Stars Needed UPDATED

As you can see in the picture above, the teacher nametag for the ANG Seminar at Indian Wells is almost done. All I need to do is attach the stars and it'll be done. The star brads, crystal and charms are in the location I plan to use. I moved things around quite a bit and this looks best.

The hardest thing in doing this was the lettering. I had a very long three part name to place and ended up cramming it into the middle of the space, not towards the right side as the instructions said. But there simply wasn't room for three words in one line.

This was interesting to do. The ribbon is painted to look like film. You cut a long piece in half and put the wrong sides together, then start tacking it to the congress cloth on the left side at an angle towards the right corner. Once you are about 60% across, you fold the ribbon and tack through it to hold it steady, then fold it back and attach at the side. The overlap of ribbon on both sides is to be turned under in finishing.

I'll pop it in the mail back to Laurie and she takes care of the finishing so they'll all be finished alike.

I should mention that this was designed by Angela Krause and charted by Margaret Bendig. Nice job!

UPDATE: This piece is in the mail to Laurie now. I simply added the extra L on the end of Mitchell I'd forgotten and attached the stars. Since the finished piece is essentially what you see above, I won't do another photo. After all, Blogspot limits the number of photos I can use here and I omit them when I can.

Main blog at http://blog.360.yahoo.com/chillyhollow

Next Up-Seminar!

I had planned to work on finishing the Squiggee goldfish canvas next but I need to make a visit to the crafts emporium for supplies and to see if my idea is workable first. And that can't happen for 2-3 days. In the meantime, I think I'll work on a very small project for my ANG guild.

I am a long distance member of the San Bernardino Chapter (California) of the American Needlepoint Guild. Here's the chapter website.

http://www.geocities.com/sanbernardinochapter/

It's a great bunch of folks and since I can't attend meetings locally, I have greatly enjoyed belonging to a guild that encourages long distance members. I can't participate in local classes but occasionally I do one that allows "ghosts" (classmates who aren't physically present) and have enjoyed belonging to SBCANG a lot.

Those of you who belong to ANG know that each year they host an annual seminar of classes for us rabid needlepointers. The location changes from region to region each year to enable the most number of folks to attend. The next seminar will be in Indian Wells, California and SBCANG is the host chapter. So we are busy getting ready. I'm not going to be a lot of help but I am going to stitch one of the nametags for the teachers. What you see above is the packet that Laurie McLellan sent me. I am to stitch it and return it by August 1. Laurie said I could post about it here in the hopes that it will encourage other chapters and members to volunteer to help run any seminar that might be near them. Here's the ANG website section on seminar so you can read all about it.

Now I need to read the instructions. What you see above are charts, ribbon that looks like a strip of film, star beads and charms, and a piece of canvas already taped and ready. Stay tuned and find out what star teachers are wearing at seminar this fall!

http://www.needlepoint.org/seminar.php

Main blog at http://blog.360.yahoo.com/chillyhollow

Gail's Trick or Treaters Stocking is Finished

My Squiggee trick or treaters stocking is finished! Hurrah!

Above you see the trim and the bottom of the peg it stands on.



And here is the stocking's back laid on the side so you can see the hole in the base where the peg is inserted.

This was a lot of fun to do. And very fast. The stocking proper is around five inches high and a bit more than 3 inches across at the widest point.

Main blog at http://blog.360.yahoo.com/chillyhollow

Needed: Black Paint

I have been busy putting the trick or treaters stocking from Squigee together. The photos show my progress, and also why I need black paint! I have some black spray paint that I'll use on the little support later on today. Hopefully it'll be dry enough for a final photo tomorrow.

The back side is darker than in the photo but I adjusted the color so you could easily see the purple satin through the net overlay with all the orange fuzzy shapes and words.

The front is angled because I discovered that setting the stocking on the peg at a 90 degree angle overbalanced it and it toppled over. Can't have the kids lying on their sides! Now that I'm used to it, I think it's the perfect angle for viewing this piece. Most stockings are designed to be seen hung from a top corner like traditional Christmas socks, after all.

The next step is to add the fuzzy trim all around the perimeter while the black paint dries on the support.

Main blog at http://blog.360.yahoo.com/chillyhollow

South African Substitute

Odette writes that in South Africa they use old x-ray film that's been wiped clean for stiffening inside ornaments. It's not clear like the quilting template (which actually is slightly matte, you can't really see through it) and it's a bit stiffer, but it should work nicely. Very creative!

Come to think about it, my godmother used old x-rays to cut flower stencils which I have. When my eyesight starts to go I plan a series of pillows using those stencils.

It pays to get creative in your needlepoint, doesn't it?

Main blog at http://blog.360.yahoo.com/chillyhollow

Trick or Treaters Stocking Finishing Supplies

The photo you see above shows all the finishing supplies I'll need for the Squiggee trick or treaters stocking. I have two fabrics, a purple satin and a thin novelty fabric that has orange fuzzy Halloween motifs on netting. I plan to layer the two fabrics on the back side of the stocking. Then I will twist the orange and the purple ThreadworX threads together to make a cord to go around the edge of the stocking. I thought about including some of the green I used for the fright wig but I think three colors are a bit much since including the green might mute the effect of all that green spiky hair. By the way, I won't make a traditional twisted cord from my two threads. That would trap too much of the fuzzy stuff. I'll just twist them together in my hand, stitch them down, and then use the blunt end of my needle to gently comb and fluff the thread to get as much of the ends to stand out as possible. Here's the ThreadworX website with the Legacy Collection thread colors, just in case you are tempted....

http://threadworx.com/product.php?catid=5&catName=The%20Legacy%20Collection

If you look carefully at the photo, you'll see the paper cutout I did from the color copy of my canvas. I always make a color copy (and often several black and white copies) of my projects. You can cut out the shape to aid finishing, you can see where things you've stitched over go when you are ready to add them, and it's just a good reminder of where the plain canvas started before you got your grubby little paws on it and went to town!

I used the paper pattern to cut out the quilting template you see as the clear stocking shape next to the pattern. I'd never heard of quilting template until Summer Truswell kindly told me about it. (When a superb professional finisher gives you tips--listen and listen hard!) This stuff comes in sheets of clear plastic about the size of an extra large place mat for $2 or so. You can buy it with a grid of what looks like one inch squares on it also, but that costs twice as much and I didn't need that here. Cut it with scissors to shape and you have the perfect lightweight stiffener to put inside ornaments. You can see a photo (next to last on this page) of the gridded and the plain with a pattern drawn on it at this website.

http://www.fabriclandwest.com/quilters%20corner/quilting_tools.htm

The last thing in the photo is two wooden dolls from the crafts emporium. They are in the wooden forms section, the place where you buy plain wooden letters to paint and put on a child's door. I could have bought wooden dowels and a wooden base and mounted the stocking on a stick but I decided I wanted to try something a bit different. I plan to take one of the dolls and insert it in the base of the stocking so that it will rest on a desk without any visible means of support. This means the stocking will be finished inside in the opposite way of most Christmas (or any other holiday) stockings. Normally, there's an opening in the top but my trick or treaters stocking will not open to hold candy corn. Instead, there will be a space in the base to insert the wooden support. I will leave it open so that when Halloween is over, the little wooden form can be removed and the stocking laid flat in a drawer until October 31st rolls around again.

