April 23, 2024--The last of the three Clothespin Angels is now stitched and ready for assembly at my ANG chapter's meeting in August.  This one simply states Happy Holidays with lots of embellishments.  Angels Clothespin Happy Holidays Completed Angels Clothespin All Three Completed April 16, 2024--Now the second of the Clothespin Angels has been stitched--this one called Candles.  Now that I have a better idea of what I'm doing, I'm breezing along nicely.  One more to stitch up, then it's assembly time.    Angel Clothespin Candles Co ..read more

April 16, 2024--Now the second of the Clothespin Angels has been stitched--this one called Candles.  Now that I have a better idea of what I'm doing, I'm breezing along nicely.  One more to stitch up, then it's assembly time.    Angel Clothespin Candles Completed Angels Clothespin Stitched to Date April 12, 2024--Have completed one of the Clothespin Angels.  This one is called Joy and was a real learning process for me.  First of all, I had to call our chapter's fearless project leader, Shirley H, on how many strands of floss to use on the 18 c ..read more

April 2, 2024--After working up the 3D 5-pointed mini beaded stars, I just knew this beauty would be next.  It's a larger 5-pointed 3D star designed by Phyllis Zunte and I found the pattern on Etsy.  You can see the back of the star through the center opening.   It has lots of dimension and sparkle.  As you can see in the photos below, the star is made up of five "warped" squares that are zipped together.  I'm discovering lots of patterns using this technique, but for now, I think I'll stitch this one again with dark blue seed beads and pearl colored bicones outli ..read more

March 31, 2024--For its 2024 community project, my needlepoint chapter, Delaware's Seashore Chapter of ANG, is participating in the Hearts for Hospice program and donating the stitched hearts to Delaware Hospice.  I chose to stitch a heart designed by Barbara Richardson called Heart of Hearts with instructions published in the 2008, Vol X, 1 issue of Needlepoint Now Magazine.   It proved to be an interesting challenge, especially the "darning" pattern in the center column.  It was so complex that I had to draft the stitches on my iPad using the photo editing tool.  &nb ..read more

March 27, 2024--This is a piloted project I stitched for Susan Hoekstra who will be teaching this adorable game board class at the 2024 ANG Seminar in Kansas City, MO.  Susan tells me the unusual colors and design were copied from an antique Parcheesi board.  The kit includes a line drawn canvas, instructions, threads, frame pieces and parcheesi game "men".   I probably won't use the unfinished frame pieces supplied with the kit, but instead will have my framer set this in a black lacquered frame and add "footies" so it can sit on a table.  The parcheesi men supplied a ..read more

March 19, 2024--Wow, have I been busy, but unfortunately not with needlepoint.  Recently my husband and I have become aware of the need to “lock down”, for security purposes, all of our online dealings, such as with email, financial, shopping and entertainment accounts.   This has entailed educating ourselves on the meaning and use of MFAs (Multi-Factor Authentications) that go beyond 2FAs (2 Factor Authentications where, in addition to using a password, a code is sent to your telephone via text to verify your identity).    You can stop reading here if this subject i ..read more

 2023 Year in Review - 1/2/24 March 15, 2024--This is a duplicate posting of the Year in Review.  I accidentally deleted the original and am unable to recover it.  If you missed it the first time--enjoy. January 2, 2024 - Happy New Year!!   In 2023, I worked up more beaded items than needlepointed ones and loved doing them all. I managed to complete the stitching of 9 needlepointed projects and 15 beaded ones. In September, I attended a stitching retreat hosted by Sandy Arthur of Duo Designs (designer and instructor extraordinaire) at Butler State Park i ..read more

March 9, 2024--Yesterday I took a class from Donna Baratta at the Rehoboth Beach Art League on how to work up a filled right angle weave bracelet.  She supplied everything we needed--beads, button for closure, thread, needles, lighting, scissors, bead mat, written instructions, etc.  Love this technique and we managed to get everything done in the time allotted (4 hours).  I now want to make this again, but two additional rows wider.  Here it is with silvery white seed beads and very shiny dark blue 4mm Czech fire polished crystals.   Bracelet Beaded Filled ..read more

February 27, 2024--Picked up this gorgeous project from Michael's Arts & Crafts frame shop yesterday and I love how it turned out.  The photo doesn't show the beaded "bling" and how much sparkle there is.   SOTM 2023 Crescent Journey Finished December 5, 2023--Fini!  All that needed to be done with this month's lesson was to add black seed beads and gold bugle beads which added some dimension and sparkle to the piece.   I'll wait until next month to take it to the framer--they have enough to worry about getting things done by Christmas. SOTM 2 ..read more

February 18, 2024--Picked this up from the pillow fabricator yesterday and love how it looks sitting on an extra dining room chair.  The colors work perfectly with the furniture, wall paint and draperies.  Spring Sampler Finished into a Pillow Spring Sampler Pillow on a Dining Room Chair January 22, 2024--The stitching is complete on all 21 bands.  Loved working on this project and I especially love the colors.  Next step is to meet with my pillow fabricator to determine what color will look best for the pillow back and whether or not she'll need a few r ..read more