Congratulations, Donna Nelson!

Congratulations, Donna, on winning the June Zimmerman Silk and metal Thread Award for Malachite and Pearls.
I don't have a photo of Donna's, but I snapped a photo a short while ago of mine and here it is.

A nice photo of Donna and her Malachite and Pearls is featured in the June 07 issue of Needle Arts, on page 53.
Thank you, Yvonne, for writing me about this.

Gay Ann

My Redwork Mystery: Surprise Window #3 is in the Mail

My husband just left to drive to the post office with all my Surprise Windows #3.
If he arrives there safely and is in his usually reliable mode, the Surprise Windows will be in the mail in just about 7 minutes.
Enjoy!

Gay Ann

Quick Questionnaire

I had an interesting experience today. I was down in Needle Nook and in came an acquaintance of a friend of mine. The acquaintance had lost her house to a fire and was starting to replace her belongings, I gather. She had been in the antiques shop across the street as she was looking for new silver. Silver new to her, I should say.

She had found a pattern she liked and had a xerox of it. She said it was very close to the silverware she had that had been destroyed in the fire.

On the way home I was thinking about it. If you lost your silver flatware, or for that matter, anything you have had for a long time, and you had to replace it, would you buy:

(1) Something just like the flatware you lost.

(2) Something very similar.

(3) Vaguely similar.

(4) Totally different.

I don't know why I decided to ask this, but must confess, I am interested in your answers and am hoping you will post on my blog or write to me personally.

Gay Ann

Redwork Mystery: Surprise #3 The Music Room

Here is Surprise Window #3, my Music Room. I don't play the harp but Leslie Durst does, so in her honor, I put a harp in the music room. Please notice that there is a little Victorian stool, complete with a fringed top, as well as a chest for music and lots of sheet music on the top of the chest. I wanted to include a violin and bow, and of course there are wall-sconce candles for the right atmosphere.

Enjoy!

I will mail the patterns sometime around June 9 or 10, a bit later than last month. I am not sure exactly which day but will post on my blog when the patterns are all in the mail. For those of you concerned, be sure to check my blog.

Gay Ann

My Redwork Mystery: Surprise Window #2 is in the Mail

Surprise Window #2 is in the mail!
Kate Gaunt, the Shining Needle Society leader, was visiting with her charming husband (they were on their way to a convention) and I have been busy driving and eating!

My husband volunteered to mail all my packages and envelopes and I thought he was going to take them this morning. He didn't - he was on his way to the bank yesterday and as our bank was right across from the post office, he sent them a day early. I am guessing many of you will have them on Monday or Tuesday.

Enjoy!

I hope many of you will still consider joining Shining Needle Society. There is quite a lively conversation going on about my Redwork Mystery. If you wish information, it is posted on earlier messages here on My Blog, or you can write to Kate Gaunt (KateGaunt@aol.com) and she will send you a personal invitation.

Gay Ann

Redwork Mystery: Surprise #2 The Bedroom

Hooray, Hooray, it's the First of May
Here is the Bedroom on view today.
Enjoy!

For the little window in place on the sampler, see my website: www.GayAnnRogers.com/group projects.
Click on the photo for an enlargement.

And a new correction. I think I will just print the email from Jane (thank you, Jane):
"I'm finishing my little living room tonight. I notice that the lowest floor board in the photo, the "dotted" one, and the chart don't match. The chart shows the board only part way across the left side of the picture. Should it extend all the way across?"

My answer:
Here's the solution: the right side is correct. Start on the right, follow the chart to the center, then mirror image it. Should come out just like the photo. Usually I don't recommend stitching from the photo (because I often change things when I write the instructions) but this time it works.

Gay Ann

Redwork Mystery: Surprise Window #2

Time is passing so quickly and here we are, almost through April. Next month I will be at a seminar when I am supposed to mail Surprise Window #2, so I will send it out early, likely on May 5.

Gay Ann

Shining Needle Society Reaches 100

I am happy to report that Shining Needle Society chat room for my Redwork Mystery has reached 100 members! I have enjoyed following the comments and seeing the photos of the different color combinations people have chosen. One member counted a part of the cottage wrong, made a grreat correction and posted a photo of the correction. Another member commented that the correction was so good one would never have guessed it wasn't the original design. Congrats to the imaginative stitcher!

I am hoping still others will join Shining Needle Society.

To join, write to KateGaunt@aol.com and Kate will send you an invitation.
For those of you who are technologically brave, you can go directly to the SNS Home Page and sign up:

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

Gay Ann

My Redwork Mystery: Cross Stitch and Double-Running Stitch

I have heard several whines about Cross Stitch and Double-Running Stitch, but you will find in me no sponsor of a pity party. The single most important aspect of this project is the small scale, and large and bulky stitches were just not welcome in my tiny spaces.

As a reward for stitching diligently all the Double-Running and Cross Stitch, here is a small hint: When you have seen Part 1, you have seen the boldest parts of the sampler. Everything else is all about small scale!

