Sunset (Needle Adventures)

Sunset Cover Page, Courtesy of Knightsbball10

Sunset is a small square ornament on lavender canvas using Waterlilies (sunset colors) and Kreinik metallics.   It was published in May 1994 under the Needle Adventures name.

Closeup of Cover Photo, Courtesy of Knightsbball10

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The photograph below is courtesy of Jo who stitched it and Lara Hartley, and was originally published on Lara's blog.  The materials list has a silhouette of a setting sun next to it.
http://diet-pepsi-and-xanax.blogspot.com/2012/03/speaking-of-stickers-labels.html

This photograph is also used in the article about labels and stickers on The Loretta Spears Blog.  Here's the direct link.
http://lorettaspears.blogspot.com/2012/02/mystery-chart-stickers.html

Sunset

Materials List:
6x6 piece of Lavendula canvas (probably 18 count)
Waterlilies silk floss "Sunset" (#014?)
Balger 1/16" ribbon #017HL
Sparkles and Dangles brand seed beads Opal Gold #SB 080

Antique Thread Winder Sampler (Needle Adventures)

Antique Thread Winder Sampler

Published under the Needle Adventures name in 1992, Antique Thread Winder Sampler is a medium sized band sampler.   The photograph above is courtesy of Lara Hartley.
http://diet-pepsi-and-xanax.blogspot.com/2012/02/antique-heart-loretta-spears.html

The Needleart Nut is stitching this publicly on her blog as well.
https://lorettaspears.blogspot.com/2018/03/the-antique-thread-winder-sampler-being.html

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Thread Winder with Threads and Chart, Courtesy of *Ndlpt*

Materials list:
10 x 12 inch white (it looks tan or pale pink in the photos) Congress cloth
Caron's Waterlilies silk floss in Flamingo #095
Au Ver a Soie's Soie d'Alger silk floss Violet Antique #2911
Au Ver a Soie's Soie Perlee silk perle (may substitute DMC #8 ecru) - 2 spools

Mother of Pearl Thread Winder

A thread winder is needed to complete the design.  The photo above appears to be the type that Loretta sold with her kit for this design.

Apparently some charts were sold by Loretta with a mother of pearl thread winder.  You can just see one in the plastic envelope in the photo above, thanks to *ndlpt* who allowed me to reuse her eBay sale photograph of the threads, chart and thread winder.  This Fireside Stitchery sale includes the thread winder that Loretta sold with the kit.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/236754407428?itmmeta=01KQMXNY1F6Q404Y5TSS6P2YKJ&hash=item371fa99004:g:JtwAAeSwcVtp3Q48&itmprp=enc%3AAQALAAAAwGfYFPkwiKCW4ZNSs2u11xAB04lFsBKxex8Btj1w018xMnDqWwLmESy%2B8ubQrxrUNYKB6%2BaLgUzzzuOvRzli96kV0ZXH2BBu7NM8QkWgLc7qBsbFo%2B9aY7P%2BcPq1CIvLlTcZ5tC8lVP95mrLsPD6g0CEzuyg8D9YfJ3c%2BtDIGMbqyG5inpSzV3q%2B9XQyfDjThJ86NN7vgBwFiRqN2YIp76TkEPiTxvCscYH5FEiK2ZBm7xG3f8Zxh60l4I%2FNK46ucw%3D%3D%7Ctkp%3ABk9SR_bg1529Zw

Lara has started stitching the sampler.  Here is the description of her beginning with a photograph of some of the threads the design calls for. Lara is using DMC #8 perle instead of Soie Perlee. (Sorry, Lara has deleted her blog so I think these items are not longer available.)
http://diet-pepsi-and-xanax.blogspot.com/2012/03/antique-thread-win

http://diet-pepsi-and-xanax.blogspot.com/2012/03/antique-thread-winder-sampler.html

http://diet-pepsi-and-xanax.blogspot.com/2012/03/antique-thread-winder-sampler-coming.html

http://diet-pepsi-and-xanax.blogspot.com/2012/03/antique-thread-winder-sampler-almost.html

http://diet-pepsi-and-xanax.blogspot.com/2012/03/maltese-crosses.html

Here is a photograph of the sampler as far as Lara has gotten.  She says the Maltese Crosses along the bottom and right side are still lacking at this point.  I believe an antique thread winder is supposed to go where the quarter is placed,

