Snow Cone Santa -- January 23, 2010

“Snow Cone Santa” by Janet Zickler Casey!

I had sent him off to Pocket Full of Stitches to be finished into an ornament last fall. He came back from the finisher in plenty of time to be placed on the Christmas tree. He looked so good!

"Snow Cone Santa"
Janet Zickler Casey Designs
Finishing by Pocket Full of Stitches

Hope you enjoyed visiting with my newest Santa ornament! :-)

Cynthia
Windy Meadow

“Snow Cone Santa” -- March 16, 2009

Please meet my finished “Snow Cone Santa” by Janet Zickler Casey! He is now my second stitching finish for the year. Wahoo!!!


When we last visited with “Snowy” he was definitely a work in progress. I had started stitching his hat brim when I realized that I really needed to finish the outline stitching before I could stitch the areas with the very fuzzy and very sparkly threads. After several weeks of working on him every once in a while I was finally able to stitch the finishing touches this past Saturday. I’m excited that he’s done as he just sparkles!

He’ll go off to the finisher as soon as I can finish his journal entry. I’ll share him with everyone when he comes back. :-)

Thanks for visiting my blog!

Cynthia
Windy Meadow

“Snow Cone Santa” -- January 20, 2009

I’ve been focusing the last several weeks on organizing my needlework stash and taking pictures. I’ve also been working on journaling already completed projects. These two activities which have kept me quite busy, especially since returning to work and the children back to school!

I have been doing some stitching which I’ll be sharing with you this week.

The first is I’ve made quite a lot of progress on my Snow Cone Santa. When we last left “Snowy” (December 15, 2008 entry), I had completed his face and was beginning to work on his hat which worked up quickly.

I then moved on to his hat brim and that’s when I decided that I had to change what I was doing. His hat brim, mustache, and pompom are done in very fuzzy fibers. Since I usually like to add two rows of stitching around the outside for finishing, I decided to stop working on the hat brim and start stitching the outside stitching. In this picture you can see that I’ve started adding two to three rows of Splendor around his beard. This will take a while so you won’t see “Snowy” again until some time in February or if things get really hectic… March! :-)

Glad that you stopped by to visit!

Cynthia
Windy Meadow

“Snow Cone Santa” -- December 15, 2008

Janet Zickler Casey’s “Snow Cone Santa” is being offered through the Shining Needle Society. As you know, I love Janet’s designs and had to add this one to my collection. :-)

Since this is offered as a class through the Shining Needle Society, I was determined to keep up with the class lessons for this Santa!

Well, I started off great as you can see by the picture below. I was able to quickly stitch Santa’s face. I took a picture at this point and started working on the next steps which are his beard and his hat.

I took pictures of our Santa (note the picture above) and several other progress pictures of my other projects to share with you, my dear readers. That’s when I ran into my “challenge”.

My dear daughter left last week to volunteer at a school run outdoor school for sixth graders. She was one of the counselors and she would be away for the whole week. This past Sunday she was having troubles getting her camera to work. Of course, like any other doting mother, I told her she could take my camera if she couldn’t get hers to work. Please note, that I said this while busy with other activities and while forgetting all of the recent lovely pictures that I had taken that weekend. So off goes dear daughter to camp… with my camera. I then drove myself nuts for several minutes trying to find the camera to upload pictures before I remembered that she probably had it up at camp. Sigh…

I think dear daughter will be getting a new camera soon that works!

Both dear daughter and camera have safely returned from camp. The camera was fine but did I hear stories of weather as we had over an inch plus of rain in about 36 hours last week.

I will now be able to share my recent (okay, I know, they are over a week old), pictures with everyone.

Glad to see that you all enjoyed “Merry”.

Thanks for visiting my blog!

Cynthia
Windy Meadow

“Boo and Stash Enhancement” -- November 11, 2008

I belong to several ANG Chapters including the San Bernardino Chapter.

I’m a long distance member and they are very supportive of those who can not attend meetings. They offer many different programs, classes and projects through out the year and many of these are open to their long distance members who are referred to as “Ghosts” for the classes. Very appropriate for this post! :-)

They recently offered several classes and projects by Janet Zickler Casey. Since I enjoy stitching her designs, I ordered several;

“Boo!”

