60 Minutes comes to Ortville ....well sorta

I mentioned earlier this week that Cynthia had asked if she could interview me on my blog. She sent me the questions a few days ago and here are my answers. Thanks for asking me to do this, Cynthia. Your questions brought back some great memories and also made me think about my stitching and my stash.

Interview - March 2009 (Cynthia's questions are in italics.)

Who was the person who started you stitching?

My Mom is responsible for teaching me to stitch. She started me out with knitting - which was a total bust. Sorry Mom. Then she pointed me in the direction of crewel embroidery. I did that for most of my teen years until I found the world of cross stitch. I was a cross stitching fiend. When I was in my early 20's, Mom introduced me to needlepoint. Back in the day, wool and basketweave were really your only options. I tried to like it FOR HER - but I was so bored! I went running back to to my cross stitch. Fast forward about 20 years and I was re-introduced to needlepoint. At that point all the new specialty threads and fun painted canvas were coming into play. I loved all the colors and textures and canvas choices. I've been needlepointing ever since.

What's the best stitching event/class that you've attended? Please give us all the details in case we want to attend (if possible)!

In the late 1990's, Ortville had a wonderful LNS. It was located in a cute house and was chock full of canvases and threads. It was unlike any place I had ever experienced. I was drawn to it like a moth to a flame. One day I noticed that they were offering a 6 week needlepoint purse class. I really didn't know what to expect but I signed up for this adventure. It was a hoot. I think there were 5 or 6 of us in the class and we had a blast. Three of us bonded immediately and have been great friends ever since. Even though we were all stitching the same purse - our personalities immediately surfaced in our choices of colors and threads. You've never seen 6 more different versions of the same purse in your life. I learned LOTS of new stitches, used threads I had never heard of before and actually came away with a FINISHED object. But best of all - I came away with 2 wonderful friends. (Hi MJ and B!)

The picture on the left is the front of the purse and the picture on the right is the back of the purse.

Who are your favorite designers/teachers?

No surprise here - Kelly Clark is one of my favorites. I also have ALOT of Pat Thode's Heartstrings. I won't tell you how many of her canvases I have - but suffice it to say that there are very few that I DON'T own. I tend to go for canvases that are whimsical and fun. Life is too short to take too seriously so I try to stitch on things that have personality.

What are your favorite fibers and which are your least favorite fibers?

I love any thread that sparkles. The brighter the color and the more glitzy - the better. I also like silks - especially Splendor, Silk & Ivory and Vineyard Silk. I'm not really crazy about floss or pearl cotton but use them when appropriate or if I just need a small bit of thread. My least favorite fiber is wool - especially Medici and Patarnyn (sp?). It makes my fingers itch and I just don't like the way it stitches. I may have to change me opinion of wool now that Vineyard Wool has hit the streets. I really like the colors that it comes in. Has any one stitched with it yet? Did you like it? How does it compare to traditional wool?

Please list the top five canvases/projects that you want to stitch?
Wow Cynthia! That is a tough one. There are SO many canvases out there that just call my name. Since I am into SFS (Stitching from Stash) 2009, I will tell you about my top 5 canvases/projects from my stash. These are not listed in any special order. #1 would have to be the two Kelly Clark series that I am currently working on. (Since those 2 series have a total of 24 canvases, I think I have to define that as a project). #2 would be Danji's High Maintenance, #3 is Shelly Tribbey's Noah's Ark, #4 is Melissa Shirley's Nutcrackers and #5 is Ewe and I's Noah's Ark.

Hope ya'll enjoyed learning a little bit more about me. I have asked my buddy, Jane ,if she will allow me to interview her. She graciously has accepted. (Thanks, Jane!) I will be sending interview questions her way later this week. Watch her blog for all the answers.

Plugging along

It's been a crazy busy couple of weeks. I haven't had a lot of stitching time BUT I have made some progress on the background of Day 1 of the 12 Days of Christmas canvas. If I could find an hour without interruptions, I probably could get the background finished. That will leave the 2 outside borders and the yellow stripe on the pot. I will try to take a picture of it this weekend. I've really enjoyed working on this canvas. PFOS didn't suggest many decorative stitches for this one - basically because it has so many tiny leaves and tree branches, etc. The rhythm of the basketweave and the color combinations have been very calming and soothing. It has been a great canvas to work on during this busy time.

Did I tell you that I have been tagged by Cynthia to be interviewed? Apparently this interview process is making the rounds on some of the other stitching blogs. If you go to Cynthia's blog, you will be able to see the interview that another blogger did on her. She sent me my interview questions earlier this week. I just need to find a minute to sit down, answer them and post them here on my blog. Stay tuned!

