Christmas Heirlooms: Midnight Jewels (Needle Adventures)

Midnight Jewels Closeup Courtesy of Needleart Nut

Published in December, 1993 under the Needle Adventures name as one of the Christmas Heirlooms club pieces, Midnight Jewels is worked on Congress cloth using Aver a Soie silk, Lacquered Jewels metallics and beads.

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Cover Page and Supplies Courtesy of Needleart Nut

Materials List:

6x6 inch light gray OOE Congress cloth
Au Ver a Soie silk #134
Lacquered Jewels #480
AK Beads #14/104A - 2 packages (likely size 14 beads)

Close Up and Materials with Partly Stitched Design Courtesy of Fireside Stitchery

Mystic (Loretta Spears Designs)

Mystic Closeup Courtesy of Needleart Nut

Mystic was published under the Loretta Spears Designs name in September of 1996.

Here is the cover page, also courtesy of Needleart Nut.

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Mystic, By Needleart Nut

Materials List:

6x6 #18 mono blue canvas
Needle Necessities overdyed floss #116 "Arctic Nights" (substitute ThreadworX 1025 "Blue Navy")
Kreinik 1/16" metallic ribbon #032 (opalescent white)


Needleart Nut just stitched Mystic (above photo)  and posted progress photos on her blog.  She substituted colors to use what she already had, as you can read below.
http://needleartnut.blogspot.com/2012/08/mystic-by-loretta-spears.html

http://needleartnut.blogspot.com/2012/08/only-four-hours.html

Here's the finished design.  It was a quick stitch and I think it is very pretty!
http://needleartnut.blogspot.com/2012/08/while-i-am-working-on-background-i-am.html

Finished Mystic, Courtesy of Needleart Nut

Heart of My Hearts (Loretta Spears Design)

Cover Page Courtesy of eBay Seller msritter50

This Loretta Spears Design ornament was published in February, 1996 under the Loretta Spears Designs name (pink cover).

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Heart of My Hearts Closeup Courtesy of Needleart Nut

Materials List:

6x6 inch Congress cloth white
Needle Necessities Overdyed floss #155 "Voodoo Flame"
Needle Necessities perle cotton #855 "Voodoo Flame" (probably size 8)
Supertwist Opalescence #300 white

Extreme Close Up Courtesy of eBay Seller msritter50

Summer's End (Needle Adventures)

Summer's End Closeup Courtesy of Needleart Nut

Summer's End was published in September 1994 under the Needle Adventures name.

Cover Page, Courtesy of Knightsbball10

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Supplies, Courtesy of Knightsbball10

Materials List:

6x6 congress cloth in ash rose
Impressions "Mountain Meadow" #088
Impressions #5081

Reflections (Needle Adventures)

Reflections Closeup Courtesy of Needleart Nut

Reflections was published in July 1993 under the Needle Adventures name as part of the Christmas Heirlooms Collection club.

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Cover Page and Threads Courtesy of Needleart Nut

Close Up Courtesy of Fireside

Materials List:
"worked on six inch square of white Congress cloth with black and white floss and Madeira Supertwist and Opalescent, also in black and white"

Opalescent 300?
Supertwist 7xx?
Anchor cotton floss black 403
Anchor cotton floss white

Supplies Courtesy of Fireside

Mini Firecracker (Loretta Spears Designs)

Mini Firecracker Cover Page, Courtesy of Knightsbball10

Mini Firecracker was published in July, 1995 under the Loretta Spears Designs name.

Closeup of Mini Firecracker, Courtesy of Needleartnut

Closeup, Courtesy of Fireside Stitchery

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Supplies, Courtesy of Knightsbball10

Materials List:
6x8 white 18 count needlepoint canvas
Marlitt,  one skein each of #800, #836, #843 and #969

Mini Ornament (Loretta Spears Designs)

Cover Page, Courtesy of Fireside Stitchery

The Mini Ornament is a Loretta Spears Designs ornament published in June of 1995.

