Speaking of Blogs

I'm following along as several blog writers talk about painted canvases they are stitching. It's fascinating! Are you into Halloween? Then you have to see what Michele of Bristly Thistle is doing with this Tapestry Tent/Susan Roberts canvas!
http://bristlythistle.blogspot.com/

Is football your favorite television program to stitch to? Then you are going to love what Lynne Segill at Wellesley Needlepoint did with a Julie Paukert canvas of the Patriots' stadium outside of Boston. See the smoke coming from the guns? How about that sky? I never would have thought to do sky and clouds in the same rectangular Woven Ribbons stitch!
http://wellesleyneedlepoint.com/ExclusiveDesigns.shtml

Judy Harper is having a great time stitching a Squiggee mermaid. Isn't this a great canvas!? And it is small, too. You could stitch this before Christmas. Read the last link first. This is a blog, with the latest link on top of the list.
http://fairy-crafts.blogspot.com/2008/11/swimming-with-mermaids-again.html

http://fairy-crafts.blogspot.com/2008/11/joy-of-painted-canvas.html

http://fairy-crafts.blogspot.com/2008/10/mermaid-getting-started.html

When you don't have time to stitch yourself, a visit to see what other folks are doing is both inspiring and doesn't take that much time out of your day.

Jane/Chilly Hollow
Main blog at http://blog.360.yahoo.com/chillyhollow

Fix That Hem

Yesterday I left the Medieval Cat with a blue line along her hem. To fix it, first I covered the line with continental stitches, the tent stitch variation that does well in vertical lines. Because the background tent stitches are in #8 perle cotton in the light colored ecru, they didn't quite cover and the blue line peeked through in places. If I'd been using an ecru wool, I probably wouldn't have this problem. Some threads are more elastic and cover better. If I'd been using DMC's #5 perle, the largest size after #8, it might have been ok also. And if the background had been navy, the blue lines might not have been noticeable.

But I didn't use a fatter or more stretchy thread or a darker color, so I had to cover up the problem. The photo above shows my first attempt. I laid a long line of silver Kreinik in #32 braid at the base of the skirt right on top of the blue line. You don't see it in the photo (I wanted you to see the blue line peeking from under the tent stitches) but I then put a line in gold under the red part of the skirt. I had planned to couch these down with a matching gold or silver blending filament but I didn't like the overall look. So my first attempt failed.

Not to worry, I am always full of ideas! I actually like mistakes because fixing them brings out my creative side. I have done my best stitching to fix problems.


Here's my second attempt. I stood the cat on her hem and stitched red and blue lazy daisy stitches along the base of the hem and covered the line that way. I like how this looks. It's not obtrusive and gives a nice decorative effect. In fact, I think I like this better than the plain hem that is intended for this angel. This is a cat from Medieval France according to the instructions. I can't see a French cat with a plain hem!

I may do something like this on another angel's hem. I also might try tracing the outlines for another angel onto my NP canvas with a hard pencil (4-6 hardness) as the instructions say. Who knows? A hard pencil might take good photos and not make me come up with neat tricks to hide my mistakes!

Jane/Chilly Hollow
Main blog at http://blog.360.yahoo.com/chillyhollow