Now all I need is to sit down and attempt to put this all together. If we could have a moment of silence, please!

[drumroll]

Main blog at http://blog.360.yahoo.com/chillyhollow

Want to Be a Las Vegas Showgirl Instead?

Then you will need this Leigh canvas and stitch guide! The headdress and bodice are beaded, then the rest of the canvas is long and short feather stitched with one ply of Splendor. The words in the background are the finishing touch. Leona, who wrote the guide, added them. I think they make a lovely background! Here's the link to see more--

http://www.needlepointyaya.com/website/new/july/july2/july2.htm

You can see the rest of the Leigh showgirls here.

http://www.leighdesigns.com/Grp502x.html

Main blog at http://blog.360.yahoo.com/chillyhollow

Want to be a Commando Nerd Needlepoint Patch Beta Tester?

Do you have an iPhone? Better yet, know lots of folks who do? Then this NP patch is something you really need!

http://www.tikaro.com/2008/07/velcro-backed-qrcode-patches-t.html

I am not sure the patches themselves are needlepointed-John Young doesn't say. If you follow his blog, he does needlepoint designs that are machine readable and that can direct the machine (or in this case, the iPhone with the reader downloaded) to a website. Any website. You can send folks to the ANG website, to your home page, to your shop, etc.

This is exceedingly cool. Especially for NP nerds like us.

Jane, waving like mad from CH

Main blog at http://blog.360.yahoo.com/chillyhollow

Goldfish Bubbles

I added bubbles to the goldfish canvas Monday night. These came with the canvas and I placed them about where they originally were attached to the canvas. I believe Gail said they were Austrailian pearls. The colors vary and are quite pretty.

Now everything is done but the finishing. However, since I have several pieces to finish, it will be a bit before this is really done.

Main blog at http://blog.360.yahoo.com/chillyhollow

Other Needlepoint Blogs

My Blogspot blog allows me to both list needlepoint blogs I follow and show titles of updated entries made to them. I added that function a week or so ago and hope that someday I'll be able to use something similar on the more extensive blog list at my main Yahoo 360 blog (link below).

Blogs are a lot of fun to read, particularly on the days when I am too tired to stitch but still want some NP content in my life. They are a constant source of knowledge for me and I thought you might like to hear about some special things I've read on other blogs recently.

Do you love blackwork? Do you love mystery pieces where you start stitching and have no clue what the final design will look like? If so, do I have a blog for you! Laura Perin, whose beautiful and stylish blog I follow religiously, is going to do a mystery blackwork piece. You can read about this free (!!!) and fun project here. I am swamped with things to stitch with deadlines but you can bet I'll be watching Laura's mystery blackwork piece develop from the sidelines.

http://two-handedstitcher.blogspot.com/2008/07/stitch-with-me.html

Janet Perry and I have different tastes and styles of needlepointing but her blog is always worth keeping an eye on. She turns up fascinating gems like this one about the late Sol Kent and his elegant geometric NP on a style blog.

http://thepeakofchic.blogspot.com/2008/07/sol-kent-and-his-sophisticated.html

Are you tempted to try your own finishing of small ornaments? Then Pat in NC is going to be your new best friend! Pat explains in the link below how she finished a wonderful little Squiggee bird ornament and mounted it on a post. If you click on "Squiggee's Birds" in the Labels List column on the right you will see all Pat's blog entries about the birds. (Remember to click on Older Posts to continue reading.) Aren't they NEAT?! If you want to try this, visit Squiggee's website and pick out birds of your own (second link below).

http://needleartnut.blogspot.com/2008/07/details-on-peach-delight-and-squiggees.html

http://www.squiggeedesigns.com/

Are you sick of cutsey NP? Do all those Christmas designs make you want to throw up? Are you tired of fancy stitches and fancier threads? Are you looking for guy stuff to stitch? Meet John Young and his Nerdlepoint! His original designs are all inspired by his strong design sense. I enjoy visiting his blog very much to see his NP and read about other interests in his life. The second link below talks about why we do what we do and it's a great read to end this blog entry with.

http://www.tikaro.com/2008/07/boxcar-alligator-needlepoint-p.html

http://www.tikaro.com/2007/12/moments-of-grace-through-chick.html

Main blog at http://blog.360.yahoo.com/chillyhollow

Water Stitch

As you can see in the above photo, all the water is finished. I used David McCaskill's water stitch from the ANG website.

http://www.needlepoint.org/StitchOfTheMonth/2003/mar.php

If you have trouble seeing the blue silk and metallic stitches behind the goldfish, this canvas that The Bristley Thistle just finished has water stitch at the bottom.

http://bristlythistle.wordpress.com/2008/07/16/small-needlepoint-projects/

Had lots of trouble with it as diagrammed, though, so I worked the stitch by turning the goldfish on his head and turning the directions ninety degrees also. This made the stitch / and \ slants with tent and reverse tent stitches. Here's a diagram of how I worked.


First, I worked all the / stitches shown in black. I did them in horizontal rows. Next, I worked the \ green stitches, also in horizontal rows. Then I did the red tent stitches (you guessed it--in horizontal rows) and followed that with my orange reverse tent stitches.

This made more sense to me but everyone is different. David's original diagram of this stitch may make much more sense to you. Thanks, Anne, for the tip about turning the instructions and canvas on their side! It really helped me.

The last step is attaching the pearls that Squigee included with the canvas. Thanks, Gail! This has been a delight to stitch!

Main blog at http://blog.360.yahoo.com/chillyhollow

The First Stitching Whimsy

Two Sundays ago I introduced the Stitching Whimsies, a group of people who gather at Queen Anne Stitches in Santa Clarita, CA to stitch weekly on the same design. They each interpret their own canvas their own way, but they have a blast doing it. The Whimsies are going to visit Blog about twice a month to talk about their Stitching Club canvases. Stitching Club is a design by Melissa Shirley that is 8 inches tall by 15 inches wide on 18 count canvas. Here is our first Whimsy stitcher, Sharon Quickstitcher!

By the way, the link below has the plain canvas of the Stitching Club at the top of the page and also shows other variations on this charming design.

http://www.melissashirleydesigns.com//gallery/?cat=74

**************************************


“I am the first of our Thursday stitching group to complete the Stitching Club by Melissa Shirley. My Stitching Whimsies are going to a party!! They are all dressed up in their best clothes, and have fun things for the party to eat and drink, as well as needlepoint canvases to stitch.

