Final Photos of Garden of Delights in a Basket

Georgette B. lent me her finished basket so I was finally able to get some good photos.

Here it is!

The crewel flower

The deerfield embroidery flower

The pulled thread flower

The blackwork flower

Pulled eyelet to tie it together

Bargello medallions

Crewel Initials

 

 

 

  This was the last of the pieces for our basket. Here is the set.

Thanks to Georgette and to Helen for coming up with this wonderful idea. We loved it!

February Meeting

This month we received the fourth flower for our basket band.
Here is a brief recap of our basket band project:

We started with a small row of bargello (also called Florentine or flame) stitch motifs. This is stitched with pearl cotton. Bargello is a counted stitch so it must be done on some type of "countable" fabric. Georgette chose hardanger fabric for this project.

The next month we added the first of our four flower designs, this one done in blackwork stitched with cotton floss and metallic cord. This is another counted stitch.

We also stitched our initials using the crewel technique and embellished them. Crewel is always stitched with wool threads. It is a surface embroidery technique that is not counted and is traditionally done on a heavier fabric like a twill made from linen or wool.

Then we added two more flowers. This one is done in the Deerfield stitch. It uses similar stitches to colonial stitching but is done with embroidery floss instead of wool. It is traditionally done in indigo shades. This is a surface embroidery stitch that also is not counted.

Then we had a crewel flower stitched using wool thread.

So this is what the basket band looked like going into our March meeting.











Georgette designed the fourth flower done in pulled stitch. It uses the traditional white-on-white (or in our case cream-on-cream) color so that you see the effect of the stitches more than the stitches themselves. There is sometimes confusion about pulled versus drawn thread techniques. Pulled thread techniques form a lacy look by pulling firmly on the stitching thread to distort the fabric to form holes. Different stitches create different hole patterns. No thread is removed from the fabric. Drawn thread, on the other hand, actually removes thread from the fabric to create the designs. Both pulled and drawn thread techniques are counted stitches. My camera was not working well so I will edit this post after I get some pictures.

I am sad to report that our stitch-ins, also called stitch-and-chats, will no longer be held at Ginger's Quilt Shop as the shop is closing.We will meet instead at the new Hobby Lobby classroom in Upland on Wednesday, March 6 from 9:30 - 2:00. We hope this new stitching spot works out where it's easier to meet new friends.  As soon as we have a firm schedule we will post it. In the meantime, stop by the Upland Hobby Lobby and tell Meribel "Baldy View says thanks for the room."

Don't forget that Helen is donating baskets to the first 12 people to have the basket band stitching completed by our April meeting, so get stitching! Georgette will discuss finishing the edge of the band at our next meeting.  We'll see you the USBank building at Euclid and "D" Streets in Ontario on April 24 at 7:00.

January Meeting

Happy Birthday, Baldy View! We celebrated 36 years this month.

 Darlene and Yvonne gave us special birthday gift.

 These adorable little pincushions! We each had the choice of this one, with a coffee bean design on top mounted in a coffee-themed espresso cup...

...or a cupcake design mounted in a rainbow espresso cup. They're very simple and fun little projects.

           Here's a better view of the design.  

What a sweet little gift!

Our next meeting will be February 20 at 7:00 at the USBank Building, Euclid and "D" Street in Ontario. We'll be continuing the basket band for our Garden of Delights in a Basket. We look forward to seeing you there.

October Meeting Update

For our October meeting, our program was Georgette B.s presentation of the next part of the basket band in our Garden of Delights in a Basket. This is what we've done so far:

We began the band with the bargello stitch, also known as the florentine stitch or flame stitch.

That same meeting, we had a choice of putting our initials on the band. Several members used Judy Jeroy's crewel initials from the "Personally Yours" article in the March 2010 Needle Arts magazine. Ruth P. had a really good time embellishing her initials.

The next month, we had more crewel with our first flower. Georgette showed us all how to transfer the design onto our fabric. This flower used pink buttonhole stitch on the outside of the flower, purple chain stitch to separate the "petals," and long-arm french knots in salmon for the center.

At our October meeting Georgette presented two flowers, The first was blackwork with gold accents. This mirrors our blackwork box lid we did earlier in this series.

The second item was Deerfield embroidery. As usual, Georgette gave us a brief background on the stitch technique we were about to learn. Based on colonial crewel techniques, Deerfield embroidery was an embroidery technique popular in the early 20th century. It was known for it's different blue shades of indigo-dyed thread. That edge is new england laid stitch.

