WIP update

Just a little update for my 1950s-esque Christmas lady.  She's a pretty quick and easy stitch but will be cute as a button once she's done.  I decided to change her shoes just a bit and give her high heels.  The pattern made her look like she was on her tiptoes, but I thought she'd be better suited with some heels.

 

 

I don't think I'm going to do the backstitching on her hands/arms until I finish the ornament she's holding in her hands.  It shouldn't be long now though and she'll be finished.  :0)



Stitching with a purpose

Well, another year has come and gone (basically) for my stitching charity.  Our group has done so well.  In the span of one year and two months we have done projects for a Ronald McDonald House in Tennessee, a Habitat for Humanity family in Illinois and a domestic violence shelter in Florida.  I think that is pretty darn good.  I'm proud of us.  We're currently taking a break for the Christmas season and we will get back together with new plans in January.

 

Potholders I did for the domestic violence shelter:

 

 

 

In my own personal stitching news, my needles have been flying.  I wanted to finish Honeybees by the end of November, but then ended up putting it to the side to work on Christmas ornaments.  I did nine of them.  Pretty good considering this is the first year I've ever done ornaments.  I did 6 sleds - 4 for my family to keep and 2 for an exchange at the retreat I went to.  I did Quaker quilt patterns for the exchange and Eskimos for my family.

 

 

 

 

Then two more ornies for my own tree and one for my charity.  Christmas cardinals, one for me and one for the charity.

 

 

And then a pink snowflake for our tree.  This was my first time doing true finishing and I'm very excited about how it turned out.  For a first try, I think it's pretty good.

 

 

 

Then I did a Christmas pattern based off of Dickens' A Christmas Carol.  There is a whole series of these based off of the book.  I eventually want to do all of them.

 

 

 

I'm now working on a Christmas piece that I'll frame.  It may or may not be done by Christmas, but I'm sure it won't be framed by then.  So it will be put out for display next year.  This is what it will look like when done.  (She's bigger than she looks.  Way too big for an ornament.)

 

 

My current progress:

 

 

So you can see, I'm still doing Christmas themed stitching.  I have new projects to start after the New Year, so I'm eeking out the last of the holiday stitching that I can.  :0)

"The History of Needles" - a class I took

I've got some fun things to share. I attended a class last week on, "The History of Needles." When I left I had two full pages of notes, a large selection of needles of all sizes and for many different things, and my head was swimming with all the info. I hadn't felt like that since college, lol.

I'll try to hit the highlights to share some of what I learned. The teacher was Susan Greening-Davis and she literally travels the world teaching classes about needles, needlework of different kinds, as well as hosting seminars and retreats. So needless to say, she knows her stuff.

 

She said that she feels the best quality needles by far are John James. (She has no affiliation with John James. This is just what how she feels after spending years working in the needle industry.) And considering she used to be DMC's Teacher of the Year - she said the only DMC needle she will use is their Chenille needle. They have a special process they use for those needles alone that is the best in the industry. But for all others, John James is the best and she didn't like DMC. The brand Mary Arden is also good - but both Mary Arden and John James are owned by an English company called Colonial Needle. She also said that all John James needles are actually still packaged by hand. Some of the last steps of closing the package have become automated, but the needles themselves are still placed in each package by hand.

 

Needle sizes and storage - She said you should always store your needles in a wool needle book of some kind. Never leave them in the package after you get them home and never leave them stuck in your work. Needles are actually made with the assumption that when you get them you will be storing them in a wool needle book. This is considered "proper storage" for your needles and is the method that will help your needles last the longest amount of time. Also, never store stick pins in the same needle book or pin cushion as needles. They are made of two different kinds of metals and will react with each other and can cause loss of finish and rusting.

 

Sizing - when doing cross stitch, the smaller needles have become quite popular in the past several years. Many stitchers routinely use a size 28 or 26 for their regular stitching. This is not the correct thing to do. You need a needle large enough to "open" the fabric enough for your threads so they will go through without snagging or causing wear that you can't simply see with the naked eye. She said that size 28s should be used for beading and backstitching, not regular work. Size 26 should be used for backstitching as well. And size 24 - is what you should use on your normal work. (Unless you are working on a very fine linen.)

 

She also said that judges of needlework in shows are trained to be able to tell when a stitcher has used a size 28 needle on the work and that is a major thing they count off points for! So if you're stitching to turn your work into a show, stick with a size 24 needle or it could count against you.

We received 13 different needles in the class and were given a description of each one and what each is used for. It was a really good class and I learned so much. I never knew there was so much to needles!