I stitched in the background first, as I thought I would have to count through the ladies, and indeed I was glad I planned for that. The background is a Pavilion stitch in #12 perle cotton.

Ms Red on the left has hair of mock twisted bullions using 2 ply Burmilana. Her fancy shirt is Neon Rays Plus with boucle at the collar and sleeves. I decided that too many of the shirts had dots, so changed it completely with these stripes built into the pattern. Her pants are Burmilana tweed couched with cord so that the shading shows through. She’s carrying a Neon Rays bag with Silk Ribbon flowers, and a flower bead. I obtained tiny scissors at a miniature shop and charm scissors at a bead shop. Her chicken canvas is stitched in Fuzzy Stuff.

Ms Chartreuse (second from left) has a hairdo in long French knots. She has a Swarovski crystal earring, and tiny chain necklace with Swarovski bead. Her needle is a #28 that I shortened by cutting it off and tacking it down. Her jacket is Vineyard Shimmer with Vineyard Classic accents. I created a woven pocket and tucked a wine bottle in her pocket (also from the miniature shop). When making the bag, I placed an object in the bag until I had completed the weaving in order to keep the top open the right amount. She has lots of beads on her canvas and bag.


Ms Raspberry’s hair is straight stitches in Wildflowers. Her collar is gathered River Silk. A small piece of canvas is in her bag, along with floss for the project she is going to stitch today. She carries a large stitching bag that is brick stitch over 2 in Vineyard Silk.



Ms Orange’s hair is Burmilana in straight stitches and mock twisted bullions, with a beaded head band. A small chain with Swarovski crystal is about her neck. Her blouse is Neon Rays Plus and Neon Rays, with padded cumberbund. I ignored the shading in the blouse. Her pants are Gradeur in a balloon stitch that indeed does emphasize her wide girth. Her canvas is only partly stitched. She will have something to work on today.


Ms Purple (with a casual personality) is wearing a corduroy jumper of Splendor and Very Velvet. All that plaid just didn’t sit right for me. Her hair is Pebbly Perle French knots and Colonial knots with a Swarovski earring. The heart canvas is only partly stitched. She has a scissor fob. In her woven basket, Ms Purple is bringing candy and flowers for the party. Hiding in the bag is Scooby the cat, holding a ball of yarn. Scooby belongs to my stitching friend, Nancy. Scooby tries to steal thread from me whenever I stitch at Nancy’s house.

The grass is Burmilana in a two-tone green done in encroached gobelin. I hope you continue to read the adventures of the other members of our Thursday Whimsies group - each is different, and the why will soon be revealed.

To finish the piece I used cording for the threads the ladies are stitching with, rearranged some of the scissors, and added a padded Very Velvet border. I also changed the color of the ladies eyes, lips, and skin.

This was a joy to stitch. My piece is stitched in more clear colors than some of the other stitchers used in our Thursday stitching group. We had lots of fun collaborating on this piece, and already have our next two projects on order.”

Sharon Quick (aka QuickStitcher)

**********************
Thanks, Sharon! Now I can't wait to meet the next Whimsy!

Main blog at http://blog.360.yahoo.com/chillyhollow

"While I Sit and Ponder"

Once again Rosalyn Cherry-Soleil has updated her website newsletter with photos of her current projects, wonderful links to explore (don't miss the Japanese embroidery and beadwork at Blue Bonnet Studio!), and a guest gallery featuring even more of the terrific stitching of Daphne Goodyear whom you met here on my blog when I showcased her fabulous Wild Women canvases. Got several hours? Then what are you waiting for?! Explore!

http://www.stitchamaze.com/stitchtalk.html

The lovely photo shows part of a Melissa Shirley canvas adaptation of one of Linda Carter Holman's paintings. Rosalyn has just started this piece. I can't wait to see more!

Main blog at http://blog.360.yahoo.com/chillyhollow

Fish Eyes

As you can see above, the goldfish's face is now done. I debated for quite some time whether I should use tent stitch for his round circle eyes. I finally decided they were prominent enough even in tent stitches. After all, if you have carrot red long hair, you might not need to braid it with lime green ribbons in spikes all over your head to draw attention to yourself! I continued using just two plies in the eyes. The only thread I've had any trouble with when it comes to covering the background is the very darkest green in the lily pads. The darkest green was DMC cotton floss, not Splendor silk. That might account for the difference, or perhaps because it is such a dark color, the thread plies are a bit thinner than usual. I've heard many places that very deep and dark colors (reds, black, navys) have to make many trips through the dye bath to get their shades and this thins the thread slightly. Maybe that accounts for it.

I worked a bit on the water stitch background but didn't get enough done to be able to take a good picture for you to see. Maybe tonight....

Main blog at http://blog.360.yahoo.com/chillyhollow

Aladdin's Cave Open for Business UPDATED

My "local" shop, Needlewoman East, finally has a website. It's not much--just one page with their address, hours and trunk shows--but please note that the Christmas in July sale starts tomorrow!

http://www.theneedlewomaneast.com/Welcome.html

It's a terrific shop, full of painted canvases, threads, tools, books and charts, not to mention the helpful and pleasant staff. Maybe I'll see you there?

UPDATE: I'd added photos I took during my brief visit to the sale, but I'll not be talking about the things I bought since they are mostly threads for the next project. I think I'd better finish what I'm working on now before starting something new.

First, let me introduce the new owner of Needlewoman East. This is Liz, former investment banker, now the Aladdin who stocks this cave with treasures for us all. Liz is an avid needlepointer, and somewhere there's a large Melissa Shirley canvas of an old four-masted schooner that Liz will stitch one day.


Not to worry, though. Sue Jennings, the former owner of the shop, was present to dispense hugs and advice to all the stitchers who were rampaging through the shop. See? This is Sue's car. The bumper sticker reads "Don't just sit there-needlepoint!" Retired Sue may be, but she's always going to be a stitcher at heart.




I didn't just talk to shop owners and cars, though. I also ran into the counted thread designer Ruth Dits, who was kind enough to pose for a photograph for me. She's holding her latest design, Mystic, which I was astounded to see doesn't use any metallic thread to achieve the sheen and elegance I saw at Woodlawn when Ruth exhibited the model. It uses beads and Panache (the nylon thread I used in Autumn Leaves which I like) to look this gorgeous.






You can see a better image of Mystic on Ruth's website. This is a lovely design and at $12 for the chart package, a bargain!

http://www.ruthdiltsdesign.com/newest.html

Finally, I'll leave you with the trunk show, a wall and table covered with Mindy designs. You can see these better on her website but they are too pretty not to show off.



I had a wonderful time and can't wait until Christmas comes in July next year!