“Trick or Treat” A Spooky House”

“Along Came a Spider”
No picture available.

They all arrived at my house in time for Halloween. I wanted to add one to my rotation so I finally decided on “Boo!”. I quickly put "Boo!" on stretcher bars and began stitching. I decided that I would stitch Boo’s eyes and mouth during this rotation. The eyes worked up quickly though it took me several try’s to get the outline of the month just so. Okay, I’m picky! :-)

My teenagers did not trick or treat this year so they were taking turn’s answering the door. This has been my job for many years as I enjoy seeing all of the children’s costumes while DH would take our children around the neighborhood!

We decorate the outside of the house and play fun spooky music out through an open window. The inside of the house by the front door was dark except for my stitching light. I was sitting by the light quietly stitching until we heard someone coming up the walk. I would quickly turn out the light as one of the kids answered the door so the inside of the house would be dark. Since my kids were now the “official” door answerers, I had to peek around the corner to see the children in their costumes. Once we were done, I would return to my stitching corner and turn back on my light.

This was lots of fun and what made it even more fun was that the white portion of the eyes and the center of Boo’s mouth were stitched with Kreinik glow in the dark threads. Yep, they really glow! We thoroughly tested them that night!

Enjoy my start on “Boo!”

I hope you had a fun Halloween or at least had some great candy!!!

Glad you could visit! :-)

Cynthia
Windy Meadow

“Candy Swirl Santa” -- May 7, 2008

The “Shining Needle Society” offered Janet Zickler Casey’s “Candy Swirl Santa” this past fall as a class. I love Janet’s designs so I quickly signed up. Once I finished the “North Star Santa” I added “Candy Swirl Santa” into my rotation.

I quickly stitched up the face but then ran into a challenge for the eyebrows. This is a line drawn canvas and on my particular canvas I only had four rows of pink face above the eyes to place the eyebrows on instead of five. The directions called for the eyebrows to be several rows of stacked stem stitch but this wasn’t working on this small area. I spent some time fiddling with this before I finally decided on over stitching the stem stitch twice to get a nice padded look with out him looking like he had a forehead full of hair! :-)

This past weekend, I stitched down the cotton padding for the first layer of the hat. I have started stitching the red ribbon which is going to go on over the padding. This has been lots of fun so far and I look forward to stitching on my Santa!

You can see Janet’s designs at;
http://www.jzcdesigns.com/

The “Candy Swirl Santa” is at;
http://www.jzcdesigns.com/candy%20swirl%20santa.htm

The “Shining Needle Society” will be offering more of Janet’s Santas this summer. You can read about the “Shining Needle Society” at;
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/SNS_Home_Room/

Cynthia
Windy Meadow

North Star Santa – Finished!!! -- April 7, 2008

I promised that I would share a picture of my stitched “North Star Santa” once he returned from the finisher.

Here he is!

I think he turned out beautifully and will be a wonderful addition to our Holiday decorations!!!

Enjoy!

Cynthia
Windy Meadow

Original Comments:

- Cyn--great job! He did turn out beautiful, and you need to send him to me so I can take a closer look! LOL
NC Pat -- Needleart Nut

- He's wonderful! I especially like the red braid all around him. That makes the white hair and beard really stand out. Lovely job, Cynthia.No, Pat, she needs to send him to Chilly Hollow first. I'm old with poor vision and have to see this in person....Jane, trying hard to get her grubby mitts on this delight
Jane of Chilly Hollow

- Thanks guys and keep your grubby paws to yourselves as he's staying here!!! :-)

By the way, "North Star Santa" will be offered by Janet Zickler Casey through the Shining Needle Society this summer.

So Pat you will be able to stitch him and add this fun canvas to your collection of "Santa Pops"!

Jane instead of wanting mine, how about you stitch your own "North Star Santa"? He's line drawn, and yes you do need to count but not that much. Come on over to the Counted Canvas side... To quote my daughter, we have cookies!!!

