The Parade is Back on Track

Last week I was bemoaning the fact that my July 4th flag bearer's wig was giving me fits. This week I can at least say that the wig is behind me and I'm moving on to more fun aspects of the July 4th March. I decided not to follow the stitch guide suggestions for the hair (long and short stitches or packed outline) and instead went with a padded satin stitch which made me much happier. I blended two shades of Weeks Dye Works threads to get the color I wanted, padded the stitching area, and jumped right in. Voila - a completed wig with slide bullion curls.

I started the blue background on the flag last night and am in love with the Gloriana Overdyed Silk thread in Denim. The shading is perfect for this flag. I also have it mind for the Patchwork of Peace flag project that is still waiting in the wings. Amy has chosen a pinwheel design for this area with white star-shaped sequins scattered around and small accents of gold beads on top of the background. I think it will be perfect! I hope to have this area finished by the next time I post. I may save the star sequins until the end so that I'm not snagging threads on them as I stitch other parts of the design.

There was another satisfying finish for one of the From Russia with Love eggs this week. It is always such fun to add the "jewels" at the end of these beautiful canvases. These green briolettes are no exception! They just sparkle in the sunlight! I wish their photographs did them justice. A new egg should be on the way to me this week and I can't wait to see what it will be. I'll show it to you in the next blog post.

I have a new guilty pleasure to tell you about today. I "discovered" House of Cards on Netflix this week. I am hooked!


This series (only available on Netflix) stars Kevin Spacey and Robin Wright as an unbeatable (maybe/maybe not!) husband and wife team in Washington, DC. Spacey plays Francis Underwood, the Majority House Whip from South Carolina. His wife played by Robin Wright heads up a non-profit agency fighting for clean water around the world. Oh, the intrigue! I have no doubt that this show is accurately portraying how things get done at the Capitol, the White House, and Washington in general. If you have any interest in politics, don't miss this series. The entire season is on Netflix even though it only started at the beginning of February. It is produced and directed (a few episodes) by highly acclaimed director David Fincher. Netflix may be on to something with this well-acted, well-directed series that they have produced. House of Cards won't be shown on regular network or cable channels - only on Netflix. Fans of Arrested Development like me are eagerly awaiting the new season that will also be shown exclusively on Netflix in a few weeks. Can't wait to see that series back again! Thank you Netflix!

That's it for me in the needlepoint and Netflix world this week. So happy to see the sun out this morning after what was a very gloomy, wet week. I won't be here next week but look forward to being back with you the first Sunday in March.

Have a great week ahead!

How I Spent My Saturday

Are you thinking that I did something fun or that I have a lot to show you after a day's worth of stitching? No such luck! I did spend most of my day stitching. It's just that I have nothing to show for it. My goal for Saturday was to devote my stitching time to the the July 4th March. What was not in the plan was to rip out everything I had stitched - twice. I wanted to finish up the flag bearer and figured I would spend my stitching time on his wig.

Amy's stitch guide calls for a base of basket weave at the front of the wig with a slide bullion curl on top of that. The wig is to be stitched in three colors using long and short stitches or packed outline stitches. First I stitched the wig in the long and short stitches. I only made it half way through the wig before I ripped it all out. Next I  tried packed outline stitches and they actually looked worse than the long and short stitches! Those stitches were ripped out as well.

I think it's time to regroup on the wig stitches. I may just go with some felt padding and satin stitches as I did with the baby's wig. The slide bullion curls will add a little more interest to it, I think. Whatever I choose to do will come later next week. I need the immediate gratification of stitching my From Russia with Love egg. So that's what will receive my stitching time today. Here's my progress so far this week.

My stitching friend Elizabeth Hurd posted a wonderful photo on Facebook this week of all 12 of her completed eggs. They are so fabulous and she stitched them so beautifully. I sent four of my eggs to The Needle House this week for finishing. I asked to have them finished as standup eggs. Can't wait to see the finished product!