July 2008 Chilly Hollow Newsletter Article

Everyone has heard of Harry Potter these days. Whether you are a fan of the books or not, you probably know someone who loves the series. So I thought I'd look for Harry Potter designs. I found help here at this blog discussion about HP and cross stitch. And the second link is a shop that advertises Harry Potter needlepoint canvases in stock although there are no pictures.

http://www.tangledthread.com/stitching-harry-potter/

http://www.barbarasuebrodie.com/needlepoint.html

Probably due to copyright reasons, I didn't find any needlepoint canvas photos but in the world of knitting, there are many "illusion" patterns all about Harry and his world. Illusion knit patterns are designs that are abstract from one view but that turn into a pattern from another view. I bet one could needlepoint these charted designs but I haven't tried it myself.

Here's an illusion Hedwig washrag (that's Harry's pet owl).

http://www.freshislefibers.com/Patterns/Hedwigillusioncloth/Hedwig%20Illusion.pdf

I found quite a few designs which chart the various Hogwarts School houses and their symbols:

Ravenclaw scarf

http://www.the-leaky-cauldron.org/features/crafts/knitting/ravenclawillusionscarf

Gryffindor symbol charted

http://gallery.the-leaky-cauldron.org/default/fullpic/209866

Hogwarts crest charted

http://gallery.the-leaky-cauldron.org/default/fullpic/209868

sock pattern gryffindor crest for sale

http://www.freshislefibers.com/shop/index.php?act=viewProd&productId=220

There are a great many fantasy needlepoint canvases of wizards. You may enjoy Raymond Crawford's Wizard of Oz inspired designs.

http://www.raymondcrawford.com/designs/oz/index.html

Want to do a set of Wizard of Oz standups? Petei has a wonderful series of canvases that look great made up. I particularly like the Emerald City and the Toto canvases.

http://www.petei.com/line_list/line_wiz_oz.htm

How about a Wizard of Oz box? This is from Julia's Needlepoint.

http://www.bristlythistle.com/childrens.html

Trubey has a series of three wizards who look like something right out of the Arabian Nights.

http://www.needlepoint.org/WhatIs/2005/504np.php

This silly canvas has two smokers--a dragon and a wizard. You may also enjoy the discussion of fractional XSs if you aren't familiar with cross stitch but would like to turn a XS wizard pattern into needlepoint.

http://www.needlework-tips-and-techniques.com/fractional-stitches.html

And Michaelene Love of Sunrunner Designs has a whole series of wizards right out of a fairy tale.

http://home.att.net/~michaelenelovedesigns/MLDWeb_PAGE11.htm

But if you need something quick and easy, how about Jolly Red's little wizard?

http://www.stitch1knit1.com/shop/jolly_red_childrens_tapestry_kits_wizard_needlepoint.html

This should keep us busy stitching a fantasy world in needlepoint.

Jane/Chilly Hollow

Main blog at http://blog.360.yahoo.com/chillyhollow

Fireside Strikes Again

Just got my monthly e-newsletter from Fireside Stitchery which has decided to tempt me with a Dreamweavers sale, new cheap scissors, and a Little Shoppe trunk show. EEEEEKKKKK!

Check out the goodies here. The Silent Night stocking above is from Dreamweaver Designs. I like their canvases, don't you?

http://www.firesidestitchery.com/infoalerts/index.cfm

Main blog at http://blog.360.yahoo.com/chillyhollow

Look What I Did

Well, first of all, you can see the goldfish finished except for his eyes and mouth, and that almost all of the three lily pads are done. I've not stitched any more water stitch but I am going to start on that once I have the last bit of top leaf done. And I'm going to use Anne's tip of rotating the instructions and canvas a quarter turn and working the water stitch as vertical stitches instead of horizontal.

The real thing I did yesterday was replace the CMOS battery inside the old laptop so I can scan photos for you again. It took me about 5 minutes to unplug the laptop, remove its battery pack, locate the right door on the bottom and unscrew the screw holding it closed, open the door, locate where the internal lithium battery was hiding under a stiff paper tab, remove the tab, slide the battery out, then being careful to note where the red wire and the black wire were plugged, unplug the battery. Then the new nickel-sized battery was plugged in properly, slide into its slot, the paper tab replaced, the door back on, and the external battery pack restored. After that, it's turn on the machine and set the date/time again (that's what the CMOS battery does, keeps time for the system internally), replace the tiny screwdriver and the tweezers, and toss the old battery.

The hard part was looking up what the error messages meant, finding the right battery for my model at a good price, and looking up online instructions on how to replace it. I am so proud!

I'm not just a fancy stitcher after all. LOL

Hugs from your Master Enabler and part-time mechanic in Chilly Hollow

Main blog at http://blog.360.yahoo.com/chillyhollow

Book Reviews

I try to stitch each night but often I'm too tired (or too wound up) from work to attempt anything that needs concentration. On those evenings if I don't have tent stitching to do I try to read, and luckily for me, there are always books on needlepoint or other types of needlework I've not read. Recently I acquired or borrowed three new books that I've been browsing when I really am not going to be able to stitch. I've done pocket reviews here, to help you decide if these are books you want to read yourself. After all, not everyone is going to be interested in the topics I've been reading about. But before my first mini-review, let me remind you to check your local library for books on needlework. I've had hours and hours of great fun with books I've checked out here in Virginia and in Massachusetts. And if you have books you want to get rid of, I urge you to think about donating them to your local library. They never have enough money to buy everything but your books might fill a hole in their collection nicely and give access at no charge to something in your collection long after you've forgotten you ever owned that book.

Bargello Revisited, by Janet M. Perry

I'm not really a fan of bargello. I know it is supposed to be popular now, but my tastes don't run to abstract op art and many of the patterns really need a good amount of space to develop. It's just not my thing. Still, when a friend offered to loan me her copy of "Bargello Revisited," I was curious enough to take her up on that offer.

"Bargello Revisited" is a project book. It has charts for 33 different patterns, some simple shapes to use as templates which you can fill in with the pattern of your choice, and brief chapters at the beginning of the book which introduce bargello stitching, talk about suitable threads and choosing colors, and give you tips on avoiding problems, particularly problems with vertical bargello stitches not covering your canvas well.

There are color photos of each project in finished form, but the charts of the patterns used in the projects are in black, white and gray. And that is the main problem I saw with this book-I had a very hard time seeing the differences between the black and the dark grey lines in the charts. I am chart-challenged anyway and I think if I'd not read many other books on bargello, I would have had trouble following things I could not see well, particularly since the author doesn't mention the very basic tip that one should start a bargello pattern in the middle of the design and either work one long row from one side to the other, or start in the middle and work out to one side and then work to the other, to set up the pattern. These two points alone make this a book I wouldn't recommend to a beginner, although if you are mad about bargello you'll want to at least look at this book, especially if you can't find any of the splendid bargello books that came out in the early 1970s.