Or in my case dark chocolate! :-)

Cynthia

Windy Meadow

Originally Posted: April 7, 2008

Canvas of the Month – January, 2008 -- February 20, 2008

Update:

I forgot to mention that the flecks that you see on the canvas are metallic gold accents. The whole thing just sparkles!

The kits contain the fibers that are listed on the instructions so every kit contains the same colors. It would be fun to do the designs in different colors and on different colored canvases!

I also wanted to mention that this series is by Rainbow Gallery and you can find Rainbow Gallery at;

http://www.rainbowgallery.com/

The free designs that they offer for needlepoint are here;

http://www.rainbowgallery.com/freechartdownloads.cfm?ID=12

They also offer free designs for Cross Stitch, Plastic Canvas, Blackwork and Hardanger.

Have Fun!!!

Cynthia
Windy Meadow


I don’t have a new picture yet of the “Candy Swirl Santa” as I’m still working on his face and he’s not ready to come out and greet everyone until he has his full mustache! He’s still a little lopsided.

While I’m working on him, I thought I would share with you a quick project that I did this month. Several of the fiber companies share free patterns using their fibers on their websites. In addition, many have a project of the month design series that they offer exclusively to needlework shops. These projects are usually small and work up quickly so this is a great way to try out new fibers or techniques. If you have problems counting, and you know who I’m talking to, this is a great way to learn to count on a small project before moving up to larger projects.

This year, my local LNS, the Stitching Post in Catonsville, Maryland, is offering a monthly Canvas Ornament Club. The designs are from the Rainbow Gallery. For a small fee you can join the club. Then each month during the series, you stop by and pick up your canvas with all of the threads that you will need for this particular design. The cost of the kits may vary but so far they are less than $10.00.

My daughter and I both signed up as I thought this would be a good way for her to expand her horizons in counted canvas work.

The first canvas for January, 2008 was designed by Joan Lohr and is “Medallions”. This was a quick project and fun to stitch. I didn’t time myself but I would estimate that it took me less than two hours to stitch this project. Happy Dance time!

Enjoy and I should have February’s up soon!

Cynthia
Windy Meadow

Original Comments:

- We can wait for Candy Swirl to have his face on, no problem!
And why did everyone in the room turn and look at me when you mentioned counted thread pieces? Your shop is doing something very nice with these little sample kits. Is it fun for you and your daughter to use different colors and threads on the same chart?
Jane of Chilly Hollow

- Nice, and it will be a quick to finish! I wasn't either pointing at Jane!
NC Pat – Needleart Nut

- You were too, Pat. I saw you. Thanks for the update, Cynthia. I thought the speckles were just an artifact of the photo. That happens sometimes. Gold metallic flecks in the canvas should make this spectacular! I like the metallic canvases. They add so nuch to little ornaments!I'm sure the store would have trouble making up kits of various color combos (so much work!) but that would be fun. I just love it when local guild chapters do geometric programs and everyone picks different colors. I'm not good with color and I always learn a ton from that exercise.Anyway, glad you are having fun with this and thanks for the links.
Jane of Chilly Hollow

- Cyn, I named your blog in my Made my day Award listing! Thanks for doing so!
NC Pat – Needleart Nut

- I just found out that Pat “The Needle Art Nut” gave me the “You Make My Day Award”. Thank you so much Pat!

Cynthia

Windy Meadow

Originally Posted: February 20, 2008

North Star Santa – Done!!! -- February 14, 2008

My goal was originally to finish my "North Star Santa" by the end of January, 2008 as he is one of the projects listed on my 2008 Stitching Goals. Unfortunately, I ran out of time due to illness (nothing major) and having to work two Sunday's during January, 2008.

My new goal was to finish "North Star Santa" by Sunday night, February 3, 2008. Well I made it!

I've posted a picture of my completed "North Star Santa" at the top so you can see how great he looks. He’s already been taken off of the stretcher bars and sent off to the finisher.

I'll post a new picture when he comes back from the finishers.

