As you can tell from the little thumbnails I have posted in the right (Blogspot blog) or left (Yahoo 360 blog) columns of Blog and Mirror Blog, I've already chosen what I'm going to stitch next. It's Squiggee Time in Chilly Hollow! I'm going to stitch two of Gail Hendrix's small designs that she markets under the Squiggee name. You probably have seen lots of Gail's more traditional pieces that are sold by The Point of It All. Squiggee is her line of small pieces, many of which are fun quick items. I'll talk about the lovely koi when I get to it, but first I'm going to start with the cute Halloween stocking of trick or treating kids in full costume.
This is a design that is around three inches tall and three inches wide at the toe. It's painted on 13 count (not 18 count) canvas. It is very small and won't take very long, particularly on the larger 13 count canvas. As you can see, the background is plain purple, the top of the stocking is striped oranges and purple and the kids all wear black or purple. The three beads that are their masks come with the canvas. It also has a small packet of orange beads to put underneath the striped top and the purple background. You may not be able to tell each child's black robe is painted with sparkle paint, which tells me I should use a black metallic thread on the robes to add sparkle to them as the designer intended.
I've removed the beads and buttons and put them away in a tiny plastic bag with the threads I intend to use. The stocking is on stretcher bars and I've pulled a bunch of threads from my stash. My first step is going to be stitching the two black robes on either side of the central figure. They are going to be in cross stitches in Kreinik's black 1/15 inch ribbon. I thought about doing just tent stitches, but I think I want the black robes and the hat to be slightly raised. I am stitching them first so I can see how various background stitches work with them and decided I wanted them a bit more raised than tent stitch will do.
Given my new emphasis here on technique, I need to point out I am going to lay the cross stitch legs with a laying tool and make sure I remember always to have the same \ direction on top. I am also going to complete each cross stitch before starting the next. You can do a row of XS with just the first step / for each and then work back the other direction in the row to add the top \ but since I am constantly interrupted when I stitch and it's easy to forget where you are, especially when you are stitching with black threads on a black canvas, I'm going to be careful to complete each stitch before moving on to the next.
If you want to stitch along, feel free. It's always fun to have company here at Blog. These two canvases are available from Gail Hendrix on her Squiggee website. If you enjoy visiting there, make sure you check out Gail's two blogs. Unlike what I do, she often posts different things to each blog on the same day, so visiting everywhere is a must!
http://squiggeedesigns.com/
http://360.yahoo.com/squiggeebuns2
http://squiggeedesigns.blogspot.com
Mirror blog at http://chillyhollownp.blogspot.com
Main blog at http://blog.360.yahoo.com/chillyhollow