So you can all look forward to more Cross Stitch and particularly more Double Running Stitch. Enjoy!

Gay Ann

My Redwork Mystery: Shining Needle Chat Room is up and rolling!

I am happy to report that Kate Gaunt's and Marie-Therese Baker's Shining Needle Chat Room for my Redwork Mystery is up and rolling!

We now have 60+ members who have joined and we have had some lively observations, questions and conversations already!
I do wish to encourage all of you who are doing my Redwork Mystery to join. Just write to KateGaunt@aol.com and Kate will send you an invitation to join.

For those of you who are technologically brave, you can go directly to the SNS Home Page and sign up:

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

Gay Ann

Redwork Mystery: Surprise Window #1 in the Mail

Just about half an hour ago I handed packets and envelopes of Surprise Window #1 to our mailman.
Yippee! Gone!

You should have your copy sometime in the next week, I would guess. One down, seven to go.
Enjoy!

Gay Ann

Cameos

Here is a little eye candy to brighten your day: some favorite Pretty Girls.

I love cameos. I always liked them, but fell in love when I stitched my Treasured Remembrance Sampler.
After Treasured Remembrance Sampler, I got carried away and stitched another five or so projects with cameos.

Enjoy!

Gay Ann

Guild Teacher Certification

Lately on the ANG List several people have discussed certification and its value. I could not resist writing about it, so I posted the following note on the ANG List and decided to post it here too.

Gay Ann

Comments on Certification

Although I am certified by EGA, I do not know whether this has helped me with teaching jobs, either when I started or now that I have been teaching for a long time.

I can think of half a dozen needlework teachers whose wonderful classes and beautiful projects made them stand out as the icons of the age. As I look back on it, some were certified, some weren't. I don't think it mattered. The content and presentation were what mattered.

More important, as I look back, I think of Newton's concept of standing on the shoulders of giants. More important to consider the legacy some of these legendary teachers left us than to fuss about certification.

Gay Ann Rogers

Redwork Mystery: Surprise #1, the Living Room

Here it is, Surprise Window #1. It is the living room for the house. Please note that I used the little pictures on the left and the right for my initials.

If you wish to see how Surprise Window #1 fits on the sampler, go to my website, www.GayAnnRogers.com and click on group projects, then click on the photo. The photo will enlarge and you will see the living room in place on the sampler.

So Margaret, you came the closest to guessing. Shall we sit in the two chairs and stitch together for a while? It is chilly here this morning, so I am glad the fire is roaring.

Gay Ann

My Redwork Mystery and Shining Needle Society

In my March 12 blog entry, Redwork Mystery: New Surprises and Puzzles, I wrote about a New Surprise connected with my mystery. The time has come to reveal the Surprise.

Kate Gaunt and Marie-Therese Baker have formed a new group called "Shining Needle Society" and their first venture is a chat room for my Redwork Mystery.

Please come join the chat group and meet others who are working on it. Write frequently about your progress -- for starters, tell us what colors and ground you have chosen and ask any questions you might have. The more the merrier and I promise to write as often as you do!

If you are interested, please write to Kate: KateGaunt@aol.com for the details. Here's even better news for those of you who have struggled with online forms: if you have trouble joining, Kate said she would be delighted to help you. I am already signed up and Kate helped me. Thank you, Kate!

Whatever Kate and Marie-Therese do is just super. For years, and I do mean years, we guild teachers were greatly indebted to them for their diligent work on ANG's Seminar Faculty Committee (SFC). They were great hand-holders, problem-solvers par excellence and just all around wonderful liasons between teachers and students. I am so delighted they decided to start "Shining Needle Society."

Gay Ann

This afternoon Kate sent to me the following information about joining Shining Needle Society. If you have any questions, don't hesitate to ask her or me.

For an easy way to access the discussion group and sign up on Yahoo Groups, go to:

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

If you are already a member of Yahoo Groups, you can try signing up by sending an e-mail to:

SNS_Presents_GAR_Redwork_Mystery-subscribe@yahoogroups.com

Just be sure to send your e-mail from the address that is registered with Yahoo Groups.

Corrections for My Redwork Mystery

In previous posts I have compiled a list of corrections, but I thought I should consolidate them into one posting. So far these are the errors people have reported. If people find others, I will add their comments to this posting, so please consult it throughout the project.

So far I have 4 errors to report.
(1) In the early copies of Part 1 I listed the red floss as Anchor #1009; it should be Anchor #1005 and I corrected it in most of the copies. If your copy is an early one, please correct the number.
(2) And Zeena Maclean discovered a typo: the word "stitch" on page 10.
(3) And the correct number of skeins of floss is 6 (not 8).

