Retreat Report

Good Evening.  I'm Marnie Graley and THIS is the RETREAT REPORT.... (I might be watching too much investigation reporting on teevee..)

October 2016 has been as beautiful as ever here in Wild & Wonderful WV.  I do my level best to embrace it in it's entirety because it is so fleeting.  Making the annual drive into the heart of WV to enjoy three days of nearly uninterrupted stitching is part of my fall ritual of embracing nature in all her glory.  Since the leaves turn first in Northern WV, a simple 90 minute drive can totally change the landscape.  It was not the case this year, but the warm breezes, cool nights, brilliant blue skies and migrating geese sure did my soul a world of good.  Not to mention spending three whole days with the gaggle of stitchers that are my tribe.  While it was a smaller group than usual, that translated into more stitching less chatting, hence more progress by Sunday noon than normal.

This year I took only two Christmas projects to work on; one small ornament and one medium needlepoint.  Giving credit where credit is due, some genius stitcher on Needlepoint Nation (Facebook group) posted her version of a geometric needlepoint piece which ran in the Nov/Dec 2014 Needlepoint Now magazine.  She took a solid blue circle and altered only the colors to make it a holiday wreath.  Luckily for me I had the magazine and plenty of green fibers to pull from stash.

"Winter Scenery" by Martina Dey of

Stickideen Von Der Wiehenburg

Needlepoint Now Nov/Dec 2014 (pgs. 18-20)

Ultimately, it will morph into a green wreath surrounded by a white background.  The original design calls for six shades of blue in #8 perle cotton, one metallic and one variegated thread.  I'm not sure I'll stick to that formula exactly but I'll have perle cottons, metallics and variegated threads in mine.  The above represents about two days worth of stitching.  It moves along quickly and I'm eager to see it completed!

For the Annual Ornament Exchange at the guild Christmas party, I chose this cutie from My Big Toe Designs from the 2016 JCS Christmas magazine (pg. 80).  Aren't her designs lovely?

So until next time friends, STITCH HAPPY!

Slow Hand (as in Geez, am I slow or what!?!)

***

Good day, friends!  It has been forever since I've update my corner of the world wide web and I thought it was high time to do so, a month ago, and then two weeks ago, and yesterday...  So!  Without further ado, allow me to apologize for myself.  I have several excuses.  Select whichever one you like best.

#1) I retired at the end of February.  Yes, like I am no longer in the work force and loving every minute of it.  But, like so many of you know, one doesn't just dive headfirst into the stash pile upon retirement.  No.  "Things" must be done like major housecleaning, closet purging, trip taking, establishing a new routine.  Yes, these things I felt had to come first - so that was my March.

#2) Stepson 1 AND Stepson 2 got married (March and May).  I was asked to photograph the May wedding, hence the photography class in March-April.  Taking the wedding pictures was an honor and a pleasure but one that put me into a state of panic, for a couple of months.  Let me state it clearly for the record, I am not a professional photographer.  I am just an avid shutterbug, doing the best I can.

#3)  I accepted a regional position with the EGA and had to learn a whole new raft of things in preparation for the regional meeting in June in Knoxville.  My stitching pals and I had a great time in Tennessee and didn't make any new enemies - always a plus!!!

#4)  SISTERS TRIP to Cincinnati to see the Princess Di exhibit.  If you are close enough to go see it and haven't yet, go now before it returns home to England  (closing Aug 17th).  Not only are the contents of the exhibit extraordinary, the museum must be credited with putting it all together beautifully.  Truly, one of the best exhibits I've ever seen - and I'm a museum hound.  Oh, did I mention that the hotel valet service in Cincinnati lost my car?  Yeah.  Long story.

#5)  June - the month of wine and roses.  Multiple major family events in June.  I can write off the month of June every year due to back-to-back-to-back celebrations for my baby sister (birthday), husband (birthday) and father (father's day), and my wedding anniversary.  Whew... 

Then, hubby retired at the very end of June.

Now, throw in three funerals between #1 and #5.

Which brings us to JULY and can you believe I actually have an actual FINISH to share?!?!?!  Yes, a stitching finish...

A couple of my sweetest stitchy pals gifted me this kit when I retired.  How sweet is that?!?

Additionally, I am totally chuffed to show you this near-finished Little House piece:

But wait, there's more!  After carefully reading Mary Corbett's recent tutorials about her Tudor Rose project, I could not wait another minute to start my luggage tag, which has had me mystified for over a year.. (I know - it's not rocket science, but needlepoint is new to me).  Mine isn't supposed to be like hers, she just inspired me to find my round 'tuit'.  Working with the Neon Rays and Very Velvet and Planet Earth silks has been a ton o' fun.  The Gumnut wool french knots were just the thing for the center, I thought..

 

 

I'll leave you with this last pic of my soon to be complete wedding sampler WIP called "The Wedding" by My Big Toe Designs.  S2's wedding was in lavender, purple, grey and white so the ground fabric is a platinum linen.  The threads are two shades of GAST overdyed purple (lavender potpourri and hyacinth).  The center section is designed to read "two shall be as one", but I think I will chart their married monogram and stitch it in the center instead (as inserted with photoshop below):

 

 

Me thinks this is plenty for today.  Tune in next time when I tell you all about my super terrific Charley Harper canvas called "And One To Grow On".

 

STITCH HAPPY!

 

 



Another finish and a new tote

I forget how slow counted cross stitch is compared to most all other kinds of needlework, so when I fly through a few small (alternative style) needlework pieces, I'm gently reminded that it really is possible to finish more than 5 or 6 things/year.

Here is my latest canvas finish:

I've wanted to do a stained glass style piece for a long time now and this one was just the right size for me (about 3"x 5").  It was so much fun to stitch!  And did I say fast too?  Really fast..  Once you have your grid pattern stitched, you could obviously use any colors and stitches you like...

