Royal School of Needlework and American Needlepoint Guild

In my last posting I shared the information about the story that my friend wrote for the Needle Pointer magazine published by the American Needlepoint Guild (ANG).  You can now read the entire article via the Royal School of Needlework website.  


Just click here for the RSN website:  Royal School of Needlework  There is the link to the article in the second paragraph.  "Find out what it's like studying the RSN Certificate in Technical Hand embroidery - read Linda Kilgore's article here"


You can locate information about the classes offered at the RSN on their website and contact information.  The classes will be taught again in the spring and the fall of 2012 in San Francisco, California. 

Hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Freddy Fox is Published

If you are a member of the American Needlepoint Guild you may have seen "Freddy Fox" (click here to see a picture) AKA Red Fox in the latest issue of the Needle Pointers magazine.   

Thank you Linda for writing this wonderful article about the Royal School of  Needlework and inviting Freddy to be included.  We work hard and have so much fun in our classes.  Last month we completed another class together, looking forward to spring.

Advanced Applique' Class

Just returned home after completing my third Diploma class at the Royal School of Needlework in San Francisco, California. The above picture is the view from the hotel . . . the weather was beautiful, not that we had time to enjoy it.

This class was Applique, I have never done applique, so it was all new to me. I loved the class and my tutor was wonderful. There were six ladies in my class, one doing advanced silk shading, one doing advanced tapestry shading with goldwork and three doing stumpwork. We had a great class and everyone completed their projects. Now we wait for our assessments.

The design is my own funny creation!

If you are a member of the American Needlepoint Guild, check out the article beginning on page 16 about the Royal School of Needlework.

Next class will be blackwork in the spring.

Sisters' Quilt Show

We went to the Quilt Show in Sisters, Oregon. I am not a quilter, but our friend came from England to go to the show and I really enjoyed the trip. It was a beautiful day and not too hot.

These are just a few of the pictures that I took. Everyone should attend at least once, it is amazing how they hang all the quilts on the buildings and in the trees. Some were for sale, I was surprised that they weren't more expensive considering all the time that goes into each quilt.

Love the sunflowers!

These are wall hangings on one building.

This quilt is amazing! I love trees . . .

The end to a wonderful week-end was a stop at Mount St. Helens, I can see a new project in this picture.

Adventures in Needlework

I recently purchased the book "Adventures in Needlework" by Jessica Aldred and Emily Peacock. I was looking for a book with hand applique instructions. The diagrams, pictures and instructions are excellent. I am looking forward to trying a small applique project before my next class.

The other techniques covered in the book are canvaswork (needlepoint), silk shading and goldwork. The instructions are well written, a great reference from how to frame up a slate frame to how to finish each project. The mounting instructions are easy to follow and your framer will love you for finishing your projects this way and you will save money too.

A must have book for every embroiderer's library.

Thank you Jessica and Emily!

Sweet Pea Stumpwork Class

Today I taught a stumpwork class for the NW Sampler Guild. There were six very experienced stitchers and I had a great time. Hope they enjoyed the class and learned enough to complete the project.

The description of the class said you will learn a new way to use embroidery stitches in a stumpwork sweet pea design. Some of the techniques will be silk shading, wired petal, padded pea pod just to name a few fun things to learn to stitch. The kit will include the silk for the background fabric, fibers, wire etc.

I requested that the ladies send pictures of their completed projects to add to my blog . . . . . you may see more soon.

Silk Shading Diploma Class

I returned home recently from taking another diploma class with the Royal School of Needlework. It was pretty exciting as we gathered to meet everyone on April 29th, there was a lot of talk about the wedding. The two tutors who came to the States from England worked on Kate's dress.

Saturday we got to started framing up our slate frames, working on our design and transferring it onto the silk fabric. I stitched a red fox, Freddy, on white silk with Anchor and DMC cotton floss. The CBS Sunday Morning program had a story about the Royal School of Needlework on their show a few weeks ago.

I have to say this project was done with blood, sweat and tears. I can't say how many times I poked my fingers and the last time was my thumb on the second to the last day. I was working on the rocks in the snow, I pulled the thread up and there it was a big spot of blood, well it was actually about 1/8 - 1/4" but it looked huge. I said a bad word and started to cry. Within seconds there were three of my fellow students around me, one took charge the other two rubbed my back, prayed and gave me a drink of water. She said suck on this, a piece of buttonhole thread. She threaded a needle and started taking the needle down through the blood. It wasn't too long until she had most of it removed. Then she said I have something in my room that will take out the rest. She returned with eucalyptus wool wash, cotton swabs and water. She mixed a little of the eucalyptus wool wash with water and very carefully blotted the spot and patted with a paper towel. You can look at the picture below, where is the blood?

Now we all need to add to our sewing tools the following items:

Buttonhole thread and needle
Eucalyptus wool wash
Cotton swabs
Paper towels (maybe just a couple in a Ziploc bag)

The good news is it was a wonderful class with the Royal School of Needlework in San Francisco, California, Lucy does an excellent job of organizing the three classes for about 20 students and day classes too. This is the second time I have had Sarah for my tutor and learned many new tips from her. I am sure she told us some of the same things last time, but it was my first class and I was to scared to remember.

Next class is in the fall, applique . . . . need to get my design ready to be approved and gather supplies.