Unfinished Antique Thread Winder Sampler, All Photos Courtesy of Lara Hartley

Close Up of Bands Along Top

I've also seen a version of this on eBay with a totally different cover page but with the original supplies including the thread winder.  See photo above.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/ANTIQUE-WINDER-SAMPLER-by-Loretta-Spears-Kit-w-st-guide-threads-/231704863990?hash=item35f2afa4f6&nma=true&si=Hw8W6W4GrxWId511XfGa%252BhIst0E%253D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2557


UPDATE: Since an antique thread winder is supposed to be attached to this sampler when it is finished, I thought I would find examples of various reproductions so you can see what Loretta intended to be placed on the empty spot.  Thread winders are the 19th Century version of those white cards you wind your floss around to store it.  The only real antique thread winder I've seen in person was made from bone in this shape.
http://www.houseofstitches.com/detail.cfm?ID=15848

At the bottom of this page you can see horn versions that are rectangular.
http://www.scarletscarab.com/horn.htm

If the thought of bone or horn thread winders creeps you out, there are some lovely wooden ones available.  These are flower-shaped and very pretty.
http://www.lumenaris.com/wool_threadwinders.html

These are more traditional in shape, but made from woods just as lovely.
http://www.spanishpeacock.com/catalog/thread_winders.htm

Kelmscott Designs has some beautiful ones in many shapes, from birds to rabbits to fish and butterflies.  They appear to be mother of pearl.
http://www.kelmscottdesigns.com/thread-winders.htm#twind

You can also find Victorian metal reproductions.
http://shop.madamesmercantile.com/Vintage-Reproduction-Thread-Winder-Vintage-Repro-Thread-Winder.htm

When you win the lottery, you can indulge in antiques.
http://search.rubylane.com/search/,c=Sewing_Thread_Winders,id=96.15.html

The Silk Mill in England has some lovely mother of pearl thread winders made in China.
http://www.thesilkmill.com/category-s/1838.htm

Mystery and Ornament Chart Stickers and Labels

Apparently at least some of the mystery charts that Loretta mailed out were folded in half and held that way by a sticker that reads:
Mystery
Lesson
Number

The sticker must be torn in half to open the chart. I have seen photographs of these white stickers but they are all very blurry and hard to read, so they are not reproduced here.  Loretta doesn't seem to have used these stickers consistently, so their absence doesn't prove a chart is a reproduction.

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A current eBay auction for Mystery #12 Ecrusheen has a photograph of one of these stickers.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/LORETTA-SPEARS-MYSTERY-12-TWELVE-RARE-OOP-/310381751337?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item484431ac29#ht_528wt_1165

Luckily, Jo has given the Diet Pepsi and Xanax blog a sticker photo.
http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:BCjLN90fwogJ:diet-pepsi-and-xanax.blogspot.com/+diet+pepsi+and+zanax+blog&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us&client=safari

Photograph of Label Courtesy of Jo and Lara

UPDATE:  Lara has asked around and discovered more information about the labels and
stickers that Loretta Spears used on her various designs.  Many thanks to Sue, Jo and Lara for this information and the photograph above, which shows a label just above a photograph of the finished Sunset ornament.
http://diet-pepsi-and-xanax.blogspot.com/2012/03/speaking-of-stickers-labels.html

Loretta's Goodbye to Her Shop

Of the fifteen folks who have provided information about Loretta Spears for this site, no one has worked harder than Lara Hartley, who just managed to turn up Loretta's posting on the old RCTN forum about closing her shop Fiesta Needleart, located in Arvada, Colorado. Here is what Lara wrote:
http://diet-pepsi-and-xanax.blogspot.com/2012/02/needle-happiness.html


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This is the direct link to the posting, made on September 10, 1996.  If you click on View Profile at the top of the page, you can see other messages Loretta posted here.
http://groups.google.com/group/rec.crafts.textiles.needlework/browse_thread/thread/31c36c263dce1285/2cac842cabc41d46?lnk=gst&q=%22loretta+spears%22&pli=1

Good job, Lara!

Is Loretta In Your Stash?

If Loretta Spears designs are languishing in your stash, why not stitch them?  Or why not share them if you've stitched them already?  Put them up for sale on eBay, gift a friend, donate the charts to EGA's library, do whatever works for you to get these designs in circulation.
http://with-my-needle.blogspot.com/2012/01/incredible-random-act-of-kindness.html

Remember, the copyright on these patterns belongs to her heirs for 70 years after the date of her death.  Keeping them in circulation so that stitchers in the future have a chance of being able to get the charts when the copyright runs out is vital.

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