Finally I have uploaded the photos from Saturday December 3 which was our day 2 this month with Julia Key Snyder! I found I really did not take very many photos but do not let that lead you to believe we did not have fun or learn a lot!!! We had a wide variety of canvases – Beth’s Patty Paints vase of flowers, Robin’s Color of Praise bracelet, Amber’s Bird’s of a Feather patriotic piece, Caroline’s Nativity set, Sherry’s Melissa Shirley bracelet, Judy’s cross from Sundance, Melissa’s saying “WHO CARETH”, Carol’s tobacco leaf pattern, Kim’s piece by yours truly, Ellen’s Patty Paints tulips and butterfly, Pam’s Patty Paints animal parade!!
New Feature & Sundance Beads
The last post was about our new feature “Bug Photo Page”. We mentioned that events photos, finishing photo, etc. would be posted here for all to see but we must mention that the new feature also consist of an additional page – a MOVIE page. This movie page will feature a Bug Star Stitcher. We plan to feature a different Bug stitcher every two months. This month we are proud to announce that ANNE BLOOM is our featured Bug Star Stitcher!!! Check out her video/movie by clicking on the right side of this page “Bug Photo Page” and Anne can be found under Featured Stitcher! Thanks Anne!!
We are also pleased to announce the addition of Sundance Beads. All colors in #14 arrived today! Next to arrive are the #11 and special color packs. This is also a topic Chilly Hollow posted recently…a post on Sundance Beads…click below to see that post. Also check out Sundance website to see all the beads and their colors up close! http://www.sundancedesignsonline.com/catalog.php?Line_ID=7&Subject_ID=All&Designer_ID=All&LimitRows=3
Chilly Hollow Post below:

Lime green Sundance beads!!
Reading the grain of the canvas
For evenweave, or plain, canvas there is a method of achieving even better results with baskeweave tent stitch, using the weave of the canvas threads. Look closely at a piece of evenweave canvas: the threads weave over and under each other. At one intersection, the vertical thread is on top and at the next the horizontal thread is on top. On any one diagonal line of intersections, they will all vertical or horizonal, alternating on each diagonal. Always work the row down over vertical threads and work the row up over horizonal intersections.
There are many advantages to reading the grain…
-when you pick up a partly worked piece, you can tell immediately whether the next row should be up or down
-you can work areas that do not touch first (ex: objects in different places on the canvas), then when you work the background, you will not have the problem of diagonal ridges formed by two rows side by side being worked in the same direction
-you can avoid the problem of basketweave tent stitches worked on very fine canvas disappearing between the threads of the canvas when they are worked in the wrong direction, that is, not using the grain
And best of all you will get a really smooth, durable result!
Happy Stitching!
PS Check out Chilly Hollow’s blog (link of interests) post today…it is all about Sundance Beads! Beads are coming to The Bug. They should be in any day now!





















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