Last Saturday, Nancy, Peggy and I set out for a needlework field trip to Valparaiso, Indiana. The day was jam packed and we didn't get to do all that we had planned. Perhaps we'll go again!

Our first stop was Needle & Thread quilt shop, a lovely Victorian with many rooms full of fabrics, patterns and ideas. A class was going on and our visit was accompanied by the students' laughter. They're just adding a long-arm quilting machine to the shop.

Next we stopped in at Sheep's Clothing, just around the block from Needle & Thread. In spite of all of our declarations of not buying anything, hmmm, we did.

At Sheep's Clothing my purchase was yarn to make Dalek* egg cosies. It's Cascade superwash--wool that can be easily washed--great for a kitchen item.

We dined at Don Quijote, a Spanish restaurant. It's just up the street from Sheep's Clothing. We had zucchini soup (yummy) and shared a tapas plate, tried an intriguing wine drink, and had a great chat.Our third stop was our longest. Imagine Beads was having back-to-back classes all day to make the Shambala bracelet. The bracelet was really fun to make and didn't take too long. Here are Peggy and Nancy working hard on their bracelets. Reminded me very much of the 70s and my macrame. We all left with finished bracelets.

Here's mine.

I got this pattern on a previous field trip and got the beads for it Saturday.

*Dalek's are the perennial bad guys on Dr. Who.

Friday's Trip

Pop over to World Embroideries to see photos from their Friday excursion and read about all the fun they had.

Field Trip to Geneva

I can really only report on one half of Saturday's trip, but from what I've heard, everyone who went had a great time. Jane drove up on Friday with a couple of members and plans to post pictures when she gets a chance. Marge and I both drove up on Saturday. We walked into Designer's Desk within a minute of each other!Anne and Nancy are waiting to check out. There are things to explore everywhere at Designer's Desk. The check-out area is particularly dangerous.

I caught Karen and Helen by surprise here.My sister and niece joined us (sorry for the eyes-closed pic--the other was worse). My sister lives nearby, the niece was in town for the weekend--I was surprised and happy to see her.

After we were shopped out, both groups walked across the street to have lunch at Nosh. They have interesting sandwiches, salads and breakfast all day.I tried to make sure I got everyone in at least one photo.

Marge, Anne, Pat, Nancy, Karen and Helen

This is my main purchase. I also got some Evertite Stitchery Frames, threads for my Sudoku project, and some metallics for an applique project I'm working on. Those were on my list, but I just couldn't stick to the list.

After lunch, Helen and Karen (riding with me) walked over to an interesting chocolate shop, All Chocolate Kitchen (expensive but where else can you see a life-size hockey player made of chocolate?) while I bequeathed my niece with bags (and bags and bags) of needlework books. Then we all headed up Third Street, the main street of shops in Geneva, to the Spice House to sample some (really good) candied ginger and get a vanilla bean. Our next stop was one town north in St. Charles. I needed to do some grocery shopping at Blue Goose, a local grocery that sells a good brand of organic chicken that we like. One last stop was American Science and Surplus. I got a pair of long hemostats to use for getting stuffing into corners of things (Karen has an even longer pair she uses and she says they work great.) American S&S has loads of very odd stuff. If you ever need a test tube, magnet, poster of the solar system, or foot long stuffed fabric spider, this is the place. You never know what you'll see there.

Chicago Cultural Center

We had a great time on our third HEG field trip--Chicago and the Cultural Center.We had lunch at the Park Grill in Millennium Park. A gentleman from a neighboring table snapped a photo for us. Huette, our tour guide, was very knowledgeable and experienced. In spite of our (well, my) tendency to wander, she kept all of us organized and together. (She also knew all of the warm ways to get from place to place and where all the bathrooms were.)

This is the view from the restaurant of the skaters enjoying the chilly weather.

We strolled around the park a bit and walked over to the "Bean."

Here's the Cloud Gate from the inside. If you can spot me in my purple coat, you have better eyes than I do!

Next we shivered our way to the Palmer House. We may not have seen much actual needlework on this excursion, but we really enjoyed the holiday decorations and found a lot of visual inspiration in the decor of the buildings. Check out that ceiling!

