Early days with counted stitch work

This week I’ve been practicing and experimenting with stitches using waste canvas from Pam Kellogg’s book, Elegant Crazyquilt Seam Treatments. It’s a treasure trove of tips and designs. I’m warming up for my next project which will be a crazy patchwork block using some goldwork.
In the meantime, doing counted stitches on the waste canvas reminded [...]

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Toni’s gift

The reason why I couldn’t post pictures yesterday was that I had used up my free space on Word Press; I had to pay for more space. Now I can proceed.
You may remember that Toni painted some silk handkerchiefs for me. I wanted to make something for her in return. When Allie sent me this [...]

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Using photographs in needle art

Allie has recently posted about ways in which she uses her photographs in her needle art. If you scroll down to her previous post, you’ll see her tutorial on printing on fabric. I learned techniques for using photographs in that way from this excellent book by Mary Ellen Kranz & Cheryl Hayes.

And here is the [...]

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New floor stand

I like to use both hands when I stitch, and for goldwork, using both hands is absolutely necessary. Consequently, I use stands to hold my needlework frames, either one I can sit on or a floor stand. For many years I’ve been using the Gripit Legend floor stand, shown here. It’s been fine, though [...]

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Take a walk with Ernie

Yesterday Ernie took the camera on his walk. All the pictures were shot through windows, so there is some reflection in some of them. Still, it will give you an idea of how parts of our campus look now. You can click to see a slide show with captions.

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Our view inside

I’ve shown you the holiday decorations our neighbors put at their doorways. Here’s the current display at the end of our hall.

And here is our doorway. The appliqué piece was done by a friend in Arizona. I did the goldwork butterfly.
On the other side of our door is this Makonde sculpture, contemporary art [...]

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Cherry trees at Charlestown

There is no need to travel to Washington, D.C. to see the famous cherry trees in blossom in the Tidal Basin. Take a virtual tour of the cherry trees here at Charlestown. Ernie took a walk with camera yesterday. I hope you enjoy the slide show.
CherryTreesAtCharlestown
You may remember having seen my embroidery of the weeping [...]

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Hers and mine

In case you haven’t seen Allie’s latest embellisher and hand-stitched piece, don’t miss it. It says Spring!
Also, be sure to see Veronique’s charming string of garlic, created with the help of her cat!
Which reminded me of a little study of garlic I did years ago. Mine is not colorful, lively, complex, and interesting, as Vero’s [...]

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Prednisone

For the past 17 months I’ve been on prednisone for polymalgia rheumatica (PMR), a nasty condition of muscle inflammation and pain. Now I’m tapering off. Yesterday my rheumatologist told me to reduce the prednisone to 2 mg and see how I do. If all goes will I may be off prednisone by the end of [...]

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Spring in our courtyard

The pictures shot through my window on an angle are not clear, but you can see the trees in bloom and the daffodils outside the Aquatic Center. Well, you could see them if I could upload them with the new software at WordPress. I click to send the image to my post and get a [...]

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