A Good Excuse to Go to the Beach

Need a reason to go to Rehoboth Beach? 

Here's one - a needlework exhibit!

The Rehoboth Beach Historical Society announces its Second Annual Needlework Exhibit. The exhibit is on display March 24 through May 6, 2012 at the Rehoboth Beach Museum.
Exhibitors who are not Society members will receive free admission to the museum for the duration of the exhibit.

April 21: Demonstration Day: Needleworkers will demonstrate a variety of techniques for adults and children from 1 p.m.until 3 p.m. Edwina MacNeal, and award winner in our exhibit, will demonstrate English Paper Piecing techniques. Theresa Baird, winner of Best of Show for this year's exhibit, will demonstrate cross stitch techniques. Geri Williams, Amerifdan Needlework Guild member and teacher, will demonstrate a technique to be decided upon prior to the demonstration day.
April 28: Barn Quilts of Western Maryland: A presentation by Dolores Andrew, accomplished needleworker and author, on the quilt square designs painted on the sides of barns, visible from the road. 2 p.m. until 3 p.m.
May 5. New Castle Nuptuals: Recalling an Exhibit of 19th Century Wedding Gowns.  Love heorloom sewing techniques? Love wedding gowns? Then this is the presentation for you. Michael Connolly of the New Castle Historical Society will show images from the Society's past exhibit titled "New Castel Nuptuals." Mr. Connolly will also bring examples of 18th Centuray Wedding gowns. 2 p.m. to 3 p.m.

I bet I could talk my hubby into this one if I could find some free time! 

An Update and a Finish

First an update on Molehill to Mountain. I finished the second square and here's proof. 

I really, really disliked stitching those 8 light blue-violet triangles. But I did them and did them correctly. I moved on to square 4 - the Dallas Star - and have made my drawing and written down my color choices. Also stitched on tiny bit of it. Hubby, interestingly, said he didn't like this project. Because it was making me unhappy. LOL Well, I'm happy this one's finished. Don't know why I let this one become such an obstacle. Maybe I need analysis. 

And here's a Laura J Perin freebie from the Rainbow Gallery website called Holiday Square. As you can imagine from the name, the original is in red, green, gold and white. 

I did a stash rummage and found somethings more suitable for me. This was my first use of YLI's Painters Threads. I used Picasso. I found this fiber easy to work with except if you have to frog it. In the process of taking out, it's rather difficult to not snag and pull the fiber apart. I pretty much shredded what I frogged. Also used a Watercolours, two Splendors, a YLI Shimmer Floss and one card of Grandeur. 

It's a 4.5" square. Don't know what to do with it. Right now it's joining a couple other small canvas geometrics I have hanging around on stretcher bars awaiting final disposition. 

March Tusal and a Finish

Ha! 

The title says your gonna see photos, but google tells me I've reached my limit. 

Have to decide what to do. 

Now you'll have to wait for me to update.

Sorry!!! 

Edit:  Update - I've upgraded my storage, but there's a lag before my account acknowledges that. So, still no photos.

Third day edit:

Finally. 

March's Totally Useless Stitch-Along! Lots of colors in there. A fair amount of blues and pinks from Stars. 

And my 2012 Scissor Fob from Shepherd's Bush finish.  

 I got it because a) I thought it was cute and b) it matched my Tessa scissors that I got for completing my President's Challenge last year. 

I really like this black-edged ribbon and wonder if I can find a source of it for my very own? 

Stitching continues with a quickly put together project that I need to bring to Guild meeting next week, then I'll post a photo. And I've been working on my Molehill to Mountain. Given the crappy weather this weekend, I might see the finish of block 2 which has been holding me up. Seriously. Like a it pointed a gun at me and said you don't like me, you don't get to stitch me. (No. Seriously. I've been on this block forever. Like I started it back in August. That's 7 months!!!) I am way behind on this piece, but so is almost everyone else. Almost. Chris is finishing block 4 and is providing me with inspiration!

And yesterday it took me the 46 minutes that was the entire last episode of Mad Man that aired to frog an old piece that's been hanging out and waiting for attention. I bought a stitch ripper blade thingy that made this much easier than the last time I tried. It's the kind with a curved blade which most sewing tool rippers don't have. Makes it easier to not cut through the canvas, which is obviously a bad thing. 

Which brings me a future post topic. My stitching bag tools. Someone asked about what is a Dololly. And I promise, I'll explain.  

Ramblin'

Let's just ramble on for a bit. 

One of the first things I found this morning was a tutorial for embroidery on eggshells. Just in time for those who celebrate Easter. Or just an interesting challenge for others. This is from the folks at DMC who have much information to share on their website. Go take a look. I don't mind. 

