Literary Award for her contributions to needlepoint in literature and video. Another award that is also well deserved. We are so lucky to have such a multi-talented needlepoint designer available to us.

I cannot wait to see Amy work her magic on the Halloween series that is scheduled to start February 2010. The haunted house is the first in the series. My needle will be ready to start the moment arrives.

Linda