Mini Ornament in Closeup, Courtesy of Needleartnut

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Materials, Courtesy of Fireside

Materials List:

5 x 8 inch white Congress cloth
Silk n Colors Seafoam Green
Kreinik size 8 braid #829
Japanese Toho beads

Certificates of Authenticity (Mystery #7)

Complete Kit for Mystery #7

The limited edition Mystery #7 Heirloom  came with a certificate of authenticity.  I'd heard from some folks that they had a slip of paper instead of an official looking certificate that read something like 415 / 500 on a grid as if the number was charted to be stitched on the design somewhere.  I'd never seen one until Lara sent me the above photo of a complete kit, done without a cover page because it was all put together in a red folder.

Closeup of the Certificate of Authenticity and Numbered Slip on a Grid

None of us has come across a mystery #7 with a cover page but they all have the certificates and a few come with the numbered slips as well. If your eBay kit has a slip or came in a folder like the above, it's almost certainly as Loretta packed it for shipping.

Photographs courtesy of Lara Hartley.  Thanks!

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Christmas Heirloom February 1993 (Needle Adventures)

The 1993 Christmas Heirloom was published in February, 1993 under the Needle Adventures name.  It is a white and gold heart with a scallop design at the top and two gold heart-shaped beads for finishing.  It is finished over a styrofoam heart shape.

All three photographs courtesy of Fireside Stitchery.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/4x-Needlepoint-Pattern-Christmas-Heirloom-Ornaments-Xmas-in-July-Snowman-FJ93/232672456324?hash=item362c5bee84:g:k~QAAOSwmRFajGYV

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Materials List:
"worked on white congress and done with silk cream Au Ver A Soie and #8 braid"

6x6 piece of white 24 count Congress cloth
two gold heart beads
styrofoam heart shape
cream silk Au Ver A Soie
iridescent white metallic braid
gold metallic braid

Christmas Heirloom September 1992

Christmas Heirloom 1992

I don't have a cover photograph of the instructions  so I don't know if the September 1992 Christmas Heirloom is a Needle Adventures publication.   There is also a second ornament by the same name published in January 1993.  They look very different, however.  The photo above is courtesy of Needleartnut.


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Materials List:
"worked on lavender 28 count linen with perle, #8 Kreinik"

Harlequin (Needle Adventures)

Closeup of Harlequin, Courtesy of Needleartnut

This Loretta Spears Designs ornament was published in August, 1994 under the Needle Adventures name.  It's a cube shape and is called Harlequin.  There is a black and gray image of a wrapped package next to the materials list in the instructions.

Cover Page Courtesy of Fireside

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Supplies Courtesy of Fireside

Materials List:

8x10 inch Victoria Green #18 mono needlepoint canvas
1 skein Watercolours "Holiday" - #025?
Snow - white

Snow is a metallic thread from Caron. It comes in various colors now but originally the only color available was white.

http://www.caron-net.com/threads.html/stitches/sticsnow.html

Galaxy (Needle Adventures)

Galaxy Cover Page

Galaxy was published under the Needle Adventures name in January 1995.  The instructions have no special silhouette photo near the materials list.  Photographs are courtesy of Needleartnut.


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Materials List:

7x7 inch Victorian Red canvas #18 mesh
Kreinik #8 fine braid #326
Supertwist #15

Supertwist is a thin synthetic metallic machine embroidery thread, manufactured by Madeira.  It is also packaged in small spools for embroiders and called Accentuate.

http://www.needlestack.com/WebStore/Thread/Access_Misc.html

Here's another view of Galaxy.  It appears to be quite pretty.

North Star (Needle Adventures)

North Star Cover Page

North Star was published in December 1994 under the Needle Adventures name.  Photographs courtesy of Needleartnut.  There are no drawings near the materials list for this one.

