Royal School of Needlework - San Francisco, California

Here is the link to see the classes the Royal School of Needlework are offering in San Francisco, California in April and May, 2009.

http://mail.google.com/mail/?ui=2&ik=e85d7377c1&view=att&th=11fb716d950309b3&attid=0.1&disp=vah&zw

I will be taking the Silk Shading Certificate Class. Two of the tutors are coming from England and the third one is from England and now living in California. I have taken classes from both Owen Davies and Helen McCook, I am looking forward to seeing them again.

The classes will be wonderful even though they aren't at Hampton Court Palace, I love the palace and the gardens around it.

If you are interested in taking classes you can visit the RNS website for the person to contact.

http://www.royal-needlework.co.uk/

I am looking forward to my class!!

Witch, Handwarmers & Biscornu

This was my Christmas gift from my friend. Isn't she lovely?

Here are the hand warmers I made, while another friend made hers. I learned that I needed to pay attention when I was knitting these.

This is the project my cousin and I worked on while she was here last week. She finished her's after she went home, now we just have to wait to get a picture of hers to join mine.

Sampler Challenge

While we were in England, the Sampler Guild received an invitation to join in the Alphabet Sampler Challenge with the Northwest Sampler Guild.

The only requirements were that the sampler had to have an alphabet. There is a tree in front of Hampton Court Palace that has mistletoe growing on the branches, I decided to make my sampler using the tree as my inspiration. Added a few flowers around the bottom and the rabbit ran into his hole at the bottom of the tree.

The following is a list of the stitches I used:

Fly stitch

Chain stitch

Cross stitch

Lazy daisy

French knots

Satin stitch

Turkey stitch

Straight stitch

This was a really fun project to do, might even do another one in the future!

Alphabet Sampler Challenge

While we were in England, the Sampler Guild received an invitation to join in the Alphabet Sampler Challenge with the Northwest Sampler Guild.

The only requirements were that the sampler had to have an alphabet. There is a tree in front of Hampton Court Palace that has mistletoe growing on the branches, I decided to make my sampler using the tree as my inspiration. Added a few flowers around the bottom and the rabbit ran into his hole at the bottom of the tree.

The following is a list of the stitches I used:

Fly stitch

Chain stitch

Cross stitch

Lazy daisy

French knots

Satin stitch

Turkey stitch

Straight stitch

This was a really fun project to do, might even do another one in the future!

Surprise from Lyon, France & a Road Trip to Austin, Texas

We took a road trip, drove to Austin, Texas and almost three weeks later we returned home to find a wonderful surprise in the mail. My friend who lives in Lyon, France sent me these wonderful treasures.

She made the ATC in memory of her cat who recently went to cat heaven and is missed very much, they lost two cats in a very short time. That is so sad, but the good news is they now have a new cat to love. She and her husband made the calendar, we have it sitting by the TV in the kitchen, we didn't have a calendar near the table so this is really appreciated. And the kit will be fun to make, now I just need to get busy.

As for other projects, I did a little knitting while we were traveling, knitting is a great project to work on in the car. Now I just need my husband to try on his sock so I can finish making them.

I visited Needle Works in Austin, what a wonderful needlepoint store. (http://www.theneedleworks.com/) They have fibers that I have never seen before and very helpful too. I had seen the Evertite Strencher Bars, but had never touched them or seen how they work. Well, now I wish I had all the sizes, they are great for needlepoint because you can tighten them up to keep the canvas tight while stitching. Needle Works don't have a picture on their website, but there is a picture on Tristan Brooks Designs (http://www.needleartworks.com/dsgnr/tbd/tbd10.htm) I have to say they are not cheap, well worth the money. Needle Works is a great place to spend a day and there is a good restaurant in the same mall Santa Rita Cantina (http://www.santaritacantina.com/) the Chilli Relleno with Spinach, mushrooms & ranchero sauce is the BEST. In fact Santa Rita was so good we ate there three times. Actually all the food was good in Austin!

We had a great trip, just very long, 5,000 miles round trip. It is nice to be home again!

Needlework Finishing

I am so excited my cousin is starting a finishing business and needed something to finish, so I sorted through my box of completed projects and found something to get her started. Here are pictures of what she has done for me.

If anyone needs something finished, you can contact her at pamacj@gmail.com Please use the subject: Needlework Finishing

The Needle Index & Isn't She Lovely??

This is the gift I received from my cousin, she asked me what I got for Christmas that was stitching related, I said nothing and this arrived in the mail a few days later. It is a wonderful place to keep needles! Now all my needles will be organized. There are pictures of all the different kinds of needles, what they are used for, wool to keep the needles in and a chart with the types of threads that you would stitch with each needle.

Saturday my friend came over and we exchanged Christmas gifts. And I must say "Mine is wonderful!" Isn't she lovely?

I have looked at her every time I went to Threadneedle Street and said "I love her" and now she is mine to stitch. I am going to have so much fun with her, just need to finish her before Halloween.

After we opened presents we went to Threadneedle Street and I bought the fibers I didn't have to stitch my new project. A little glow in the dark thread here and there and a wort of two will make her wonderful. Of course I may change my mind on a few of the fibers when I get started, but not the glow in the dark.