Here is Janet's website. If you browse her blog you will see some bargello pieces, many of which are projects in her bargello book.

http://www.nuts-about-needlepoint.com/

The simple patterns in "Bargello Revisited" might work well for someone who wants to teach another to do bargello and is looking for a variety of basic patterns in simple colors for their student to choose from. But if you want to teach yourself bargello, I'd recommend that you hunt used bookstores for the Gloria Katzenberg's "Needlepoint and Pattern: Themes and Variations." It is an exceptionally clear book with excellent diagrams and tips on using the patterns in needlepoint projects. If you want eye-popping designs in dazzling color schemes, try to find Dorothy Kaestner's "Four Way Bargello" (there is an original and a revised edition). She also wrote "Bargello Antics" which I have not seen except that it was for sale on eBay. The cover of that book illustrates this article to give you an idea of the patterns in the Katzenberg books. They aren't going to be everyone's cup of tea but the world of needlework is huge, and the choices of type of designs you can stitch endless.

OOOOOH: The Essentials of Ribbon Needlepoint with River Silks, by Paul F. Krynicki

Speaking of varied choices, my next book is from the River Silks ribbon manufacturers. It was written to promote their ribbon which I've seen and used and which is particularly well suited for needlepoint. There are a great many books on silk ribbon embroidery (called SRE by those who love the art) but this book is different in that it is geared toward folks who want to use silk ribbon on needlepoint canvas. All the other SRE books I've seen are for embroiderers working on fabric grounds. I can't say that this is a reason to buy this book instead of any others about SRE, but you might disagree. The strength of this book is the illustrations. I defy anyone to look at all the lovely colored photos and not want to try a little SRE on one of their canvases! And my copy of the book came with a card of River Silks ribbon and a large piece of canvas to try some stitches on which is a very nice touch.

Each chapter in the book talks about a different type of stitch done in ribbon. SRE has specialty stitches you won't have seen before which are done a certain way due to the properties of silk ribbon. Some of the directions are very explicit, some are not. If you need step-by-step hand-holding to learn, you won't always get it from this book. Sometimes I had to study the illustrations to understand how to get the effect described. If you have trouble doing this, you may find this book frustrating at times.

If you just want an idea how to do SRE, you'd save money by Googling the topic and reading many of the free instructions on the Internet. If you just want to see pretty pictures of SRE, visit River Silks' website which is full of images on every page.

http://www.riversilks.com/

But be warned, SRE is addictive and the River Silks ribbons lovely (although the dye lots seem to vary a lot so buy what you need at one time). I'm probably never going to stitch an entire NP canvas in SRE--which would be Too Much for my tastes--but I love adding finishing touches with silk ribbon in my pieces. I can't say this book is a Must Buy for people interested in silk ribbon stitching but it is inspiring and promotes a great product and it is the only SRE book geared specifically toward us needlepointers.

All That Glitters: Projects Featuring the Techniques of Goldwork and Stumpwork, by Alison Cole

Alison Cole is an Australian embroidery teacher who is well known for her goldwork which uses stumpwork techniques to create 3-D images of great beauty. This is her first book and it's a winner! The illustrations alone, both the large shots of the ten projects she profiles in this book and the closeups, are gorgeous. But this isn't just a pretty face--the book's first chapter talks about metallic threads, the various frames you'll use, the types of padding necessary, etc. in great detail. The second chapter goes over the basic stitches and techniques used in goldwork and stumpwork. Neither chapter is long but they both seem very comprehensive to me. Be warned, though--I know only the basics about goldwork and stumpwork. If you are very experienced, you may not need this book unless you fall in love with the projects profiled like I did.

The vast majority of the projects are traditional florals although she includes an abstract and two nature scenes. There is an underwater piece with a seahorse and snail that's a knockout and she does a dragonfly on a tall weed that has to be seen to be believed. To me the most interesting project was her Or Nue pieces. She took four flowers mentioned by Shakespeare and stitched them in the Or Nue manner, making sure she made circles and waves in the gold she couched as well as using the couching thread to sketch the flowers in on the gold lines. I have never seen Or Nue done this way and I was entranced.

I am not sure this book is going to appeal to everyone, particularly folks who don't like flowers or nature patterns, or folks who already know a great deal about goldwork and/or stumpwork. Also, some projects look quite hard for a beginner although the instructions were excellent. But I was charmed and thrilled to own this book and I can't wait for Alison Cole's second book "The Midas Touch" to come out. Here's her website so you can explore more of her work and decide for yourself if this is a book you can't live without.

http://www.alisoncoleembroidery.com.au/

I hope these book reviews will help you decide whether you want any of these books. After all, you could be spending that money on a painted canvas instead! LOL

Main blog at http://blog.360.yahoo.com/chillyhollow

I Can't Get Away With Anything!

Yesterday Marj noticed that I'd screwed up the description of Rainbow Gallery's line of silk perles that are in the same colors as their Splendor, which is their silk floss line.
I bought Grandeur, which is the size of #5 perle. That would work on 18 count nicely except it doesn't look good next to my two plies of Mandarin Floss when both threads are doing tent stitches.

I should have bought Subtlety (#12 perle, the smallest size) but the counted thread shop doesn't carry it or Elegance, which is the middle #8 perle size. Hope I didn't confuse anyone!

http://www.kelseys-needlekrafts.com/Rainbow.htm

And on another topic Pat noticed that I've added a new feature to the Blogspot blog--a list of blogs I like to read with the latest title and time it was updated. Hopefully this will tempt more of you to look at other blogs and see what other folks have to say about their needlepoint.

Not much needlework is going on in Chilly Hollow this weekend but if I'm not too pooped tonight I'll continue to tent stitch the lily pad leaves around the goldfish.

Main blog at http://blog.360.yahoo.com/chillyhollow

You Might Have Noticed...

...that there are four identical entries on my Yahoo 360 blog yesterday. I can't get rid of them. Yahoo seems to be having trouble. Once I can delete the three dups, I will.

While I stand around glaring at Yahoo 360, you might want to head over to The Silver Needle and check out their Scream House, which is an etui from Just Nan. It has 18 sides! Open it up and you'll find ghosts and goblins galore, not to mention a hilarious pumpkin pincushion.

I've seen some beautiful etuis and sewing tool cases in this area as the sampler folks love designing and stitching them in traditional sampler style, but this is a rarity-a funny one! I think it is charming and thought you all would enjoy seeing something different.

http://www.thesilverneedle.net/just-nan-crossstitch.php?Reloaded=True&osCsid=539b0e5e71b718c73ac4b50b83245d86

Speaking of Halloween, I have picked up various fabrics to finish the Halloween trick-or-treaters stocking. I have a pretty purple satin and a see-through fabric that has Trick or Treat in orange lettering that I plan to put over the satin. I also bought a lovely blue satin that is the color of the water in the goldfish ornament background. It is embossed with round mandala motifs and I think it is perfect for the goldfish when I finish him. I'm still planning to put the NP canvas over a mirror and then cover the back with fabric. He will come to work with me and live at my desk to give me something special and personal to decorate my work space.