Closeup of North Star

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Materials List:

6 inch square of black 18 count mono needlepoint canvas
Overdye floss #137 (substitute ThreadworX 1057 "Monterey Bay")
Sparkletwist #300 Opalescent (substitute blending filament or Accentuate)

Kaleidoscope (Loretta Spears Designs)

Kaleidoscope Cover

This egg-shaped ornament was published in April, 1995 under the Loretta Spears Designs name.  The cover page and close up of the photo from the cover are both courtesy of Needleartnut.

Kaleidoscope Up Close

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Materials List:

6 x 6 inch creme Congress cloth
Kreinik Silk Mori silk floss, one skein each of #1046, 5095 and 6086

St. Patrick's Day (Loretta Spears Designs) - March 1995

St. Patrick's Day Cover, Courtesy of Needleartnut

St. Patrick's Day was published in March 1995 using the Loretta Spears Design name.

A Closeup of St. Patrick's Day, Also Courtesy of Needleartnut

It is worked on 18 count green canvas with emerald Waterlilies and Kreinik cord with Japanese beads.

There is also a Loretta Spears Design egg-shaped ornament called St. Patrick's Day, published in March 1992.
https://lorettaspears.blogspot.com/2018/08/st-patricks-day-loretta-spears-designs.html

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Materials List:

7x7 inch Victorian green #18 mono needlepoint canvas
Waterlilies silk floss - "Emerald" #065
Kreinik cord #104C ? "Colonial Gold"
Japanese beads A557 (gold beads?)

Sparkling Plaid (Loretta Spears Designs)

Sparkling Plaid Cover, Courtesy of Needleart Nut

Sparkling Plaid was published in November 1995, under the Loretta Spears Designs name.


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Closeup of Sparkling Plaid, Courtesy of Needleart Nut

Materials List:

This design is on 18 count using #8 Kreinik braid in three colors using a Chotties Plaid.


Chottie Alderson was a very well known  and loved needlepoint teacher and designer in the 1970s-1980s who devised a method of creating plaids that is named after her and still used by many stitchers.

http://ruthsneedlework.blogspot.com/2012/05/chotties-plaid.html

Mayflowers (Loretta Spears Designs)

Mayflowers Cover, Courtesy of Needleartnut

Published in May of 1995 under the Loretta Spears Designs name, this tube-shaped ornament appears to be in greens and lilacs.


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Closeup of Mayflowers, also Courtesy of Needleartnut

Snowflake (Needle Adventures 1994)

Snowflake 1994 Cover Page, Courtesy of Needleartnut

The first of two ornaments with the name Snowflake, this ornament was published anther the Needle Adventures name in November 1994.    The model is white using "white Caron and metallic sparkly thread."  The instructions have a black line drawing of a snowflake near the materials list.

Closeup of Snowflake, Courtesy of LH

The 1996 Snowflake ornament was published by Loretta Spears Designs and the model uses bluish-white threads.  Here is the link to the article on that design.
http://lorettaspears.blogspot.com/2012/01/snowflake.html


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Materials for Nov. 1994 Snowflake

Materials List:
white 18 count mono  needlepoint canvas - 6x6 square
Caron's Snow (metallic thread in the original white) - two skeins

Needleart Nut is blog-stitching Snowflake.  Here are the links.   It is easier to see the design if you follow along watching her progress.  (I'll put the information about Bliss in that article.)
http://needleartnut.blogspot.com/2012/09/third-start.html

http://needleartnut.blogspot.com/2012/09/snowflake-progress.html

http://needleartnut.blogspot.com/2012/09/another-finish.html

Finished Snowflake, Courtesy of Needleart Nut

Needleart Nut has created a two-sided ornament of two different colorways of Snowflake.  Photos are below but here is the link to her blog.  She did the same for Bliss.
http://needleartnut.blogspot.com/2012/12/merry-christmas.html

Both sides of Snowflake (left) and Bliss (right), courtesy of Needleart Nut