Happy Valentine's Day and have a great week ahead!

Temptation is Calling

I know it's Super Bowl weekend but in the needlepoint world it is the weekend when needlepoint shop owners are buying canvases and accessories with which to tempt stitchers over the weeks and months to come. Shop owners are at TNNA market in Long Beach, California this weekend and many of them are taking us along with them - virtually. Thanks to social media, stitchers are able to see the latest offerings of their favorite and soon-to-be favorite designers. Having been a buyer for several retail stores, I know first hand how much effort goes in to "working" the trade show floor. Add to that job the work required to keep customers abreast of all the new designs via Twitter, Facebook, and blogs and you can only imagine what our shop owners are trying to juggle at this show. Let's give a big round of applause to shop owners and designers across the country for the great job they are doing to keep us apprised of the temptations that are to be found at the market!

I have several things on my wish list. I'll be narrowing it down as the day goes along. However, I have already ordered Julia Snyder's new book Great Layers for Needlepoint and a new white sheep magnet from Mag Friends.

Before I order any more canvases, I suppose we ought to look at the ones I am trying to finish before any new ones make their way into the stash! Another From Russia with Love egg was finished this week and a new one was started!

Stitching these eggs is just like eating potato chips - you can't stitch just one! Here's a photo of the four that are finished. I may send these off for finishing this week.

Last night I put a few beginning stitches in the Fuschia egg.

This week in the life of the July 4th March, I made a little progress on the flag bearer's coat.

The coat is actually a small area to stitch but it takes a deceptively large amount of time to stitch it. Lots of stitches to be laid with the laying tool! This week I hope to finish up his clothes and boots and move on to his wig. I'm considering starting work on the sky once the flag bearer is finished. There's a lot of sky to stitch and I don't want to leave all of that to work on toward the end of the project.

I have a nice, long afternoon and evening ahead of stitching and watching golf, football, and Downton Abbey.  Didn't Downton Abbey just kill you last week? Wow, I wasn't expecting that turn of events and I won't say what happened in case you haven't seen that episode yet. If Maggie Smith doesn't win some sort of award for her short scene with Mr. Carson, there's just no justice in the world! I may have to turn on the Closed Caption option tonight if there are any more whispering prison guards in tonight's episode. Even after watching last week's episode a second time,  I still couldn't understand what was being said about Mr. Bates. It was whispering so it had to be bad! I'm growing a little weary of Mr. Bates being in prison. Let's get on with a happy life for him and Anna!

Well, I think it's time to make sure that the chips and guacamole are ready for the afternoon and evening. It's also time to check in on Facebook and see more new needlepoint canvases from the market. I know that temptation will get the best of me today!

Dreams of Needlepoint

When I woke up this morning, I realized that I had been dreaming about needlepoint.  How nice is that?
I don't know where this dream was taking place but it was in a two story house where a group of us were stitching upstairs and all of the canvases, threads, and supplies were downstairs. I wasn't actually stitching but instead I was walking around with a handful of canvases and watching other people stitching. Occasionally I would wander downstairs and pick out threads for the canvases I had been carrying around. I know this wasn't a particularly strange dream but I think it came about as a result of reading through the posts in Needlepoint Group on Facebook right before I went to sleep. All those fun projects that everyone is working on! I want to do them all! In my dreams, right?

Did I dream that I finished my second Golden Cracker this week? No, I did actually finish the Candy Twist Cracker. This one was quite a fast finish or seems like it anyway. The next one should be arriving in another week or so. Such a fun little project!

My turquoise and gold egg is moving towards a finish, too. I know that each week I say how much I love this From Russia with Love series but I can't help it. They are small, quick to stitch, and incredibly beautiful. Can't wait to get back to work on this one this afternoon.