(4) Cora Howe in Sacramento wrote the following: "I believe I found a small graphing error between Oversize Graph A and C. On the left side bricks on Graph A the bricks are one thread lower than on Graph C."
My answer: Follow Graph A which has the whole cottage on it.
If someone has followed Graph C, don't worry -- it will work out fine.
Let's write the worst case scenario: Say you followed Graph C and the whole cottage ended up one thread higher.
The worst consequence: the cottage may be one thread taller and the chimneys will be one thread closer to the top border.
Not a problem.

Since I first posted the above errors, cherron has added:
"This is just a perspective question. On page 6 you Step 2 A (4) Left Side of Cottage; you show the stitches slanting from tp left to bottom right and vise-versa for the right side .. i.e. top right slanting to bottom left. The picture shows the stitching for the left side to be as graphed for the right side of the cottage; (that is unless you are stating the left side of the cottage as if you were standing in the front door facing out.) I am following oversize graph A for slant of stitches. I also noticed that you graphed the bushes as if you were in the yard looking toward the front door - hence bush on left pg 8 and bush on right page 9.

These blips do not cause any harm, but just thought you might like to be aware of them. Enjoying working on the piece and ready to start the surprise window. Should be bunches of fun"

And on April 10, Ann added:
Hi everyone
I came across a very inconsequential typo in the instructions, which I
am sure will not confuse anyone--but here it is.
Page 24, (5) Picture over the fireplace:
DOOR--should read second elongated cross stitch #37 [not #36]

Design Inspiration: Note #1

For years my students have asked me where the inspiration for my needlework projects comes from. Sprinkled through the next year, I will write a series of short notes about the sources of my inspiration and a bit on how I use these sources.

One important source comes from Greeting Cards. I collect them and have baggies full of them. Shoe boxes also. For the most part I keep them divided into categories: houses, gardens, house furnishings, hearts, Christmas, Valentine's Day and so forth.

For example, a very useful card I found several years ago pictured a chest of drawers. Not particularly a chest of drawers I would replicate, but I liked the way the artist had painted the shading on the drawers and the bunches of tiny flowers between the drawer knobs. I have never stitched a chest of drawers that looks like the one on the card, but it inspired the way I have constructed several of the chests of drawers I have stitched.

Of course I have practical Greeting Cards too, for girlfriends and birthdays and such. Occasionally I find cards I love so much that I have to keep them. I have two all-time favorite cards and I can never decide which is my favorite. I thought I would write about both, even though they don't relate to my designs or needlepoint.

FIRST CARD is a birthday card but it contains certain Universal Truths about marriage:

On the cover are three blind mice who are covering sensitive parts of their anatomies with their paws as the card sings:
Three blind mice, three blind mice, see how they run, see how they run, they all ran away from John Bobbit's wife who cut off their **** with a carving knife...

Open the card and inside: so be nice to your wife, be nice to your wife, from someone on the cutting edge.


SECOND CARD is a Far-Side card and it speaks to the Philosophy of Life:

The four personality types:
1. The glass is half full
2. The glass is half empty
3. The glass is half full, no it is half empty, no it is half full, etc.
4. Hey, where's my cheeseburger.

I would say that most of us who grapple in creative pursuits probably belong to personality type 4.


Meanwhile, today is the 26th of March. Less than a week to go till I post the first Surprise Mystery Window.

Gay Ann

My Perspective on Perspective

I have noticed that academic perspective as it applies to needlework has been of interest lately in the guild magazines and several teachers and stitchers have contributed their ideas about it in the last few years.

I have always wanted to put in my 2 cents worth but never had the occasion. Then the other night I watched a DVD my husband gave to me for Valentine's Day: The Post Impressionsits - Cezanne.

The two art historians on the DVD did such a great job discussing Cezanne's innovative approach to perspective. It was a delightful hour and a significant reminder that acaedmic perspective is not the only approach to capturing three dimensional subjects on a two-dimensional surface.

If you would like to see a different perspective on perspective, watch The Post Impressionists - Cezanne, available for $17.95 on Amazon.com. I just looked up price and availability this morning and noticed there are also used copies available from $11.26.

I have two post scripts. The first, Cezanne was a favorite of my mother who, for as long as I could remember, kept a coffee-table book of his paintings. As a child I remember her leafing through it quite often.

Second, as you work your way through my Redwork Mystery, stop and think what I did with perspective on the piece. I guess this comment in itself is a hint about my mystery, isn't it. Keep guessing! I have enjoyed reading your guesses about my Surprise Windows.

Gay Ann

Redwork Mystery Guessing Game

I have heard from many of you that you have already started stitching Redwork Mystery.
It is March 16 today and on April 1st, Laura will post the first of the Surprise Windows on my website
(www.GayAnnRogers.com/group projects).

I decided it would be fun for the next two weeks to have a guessing game:
anybody want to guess what in in Surprise Window #1?

Gay Ann

PLEASE Vote in the ANG Election!

This is a reminder that today is the final day to mail in your ballot for the ANG election.
PLEASE VOTE!

I can't resist:
Does anybody know the reason ANG chose TODAY to end its election?

Anybody think of a traitor and a death long ago associated with the date today?

Gay Ann