Debbee's Designs Blog

My husband works for an international company, and the project he’s assigned to is headquartered in Edinburgh Scotland. He’s been to Scotland 3 times, and I couldn’t go any of those times. They called him back again and the timing worked out for me to go! Yea! So the first thing I thought about packing was my stitching, of course!

I have 2 projects that I need to work on, so I carefully assembled the canvas, my graphs, all the threads I thought I might need, 2 pairs of 14″ stretcher bars (both projects are the same size), scissors, needles, laying tools, etc. When it came time to pack, I carefully put all those things in my suitcase, including my table stand, clamp, and extender arm.

Imagine my surprise when we got to our hotel, and I unpacked everything except the stretcher bars! Where were they? I had gotten everything together! And more important, how on earth was I going to stitch without them!

I already knew that there were no stockists of needlepoint supplies in Edinburgh. What to do? After some consideration, I decided that if I could find an art supply store, with artists stretcher bars for mounting canvas, I could make it work. That would be ideal, and if the plain bars were not available perhaps I could find mounted canvas, remove the canvas and use the bars. My canvas cut was 14″ square, the stitched area is 8″ square, so I figured as long as 1 pair of bars was 10″, 12″ or 14″, I could make it work.

You know, Google is a wonderful thing. I was able to find an art supply store within walking distance of our hotel, so my husband and I set off. It was a small store, but very well stocked, and they had 2 pairs of 14″ bars. I happily purchased them, and off we went.

Here’s what they look like when you buy them:

You’ll notice that the length is written on the ends. The ends are not dovetailed like the stretcher bars we buy for needlepoint, but fit together very much the same way.

I took them apart so I had 4 bars:

You’ll see that there is a little lip along the edge of the bars. When assembled, the lip should go all the way around on one side.

Very nice! Here’s a close up of the lip:

I lay my canvas on the bars, trying it on the side with a lip and the side without, and decided to mount to the side without the lip. Here’s my canvas ready to stitch:

Yes, I always put my tacks that close together. I found it a little more difficult to push the tacks in, and to get the canvas as tight as possible. I’m really spoiled to my Evertites; I don’t have to be careful to get the canvas tight when mounting it because after I adjust the Evertites the canvas is extremely tight. But I know how to mount on regular bars, so I did that, and got it as tight as I could. And I think it will do.

One thing I’ve noticed: I’m glad I got the 14″ bars. The artists bars are much wider than regular needlepoint stretcher bars. The 14″ bars will allow me plenty of stitching room, and I won’t be crowded up against the bars while stitching at the edges.

Some of you have used artists bars before, and use them more than needlepoint bars, so you’re probably reading this post and shaking your head at my “epiphany”. But I’m very happy to have resolved at least this stitching emergency, and will be able to stitch while I’m here.

I’ll share more about my trip in a subsequent post, because I have something very exciting that I’m going to be doing! And I can’t wait to share it with you!

The first of the year I set a simple goal – stitch every day. Today is January 24, and so far I’ve stitched every day except one! Great progress toward my goal!

It’s a little different for me since I don’t have projects kitted up ready to start, so when I finish something I have to scramble a little to start the next thing. And, I don’t have multiple projects going at once so it’s not as simple as choosing a work-in-progress to stitch.

So, I finished Symphony in the Autumn colors suggested by readers:

OK, it’s not the beauty shot that Rod will get later after it’s all framed and mounted. But you get the idea!

I finished Symphony while I was away teaching for Canvas A Needlepoint Adventure. Fortunately, I was anticipating finishing so I had brought materials with me to start the next project.

And I have a tiny confession to make: I decided that preparing the canvas to stitch would count as stitching for that day. I assembled the stretcher bars, tacked everything in place and got it nice and tight ready to stitch the next day. In my defense, I was exhausted after teaching all day, then an outing with the retreat members. I figured mounting the canvas was as good as it was going to get that night! Plus, I had decisions to make about starting and which threads to use. I admit that I was too tired to make decisions! But I did stitch the next day.

Guess what? My simple goal of stitching every day has netted another finish!

This is Indie Pop, and I’ll describe it in greater detail later. I made great progress on this piece, since I started it 11 days ago. During that time, I’ve been coping with an upper respiratory something that has made life very uncomfortable and unpleasant. But, except for the day I traveled home from Canvas, I stitched every day! Some days it was only for 10 minutes, but hey – that counts!

