Stitch With Me

Good lord I am tired!

Last Friday David, Jacob and I packed up and went to the Needlearts* Market in Columbus, Ohio put on by the TNNA arriving home late last night to rain, storms and flooding all over the State.

As a short non-needlepoint related aside, I have to tell you how proud I was of Jacob.  He is only seven but is, bar none, the best traveling companion I have ever had.  He didn’t whine, didn’t complain, he took delays in airports in stride, he was game to go anywhere and do anything, he stayed up late, got up early and just had the best attitude.  I was so proud of him!

As everyone here knows, I love Squiggee Designs, and I’ve been stitching samples for Gail for awhile now.  So, I asked if I could go.  She got my husband and me admission to the show so I could see the new threads and buttons and do-dads that were coming out.

Let me tell you it was fabulous!

We couldn’t go in together because children are not allowed on the floor and we had Jacob with us, so we each took a swing through the market.  David’s interest was much less than mine, so he only spent about an hour there but I spent the better part of two whole days oh’ing and ah’ing over needlepoint, threads, buttons and the odd knitting thread.  While there David met Boots Bailey and learned her husband came from Altus, Oklahoma.  There was some good ole’ Texas-Oklahoma bonding going on and he was almost giddy when he came out of the exhibit hall.

While I was there I meet Ruth Dilts in the Rainbow Gallery booth and learned what is new coming out.  I oogled the Kreinik threads and beautiful samples they had there and met the very nice Doug Krenik and Kreinik’s very friendly, Creative Director, Dena Lenham.  I met the fabulous SharonG and was flattered that SharonG remembered so much about me from our time on IRC #stitch when the internet was in its infancy years and years ago.  Sharon introduced me to the delightful Marty Joseph of Gimmies Designs out of Houston, Texas.  I sat and ate Barbara Bergesten’s candy and saw what she and Carolyn Fuller of Simply Needlepoint have planned for one of Barbara’s teaching piece.  I met the beautiful Beth Gantz of Stitches Etc. from BayVillage, Ohio and saw her lovely designs.  I sat and visited with Kelly Clark and her wonderful new distributor/partner (I’m sorry I didn’t write her name down and have forgotten it now) but she had the most wonderful English accent and I could have listened to her talk all day.

I started writing, telling you all about this mind blowing experience but it was turning into a tome.  So, I’ve decided to post shorter, more focused, vignettes about what I saw and found while there.  Be on the look out for those coming over the next couple of days.  For those who can’t wait, I’ve posted a bunch of pictures I took (with permission, of course) with my phone while I was there on my Flickr account.

These are just some of the things I saw while I was there and a few of the many wonderful people I met.  After I left I thought “I didn’t see this designer or that manufacturer” or “I should have taken a picture of this or that.”  This place was huge.  There are rows and rows of exhibitors.  I felt like I was in my own pin ball machine; I would walk down an aisle, see something I wanted to look at or someone I wanted to meet, I’d turn the corner and talk to them, and leave, never returning to the aisle I was originally on.  If I missed your booth, or your favorite designer, I am truly sorry.  I was in my own sensory overload while there being driven by what pretty thing I’d see next.

*The seven year old, after reading some of the literature I’d received, informed me it was the NeedleARTS Market, not the NeedlePOINT Market as I’d been calling it.  My faux pau.

Thank you to everyone who commented on my survey!  This was the first survey I’d done and I was amazed by all the votes I got.

A little glitch in my survey was that I have no way (or I haven’t figured out a good way) of writing to thank everyone who voted because it doesn’t record your e-mail.  So I want to give a great big THANK YOU to everyone.

As an asideI think maybe I could go to my control panel and by dates and times figure out who you are, but honestly that would take me forever with everyone who voted.

The consensus seems to be Bullion Knots with the French Knots running a close second.

I have a confession to make.  I don’t know how to do bullion knots.  I am a self taught stitcher and have taught myself out of books basically.  Bullion Knots bum-fuzzle me.  I’m not sure if it’s because I stitch in-hand most of the time.  It might be easier if I had it on a frame and in my framestand maybe?

Someone suggested the DVD that Amy Bunger has out about hair.  I’d thought about that but wasn’t sure if that would actually help me or just make me more indecisive because of more choice.

But this is why I love the Internets.  Everyone was so eager to help, offer opinions and thoughts and suggestions.  And I love to hear everyone’s suggestions!  Even if I don’t take your suggestions on this particular canvas, that doesn’t mean I won’t ferrett it away in my brain and use it on something else I’m working on.

I’m going to get some better pictures of the whole piece and show you what I’ve done and tell you what I’m thinking I’m going to do so I can gather your collective thoughts on the rest of the piece.

This is exactly why I love the Internets!

Today we had more thunder storms.  Nothing like last week when we had all those tornadoes.  Today it was hail.  At our house it was tiny; pea sized.  Places  around the city were reporting golf ball sized  hail.

I’ve added to the front flower bed.

It is a Black & Blue Salvia.

I liked it so much we bought another today.  I’ve not planted it because of the hail but I think it will make a great addition to our little flower bed.

I’ve been working on this piece for Squiggee Designs.

I’ve been working on her hair.  Now, I need some help deciding what I should do for her hair.

I tried french knots using Fuzzy Stuff.  That wasn’t doing it for me.  Coverage wasn’t adequate and the fuzzy stuff was a little hard to make a french knot.

I dug around in my stash and came up with some Silk and Ivory in the same color.

I tried doing french knots in every hole wrapping the needle once with the thread.  I wasn’t happy with the look that was giving me.  The knots seemed kind of clownish and at the same time tight and angry.  So I ripped those out.

I tried doing french knots wrapping the needle once but on the vertical threads of the canvas and on the horizontal threads doing a basketweave stitch.  The knots were too small that way and coverage seemed sparse.

These are my latest two tries.

On the left side, I’ve continential stitched the dark orange lines in Kreinik’s 1/6 Ribbon.  I basketweaved between that with the Silk & Ivory.  Then I layed the thread in straight stitches.  The basketweave gives in lift

Here’s a close up of how that looks.

On the right side, I’ve done the horizontal threads in a french knot wrapped twice on the needle and the vertical threads of the canvas in a basketweave stitch.

The french knots are kind of hard to make in the 1/6 ribbon.  I was kind of going for the look of curls.  It sort of goes along with the free can-can girl.

So tell me, which do you like?  Or does anyone have any other suggestions?

Here’s a survey I created so I can figure out what everyone thinks.  It’s just for fun.

I got this piece back from the finishers last week.

The French Knot did the finishing.  Reasonably priced and quick to boot.  I love this.  I just can’t say enough good things about the French Knot.  Maybe we’ll ride the train down and I can spend the afternoon with them after Jacob get’s out of school.  I hear there are lots of fun things for kids to do in Ft. Worth.