This was the carpet at the Palmer House. I took several pictures--perhaps a crewel paisley design will be forthcoming. We left and after a brief stop to check out the walls and ceiling at the former Peacock Jewelery store, we wandered up State Street. The Sullivan designed former Carson's building is being revamped by Target. It looks like they're preserving Sullivan's lovely metal filigree designs. We wandered through Macy's, looked at their Tiffany Dome, and then headed to the Cultural Center.

This is the view up from the entry way of the Cultural Center.This is the ceiling in the entry way. This building was originally the Chicago Public Library so the designs feature author's names, quotes in many languages, and printer's marks. This type of mosaic work is Medieval in origin; it's called Cosmati. The designs are more flowing and not rigidly geometric. I saw quilt patterns everywhere.

This is the famous Tiffany dome. And no wonder. It is amazing! The symbols in the center are the signs of the zodiac.

This is the room the dome is over. The walls are all Cosmati work with a filigree design. The logo here is the Chicago Public Library.

We wandered a bit more, looked through an exhibit of art using letter forms, and then caught the train home.

Our next field trip will be to Designer's Desk in Geneva, IL on January 20 or 21.

Militarily related

I came across a couple of things today I would like to share with you. The first is an article from the Knitty Blog about a Homewood woman who has coordinated a huge effort of knitting for the military. The second is from a Facebook post with an address for sending holiday cards to recovering service people.

Ms. McDermed and some of the more than 400 items her group contributed this past year.

A nice profile of Mary McDermed, a knitter from Homewood, Illinois, who is leading an army of volunteers to make scarves, helmet liners, neckwarmers and other warm items to ship to US Military personnel in Afghanistan. She leads a group of 45 crafters, most of whom are senior citizens. She was inspired to start the effort after reading an article in a 2009 Homewood Veterans Committee newsletter sent to her husband, Ed, a World War II veteran.

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Turns out the military mailing address for holiday cards was not legit. Sorry.

Sudoku stitching

Sorry to take so long to get this posted. This is my frame for my sudoku project. I stitched it before the official directions came out, so I used satin stitch with my inspiration colors. Since I started this way, I think I am going to continue working my own way as well.

Here you can see a close up of the 2 different sizes dividing the boxes, with the border over 3 stitches around the outside.

I used a variegated DMC pearl # 5.

Part I of the Mystery Project

Here are the samples for the borders for the Sudoku Mystery project.This is mine. It doesn't look bad here but I think the border is much too thick-bright and will overpower the stitching to go inside. I used one strand of Watercolors for this. The article author used one strand of floss. Big difference.

Someone (Peggy P.?) suggested perhaps using black inside the squares and I thought perhaps that might work well. I'm going to check my stash for black or very dark blue fibers in various textures to make up the 9 combinations I'll need.

Jane C. used a thicker thread but it's not a vibrant and she used satin stitch for the borders so they're less prominent. (Hopefully she'll edit this and add a photo of hers.)

I got another surprise when I began stitching with the Watercolors--I used it to select my other colors and looking at the skein while in the store I didn't see any blue in the fiber at all. I bought purples, russets, and a bit of pale green. When I began stitching all I saw was blue. I cut the thread to deemphasize that and I pulled some blue pearl cotton from my stash to add to my fibers. So, learn from my mistake: Don't forget to untwist the skein you're using to select your other colors and walk it to a window to really see the colors in it.

To show how floss would look (and because I really couldn't envision one strand of floss on 18 count canvas, I made up two single squares. I think they'll make nice ornaments. And one strand of floss looks quite nice with the braid stitches used in the projects.

The inner braids are one thread wide, the inner dividers two threads wide and the outer border three threads wide, all pretty much with the same overlapping cross stitch braid pattern.

On the left I used one strand of Needle Necessities overdyed thread. On the right I used an unknown silk (I'd lost the tag). It has seven strands. I used one strand for the narrower borders but tried two strands for the widest border and liked the coverage I got.

The pattern called for Kreinik #12 braid but I don't have much so I used a random piece of silver (it wasn't much fun to work with, whatever it is) on the pastel piece and Kreinik #8 gold braid on the red/green one. #8 is a bit skimpy. So, when you're picking your colors, be sure to get #12 braid for your metallic.