Now, moving on to the July 4th March. I stitched the white cap on the little girl after padding several parts of it with felt. The ribbon ruffle along the edge of the cap will come later when the majority of the stitching is finished. I am not entirely happy with the middle section of the cap and wonder if any of you have suggestions on how to deal with the problem I am having with it. This particular section is padded with three layers of felt with four strands of silk horizontally Satin stitched over it. The problem comes at the edge of the felt layer. The threads tend to separate where they cross the felt edge and expose the felt underneath. I added extra layers of Satin Stitch in this spot thinking that more threads would solve the problem but that doesn't seem to have helped. Any ideas? I may email Amy this week and ask for her help.

The majority of my stitching on the March this week was on a few sections of the fence. When I look at the photograph, it seems like such a small amount of work but it took hours to stitch. I love the Gloriana silk that Amy chose for the fence. I may work a little more of the fence this week and then move on to the Flag Bearer.

Many thanks to those of you who offered suggestions last week for how to handle the coils of "hair" that will be added to the wig on the baby. I appreciate your taking the time to give me your thoughts!

Hope you all have a great week ahead!

Picking Up the Pace of the Parade

I am back in business - photography-wise - with a cheerful, cherry red Nikon Coolpix S6300 to document the weekly progress on my various needlepoint projects. I wish you could have been with me when I bought it at Best Buy for no other reason than to have seen the puzzled look on the face of the salesman who helped me when I told him that I photographed my needlepoint for my blog each week. I had the distinct feeling that he was thinking "What is needlepoint?" and "Why would anybody want to look at pictures of her needlepoint?" Needless to say, it wasn't worth the time to explain it to him, but I am grateful for those of you who come back week after week to look at pictures of my needlepoint. So let's see what I accomplished since last week -

There's been lots of progress on the July 4th March but there is a little more work to be done on the baby in the wagon. Amy calls for the wig on the baby to have a slide bullion curl at the top of the wig and a big coil of "hair" across the middle section below the large padded area of the wig. To create the coil she suggests wrapping the thread around something like a knitting needle and tacking down the coils of thread as you slowly pull the knitting needle away. I made a initial attempt at that technique off to the side of the canvas with a small amount of success but I think I'll tackle that later and move on to some other areas. I'm not happy with the white hair color at the end of the wig and I may change that out. Amy gave me three "hair" colors for the wig using overdyed floss. Even though the white has shades of gray though out, it is still such a bright white and just too much of a contrast to the other two colors to suit me. For the top section of the wig, I used two strands of the white and 2 strands of the "galvanized" color to tone down the white. I may do the same thing for this bottom section of the wig. There is also an applied piece of needlework for the wagon wheel which will require a trip to Lowe's to find a washer of a particular size. That can come later as well!

Over the last couple of days I stitched the little girl with the brown skirt and purple vest. I love everything about the stitch pattern and the thread (overdyed Waterlilies) that Amy chose for the skirt. The pattern of the bargello gives a nice flowing movement to the skirt. Love it! Now it's on to her cap which is thickly padded with felt before stitching. That should add some nice dimension to this little character.

It was hard to put down the Candy Twist cracker and make myself work on the March. These crackers are such fun and so easy to stitch!

The fifth egg in the From Russia with Love club from The Needle House arrived Friday evening just in time for some weekend stitching. I'm not off to the best start on this gorgeous turquoise egg. The stitched area where you see tent stitches are really supposed to be slanted Gobelin stitches but I was completely defeated by them. After several attempts at stitching according to the stitch guide and a wasted hour and a half (not to mention wasted thread), I gave up on the slanted Gobelin and just went with the tent stitches. Hope I'm getting the problem area out of the way first and that the rest of the egg will go more smoothly.

I'm very happy with my current stitching line up with 2 small club projects and one larger canvas to stitch. It is easy to switch back and forth between them and still see good progress at the end of each week. There are many hours of football ahead this afternoon and evening so I hope to have even more progress to show you next week.

Have a great week ahead!

It Is January, Isn't It?

It was 78 degrees here in Augusta on Saturday and we are supposed to be near 80 degrees again today. I saw a tiny lizard yesterday sunning himself in this warm January sun and thought that he is probably in for a big surprise later in the week when more normal temperatures return.

