Stitches Plain and Fancy

Welcome to Stitches Plain and Fancy........

My first thought when I heard about Blogs was, WHY would anyone think that people would be interested in everything you did and had to say? Then, I started checking out a few - just a few - and only those that was interested in the same things I am - Needlework. I found lots of interesting stuff. Some proved very helpful, even educational, some inspiring. I got to where I checked some everyday.....you know....I might miss something! Then I realized that I was one of those people that was interested in everything you did and had to say, and those pictures of those projects.....beyond inspiring! I had also been trying to chronicle my projects - some with pictures. So, the natural thought process....Hey, why don't I start a Blog? And, so here it is. I hope that you find it interesting, maybe learn something along the way, and if you think like I think...maybe start your own blog about something you are passionate about........NEEDLEWORK!

Thanks for stopping by.

Saturday, August 14, 2010

Time Flies.......

It is hard to believe that almost a week has passed since I last posted. Tuesday was a chapter EGA meeting and a group of us always meet for dinner before the meeting. The group is ever changing in that whoever can come just shows up, so sometimes there are 4 of us, sometimes 10 to 12. It is always a great time, and sometimes the only time during the evening that we get to visit since we always start the meeting with a business meeting and then do a program of some sort. During the summer months, we don't do a program, but have theme stitching. August' theme was just to stitch on WIP. I am stitching a Halloween piece called "The Boys are Back in Town" . I don't even decorate for Halloween, but couldn't pass on this one, just too cute!
Thursday is our weekly meeting - a group gets together and stitches. Within that group, 6 of us decided to do Mary Wigham as a SAL. We started it July 2009 and the only time we stitch on her is on that Thursday. It is amazing how much gets done, we are all in various places, depending on how many Thursdays we have missed. One gal is almost done! It's fun to watch her progress as there is a variety of fabrics, counts and fibers. We have talked about copying them all at the print shop and using the copies to cover paper mache boxes - an idea we borrowed from the Blackbird girls.

Friday was my other chapter's meeting. We are fortunate to have a professional designer as a member. She designed a Christmas piece for canvas that we stitched in July. I taught a no sew cube finish. The Americana cube below is the July project from our local ANG chapter. I finished it for a friend.

Today was our first meeting for an EGA Correspondence Course learning odd count Flat Peyote beading. After about 2 hours, I was on overload! I may not stitch any tonight....certainly not anything that requires me to think too hard! I will be checking out the two books the teacher recommended. Hope one is Beading for Dummies!

Well, enough for one evening....more later.

Monday, August 9, 2010

Resources.......

Thought I'd pass along some resources that I use regularly. If you are looking for a particular type of finishing, Google the type of finishing. Some sites I use are:

http://designerforum.org/finishingtutorials.htm

http://focusonfinishing.wordpress.com/ (My personal favorite)

http://www.needlepointers.com/

http://needlenthread.com/ (a great guide for stitch tutorials)

If you are looking for inspiration, browse blogs. Go to any of the Blogs I have listed, then check out some of their followers. You could do this for hours! Pay particular attention to those French girls...they are amazing!

I would love to hear about others - and share them.

Sunday, August 8, 2010