Old finishes

May 29, 2007

Since I have yet to transfer my new finishes from camera to computer, I thought I would share a couple of old finishes today.

"Adorn thy Heart" is a design from With My Needle and it was a joy to stitch. Each of the narrow gold coloured bands is a different specialty stitch.

"The Sheltering Tree" is from Homespun Elegance. As you can see I framed mine but one of my stitching buddies has also stitched it and has finished it as a pillow. Whenever I get to see her finished product I'll take a picture and post it as well.

More Thursday stitchers pics

May 28, 2007

I am still having trouble mastering the art of adding pictures where I want them...however

Here are a few of the stitchers from last Thursday.

Anne is a beginner who is coming along marvellously. Her mom, in the background is working on Mother's Bliss.

Jane is working on a pillow top from a Stoney Creek leaflet.

Angie is doing a M-designs witch. It uses a gorgeous Silk n'colours thread caller Monster Mash.

Lisa is working on a X's and Oh's dragon.

Olive who held up a blank hoop last week still hasn't done much on her cross stitch but she did share this amazing stump work piece with us . You cannot tell from the picture but the flower is three dimensional. It is amazing! I got many hours of stitching in on Thursday and Friday managing to complete two projects, one large and one small. Of course I have not photographed them yet. So you will have to wait for another day to celebrate with me.

Christin visited from Thursday till Saturday and we enjoyed a very productive stitching day all day Friday. Actually we stitched so much that my right arm actually ached a bit on the weekend. She made great progress on Guardian and I'll have a pic of my Silver Lining cactus very soon.

Thursday Stitchers

May 24, 2007


The Thursday stitchers got a surprise today. My husband had a great idea that we should all have T-shirts to identify ourselves as the addicted stitchers that we are ...like we didn't already know it! So today was the great unveiling...or T-shirting ...call it what you will. And here we are.. Christin is here for a visit so she took the photo.

A couple of people are missing but next week I will catch up with them and add them to the mix.The T-shirts read...
Knowledge and Needles

Thursday Stitchers

I thought that sounded better than "The Cult" which is what I had been calling us or the "Stitch and Bitchers" which is what my husband has been calling us!

Meanwhile, until I get to post some of the pictures of our WIP projects here is a progress pic of my friend Joyce's HEAD, The Tempest...

Tagged

May 22, 2007

I was tagged by Dani...

8 Random Things - The Rules
1. Each player starts with 8 random facts/habits about themselves
2. People who are tagged write a blog post about their own 8 random things and post these rules
3. At the end of your blog you need to tag 8 people and post their names
4. Don't forget to leave them a comment and tell them they're tagged, and to read your blog

My random things..

1. I spent 30 years as a high school teacher/librarian
2. My little shop, Knowledge and Needles is really a lot of fun to have.
3. I am fortunate to have numerous groups of stitching friends with whom I get together frequently. As a matter of fact I am going to visit with one of them this morning and plan to take a progress pic of her latest project. Watch for it later this week.
4. I am becoming addicted to reading stitching blogs.
5. My latest favourite authors are Linda Fairstein and Henning Mankel. Check them out if you like police/murder/mysteries.
6. I have made one quilt.
7. Our two dogs and two cats rule our home.
8. My only real UFOs are two sweaters which I began knitting over 17 years ago before I got bitten by the cross stitch bug. One of these days I may get back to them. They are both started and I still like the patterns, I just don't want to devote the time to them.

I am now going to break the rules of the game because the people I would tag have already been tagged and I don't feel I know the rest of you bloggers well enough yet to hit you with it.... but watch out in a few months if I get tagged again!

JD designs

May 17, 2007

Today I thought I would feature a small Jeanette Douglas design I finished a couple of years ago. So far I have stitched only this one of hers but I am hoping to tackle one of her larger pieces sometime. Her "My Stitching Treasures" is gorgeous. I actually saw a perfect box for it too in the antique store in town. Unfortunately they were interested only in selling the trinkets inside the box, not the box itself.

I also like Northwoods Sampler...and St Lawrence Lowands sampler...I could go on.

Anyway her stuff is on sale for 20 % off all this month at http://www.knowledgeandneedles.com

Kathy has entered the blogging world also and her blog can be found at http://www.kathyssitandstitch.blogspot.com/ Welcome Kathy!

Spring Flowers

May 15, 2007

I am very thrilled of course by how my Silver Lining Rembrandt Tulips turned out...see my first blog...but obviously I would never have stitched them in the first place if I didn't love tulips.

I am happy to say I have some of my very own yellow/red tulips blooming in my flower bed right now and here they are...

Also on the other side of the fence on the woods side there is a gorgeous patch of trilliums (Ontario's provincial flower). It is not the carpet of trilliums which covers some woodlots but I think of them as my own special ones and I am always on the lookout for them late in April or early in May...

Mother's Bliss

I know Mother's Day was yesterday but I did not post then so in honour of all the Moms out there here is a picture of Mirabilia's Mother's Bliss which I finished recently. It is for my niece who a baby boy in March.