At least, that's the plan! And you know how the best-laid plans often turn out!

Before I go, Anne S. mentioned that she'd been told the best way to work David McCaskill's water stitch is to turn the canvas and directions 90 degrees and work the water in vertical stitches instead of horizontal. Thanks for the tip, Anne! I'll try this over the weekend when I stitch more water background.

Main blog at http://blog.360.yahoo.com/chillyhollow

Oops!

Last night I picked up the goldfish to do a little tent stitching on his lilypads. Saturday I visited the counted thread place not that far from my house because they were having a sale. I needed a dark medium green for the lily pads and although they didn't have the right green in Splendor or Mandarin Floss, I was able to pick up a card of Rainbow Gallery's Grandeur. Grandeur is a silk perle and because both it and Splendor are from Rainbow Gallery, the colors are identical. You can sometimes get a silk floss and a silk perle in the same color for unusual and special effects on a design. I am not doing this here but you can. Just saying....

Anyway, I pulled out my green Grandeur, took three tent stitches and stopped. Remember how I was tent stitching this leaf with two plies of Mandarin floss in the olive green? The Grandeur was too fat! It made my tent stitches in dark green much higher and fatter than the olive green ones in Mandarin floss. Oops!

Today I'll hit up the crafts emporium with my card of Grandeur (which is about the size of a number 8 perle cotton) and see if I can find a skein of DMC in the right shade. If I had a brain in my head, I would have bought a card of Rainbow Gallery's Elegance, which is the size of number 12 perle and much thinner, and tried to match the tent stitches in Mandarin Floss to that.

But I am an idiot. Oh, well, live and learn!

By the way, I have a card of medium blue Grandeur that's also too fat for the water. Double idiot. LOL

Main blog at http://blog.360.yahoo.com/chillyhollow

Water Stitch

Lizzy, who has very sharp eyes, noticed that I had started stitching the water at the top in yesterday's photo. I don't have a photo today as my old laptop isn't working but you can look at yesterday's picture to see some of the stitching.

I'm using David McCaskill's water stitch from the Stitch of the Month on ANG's website. Here is the link.

http://www.needlepoint.org/StitchOfTheMonth/2003/mar.php

I am having trouble with the stitch as David diagrammed it. The easiest thing for me was to work the stitch in columns from the top down. I did the / slants first, then went back and did the slants in the opposite direction \ using one ply of Splendor blue silk for each slant. You can see both slants in the previous photo. Then I did the third step in an Anchor metallic which is a similar blue working the tent stitch at the end of the / slant first and then did the tent stitches that go at the end of the \ slant. This Anchor thread is very similar to Kreinik's blending filament except it is a bit thicker and stiffer and doesn't separate into two parts like blending filament does. I don't think you can see much of this thread in the photo but in person it has a nice gleam.

I've also started stitching a leaf so I could see how it looks with the fish and water stitching. I'm using two plies of Mandarin floss to tent stitch the olive green part of one leaf. It looks fine although I do have to be very careful that the plies don't twist in the needle. With just two plies, this is very noticable.

I plan to work on the water and maybe finish the leaf tonight. Stay tuned.

Lizzy, let me know if this doesn't answer all your questions.

Main blog at http://blog.360.yahoo.com/chillyhollow

A Long, Sweeping Tail

I wasn't able to finish the long tail of our goldfish last night, but it is 2/3 done and I've stitched the dorsal fin on his back (If you don't read the comments, you didn't hear that the designer Gail Hendrix says the goldfish is male-that's why he is so colorful) and the front fins under his chin.

You can't see how the silk shines in the photo but I must say the packed outline stitch I used looks very good in silks. I used one ply of my Splendor silk (the darkest rose is Bella Silk) in the same colors as the Melissa Shirley Asian girls I just finished.

I started at one end of an area and worked a color at a time, slowly filling out the side and moving towards the middle and then to the other edge. I discovered that it's ok to not completely pack the stitches. You can always go back and fill in a bit here and there where it looks skimpy. I think that's better than putting in too many stitches. I also discovered that the darker colors were often overwhelmed by the lighter colors (How odd is that!?) and I needed to put another stitch or two in of the darkest rose so it wasn't just a tiny line.

I like how this is developing. Wish you could see him in person!

Tonight I'll finish the tail and hopefully start work on the water.

Main blog at http://blog.360.yahoo.com/chillyhollow

Embroidery on Linen UPDATED

There are two pieces of embroidery on linen up for sale at eBay I thought you might enjoy looking at. The person selling the pieces has some nice closeups for your viewing pleasure. They were purchased by her mother from someone with the initials MHH in Michigan years ago. Nice work!

UPDATE: The first piece in the link below (and shown above) sold for $91.66 plus $8 shipping. The second piece sold for the starting bid of $9.99 plus undisclosed shipping costs. That was a real deal! If you are the buyers, congratulations.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=320271254663

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=320270792612

Main blog at http://blog.360.yahoo.com/chillyhollow

Fish Scales

I've finished the fish scales on Gail's goldfish as you can see in the photo above. It dawned on me that I didn't explain how I worked the stitch or how I choose the color of the single ply of Splendor silk I used for it.

First, I worked Judy's Blocks from the top of each column down. I worked the cashmere stitch and then the four tent stitches in a block and then the cashmere stitch again These stitches are offset slightly so the next row you have to adjust the position of your starting point. You could alwo work the cashmere stitches on the diagonal and then go back and fill in with tent stitches but I found that harder to do so I just did a column at a time. To keep the silk as straight as possible, I let my needle dangle to untwist the thread after each cashmere stitch was finiished.

I worked from the head back, omitting the bulging fish eyes and mouth. Those will be worked in a different stitch later. I started with orange, then switched to rose, then to coral, then dark orange, then light orange, then a touch of pale yellow and finally pale pink. I choose these colors by looking at the unstitched canvas, and decided which color was most prominent in the fish's body. I laid that color out above the fish then moved to the next area and choose the most prominent color there, etc. Once I was happy with how the skeins of thread seemed to flow, those are the colors I went with. Most areas have 3-5 colors in them but I choose the color that seemed most prominent except at the head where I ignored the dark brown and choose the rose instead.

I finished either the tent stitch block or the cashmere block before I changed color, even if the paint seemed to switch abruptly. I thought it more important to get the stitch right than the color, and I think it worked out well.

Next, the fins and tail.