Here's what I've done with it:

I've kept my eyes peeled for years for a cool Ott light tote bag, but never have found any...so, what's a girl to do?  Make one!

That's all I've got for this Friday night, friends.  We've got a busy busy weekend ahead, so I may not post again until later next week.  Until then, stay cool and keep your needles hot...

American Eagle framed!

Just got American Eagle back from the framer tonight and I honestly couldn't love it more!  It's hard for me to believe that it only took about a week to create this little guy which I am sure has just become my new favorite piece...

If all goes according to plan, he's fly away to the State Fair next month.

Hope you all are finding time to stitch and stay cool.

                    Hugs,

July - in like a lion!

***

Hello Friends!  Here is it July 1st and we have found ourselves in a verifiable heat wave here in Wild, Wonderful West Virginia.  The heat reached an all time high of 108 last week!  And, we suffered through the worst storm I've ever seen in my life Friday night.  It was my husband's birthday and we were having dinner out, about 40 minutes from home.  The power went out several times during dinner and the rain and wind were indescribable.  The drive home was like driving through a war zone.  I know many of you, all over the East coast have experienced the same.  Luckily for us, we didn't have any serious property damage and we have electricity but many of our neighbors were not so lucky.  Our new (like they are in the process of moving in) neighbors had a tree fall across their car.  We have tons of limbs and sticks to deal with, but escaped virtually unscathed.  However, we are praying for all of our friends and neighbors who are dealing with much worse..

Now for the Share-A-Stitch report... What a wonderful five day get-away!!  The facility (Meadowbrook Conference Center) in Kingsport TN is just fabulous.   The staff was excellent, the service was spotless and the food was tremendous.  In short, I can't say enough good things about the place.  My roomie and I traveled down mid-week and since only one of us can drive at a time, I stitched until it was my turn to take the wheel.  It was a pleasure to get a few hours of power stitching in on a few small projects.  A couple of hours go so far when you're talking about small projects!

The first is an amulet bag/name tag by GPA (Giulia Punti Antichi).  I've had this kitted up for at least a year and a half.  The beads Giulia has had made to accompany her designs are addictive.  You can click on the photo below to get a better look at the one I've used for the scissors fob.   

The only thing I have left to do on this project is to add the focal bead and tassel to the bottom of the bag.  I can't wait to wear this to our next meeting.

My other car project is a small canvas piece that looks like a piece of stained glass.  I'm in love with everything about it..

It's been a blast just filling in the blocks with whatever new stitch I decide I want to try.  I'm envisioning this on the front of an Ott light carry bag when finished.

As for class, I took studio time in order to get my Monet piece started.  Well, I got it started and that's about all I can say for it.  When I have enough to warrant a photo, I'll share..  It could be awhile..

Per usual, I enjoyed the boutique and bookstore a great deal.  I picked up 5-10 new threads, a couple of pattern books, a couple of needlepoint stitch guides, some slender stretcher bars (which I love!), and a bunch of blank needlepoint canvas.  I have big plans for the canvas (stay tuned...)

All in all, it was a huge success.  The only thing that could have made it better was to have had dinner with my husband on Thursday night, which was our anniversary.  Being the kind soul that he is, he encouraged me to take the trip anyway and sent this gorgeous arrangement in place of actually being together on our special day...

They just got more beautiful by the day...

What a guy... I'm a lucky girl!

1st handpainted canvas and a giveaway

***

Hi All!  I'm posting a rare Thursday message to share my excitement over starting on my very first handpainted canvas, purchased in Fall 2010 at EGA National in San Francisco.  One thing I know for sure is that I am not a needlepointer so even though this is a very small luggage tag, it was with great trepidation that I made the decision to bring it home.  As much as I know I'm not a needlepointer, I am a confessed and convicted flosstitute.  I love Love LOVE threads of all varieties and have a pretty respectful cache just waiting for the right projects to come along.  I'm told this is a very good thing for anyone getting into canvaswork.  And, as I admire all those perfectly gorgeous pieces of canvaswork out there on the web, I can see why.  There's nothing like a handpainted canvas to show off a multitude of splendid threads. 

I'm very pleased with how the eagle head has turned out.  I used a combination of DMC floche and Mandarin Floss for everything but his beak. It is stitched with #5 perle cotton.  The Hungarian ground stitch (white and gray part) seemed to work out great for what I had in mind.  Now, I'm on to the hard part... the stars and bars.  I think I must have 11,001 reds, whites and blues to pick from.  Not to mention all the sparkle-y, metallic threads that could be added for impact.  I'm also stumped about what kind of stitches to use for the flag.  Seriously wish that this little project had come with a stitch guide...

So, if any of you seasoned canvas workers have any suggestions for me, I am all ears!  For every suggestion I get, I'll put a patriotic "something" in a giveaway bag and pull from the list of commenters at the end of the month.  Please encourage your canvaswork friends to drop by and comment too.  The more suggestions, the more swag in the giveaway... 

I told you I was desperate...

Happy (almost) Weekend Friends! 

Medici Vase update

I learned so much from Vima about the many ways the simple buttonhole stitch could be used in our adaptation of traditional Casalguidi (Italian) needlework. She moved us right along during the four day class. Here is my progress. I won't be able to take the piece with me to Philadelphia due to it's size, so I guess it will have to wait for me.

Medici Vase (pre-work)

This is the first of many posts (I'm sure) for this Casalguidi canvaswork piece I'm going to learn about at the EGA National Seminar. Vima deMarchi Micheli is teaching and I'm very much looking forward to spending the week with her. What a storehouse of knowledge she is! I can't wait.