I finished the red egg with the green butterfly crystals this week. It's a beautiful egg but I have to admit it won't go down as one of my favorites to stitch. I absolutely hated every single chain stitch that I had to put in. I don't like chain stitch to begin with and then if I have to stitch it with a metallic thread, well, it makes for a less than enjoyable stitching experience. The green flower crystals and the butterfly crystals really are very pretty so at least I ended this piece on a positive note. I hope my next egg arrives this week. Despite the chain stitch in this piece, I love this series and miss not having the next one to pick up and stitch this afternoon.

I may not have a new From Russia with Love egg to work on this afternoon, but I can start my newest Christmas cracker which arrived from FIreside Stitchery this week. This one is the Candy Twist cracker.

I had every intention of showing you my progress on the July 4th March this week but my camera died yesterday and the camera on my phone isn't cooperating with the computer this morning. I suppose I shouldn't be surprised that the camera quit working after it was dropped onto a hardwood floor from about 5 feet up. Rest in peace Nikon Coolpix, you were a great little camera.

Anyway, this week I worked on the wagon and have finished the wagon itself, the red and blue bunting, and the collection of fireworks in front of the baby. I cut out the felt padding shapes for the megaphone and the wagon wheel, stitched them to the canvas, and will probably work on those areas for my afternoon stitching.

I think a trip to the Best Buy camera department is in order so that I have some photos to show you next week. Good thing I took the other two pictures yesterday before I dropped the camera.

Have a good week ahead!

The Little Drummer Boy

I thought I would buck the trend that I have seen on Facebook this past week and, instead of showing you my first finish for 2013 (of which there isn't one!), I would show you my fresh start for 2013.

This was my view on the afternoon of Tuesday, January 1, 2013. I decided to start off the new year with Susan Roberts' July 4th March with the stitch guide by Amy Bunger. It wasn't a difficult decision as this project has been at the top of my To Stitch List for quite a while. I settled in for an exciting and satisfying bowl game with Georgia and Nebraska and began work on the little drummer boy who brings up the end of the march.

I'll save working on his little hands and the drumsticks until I'm further along with my stitching. The drumsticks will be made from toothpicks which are cut down to the correct size and painted brown. A little glue on the ends of the toothpicks will secure a gold bead to each one and I'll have two drumsticks.

Since I took the photograph, I have completed the edging around the drum and started stitching on the wagon. Lots of stitching to be done on this piece, so stick with me! I have a lot of red, white, and blue threads in my future this year!

Stitching continues on my current egg in the From Russia with Love series. The metallic threads are so beautiful but also so hard on my right hand.  I think I grip the needle so tightly when working on this piece that my hand begins to cramp. I guess that means I need to put it down for a little bit?

I worked on adding some more background and the chain stitch scrollwork areas last night. The Kreinik 1/16" ribbon for the background is beautiful - shades of red and gold - but drives me crazy with the way it wants to twist on itself and knot up. I realized that I needed to use much shorter lengths of ribbon than I would usually choose in order to avoid those problems. It's a minor aggravation, I know, but an aggravation nonetheless.

It is eagle nesting time again and bear denning time as well. I am following the eagle nest on camera in southwest Florida this year. The two eggs hatched this week and Ozzie and Harriet, the parents, are doing a great job keeping the little ones fed and warm. Ozzie delivered several catfish (huge ones!) to the nest yesterday and some unidentified road kill - opposum, perhaps? There seems to be no shortage of food for this eagle family. It's so much fun to watch a nest again. The den cams are in place at the North American Bear Center up in Minnesota. Jewel and her cubs from last year - Herbie and Fern - are on camera in their dens and Lily is on camera in her den She's expected to give birth later in the month. I have eagles and bears to keep me company on my iPad as I work at my desk each day. Great companions for the winter months!

Hope your new year is off to a good start! Have a great week!