Happy Birthday to Needlepoint Nation: (Part Two of Two)

Happy Birthday to Facebook's Needlepoint Nation group!  It turns nine years old today, February 7, 2020. To celebrate and to help support the Hearts for Hospice program, Needlepoint Nation has released two free heart designs by Teri Ambritz. If you are a member of Needlepoint Nation, you've seen Teri's amazing and inventive stitching. She creates especially lovely backgrounds. To help support Hearts for Hospice, she allowed me to diagram two of them to use as decorations for heart patterns. Here is the second heart diagram plus information about what you will need to stitch these yourself for a Hospice Heart.

You aren't familiar with the Hearts for Hospice program? You can read about it here.
https://chillyhollownp.blogspot.com/2018/08/hearts-for-hospice.html

The second heart pattern is called Teri's Hearts. Here is the diagram.

This design is best done by stitching the framework (the gray rows in the diagram) first, then adding the hearts and background.  Each gray block in the framework equals one tent stitch.  Here is the framework stitched.   I used DMC's size 8 perle cotton in medium pink 3326.

Framework Stitched First

The next step is to stitch the tiny hearts.  These are also tent stitched using one ply of a cotton floss similar to whatever color you want the hearts to be in the final result.  I used one ply of ThreadworX dark plum 11583 but it doesn't really matter what you use as it will be hidden by step three. I would suggest you use something slightly different in color from what the final hearts will be to make it easy to see since you will stitch over this layer with the final heart color.  Of course you can stop here if you wish.  This stitch, like Teri's first one, is very versatile.

Hearts Lightly Stitched

To finish the hearts, you will need 2-4 plies of a cotton or silk floss.  I used Caron's Soie Cristale dark pink 2044.  Using the lightly stitched heart shapes as a pattern, cover the heart shape from one side to the other with vertical satin stitches. I used two plies but you may need more plies depending on your stitch tension.  It's a good idea to use a laying tool to help the threads lay flat.  This is what the plum tent stitched hearts look like with the pink satin stitches under way.

Adding Satin Stitches On Hearts

You can stop now if you like, but I wanted a background so I added a tiny tent stitch in my background thread (two plies of Gloriana's Rosa Linda #038 which is a pink/yellow overdyed silk) at the base of each tiny heart.  In the diagram you'll see a blue dot where this tent stitch goes.  Next, using the same thread, add vertical rows of satin stitch between each row of the framework.  I used two plies and my laying tool to keep things smooth.  Again, you may need more plies than I used before you get the look you want.

Teri's Hearts Finished

This is the end result.  I think it looks like candy!

To stitch Teri's Heart exactly as I did, you will need:

DMC's size 8 perle cotton in medium pink 3326 (I had a ball but one skein should be plenty)
One skein Caron's Soie Cristale dark pink 2044 silk floss
Floss in a similar color to the Soie Cristale for the tent stitched hearts
One skein of Gloriana's Rosa Linda #038 pink/yellow overdyed silk
9x9 piece of 18 count needlepoint canvas (any color)

Draw a heart pattern on paper that is about five inches tall and four wide, cut it out, then put the pattern under your canvas (you can hold it in place with magnets) and either draw or baste a line around the outer edge.

I encourage you to use colors you like from your leftover fibers.

Many thanks to Teri Ambritz for her brilliant designs, and to the Kansa City Chapter of the American Needlepoint Guild for their amazing Hearts for Hospice program.

And of course, Happy Birthday to Needlepoint Nation!

Written by Jane/Chilly Hollow
Blogging at http://chillyhollownp.blogspot.com
and at http://chstitchguides.blogspot.com
© Copyright January 30, 2020 Jane M. Wood. All rights reserved.