A Christmas Present for You

I've been saving a special present for you for Christmas--Anne Stradal has a blog!

http://thecapestitcher.blogspot.com/

Right now she is alternating photos of her Christmas designs with an explanation of how to transfer a black and white line drawing to NP canvas and then how to create texture and light/shadows on a piece with just black and white threads. It's fascinating reading. Go to the bottom of the blog and click on Earlier Posts, then start reading from the bottom forward to the top page.

I hope you enjoy this special holiday visit to Cape Cod and Anne. By the way, the little ornament above is from her website and there's a link to the front door on the upper left hand corner of her blog.

Merry Christmas, Anne!

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

Half a Wig is Better Than None

I didn't get any stitching done on The Geisha's wig last night--Christmas madness has struck Chilly Hollow and there are many last minute items to see to before the holidays. So you'll have to be satisfied with a photo of my progress to date, which is the lower half of the wig with some stitching done on the top. I didn't enhance this photo. I wanted you to see how the left side wing of the wig looks grey while the right wing looks black. That's the light reflecting from the scanner in different ways. Flat silk when laid carefully bounces light in all directions and these two "wings" are slanted differently. So the light is reflected differently.

I am considering whether to even off the right wing's tip. It isn't noticable in person that there are many separate strands of silk there. I'll think about it. I also see in the photo one of the Accentuate long stitches has moved around. I'll put it where it belongs tonight. A photo or scan is great for these little things which are often not noticable in real life.

Glenda posted that it helps her to stitch black threads on black to put a red cloth or towel in her lap. If I have time to stitch tonight I'll try that. Thanks, Glenda.

The pink comb in the wig was stitched before I started laying the silk for the wig. I first tent stitched the little comb teeth with Kreinik 1/16" metallic ribbon in the lavender/pink shade #093, then I did long slanting stitches \ along the diagonal line for the bottom base of the comb with the same thread. The final step was to do a long narrow cross stitch on top of each comb tooth with Accentuate in Lavender #111 and then do long horizontal stitches across the comb base, again with the Accentuate. This very thin and strong metallic thread adds a tiny bit of darker color to the comb and also holds the long slanting stitches in place.

I'll use the same 1/16" ribbon to stitch the large pink hair stick that is on the right near where the length of black silk end stitcks up on the front of the canvas. I left that untrimmed so you could tell where it is approximately. I probably will bring up that thread at the base of the hair stick before I lay the silk around it, then put it down gentle on top of the silk. I think that will disturb the wig stitches less than having to come up at the hair stick's end in the background area and plunge the thread through the wig stitches.

Everyone else, hope your holiday isn't too hectic -- or too cold, snowy and icy!

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