MINIATURE NEEDLEWORK

CORRECTION:


When I mentioned the size perle cotton that I used on the Quaker Lady, I was wrong. I used one strand of #8.


The horde has left. Jess —6th grade, Mia—3rd grade, and the two dogs went home this morning. We had a wonderful weekend, but it was a lot of work for grandma, and the rain didn't help with taking the dogs out. Yesterday was my mom's 89th birthday, and the whole family, except for my daughter Katie and her husband Mike who were out of town at a trade show, celebrated with her on Sunday at her retirement place. Afterward the girls swam in the pool. They sewed a bit down the basement over the weekend and actually played with the two doll houses quite a lot. I loaded all the stuff the girls brought over plus tubs of dog food and leashes in the car this morning and drove them across town to their home. Mia had even brought over a large stuffed shark and a large stuffed orangutan! Barely any room for her in the bed. Then I rushed home because I had to vacuum up all the dog hair from the floors because I had my Tuesday stitch/knit group over here at 10, and we did have a lovely morning. Tonight I plan to catch up on all the TV shows we have recorded before we run out of room on the DVR—and get a lot of stitching done on Quaker Lady.

Wanted to talk a bit about miniature needlework today. Many years ago at one of the wholesale needlework shows I met Sharon Garmize who was making and designing miniature oriental rugs and samplers. Loved her designs on 40 count silk gauze. After having trouble getting them from her to sell to our customers, I decided to try to design one myself. That was the beginning. It was the Basket and Bird sampler above stitched in 1991. The model was stitched on Congress Cloth from Zwiegart which is a 22 count fine needlepoint canvas. I used continental and basket weave stitches.

The one stitched in 1995 was stitched on 40 count silk gauze, backed with lightweight suede cloth (I can't remember the name of it.) and made into a pin. 

I designed the farm sampler in 1992. This one was stitched on linen but it is also suitable for gauze. Since 1991 I have designed over 100 miniature designs. These designs are not to scale 1"/12" for doll houses. They are too large. My friend Annelle Ferguson of Mini Stitches designs samplers and other miniature needlework for doll houses. Her website is:  http://www.ministitches.com/. She also does custom work for doll houses.

It's time for my walk and I really need to take it today as I did not walk as much as I usually do over the weekend due to the kids and the rain. Also ate way too many cookies and chips. Tomorrow my Sampler Group of 25 years is meeting here. Some in the group are studying the First Ladies of the US and will meet early to discuss Eleanor Roosevelt. As I am not in this group, I leave them and run to my yoga class and come back to join them for lunch and talk til 2 or 3. If I don't write tomorrow, I'll pick up again on Thursday. --Nancy