 Georgette also showed us how to get those spike stitches at a consistent angle. She used what she calls a "one over one" technique. You hold a little piece of appropriately-scaled graph paper against the base of the stitch to establish the correct angle for the next stitch. The same technique is used to get the squares in the laid stitches in the center lattice.


We have one more flower to go and then we attach the band to our baskets. Georgette is designing that last part and will present it within the first few months of 2013. We invite you to our next meeting which is our special holiday event on December 5 at 7:00. We will be having our annual "elf" dinner and party. Please come! We meet at the US Bank building in the community room at the rear by the parking lot. The door opens at 6:30.

 Our 2013 meetings will be as follows:  January 16, February 20, March 20, April 17, May 15, June 19, August 21, September 18, October 16, and December 4.

Our project this month was the second step of out basket band for our Garden of Delights in a Basket. See more here at our July meeting.

 Georgette B. has been working hard designing this band. Here she is presenting the project. To learn more about our garden, click on "Garden of Delights in a Basket" in the Labels section on the right of the screen.



 


  At the top of the diagram is the bargello section from July. This month was crewel stitching. We are adding our initials (seen upside down on the bottom of the diagram) and stitching the flower on the upper left in crewel also. Each of the remaining three flowers will be stitched using a different technique.

Mary P. had the basting and the bargello completed. Georgette has planned the band to have several different techniques so that we can try a new stitch and decide if we like it without committing to a large project.

We also discussed how to adjust the band design to fit different size baskets.




Some of our members also brought in some show and tell. I forgot my good camera and had to use my phone camera so please excuse the picture quality.

The right project is a friendship sampler for Darlene V. She decided on the theme and colors and stitched the top band. Friends took turns completing the additional bands. Her theme was "stitching!"

The left is also Darlene's work. This is a ribbon embroidery tree from the ANG magazine done by her at Sunkissed ANG in LaVerne and framed by Kerry Ince at We, Of The Needle in Brea.

Our next meeting will be October 17 at  7:00 PM. We meet at the US Bank building at 333 North Euclid Avenue, Ontario, CA 91762 in the community room by the rear parking lot. The door opens about 6:30. Any one interested in needlework is welcome. This will be our last regular meeting of the year as we do not have a November meeting and our December meeting/holiday party will be December 5.

August Stitch-In

We had quite a variety of projects at our stitch-in.

Darlene V. stitched more on her birches project. Here is information from our May stitch-in. This is cross stitch using over-dyed thread.

 Georgette and Helen were both working on bracelets from a pilot project by Carolyn Sherman. This is a beading project.

 Lydia was getting started on "Corn-elia." This canvas project is being taught by the Inland Empire EGA chapter.

 This is "Samurai Warrior" by Judy Souliotis, stitched up by Jeannie T.  She's adding the fun detail now. This is another canvas project.

 More "Bargello Arrows" by Pam R. You can get a peek at more information about this here. 
You can just get a glimpse of Denise M. completed version of this same project in the back. This is a bargello stitch on canvas.

Here is a project from our own chapter. Mary Lee is stitching up the basket band from our Garden of Delights in a Basket series. This is bargello or florentine stitch on an evenweave fabric. Other techniques will also be on the band.

Here is "1Corinthians Wedding Sampler" from Stoney Creek being stitched by Ruth P. This is counted cross stitch. It's stitched with plain DMC floss and lots of blending filament.






Denise M. was working on a doodle cloth for a mitered corner technique she's learning through her whitework group. She was at the early basting stage and I guess my camera was bored and didn't bother to get the picture! Sorry Denise. It'll be beautiful when it's done. For more on Denise's whitework, just go back to the last post.

It's so much fun seeing everyone's projects and different techniques. We'd love to see your work too. We meet on the fourth Wednesday of each month at Ginger's Quilt Shop in Upland, California from 10-2. Our next stitch-in will be September 26. Again, thank you to Ginger for allowing us to meet at her shop.

July Meeting

Our regular meeting was held on June 18 and of course we had a lot of fun. We also had a new member join and two visitors! This month we began working on our basket band for the Garden of Delights in a Basket.

 Here is our wonderful Vice President of Programs, Georgette B., introducing the project. Helen I. has several of these baskets in her stash and is making them available for our members. The basket idea was to let our members try various techniques on small inexpensive projects so our band will also include several techniques. This month is a Bargello or Florentine stitch project.

 Georgette stitched up the first part as a model. Check out the instructions! As she is designing or adapting these projects for us, Georgette usually has to do each one twice - once to figure out how to make it work and once more to figure out how to write the instructions.

