I Don't Know How I Missed This

I'm just catching up on a few things here, in between shoveling snow and rearranging the pantry so I know what food I have available while we are stuck on the mountain.  (Not to worry, we have plenty of everything we need, particularly if it involves beans or canned tomatoes.  I see chili in the near future....)  First of all, somehow I missed Stitches in Time Needlepoint's newsletter.  It looks like they went stitching in France!
http://www.stitchesintimeneedlepoint.com/html/home/news6.pdf

A-Z Needlepoint/Regal Rabbit started a Kelly Clark "Twelve Days of Christmas" club with guides written by Susan Portra.  This is a great opportunity and I hope you can still sign up.  Details are on their home page.
http://www.a-z-needlepoint.com/

Traditional Stitches in Canada is going to offer a beginning needlepoint cyber class.  Know anyone who wants to learn?
http://www.traditionalstitches.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=TS&Product_Code=CMDTBeg&Category_Code=SAL

I wonder what else I missed?

Written by Jane/Chilly Hollow
Blogging at http://chillyhollownp.blogspot.com
Archived Yahoo 360 postings at http://profiles.yahoo.com/chillyhollow

Getting Started on Stars

Yesterday I spent some time looking at my four sets of threads for the Stars for the New Millennium project.  I discovered that I had my A1 and A4 mixed up so I needed to make sure I didn't have other errors.  I also needed to read the instructions several times to figure out where I stopped work 3-4 years ago when I put Stars down.

To work this piece you choose four colors:  A is a main color, B is the sashing color--sashing is what quilters call the borders between quilt blocks--and a second main color, C is your neutral,  and D is an accent color. You also need an overdyed floss that includes at least these four colors.  Most folks start by choosing the overdye and then picking their four ABCD colors based on it.  

Naturally I didn't do that but more on this later.

Mr. Minieri tells you what type of thread (floss, perle cotton, tapestry wool, etc.) you need for A1 or C3, and you can look at the list of threads he used to see what brand he used to get another idea of what type of thread he recommends if you need to substitute.   

I think I'm going to need more of my A1 and B1 threads. B1 is black Soie de Crystale and I have three skeins but I'm not sure it'll be enough. I was clever enough to choose threads that I thought I needed more than one skein of from brands that don't have a lot of color variation among skeins, but I didn't think about getting enough of A1 to do the outside border which is purple in Tony's model in the photo.  I am using Impressions for A1 currently but I think I might look at Vineyards Silk and see if there's a good violet color in their line in March to use as A1 when I get to the Woodlawn needlework exhibit and visit the local shops.  There are a lot of threads available now that weren't available in 1999 when Stars was published and I think I'd like to include a new thread, particularly one that covers as well as Vineyards silk does.

This means that I can't do the outer border yet.  I will have to finish the two corners and the top borders without stitching the outside edge of those areas in A1.

I'll publish the threads I am using section by section.  I anticipate that I'll use both Impressions and Vineyards Silks for A1, depending on what area I am stitching.  

I don't know if you saw Sara Leigh's comment that her stitching group (which is working on Stars right now) all spent right around $100 on threads.  They used threads from their stashes whenever possible.  As far as I know, all the stitchers are using one of the 13 colorways listed in the instructions.  Is that right, SL?

Guess I'm going to have to settle down and work on Stars today instead of shoveling snow!

Written by Jane/Chilly Hollow
Blogging at http://chillyhollownp.blogspot.com
Archived Yahoo 360 postings at http://profiles.yahoo.com/chillyhollow