Main blog at http://blog.360.yahoo.com/chillyhollow

Squiggee's Goldfish Ornament

Now that the Halloween trick-or-treaters stocking is done, I have picked up the other Squiggee design in my stash, the lovely pink fish you see above. I think this must be a goldfish, one of the ones that charmed me in the fishtanks at the pet store when I was a child. They are all bulging eyes and beautiful colors, with a long graceful tail and a fat wiggle to their upper bodies. Squiggee's is pink, my favorite color, and was taken from a Gail Hendrix design of a frog weight that had lots of underwater motifs on it. I asked Gail if she would turn the goldfish into an ornament for me and she did.

Most Squiggee painted canvases are lighthearted but this taps into Gail's more classic design sense. It is on 18 count canvas and is approximately 4 inches in diameter. When I asked her to paint this for me, I explicitly said it should not be an exclusive for me, but a design that anyone can buy from her Squiggee website, so you can have your own goldfish for your home if you so desire. Here's Squiggee's website so you can have a fun browse.

http://www.squiggeedesigns.com/

It is beautifully stitched-painted and must have taken hours to do. If you look closely at the fish scales, you'll see careful lines of color that range from a very dark brown through roses and corals and oranges to yellow and shades of pale pink that become almost white. The goldfish swims among lily pads in medium blue waters. When I started pulling colors, I discovered that I can use all the silks form the two little Asian girls in this design. The colors are almost identical. I did have to find earthy greens (mostly Mandarin silks) and a pretty blue in Rainbow Gallery's Grandeur (silk perle size #5).

My thought in starting to stitch Gail's goldfish was to use stitches that don't fully cover so that the piece can be framed over a mirror to give an underwater wet gleam to the fish. After all, most of my silks I pulled are pliable so I can use just one of them easily.

This design has a two-part background (the lilypads and the blue water) and a four-part foreground (the goldfish, with prominent eyes and mouth, long flowing tail, upright dorsal fins and sideways front fins, and finally the body). I decided to start with the goldfish's body and find a stitch for the scales first. Look carefully at the body of the fish. Isn't everything sort of upright and rectangular? There are many color changes (another reason to use light coverage stitches--you don't have to change threads often since the color will show under your skimpy thread) so I decided it would not be easy to do scale-shaped stitches here. I thought and browsed my stitch books and thought some more. Nothing seemed to be the right shape or suitable for a light coverage.

Then I visited Judy Harper's blog....

http://fairy-crafts.blogspot.com/2008/07/cq-with-silk-ribbon-and-beads.html

Inspiration strikes at the oddest times! Look at her latest crazy quilt heart, the yellow, coral and green one with the white daisies. Now look at the yellow rectangular stitch at the bottom point. Doesn't that sort of look like the scales on Gail's goldfish to you? I don't know what this stitch is called (can't find it in any of my stitch books) so let's call it Judy's Blocks.

Here is what I've stitched so far on the goldfish's scales, using one ply of silk Splendor in rose, coral and now orange as I work my way toward the fish's tail doing Judy's Blocks. I hope to finish the entire body by the end of the holiday weekend. Pretty soon I'll switch to one ply of yellow and then a pale pink....

This is so much fun!

Main blog at http://blog.360.yahoo.com/chillyhollow

Introducing the Stitching Whimsies

I have a group of guest bloggers to introduce to you today--the Stitching Whimsies. See the Melissa Shirley canvas above? It's called The Stitching Club and the Whimsies are all stitching this canvas. But here's Gini to explain how they got started and what they are doing.

**********************
"Several stitchers who live in the Antelope Valley portion of Southern California decided to go to Queen Anne Stitches in Santa Clarita, CA, our "local" shop some 35 miles away, to spend the day stitching there. That was several months ago. Over time, the group grew sort of like Topsey, as additional people who stopped in the shop while we were there began coming back to stitch with us. We arrive every Thursday when the shop opens at 11. Then we stitch and chat for a while, break for lunch at one of the several nearby places, then stitch again until around 4. We don't always get a lot of stitching done, but we do have fun.

An aside about Heidi Bontempo (aka the Queen) and her shop… She's been the sole owner for two years, having bought out her partner (aka the Queen Mum). Heidi listens to what her customers want, continues to add new thread lines, carries a variety of canvas sizes, artists, and styles, has trunk shows every other month, and will soon have an online presence. She and Sherry Bray are both fun to be around, and the shop has a wonderfully warm, friendly vibe.

One day, we passed around the Needlepoint Now magazine with the article about Melissa Shirley. [Note: This is the March 2008 issue.] Someone suggested we do "The Stitching Club" together, in what Heidi and Sherry call a "who ha" group, essentially a self-directed class. It means we discuss the canvas, share ideas about stitches and threads for particular areas, and then decide what to do on our own canvas. We spend time passing our canvases around for comments,critiques, and encouragement. The canvas we are stitching is shown above. You can see others in this series here:

http://www.melissashirleydesigns.com//gallery/?cat=74

Heidi dubbed us the Whimsies to distinguish us in her own mind from her other groups, even though some of us have multiple memberships! Six of us are working on The Stitching Club -- Sharon, Gini, Kathy, Jackie, Lori and Nancy. And like our group, it's now known as The Stitching Whimsies. Some of us are far more interested in the process of stitching than in finishing any particular project. Some stitch daily, others less often. Most of us have a myriad of other projects at some stage of completion. And we all like to learn as much as we can from teachers and other stitchers. A core group of 6 or 7 attends regularly and others attend frequently. Heidi happened to show us a new canvas, Associated Talents' Funky Forest. Nancy was talking about ordering it for herself, when Lori piped up and suggested we do it as our next group project. Over a dozen people have ordered that one.

http://www.atneedlepoint.com/CanvasDetails.asp?CanvasNumber=M-164&Example=

signed, Gini

**********************

I hope to have a Whimsy or two drop by about every other Sunday to update you on the progress on their canvases. It's easy to think that there is only one "right" way to stitch a painted canvas. When you see what each Whimsy does with the same canvas and how they all look good, the real charm of painted canvases and how they customize themselves to their stitcher's personality and tastes will be revealed!

Many thanks to the Whimsies for allowing themselves to be showcased here. And by the way, Queen Anne Stitches doesn't have a website or I'd be able to show you the natural habitat of Stitching Whimsies.

Main blog at http://blog.360.yahoo.com/chillyhollow

Halloween Trick or Treaters Done

The stitching on the little Halloween stocking is done. The buttons were the last bit I needed to add before starting to hunt for the right fabric for the back side. Buttons are attached in many different ways, depending on how they were made. You've all seen buttons on men's dress shirts with the two (or four) little holes that you stitch through to attach them. The buttons that Squiggee included with the canvas are not like those. Working left to right, the cat's head button is flat and thick with a hole drilled through the middle. It was easy to attach with a doubled thread in one side and out the other. The pink skull bead has a shank. I stitched it from the back four times, each stitch slanting in a different / \ _ | direction to try and hold it steady. But this bead will tilt here and there since I did not make a hole in the canvas and push the shank through to the back side. The last bead is the brass moon face which has a loop at the top like a charm. It was easy to attach but it will sway from side to side slightly.

