June Meeting and some Stitch-In Photos

Our meeting on June 17 was pretty much the usual. First, people started drifting in about 6:30, found a comfortable seat (isn't it funny how we tend to prefer the same seat?), grabbed a snack from our new snack table, and started to talk. Then we started the business portion at about 7:00 and got the boring part our of the way ASAP. Then we got to our program.

Pat C. taught our new project, Hapsburg Lace Sampler by Tanja Berlin. She talked a bit about the background of Hapsburg Lace, about which frankly not a lot is known. She did point out that about 25 years ago, there was some interest by a local designer. Pat said there were knots used, oh so many knots. Here is a pic of one of the old design leaflets.

Click on any photo to enlarge

Our Education Director, Yvonne B., stitched up the sampler using overdyed pearl cotton, solid pearl cotton, and metallic. We thought the effect was lovely. 

 It's hard to tell in the photos, but she stitched it on iridescent canvas. 

I really like the way the overdyed pearl created additional interest in the larger areas.
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Dark Solid on Light Background

Light Solid on Dark Background

Overdyed and Solid Threads on Light Iridescent Background

The same section in three different thread/canvas combinations.







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Here are a few pictures from our Stitch-In on June 24. We have quite a range of techniques.

The start of Hapsburg Lace

Hapsburg Lace on Blue Canvas

Embroidery by one of our quilters

Redwork

A canvas piece from ANG

Stamped work on a tea towel

The beginnings of a sweet bag

Another stitcher working on that ANG piece

Counted cross stitch

Cross stitch by Ursula Michaels - finished and framed!

Cross stitch Flower Power by Crossed Wing Collections

Another start of the Hapsburg Lace

Counted cross stitch

Needlepoint piece of a Charleston house, a souvenir from a trip

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  Last, in May we started an emery bag project by Laurie McClellan. It is a beaded Ultrasuede-covered button surrounded by beads to top an emery bag. Those of us not named Darlene will be finishing up our emery bag at the July meeting.

Darlene V. always adds a little extra to make it unique

Darlene's finished emery bag next to Denise M.'s started button

Laurie planned it to go along with our mermaid project that was our January birthday gift to our members. We paired on online freebie with linen, threads, a jewel and teeny pearls.  The design is from from the blog Cross Stitch Happy. We finished it as a pincushion with the trim stitchers' choice.
 

 

 I wish I had a picture of the one stitched by Kendra - she sprayed her linen with blue floral paint first and it looked terrific.

Our next meeting is July 15, with optional social time (and a snack) starting at 6:30 and the meeting itself beginning at 7:00. We meet at the Community Room at the back of the US Bank, 333 N Euclid Ave, Ontario, CA, or as the locals call it Euclid and "D" Street.

June 10 Stitch Gathering

Here are some of the projects our participants were working on at our June 10 gathering at the Hobby Lobby in Upland. We had a great time as always. Anyone and everyone interested in needlework is welcome.

 Ruth P. is working on a hardanger runner from Nordic Needle. She got all the way around the everything matched up, but when she started the inner section, it didn't fit. It turned out that she'd made the exact same counting error in the mirror image spot at the opposite end, so half of her stitching had to be taken out! But it will be very pretty when it's done. This is a beginner piece and is really fairly simple to stitch. Hardanger is quite sturdy.
















 Barbara S. is working on "Rainforest" by Kathy Rees on congress cloth. It's a lot of little samplers that make up one big canvas-work sampler.

Sally A. is trying to complete a project from Stoney Creek Pattern of the Month but keeps having to correct the count. When it's done it will be finished into a bell pull.



 

Denise M. is starting a new project by Dorothy Lesher called "Dragons Tea Party." This is from a recent workshop in Ontario.

 

Mary Lee M. had two little projects, a lighthouse by Stoney Creek and a small project from a Baldy View meeting.

We had a visitor today who received a needlepoint lesson from Denise M. We look forward to seeing her again.
 

Once again, thank you to Hobby Lobby and the Upland general manager Meribel for allowing us to use the classroom. Our next stitch gathering will be Monday July 8. Needle workers of all levels are welcome. We'd love to see what you're working on. Our regular meeting will be in Ontario on Wednesday June 19 at the US Bank building at "D" Street and Euclid at 7:00.

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!

April Meeting

Our Program chairman presented us with an adorable heart tin topper design by Margaret Bendig.

While Margaret's design included a bonus chart for the heart on the left, our kit supplied thread for the heart on the right. Do you see the difference between the green on each heart? The one on the right is actually a two-sided italian cross while the one on the right is standard cross stitch.

The inside of each tin has an initial, too.

As usual, Georgette kitted up the project really well.

Here we all are, stitching away.

Our Show-and-Tell time included some little stitched gingerbread house ornaments from Ruth P. She also completed the ornament kit that was the chapter gift to our members. Denise M. also brought in her Rainforest Revisited stitched on congress cloth. Georgette B. showed off her Cleopatra's Cat stitched on black congress cloth.





We plan on being at Hobby Lobby in Upland on Monday, May 13 for a stitching time. Our next meeting will be on May 15 at 7:00 at the USBank building at Euclid and "D" Streets in Ontario, California. See you there!

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.