Enjoy!
Cynthia
Windy Meadow

Original Comments:

- Yeah! Happy Dance! Clap,clap,clap! Nice job! I can't wait to see him as the ornament! Aren't these fun to do?
NC Pat – Needleart Nut

- Very cute, Cynthia. Bet it is wonderful when it is finished.
Jane of Chilly Hollow

- I'll definitely post a picture when he comes back from the finisher.Janet's Santa's are a lot of fun to do!I'm working on the "Candy Swirl" Santa now and I hope to have a picture for posting soon. I'm almost done the face and mustache.Thanks guys! :-)

Cynthia

Windy Meadow

Originally Posted: February 14, 2008

North Star Santa - Almost Done -- February 3, 2008

I started the "North Star Santa" in Janet Zickler Casey's class during the 2001 ANG Seminar in Washington, DC. I enjoyed the class and wanted to continue working on my Santa but when I arrived home I was sick with sinus and ear infections. I had planned on picking the Santa back up to finish the stitching when I felt better, but several days later was September 11, 2001. With everything that was happening I put this project away and it became buried in my stash. Every once in a while I would think about my "North Star Santa" as I knew I wanted to finish him to add him to my needlepoint ornaments.

I also wanted to stitch more of Janet's designs, but the only way that you can purchase one of Janet's designs is by taking that canvas class with Janet or at ANG Seminar's Expo where sometimes Janet offered canvases from discontinued classes. You couldn't purchase any of her canvases directly from her or from an LNS. One of my stitching friends had attended several more ANG Seminars since 2001 and had picked up several more of Janet's Santa's at ANG's Expo. Yes, we are both Janet Zickler Casey canvas collectors!

This past fall, Kate Gaunt and Marie-Therese Baker started the Shining Needle Society which you can read about here;

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/SNS_Home_Room/

They announced that their next project would be two of Janet's Santa’s, "Candy Swirl Santa" and "North Wind Santa". Wahoo! Since I didn't have either of these canvases and I was interested in what they would be offering in future classes, I joined the Shining Needle Society. There is a fee for each class but membership to the Shining Needle Society's Home Room Yahoo group is free!

I then learned that Janet had created a site where you could see all of her projects at;

http://www.jzcdesigns.com/

To see Janet’s Santa’s, click on the “Christmas” link or go directly to;

http://www.jzcdesigns.com/christmas.htm

Not only do I have several more of her Santa's but I also have "Tom Turkey"! Of course, now that I can see all of her projects I want all of her Santa's, and of course I need "Miles" and "Prudence" to go with "Tom Turkey" and “Miss Liberty” to go with my “Uncle Sam” and...

I ordered both of the Santa’s that would be offered through the Shining Needle Society classroom. I then decided that I needed to finish the "North Star Santa" as he was the first one in my collection before I could start on the new Santa's. I dug around in my stash, and believe me this took a while as it had been packed up and moved around several times as we finished our basement!

I still had quite a bit to finish on my "North Star Santa". When you are taking a needlepoint class you usually can't finish the project in class. The teacher moves around the canvas teaching the stitches or techniques for different sections/areas of the project and answering questions. Now this is very hard for someone like me who, for want of a better word, tends to be a little bit AR. Okay, a lot! :-) I've found I do better in classes if I concentrate on one area at a time, and write down the notes from the instructor for the other areas and sometimes I may stitch a sample of the stitch for that area. In other words, I had finished stitching "North Star Santa's" face. I had laid down stitches for his hat, mustache and beard so I would remember how to stitch these areas when I arrived home. I've found this especially helpful when I have to put a project down for a while. Okay, okay, in this case several years!

This was a fun project and worked up fairly quickly. I've posted a picture I took a week ago showing the areas that were completed. My goal was to finish him by the end of this weekend, February 3, 2008. I'll post another message in a day or so to let you know if I made it!

Cynthia
Windy Meadow

Original Comments:

- Very cute Santa, Cynthia. Good luck getting him done quickly so you can start on the others.
Jane of Chilly Hollow

- This is a cute one! Can't wait to see how you do!
NC Pat – Needleart Nut

- Hi Jane and Pat,Thanks for the enouraging words. Stay tuned and I'll let you know if I finished the North Star Santa on schedule!

Cynthia

Windy Meadow

Originally Posted: February 3, 2008