A Wonderful New Year of Stitching

Here we are on the last day of the first month of the new year. January has flown by and we in Rochester barely got any snow. Lucky us. Today I thought I would share a program provided by the National American Needlepoint Guild titled "The Stitch of the Month." This a way of introducing our members and others to new stitches. This year it will be done by introducing new stitches that are part of a piece called Feuilles d' ananas  ( Pineapple Leaves) which was designed by Susan Hoekstra.
In addition to learning new stitches this piece is designed to help learn about color values. So if you ever said (like I have)  I wish I knew more about color theory this is an excellent way to get started.
While you are provided with the thread list for the model colorway you are free to create your own. What is your favorite color?  Design this piece around that.

The design is divided up into sections and each month instructions are given to complete one or more sections. 

An introduction  to the piece and the fiber selection for the model colorway can be found at the national ANG website by going to the following link: 

http://www.needlepoint.org/StitchOfTheMonth/2016/SOTM201601_Introduction.pdf

Even though it is the end of the month it will be easy to catch up. The only section to be done in January is the center block (1). 

For directions for the January block go to the following link: 

http://www.needlepoint.org/StitchOfTheMonth/2016/SOTM201601.pdf

If you are looking to try something new and exiting for the new year and also extend your  knowledge of needlepoint stitches  you may want to try this piece. 

If I didn't already have so many projects started I would  head to my stash to see if I have a piece of canvas the right size and a color of thread to base this piece on. I hope some of you try this piece. If you do bring it to our meeting each month to show off the previous month's progress. It will be fun to compare.