Sad to read that The Gift of Stitching is giving up publishing. It's terrible that the pirates have won and Kristin is calling it quits. Sharing copyrighted patterns is illegal. And now a terrific source of new and wonderful has dried up because some people are thieves. I had hoped that online publishing was going to change and expand the needlework industry. Sigh.

I've got two new projects but no photos. What was I thinking? Apparently I wasn't. 

One is Holiday Square by Laura J Perin and it's a freebie on the Rainbow Gallery website. (Does anyone want to know that I typed Rainblow???) Of course, mine has nothing to do with holiday colors. Ms. Perin encourages us to experiment with this design and I did. It's the first time I've used Painters Threads by YLI. I'd been searching for an excuse to play with these threads. I got mine from Sara Leigh and Dawn at the Scarlet Thread.  I'll try to get a photo up by tomorrow. I'm playing with Picasso and the one thing I have found is that if you have to frog this thread, you will almost certainly start to rip it apart and won't be able to reuse it. Stitch carefully the first time. (Just a little orientation error. What can I say. I wasn't looking at the chart. LOL)

My other project is a Shepherd's Bush scissor fob. A friend was stitching on the Tiny Garden Fob and I was admiring the black-edged ribbon that is used in finishing. At home, imagine my surprise when I was going through a bag in my studio and found this kit:  2012 Scissor Fob Which I thought was sweet and it was designed to match my Tessa Gingher scissors! So out came that kit and I stitched the whole thing in two days. I've already trimmed it and started the finishing. Should be done in a day or two. 

I have to say I am feeling slightly rudderless now that Stars is finished. I have other big projects waiting to take its place. But it's been fun this week to kind of bounce around without a stitching agenda. 

There is a little bit of a plan rattling around in my brain. Something I saw in a magazine that has given me a bit of inspiration. And I just may have to give in to the impulse. 

Serenity in Silk

My hubby works a nine-day, nine hour schedule (with one hour off on one day) which means he has every other Friday off. 

Last Friday we fired up Ruby and headed in to town to see the Japanese Embroidery at the Japan Information and Cultural Center - 1150 18th St NW. 

Called Serenity in Silk:  the World of Nuido, this exhibit features works by American stitchers of Japanese Embroidery, a select few pieces by Japanese stitchers, and the Fractal Project. 

It's truly unfortunate that photography was prohibited. Because these pieces are quite simply stunning. The lighting is fantastic. And you can get very close to these pieces. There is something about viewing this just makes me want to thunk my head against a wall. In frustration. Because I'll never stitch anything that perfect. (But then again perfection is not why I stitch.)

Included in the exhibit is the Fractal Project - from the website:  In this display there will be three large hexagons made up of smaller hexagons displaying an image within a circular frame.  The circle is an intentional choice, a shape with neither beginning nor end.  Each embroiderer designed and created a small image that has personal significance reflecting individual, regional or spiritual ideas.  The project combines traditional embroidery techniques with 21st century computer design in a quest for greater appreciation for and understanding of the world and our place in it.  The Fractal Project is a work-in-progress and when complete will include more than 700 pieces, each one created by embroiderers from around the world.

Anyway. The exhibit is free and open to the public through April 2. That's not much time.  Details here:  JICC - a World of Serenity.


If you'd like more about Nuido, you can look here - http://www.nuido.org/default.htm. There's photos and bit of history of Japanese Embroidery.

Stitching Bloggers' Question o' the Month

Do you participate in exchange or RR stitching? Why or Why Not?

I don't. But I did. 

In 1996 back in the heyday of AOL's message boards on the subject of cross stitch, I joined a floss swap group. We were a group of 25 stitchers who shared our birthdays and addresses and formed our own little internet band. We'd mail a skein of floss to the other 24 participants on their birthday and in return you'd receive 24 cards with floss on your birthday. Then we started acknowledging anniversaries and births and holidays. Kind of got crazy there for a while. 

Eventually a group of 9 of us started a Round Robin. You picked your theme, provided the fabric, stitched borders and the first square and sent it off to the next person. I remember stitching bears and birds and flowers and hearts. I think I was the only one who provided a chart because this is the piece I wanted.

 

Started in 1996. I finished it in 2007. It's in my finished box. Still unframed. But it is finished!

This is the only Round Robin piece I have. As the other two never made it home to me. And consequently I stopped participating in RRs.  

Though two years ago a group of six from my EGA guild did a friendship sampler that really is a Round Robin. You can see those results here:

Friendship Sampler 

It was a wonderfully fun experience doing this with friends. Especially such talented friends. 

I'm done with this type of stitching/sharing. Too stressful for me. All those deadlines.