Hope you enjoy the canvas. Many thanks to Squiggee herself for designing something so quick and fun.

Main blog at http://blog.360.yahoo.com/chillyhollow

Fright Wig Finished, Claw Added

Here's a photo of the Trick or Treaters stocking from Squiggee with the fright wig all done and combed, and the claw hand added to the middle figure. The "hand" is just beading wire twisted to resemble a bony skeleton hand. One end was poked through the canvas and it was tied down on the back, then I used two small stitches to secure the fingers on the front. It took me a lot longer to explain how the wig and claw were done than to actually add them to the stocking!

In this photo I've added a row of orange beads to the top of the stocking. Squiggee herself showed the beads in a row along the bottom of the stocking top but due to the finishing I plan, I want them at the top.

Main blog at http://blog.360.yahoo.com/chillyhollow

The Fright Wig

The photo on the left shows the fright wig underway. I happened to have two brands of fuzzy threads in my stash I thought might be perfect for the wig of the right hand trick or treater. One used to be called Viola when it was distributed by SharonG but I believe the new name is VaVoom. It's a soft hair-like thread that is very thin and delicate. In the photo below it is the purple thread in the plastic bag and in the stitched samples. It is distributed by dede Odgen now. The other is less soft and more plastic. It used to be called Charleston when the defunct Needle Necessities sold it. Now it is called The Legacy Collection and comes from ThreadWorX. It's the skein of green you see in the photo below.

Here's a link to information about VaVoom.

http://www.needleartworks.com/dsgnr/deo/deo9.htm

And here is one for The Legacy Collection. My skein of green is color #606 Kelly Green.
http://www.threadworx.com/product.php?catid=5&catName=The%20Legacy%20Collection

Even though the black VaVoom is soft like cashmere and looks like long hair and the green looks like a plastic feather boa, they are stitched the same way--in long stitches. The stitched sample you see uses dark purple VaVoom and fancy stitches to show what these threads can do. The stitching is by my dear friend Penny Evans who test drove Viola for me 4-5 years back. Thanks, Penny!

I decided to use the ThreadWorX green instead of the Viola purple since I thought the green would stand out against the purple background of the stocking and the purple robe next to it better. This thread comes in precut yard lengths, so I pulled one out carefully from the skein and cut it in half to have an easy-to-use 18 inch length. Then I used a number 18 needle so that there was plenty of room in the eye for the thread. My canvas is 14 count, by the way, so even the holes are large enough for this thread.

If you look at the top photo again, you'll see that I first stitched three straight lines spaced across the roughly fan shape of the wig. This divides the area into 4 pie-shaped wedges. Then I stitched straight stitches across one wedge at a time, working from left to right. You can work from right to left--this doesn't matter--but I think it helps to distribute the thread evenly to work a section at a time. You can work one half if you want, but I preferred to divide the wig into four areas.

The little plastic hairs that stick out of the central core (look at the green thread in the needle on the left side of the top photo) get mashed down in stitching. One you have totally finished the area in this thread, take your needle and gently stroke it a few times in the opposite direction you want the hairs to point. Then stroke it many times (gently!) in the direction the hairs should point. This gentle petting motion will pull the hairs out from under the long stitches and make it fuzzy.

I'll need to pet the hairs again occasionally as I add other attachments and do the finishing. They do get matted down or point the wrong way after handling. But you'll get the fright wig effect very quickly and easily using either of these threads.

Main blog at http://blog.360.yahoo.com/chillyhollow

Halloween Cuff Done

I managed to finish the cuff of the Trick or Treaters stocking last night. Note that I stitched a row of tent stitches all across the top in the colors of each stripe. That will help in finishing. There's a row of tent stitches all around the perimeter of the stocking as well.

Here's the stitch I used for the rows, courtesy of Carole Lake's Stitch of the Month series for ANG in 2002. It has many names but Carole calls it "braided knitting" so I will also. I find it makes a lovely narrow border as well as very nice stripes on the stocking's top edge.

http://www.needlepoint.org/StitchOfTheMonth/2002/Apr.php

I made sure I held the threads tight as I moved from one long narrow cross stitch to the next, particularly when I was doing the orange and orange/red stitches with the Panache. It's well behaved as nylon threads go but I was taking no chances.

If you look at the photo, you'll see I still need to stitch the lime green fright wig, do something for the claw hand of the middle figure (the painted version of which is covered by stitches now, so look at the model photo in the side column to see how it looked when Squiggee painted it), and attach the buttons that are the masks of the children.

Main blog at http://blog.360.yahoo.com/chillyhollow

Stripes for Halloween

These long cross stitches take longer to stitch and more thread than you would think, but I like the effect. The flat ribbon thread Soft Sheen Fyre Werks stands up to the red-orange and the orange Panache nylon perles well, better than I expected since one is a flat thread and the other two round perles. I also like the shiny stripes' contrast with the dull background stitches.

I'll try to finish tonight.

Main blog at http://blog.360.yahoo.com/chillyhollow

Margaret Speaks

Yesterday Margaret wrote:

"I am waiting to see how you stitch the top orange and purple stripes. Will it be a bulky overturned knitted sock top or a spangle dangle banner effect? Also how are you going to do the green wig? Surely a squiggly wiggly loose ended stitch is called for. I'm watching to see."

You know, deciding what goes on the stocking top is a very interesting point. I could make it wooly and ribbed like a real stocking or do something more decorative. As you can see above, I'm going for more decorative. I am doing long cross stitches for the striped top. You can't really see how it looks yet as I only have two finished and a third started. But I didn't have any of the right colors in a wool or wool/silk thread and I did have leftovers from Autumn Leaves in the orange and red-orange. The stocking is painted with hot pink, too but I don't have anything that color so I'm going red-orange instead. In other words, what I am doing is dictated by what's in my stash. I don't have easy shop access so very often I must use what I have.

Even if I did have the right wool colors, however, I probably would not have used them. The silk/wool Felicity's Garden is perfect for a muted background, but do I want a muted striped stocking top? I don't think so. I want that to be over-the-top!

I also finished the background and dotted orange beads all about it in a regular pattern. Hope you can see them. They show up well in person but not in photos.

Hopefully tomorrow you'll see more stripes and can judge how they look. As for the green fright wig, you'll just have to wait and see!


Main blog at http://blog.360.yahoo.com/chillyhollow

Gold and White and New All Over

Gay Ann Rogers has rearranged her website to showcase various collections, update news in one place, and make a special offer of a new design in kit form (above) on perforated paper.

http://www.gayannrogers.com/site_2/Small_Designs.html

Yiou really owe yourself a visit. Start at the home page and explore the lovely feminine world of GAR....

http://www.gayannrogers.com/site_2/Home_Page.html

Main blog at http://blog.360.yahoo.com/chillyhollow