Julia Snyder, author of 187 Amazing Stitches, Backgrounds & Such, Categories for Needlepoint Stitches, Darn Fillings and Everything Blackwork is New Again spent the weekend with us at Bedecked and Beadazzled.

What fun we had!  Julia is talented beyond measure.  She has so many creative ideas.

On Saturday we all stitched Raymond Crawford’s ornament tree.

It’s sort of a simple design — a bunch of ornaments stacked together to make a tree shape. But just like most ornaments, no two are alike.  There are so many different techniques used in this piece to add dimension and depth.

Julia patiently demonstrated the techniques so that everyone could see exactly how to do it.

I think my favorite technique is the beaded jessica.  How cool is this?

It’s  a little fussy in that you are stringing on beads at each stitch of the jessica but the effect is totally worth it.  Now where can we use this again?

The drizzle stitch is another great stitch that has lots of uses.  In this case it fills the center of a star.  On another canvas, with a different thread, it makes a great santa beard.

 

Julia’s instructions are clear so everyone will be able to finish their ornament tree at home.

 

On the second day, we had an embellishment class.  What exactly is that?  In our world it’s a fun day stitching whatever you want.  You choose the canvas, come to class ready to be wowed with threads and stitches and Julia does the rest.  She picks threads and stitches for your canvas so that it showcases not only the beautiful design but your stitching abilities.

 

She worked with each student one at a time, reviewing different areas of the canvas.  The ideas really do flow from her.  Everyone’s canvas was different. There were flowers, ladies reclining on sofas, crazy pumpkins, ladies on bikes, roosters and a Merry Christmas.

We asked Julia to sign our autograph board.  It’s fun to look at the board and remember the good times we have had with all of our stitching friends.

As we invite more teachers to the shop and study with them the most important thing we learn is that much of the fun of this is that every teacher is unique.  You all have amazing talents, great ideas and beautiful souls.  We love you all, and look forward to the next adventure!

I think this photo shoes Julia at her best, laughing and enjoying the day.  Thanks for coming to visit.  We’ll see you in November.