2020 Challenge

by

Wow, it is September already, and I have posted anything since January. But obviously 2020 has thrown some unexpected challenges my way, just like everyone else in the world. I am going to post my 2020 Challenge list for our EGA guild here, but can tell you that I don’t expect to actually complete much from it. We will see how the end of the year goes.

  1. Ambrosia Honey
  2. needlepoint Santa
  3. a piece to exchange at our EGA Christmas party
  4. Liberty Box
  5. any stumpwork piece
  6. any Gay Ann Rogers piece
  7. Under the Deep Blue Sea
  8. Honeycomb pin cushion
  9. Work of Thy Hands basket
  10. Blackwork band sampler

As a sneak peak, I DID finish #1 above and will post photos soon. But as the year unfolded, I really changed my mind on what pieces I wanted to stitch, so most of the rest of the list isn’t going to get much attention.

Stay well my friends. #wearamask

2019 Challenge Results

by

Here is the final tally from my EGA chapter challenge in 2019. Mid-year we are allowed one substitution, which is why you see the last one replaced.  I finished half of my list and made progress on the others.  That’s not bad for me as I never get much time to stitch.  Hopefully I will do better in 2020.

1. original needlepoint designed by my daughter!!  DONE

2. Ambrosia Honey – Work in progress

3.Autumn Square – DONE

4. Mother’s Heart – DONE

5. small piece for Christmas exchange — DONE

6. Santa – Work in progress

7. Canvas Stitch Alphabet Sampler – Work in progress

8.  Blackwork Band Sampler – Work in progress

9. Honeycomb pin cushion – Work in progress

10. Do the Right Thing – cross stitch design by Lizzie Kate  Salt Marsh – DONE

Creation

by

My daughter recently completed her high school AP art portfolio.  She had to do 24 pieces of art for her portfolio, 12 of which were along a theme.  She chose creation myths as her theme, and she wanted to do one piece of fiber art in the set.  She created this design, painted the needlepoint canvas, selected all of the fibers and stitch patterns, and stitched portions of it (with me providing some stitching heavy labor for her).  She picked all the framing.  We had so much fun collaborating on this piece together.  And as a bonus, she got a perfect 5/5 on her portfolio and earned college credit toward her architecture degree.  She is taking this piece with her to college.

733

Happy Father’s Day

by

My father passed away in 2017, and just recently my mother moved in with me. In helping mom clear out their house, I have run across pieces of cross-stitch that I gifted to my father over the years.  I regret some of these pieces now, but my dad loved every one of them.

20170504_121004

Dale Earnhardt Sr was our family’s favorite NASCAR driver by far.  I stitched this for Dad in 1990, and his brother liked it so much that I stitched another one for him too.

 

20190609_094931

My dad was a life-long smoker.  I tried to get him to stop smoking for many years.  I don’t know why I chose to stitch an ashtray for him.  Given that he suffered from emphysema in his later years, I really regret creating anything that fostered this terrible habit.

 

20190609_094953

Also in the category of needlework pieces that I regret is this Confederate flag piece.  It’s framed in the front of a key cabinet.  Dad ran a business with a fair amount of equipment (trucks, backhoe, etc) and he always kept a lot of keys.  The cabinet was pretty useful.  But I do regret this flag.  I can’t bring myself to destroy it, but I won’t keep either this or the ashtray.

I miss my dad and loved him a lot, even if we didn’t always see eye to eye.

 

Autumn Canvas Stitch-a-long

by

Autumn Square Laura Perin

Our EGA Chapter does a year long stitch-a-long for both linen and canvas. I didn’t care for the linen SAL, so I chose the canvas project instead.  For the canvas SAL, it could be any autumn themed piece.  I chose this Autumn Square, which was a freebie from Laura Perin Designs when I ordered some other charts from her.  The piece itself was a very fast stitch and is roughly 3.75 x 3.75 inches completed.  I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do with it at first, but finally decided to make it into a needlebook & scissor keep.  I created the outside of the needlebook with some autumn themed fabric from my stash and stitched the needlepoint piece onto the front.  I added “pages” of wool felt and added a pocket for small scissors and labels for different sizes of needles.  I am very pleased with the results!  Thanks Laura for the beautiful design!

 

By requests, here are rough instructions for how I assembled the needlebook.  I haven’t had time to draw out diagrams, but will try to amend this in the future for clarity:

Kristin’s needlebook directions

I should have bought a lottery ticket

by

While at the Sun & Sea Region retreat earlier this month, I bought raffle tickets to drop in various baskets to win.  I spent all of $20 on tickets, and amazingly I won 3 of the prizes!  Two were batches of ornaments and pin cushions, and the third was this beautiful project bag and needlework roll.  Isn’t it all gorgeous?  I have been wanting to put up a needlework-only Christmas tree for years, and now I feel like I have to with all these ornaments.  Thanks to all the ladies who donated items!

 

20190508_172631

 

20190508_17304020190508_173008

Salt Marsh

by

Last week at the Sun & Sea EGA retreat, I took this class from Laura Smith.  I took the class because the techniques were all new to me.  First, we painted on stretched silk.  Then we did free motion machine embroidery to form the grasses.  Finally we finished with hand stitched highlights.   My first try isn’t perfect, but I really enjoyed learning the new techniques, and it has given me ideas on some different ways of using the silk painting and a mixture of machine and hand embroidery.

20190512_013005

 

Here are a few steps along the way . . . .