Thursday stitchers

May 12, 2007

Okay so I haven't quite mastered the art of putting pictures on my blog in an organized manner.
Anyway, the 4 Celtic Banners pictured were the inspiration for the 3 banners pictured to the left. The 4 belong to Dani, Christin, Carmen and Colleen (not necessarily in that order) and were here for all to admire at last August's little retreat we hold here at my place.
The three banners are being held by Beatrice, Kathy and Barb and are almost finished after a 30 week stitch along.







This next lot of smiling faces belong to some of the Thursday stitchers and don't they do great work? Adriana is on the left holding up a fairy she is stitching from a recent magazine. Olive is holding up a blank hoop because I caught her on a day when she was just about to begin a new project. Judie is displaying her Sitchworks piece called Good Night Sleep Tight, affectionately known as Cows in Blankets.

Here is progress on Epiphyllum #2. I am very encouraged by how it is coming along and I actually think I have the hardest portions finished. All that remains is another yellow/orange flower and another large leaf. The main flower was the most challenging since it contains a myriad of soft colours which did not seem like anything except tiny blobs of colour ... that is until you step back and see the big picture. Marc is an amazing designer.

There are more Thursday stitchers but we had only a small turnout this past week. I will take pics of the others and their projects as the weeks progress.

Ornaments

May 11, 2007

I have some pictures in the camera of yesterday's Thursday Stitchers gathering but that is the problem...they are in the camera, not the computer so you will have to wait for another day to see what we are all working on.

Meanwhile here is a shot of three ornament blocks from Madeiros. I made them up last month and expect to do the rest of them before Christmas. They are a delight to stitch because they are fast yet interesting. Melinda incorporates specialty stitches and specialty fibres, mostly GAST, to make these cute blocks.

Also once you know how to make them, there is no reason why you can't make the sides of the blocks say anything you want. I am thinking specialized ornament blocks...racecars for my step-son, Nascar stuff for my husband, karate motifs (anybody know of any?) for my grandson, any kind of cars for the youngest grandson, F1 stuff for my daughter-in-law...Is there sort of a common thread theme in what the people in my family like?

Another Silver Lining

May 9, 2007

Today's picture, since I seem to be on a Silver Lining theme, is a shot of Beth's "Most Wonderful Reds". She stitched it on 25 count opalescent evenweave over one. Isn't it magnificent?

I do have a thing for these Silver Lining flowers. This one actually looks like velvet.

Today is the weekly gathering of the Thursday stitchers. I have my camera out and hope to take some pictures of the various works in progress. We all have such different tastes but the results are all amazing.

Best Selller

May 9, 2007

Since I seem to be on a Silver Lining theme, I decided to add one of my all time favourites. I bought the pattern for this at CNSF in Toronto a long time ago. I bought it because a) it is gorgeous and b) I saw the model. Since then I have opened the shop Knowledge and Needles and I have to say that Dream Lover has probably been my best selling pattern of all time because a) it is gorgeous and b) I now have my own model hanging for all to see.

The framing job on this model is also excellent. We had planned a trip to the framer but for some now forgotten reason I could not join my friends there so they choose the mat and frame for me...did a good job didn't they?

And if I am talking about best sellers I have to mention an excellent book I just finished reading called The Friday Night Knitting Club by Kate Jacobs. Ask for it at the library.

A learning curve

May 8, 2007

I have not had to manipulate inside a computer programme for a long time and I am finding myself making lots of mistakes and re-doing the same thing many times in order to get this blog thing going. I am trusting that I will become more adept as I go along. I had some help from Wendy of Wendy ~ home at work with adding links to other blogs on the sidebar but I did such a good job that I got two of every link and did not know how to delete the extra one so I deleted them all and will try again later. My other challenge is to find out how to allow anonymous comments.

My picture today is a WIP of The Silver Lining's Epiphyllum #2 done over two on 32 ct linen.

I am doing only the flower, and not the border as seen in the original pattern. I am stitching it for a friend and she decided against the border. No problem for me as the border is large and all one colour. By the time I finish the flower itself I will be very happy to not do the border!

First Blog

May 7,2007

Welcome to Knowledge and Needles' first blog.

I got together with two different groups of stitching friends on the weekend and all the stitchers present encouraged me to create a blog so here I am.
Knowledge and Needles is a tiny cross stitch shop that I have built up after I retired from my "real" job as a Teacher/Librarian in the Ontario school system for 30 years.
It has allowed me to meet the most wonderful stitching friends and to attend fabulous markets like the Nashville Market over the past few years.
You will hear more about all these things over the coming posts.

I host a great group of women who meet regularly once a week, called the Thursday stitchers and I hope to feature some of their work when you get tired of seeing mine here too often.

I'll end my first post with a picture of a recently completed Silver Lining pattern, Rembrandt Tulips stitched over one on 25 count fabric.

The tulips seem like a good Spring like way to launch the blog.