Time to burn your socks!

We were a day late for the actual festivities but we were in Annapolis, MD this weekend to celebrate the beginning of Spring. Annapolis is one of our favorite road trip destinations. We try to visit at least a half dozen times a year. My husband loves to sail and Annapolis is a big sailing town. One of our favorite Annapolis/Eastport rituals is the annual sock burning. On the Vernal Equinox, folks celebrate the arrival of Spring and honor the boat builders, the watermen, and the men and women who maintain the boats by removing their socks, building a bon fire, grabbing a libation of choice and tossing their socks into the fire. The thought is that you won't don socks again until the Fall. Here's the link to this year's event http://www.hometownannapolis.com/video/1237612036EastportBurningoftheSocks

Last year we held our own sock burning event in our backyard. We used a galvanzied bucket to contain our fire (we really didn't want to catch the woods on fire or explain to the fire department why we were burning our socks in the yard!) and burned 2 pairs of socks apiece. Our neighbors thought we had lost our minds - but I guess that isn't really anything new. :-) It really is great fun - especially if you are sick and tired of winter weather.

Happy Spring everyone - take off those socks!

Dragonfly is back from finishing

You might remember an earlier post about a dragonfly canvas that I finished at the end of 2008. I sent it off to PFOS for finishing in late January/early February. It arrived back on my doorstep about a week ago. Isn't she lovely??!! I gave them complete freedom on this pillow. They always turn out so much better than I can imagine, so I just let them do what they want. I've never been disappointed.

The canvas itself is very glitzy so it makes perfect sense that they would not make the finishing glitzy. The fabric is a wonderful lineny/burlapy/silk like material. It has slubs of thread throughout and looks very organic. The trim matches perfectly. I don't know if the finisher made the trim herself or if it was purchased, but it is perfect. Here is a close up of the mitered corner and the trim.

Here is a picture of the back of the pillow. I hope you like the pillow as much as I do. I am THRILLED!! Thanks PFOS for another great finish.

Background choices

I mentioned in an earlier post that I wasn't happy with my choice of background colors for Day 1 of Kelly Clark's 12 Days of Christmas series. Prior to having PFOS write a stitch guide and pull threads for me, I had chosen a lovely shade of green as the background. It was a Vineyard Silk called Bog and it really is a lovely color (see the thread on the left ). Only problem is that it doesn't play well with the threads that PFOS has me using in the body of the canvas. Time to move to Plan B. While on our road trip this weekend, I checked out additional Vineyard Silk colors and came up with one I really like. It is called Natural and is shown on the right side of the picture.

This is what it looks like on the canvas. It can best be described as somewhere between a white and a natural muslin color. It has a lovely sheen to it and is making the PFOS threads pop off the canvas. I am very pleased. Hope you like it.

I had a very special treat today. I got an e-mail from Kelly Clark - her.very.self (to quote Coni at Spinster Stitcher). She has given me permission to blog about her Santa canvases and the 12 Days of Christmas series. Many many thanks, Kelly. I will try to stitch the canvases as beautifully as you have designed them.

Fun times

We had a wonderful time on our road trip. The needlework show at Woodlawn was great. They had more painted canvas entries this year and I particularly enjoyed seeing them. (Jane of CH - check out the 3 mermaids on the sofa - they are a hoot!). All of the entries were lovely - lots of samplers, rugs, geometrics, pulled work, cross stitch and needlepoint. Amazing stitching in every room of the house.

Our visits to the shops were successful. I was able to pull threads for 2 canvases in my stash. I added a few "new to me" threads to my thread stash. AND, you will be proud of me - I followed the SFS 2009 rules - NO new canvases were adopted. MJ came home with a fantastic dog canvas. We've nicknamed him Dudley and he HAD to go home with her.

The class with Brenda Hart was lots of fun. We met some amazing women who were working on some of the most spectacular canvases I have ever seen. I hope our paths will cross again at some point. They were great ladies. Brenda's suggestions were fabulous. Her suggestions for my witch were great. Some of them are out of my comfort zone but I am going with the flow. That is why I took the class isn't it - to get new ideas and suggestions and to broaden my horizons? I was one of the last folks to have my second consultation with her so I don't have as many stitched areas to show you as I had hoped.

Her hair was a bit tough for me to do - I need lots of practice on those corkscrew curls. I used patarnayn wool and her hair is a bit bushy for my taste. I may take it out and use a thinner thread. What do you think?

Brenda's choice for her cape was totally different from what I was thinking, but I love it. I would have made her into a superhero with some sort of shiny/synthetic looking cape. Brenda made her into a fashion queen. The ermine cape is so much better for our lady. I am supposed to put either french knots or beads in for the black spots.

