No Flying Monkeys: Background Stitches Part One

 Now that my No Flying Monkeys canvas has been divided into the "wall" background and the "footstool" background, it's time to choose stitches for these areas.  I have to have something small in scale for the wall so that the lettering stands out.  That stitch needs to be easy to compensate as well, since I have all those little wall bits among the letters.

For the footstool I want a medium scale design so I can get quite a few repeats in the 7 inch width of the canvas and I also want something that creates a pretty pattern that doesn't detract from the black and white stripes on the stockings. I think a diagonal pattern would be good for the footstool since I want the eye to travel from the footstool to the martini glass.

Time to consult my stitching books!  I always look at SharonG's SENSE book when I need to browse stitches by texture and whether they have a diagonal flow or not.
http://www.homesteadneedlearts.com/product/sharong%C2%92s-simply-essential-needlepoint-stitch-explanations/

I didn't see anything in the diagonal pattern section that did much for me but in the section on medium texture I found my old friend Double Stitch, which is very versatile and small in scale.  It reminded me of Staggered Crosses, which is somewhat similar.  I think either might work for my wall.

Now I need footstool patterns so I looked at my Got Stitches? book from the team at Gone Stitching.  It is full of multi-layered stitches that are very pretty patterns.  But nothing really caught my eye.  So I kept looking, rummaging through my stitch diagrams, books and photographs.
http://www.gonestitching.net/new/index.php/supplies/got-stitches.html

I just auditioned Tony Minieri's Henderson Variant for another project and knew how pretty it was. If you turn the diagram so that it runs in horizontal rows, it might just work nicely as it echoes the stripes on the stockings and also will point the eye toward the martini glass since it is a diagonal pattern.   This diagram is available online from ANG's Stitch of the Month for June 2009.
http://www.needlepoint.org/StitchOfTheMonth/2009/jun.php

Tony Minieri's Henderson Variant, Rotated

Here is the diagram rotated.  See what I mean?  I think it will make for a nice footstool.

Now I need to audition the stitches above to see how they actually look and how much thread I will need for my 13 count canvas.  Stay tuned!

Remember, I am collecting the links as I blog stitch this Point of It All Designs piece and posting them in a tab on the CH Stitch Guides blog.  You can catch up on what you missed by going there--just click on the flying carpet photo to magically be transported to my other blog and then back again.

Written by Jane/Chilly Hollow
Blogging at http://chillyhollownp.blogspot.com
and at http://chstitchguides.blogspot.com
© Copyright April 20, 2015 Jane M. Wood. All rights reserved.