So one came off the stretcher bars, another one is mounted, and I’m ready to continue stitching. Let’s see how much I get accomplished this year!

Exciting news – we’re offering Angles through Shining Needle Society!

Some of you have been waiting for this, now is the time! Registration runs through Jan. 31, with classes due to begin April 1. There will be 8 lessons, complete with several video stitch demonstrations that you can access during class and after.

There are several options for participation:

Full Kit – includes canvas, all threads, instructions – $180

Instructions only – just as it says, you’ll get the 175 page instruction book – $92

Instructions with canvas – some of you will want to change threads but still want the pewter canvas – $107

Audit – for those who already have the book and threads, and may have participated in a class elsewhere, but are stalled and need a little encouragement to finish – $40

Some of you will want to change the accent color from red to something you prefer. That’s fine, and I’ll send you a list of the red threads so you can make your own choices. If you opt for the full kit, you’ll still receive the red threads which you can put in your stash for another project. Some of my students have changed the accent to yellow, blue, purple, teal, pink, orange – just about any color will work with the main grayscale color scheme.

If you want to register, shoot me an email with your name, address (for mailing the kit), phone number (in case of incomplete info and I have to call), email address, which option you want, and how you’d like to pay (PayPal, credit card, check). My email address is debbie@DebBeesDesigns.com, and I’m always available to answer questions.

Thanks, and I hope you’ll join us!

 

Not much to report today, except that so far in 2019 I’ve managed to stitch every day! Yea!

Last night we had our ANG chapter meeting, and as always I took my stitching with me. And, as always, I was unable to stitch at the meeting. But when I came home, instead of just sitting on the couch, I managed to get about 30 minutes of stitching in. It was tempting to not, but I’m wanting to keep moving forward toward my goal.

Speaking of ANG, did you know that the Stitch of the Month is posted, usually on the first of every month. My chapter is following along and using this as our program for 2019.

I mention it because this year I’m a part of it! My partners in the Needle Arts Mystery Retreat and I were asked to create this year’s Stitch of the Month. We each took 3 months and designed a stitch. The process was interesting, and I’ll share more about that in a later post.

The first stitch for 2019 is one of mine! I hope you’ll enjoy it. Go to needlepoint.org, click on Distance Learning, and you’ll see the Stitch of the Month. It’s absolutely free for members. And if you aren’t a member, why not join this year? ANG members have access to all kinds of projects through the Stitch of the Month (members can access all of the archives), our magazine NeedlePointers, and local chapter meetings. Local chapters can access the Chapter Project Book for projects. And if you don’t have a local chapter, you can join CyberPointers. I’m a member of CyberPointers, along with 3 other chapters. There’s always something to do!

On to the day’s activities – mail, email, household chores, dog to the vet, and stitching!

Usually for my first post of the new year I outline my stitching goals for the year. This year I’m approaching it a little differently. I’d like to be able to stitch some every day. That may seem like an odd goal for a professional designer/teacher! But since I didn’t get to stitch every day last year for various reasons, I think it’s good goal for the coming year.

If I can stitch some every day I should be able to complete several projects, which would be great! I have something in mind that I’d like to start this year, and will share more about it when I get it going. Stitching every day will help me realize that project.

Stitching every day is good for my mental well being as well. For close to three decades now stitching has been my way to relax, to slow things down, to take a breather from the world. So if I can stitch every day, I should be in a better mental state!

The thing about goals is, to let them be goals. A goal is something you aim for, to give you purpose and direction. If I don’t meet my simple goal for this year, I won’t be beating myself up over it. I’ll just try again the next day. It’s been said that if you aim at nothing, you’ll hit it every time. So I’m going to aim at something!

In the meantime, on my way to my goal for 2019, here’s what I’ve been working on, a new color way for an existing teaching project. Hopefully the new color way will garner some love, since the old one hasn’t!

This is Symphony:

This color way is rich coffee and chocolate colors, with a little pumpkin and eggplant thrown in (yes, I started dieting, hence the food fixation). If I can continue stitching some every day I should have this finished in 2 or 3 days, since the remaining areas are mostly large motif stitches that go very fast.

Here’s the original color way:

Hoping the more muted earth tones will make this project more attractive to faculty selection committees!

For those who are setting goals for the new year, best of luck in achieving them!