Brenda chose very flowery stitches for her dress. I was able to get a few rows of the yellow part of her dress done. An orange or red bead (or a combination of the two) is supposed to go in the middle of the flower stitches. The green section of her skirt is a different flowery stitch.

The cats are done in petit very velvet and their whiskers will be silver kreinik. I did have time to stitch the velvet part on the cat at the very bottom of the dress.

I've nicknamed the witch Isabel - it just seemed to fit her personality. I think she will be great fun to work on. As you can see, this is a large canvas. It will not be something I can take with me when I travel or do stitch dates. This is a sit at home with the floor stand kind of project. I will keep you posted on my progress. She is not included in my SFS 2009 goals so I will have to fit her in between declared projects.

ROAD TRIP!!!!

Woo and hoo - fun times are ahead! Tempting times too - I don't know if I will be able to stick to my SFS 2009 rule of "no new stash". My buddy, MJ, and I are leaving tomorrow morning for an extraordinary needlepoint adventure. First stop is Woodlawn Plantation, site of an annual needlework show. (Jane of Chilly Hollow always does a great review of this show. Be on the lookout for that.) Our next stop is InStitches - a needlework shop (cross stitch, needlepoint and knitting) that is right up the road from Woodlawn. From there, we head northwest to find Northern VA's newest needlepoint shop, Waste Knot. We've never been to this shop but we have directions in hand to help us find it. Our final destination for Friday is Maryland. We will be spending the night outside of Baltimore so we can rest up for the biggest part of our adventure. We are going to Bedecked and Beadazzled on Saturday to take a class with Brenda Hart! How fun is that???!! We sent her our canvas choices several months ago so she could write stitch guides for us. I can't wait to see what stitches and threads she has picked out for my whimsical Halloween canvas.


For those of you who are counting - that is THREE needlepoint shops, a needlepoint show AND a class with Brenda Hart all within 2 days. Can you say needlepoint coma?!

Day 1 of 12 Days coming along

I have been stitching away on Day 1 of the Kelly Clark 12 Days of Christmas series. I changed the bow to 2 different shades of Neon Rays + (plus). It was supposed to be in petite very velvet and I just didn't like it. The canvas needed some bling. Now that I have stitched most of the design, I've decided that I don't like what I had picked out for the background. PFOS had nothing to do with my background choice.....I did that totally on my own back when I still thought I could stitch these without a stitch guide. I should know better. I should have let PFOS choose the background color too. I've ordered 7 threads that I think might have potential. I will let you know what I come up with.

And the lion roared!

Ortville sits right smack on top of this invisible magic line that determines whether we get snow vs ice (typically ice) or some sort of winter precipitation vs nothing (usually not much of anything). Once every 4 or 5 years we get hammered with a big snow or ice storm. I guess we were due - it had been a few years since we had been hit. On Sunday, March roared into Ortville like a lion with an needlepoint needle in his paw. Snow, high winds, ice, record low temperatures - well you get the picture. When all was said and done, we had 9 inches of snow on top of 1/2 inch of ice on the back deck. It was a heavy wet snow so all the trees/bushes/plants are bent over and groaning under the weight of the snow. Yes, it was lovely to look at and I enjoyed that day off from work BUT I am ready for it to be gone. In the city and counties surrounding Ortville, weather like this is a show stopper. Schools and businesses close, the roads are impassable, people forget how to drive and smash into each other, mail delivery and paper delivery isn't guaranteed, power fails, etc. If we had equipment to deal with all of this, it would be different, but we don't. You need a 4 wheel drive or front wheel drive vehicle to get into my neighborhood. Seriously! Snow plow - what's that? I know those of you that live in areas of the country where weather like this is normal are probably laughing at me. Yes, I am a sissy!

Hello from our puppercat

Another voice heard from in Ortville. Say hello to our puppercat. She was sleeping on my feet while I was adding the last post. Just as I hit "post", she woke up and demanded an entry of her own. She is our 13 year old baby. Spoiled rotten. She has had a number of health issues this year, including the dog equivalency of a knee replacement. We've almost lost her twice since July, but thankfully she is still with us. She was nicknamed "puppercat" by a good friend of ours. He never liked dogs much BUT he loves cats. When he first met her (at age 7 weeks), they immediately bonded. He thought she was too cute and too cool to be a dog, so he decided that she must be a puppercat. The nickname stuck and she answers to that more than her real name. Amazingly, she acts more like a cat than a dog. Too funny.

She wants you all to know that she is the official inspector of all needlepoint in Ortville. Her stamp of approval is a nose print and a healthy donation of fur.