 She showed us her "waste cloth" for the project that she used to get the correct size. She talked about Florentine stitch and how with a change in the "step" the design can be altered.

 Georgette also brought in some materials from the Florentine study box available from Pacific Southwest Region. These are truly awesome resources for several techniques made up over the years and available to our local chapters. Go to http://psrega.org/study_boxes.htm for more information.

 And here are a few more items that we've made for our Garden! This spool pincushion was the chapter's gift to our members at the December 2011 meeting. A wool felt pincushion sits on a spool that we decorated with a simple cross stitch design.The cross stitch was attached just by using a tiny strip of iron-on adhesive. Very clever, Georgette!  The tassel was our chapter gift for December 2010.

Here is another item in our basket. Georgette adapted a design for a needle roll. Every item in our basket was to be not only a different technique but able to be finished without using a sewing machine. The top roll was stitched by our member Darlene V. and the bottom one stitched by Georgette. The front of each looks similar to the other. How about the backs?






This piece was finished by whip-stitching two rows of backstitching together. Darlene embellished her seam by adding more stitching and buttons. Georgette personalized her roll before she finished it.

From adding buttons and beads to changing out colors, Darlene has personalized a number of projects. See her spool pincushion on the back right? There is her tassel with extra beads on top. She also added red to her blackwork mint tin both in the stitching and on the trim. We look forward to seeing what new ideas Darlene comes up with for each project.



If you'd like to join us, please come to our next meeting to be held at 7:00 Wednesday August 15 at the US Bank building, 333 N. Euclid Avenue, Ontario, CA  91762.

May Meeting

Something happened and the May meeting report disappeared, so I'm republishing it here.

For the last few months, we've been working on a series of projects our program chairman Georgette B. is calling a "Garden of Delights in a Basket." Georgette has been coming up with little needlework tool projects that we can put into a basket by our workspace. In May we began a Margaret Bendig-designed project called "Lacy Canvas Scissors Case." This is a Petite Project from EGA. We are stitching this on grey canvas with white threads. June's program will be about finishing this. The original design is finished into a closed scissor pocket but Georgette is giving us the option of lengthening the design and making a case that opens flat.

Come out and join us for our next meeting on June 20. We meet in the Community Room of the USBank building at Euclid and "D" Streets in Ontario, California. The doors open about 6:30 PM and the meeting starts at 7:00. Park behind the bank, walk to the back door, and you'll see our meeting room on the right. Everyone is welcome.

Also we'd love every stitcher around to join us at our monthly stitch-in on Wednesday, May 23 from 10 AM to 2 PM at Gingers Quilt Shop in Upland. The shop is located at 1120 Dewey Way # B, Upland, CA  91786, phone number 909-920-3099. To get there, get off the 10 freeway at Mountain Avenue in Upland, go north (toward the mountains), turn left at Foothill.  From the 210 freeway, get off at Mountain, turn south (away from the mountains)and turn right at Foothill. Once you're on Foothill, drive about 1 1/2 miles to the signal at Dewey. Turn right and there's the shop! Thank you, Ginger, for letting us meet there. We meet every 4th Wednesday through the year so mark your calendars. No, you don't have to be a member of our chapter or of any guild for this open stitch time, just bring your project and have some fun with other people who share your love of needlework.

The Second Item in our Garden

For our Garden of Delights in a Basket, Georgette B. designed a blackwork mint tin piece. Our kit included harganger fabric and black and gold floss. She showed us how to mount it to the lid and we finished it off with two kinds of black ribbon. It was a fast way to try out blackwork.

June Meeting

 We started the "Lacy Canvas Scissor Case" by Margaret Bendig in May. We have a canvas project for our Garden of Delights in a Basket! Georgette B. and Helen I., our program chairman and president respectively, supplied us with platinum canvas and white pearl cotton for the project. Here is Lydia's work all stitched up. We have one side,

 and we have the other. The stitching was fun and easy to do. We had the option of adding an extra set of slanted satin in the middle to make the piece a little deeper.

Here is the whole piece. Lydia opted to stitch it as charted.

And here are the finished pieces! The two on the left were stitched by Georgette and Helen. They added beads and stitched it on green canvas.

The blue piece is by Denise M. She stitched it on blue canvas.

Margaret originally designed the piece to be a closed sleeve to slip your scissors in and fasten them in place with a ribbon. By adding those extra rows, it was easier to adapt the piece into a needle book.