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!

May Stitch-in

From now on we will be hosting a community stitch-in at the Hobby Lobby in Upland on the second Monday of each month. Our thanks go to Hobby Lobby and the manager Meribel for letting us have the space.

Our next stitch-in will be on Monday May 13 from 10:00 - 4:30. Come anytime, stay for as long as you like. Bring your lunch or go out to one of the many food places in the area. Membership in the EGA is not necessary because this is open to ANYONE. Come by and have fun with us!

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.

December Meeting Update

We combined our November and December meetings into one meeting on December 5. We enjoyed our annual "elf supper." Helen I. made a big pot of soup, several people brought salad, bread, and drinks, and Ruth P. brought a cake.

Our Vice-President of Programs Georgette handed out gifts to the members of a little ornament kit, an adorable little evergreen tree made from upside-down hearts. Georgette included a kit to finish the ornament too.

   

 She even included the backing fabric, circle card shapes for mounting, and padding. There was even twisted cording in the kit too! Here is Ruth P's ornament with added beads.



                                                                                               
Our next meeting will be held on January 16 at the USBank building, Euclid and "D" Street, Ontario, California at 7:00. Every one interested in any needlework that uses a needle with an eye is welcome.
Please join us!

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.