More Flowers, More Skirt

Holi has a few more flowers on her halo (I'll talk about them when I am sure they are all done) and a couched dividing live between the outer and inner heart-covered skirt.

The couching is one linke of the heavier #16 braid Kreinik, tied down about every three holes with the skinnier #4 very fine braid Kreinik. The next line that was couched had the couched thread start in a different hole, but I skipped three holes to do each tie down. So the effect is staggered, not a straight line of couching. I also decided to remove the outline around Holi's head. Instead, I restitched all the brick stitches with another strand of Wisper. Wisper's very thin (think wispy beard of a very old Asian man) instead of full (think Santa's beard). In the end, the more I stitched on top of the head, the more the fur seemed thin in comparison.

I need to do a lot more tent stitching on the background, so don't expect much to see for a few days. By the way, the colors are off in the image above. I darkened and sharpened the image so you could see the outlines of the unstitched wing, each of the halo's flowers, etc. better.

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

Holi's Floral Halo

Holi has most of the flowers I planned stitched on top of, under or beside her halo now. I still need to add some small gold beads but ran out of time. Once everything is done, I'll post a closeup photo for you to study. I outlined Holi's head in stem stitches using my ecru perle cotton #8 but I might rip that out and try using the same white Whisper I used for the fur instead. Haven't decided on that yet. Note that the paw is not outlined since I haven't finished the tent stitch background around it yet.

I finally choose a thread for step four on the overskirt. That's the skirt area filled by lime green boxes with overdyed yellow and orange Kreinik in a cashmere variation inside. The isntructions say to use the same thread used when one tented stitched around the perimeter of the box innards, but since I used #16 braid (in Kreinik's 5982 which is dark green mixed with lighter green and gold) for those stitches, I thought it was too heavy a thread. I rummaged around in my stash and found a spool of Kreinik #085 in #4 very fine braid. #4 braid is much smaller and even though 085 is blue, green and gold, I thought it would work. You see the result in the photo. The tiny #4 very fine braid looks nice on top of the yellows and oranges and because it is thin, you don't notice that it has much more blue in it than the original 5982 color.

I guess my next step will be to finish the halo off with beads, then start on the dividing line that separates the two halves of the skirt. I'm not sure if I will use the overdyed orange/yellow Kreinik or the green and gold Kreinik. Stay tuned!

I just might use both....

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

2009 Woodlawn Plantation Needlework Exhibit

The 2009 Woodlawn Plantation needlework show is in its 46th year. It looks good for something nearly as old as me! This year there was lots of NP and not much XS or beading (although the winner for a miniature piece was the Lavender and Lace Designs "Angel of Winter" on at least 32 count fabric with tiny little crystal beads clustered around the angel's neckline meticulously stitched by Kennth Toon).
http://www.tiag.com/images/designs/LL-33.jpg

Several lovely original pieces were exhibited, such as the two Adam and Eve clocks by Marie Driskill that won a blue ribbon and a Judge's Choice award.

UPDATE: These pieces are charted as counted thread designs and available from the designer at this website--
http://blackberrylanedesigns.bigcartel.com/

The smaller rectangle clock features Adam and Eve and the tempting apple tree with the snake coiled around the trunk as the clock face; the other clock is a long rectangle of a clock face with a full scene of A&E under the tree (still with snake around the trunk) but this larger design has blue skies with clouds and birds flying, a little creek, a peacock, a deer, a fox, and down in the foreground, the lion & lamb resting together. It was surface embroidery and in a somewhat primitive style. A docent and I talked about it, me claiming A&E motifs aren't popular these days and asking why this choice, and the docent saying look at all the animals-it's an excuse to stitch wonderful animals. She was right, of course.

I saw many more pillows than usual (the number have been increasing the last 2-3 years) and a lot of flower designs, often framed. I particularly remember two lovely framed single thistle flowers in an Arts and Crafts style, each with curved and symmetrical leaves. Both were by the same stitcher (Anna Garris Goiser) and beautifully framed. Classical design in crewel wool doesn't get any better than this. One thistle won a very deserved blue ribbon. Crewel is coming back, by the way. I saw several crewel pieces in the traditional wool (a chair seat and a long wool coat covered in a crewel landscape of flowers and birds) and several more pieces in NP with crewel-style patterns.

I only noticed one Japanese Embroidery piece that showed a swallow flying among the plum or cherry blossoms on trailing tree limbs. But there were lots of mermaids! I've seen many mermaid motifs in samplers (this area is a hot bed of the repo sampler movement) but these were NP. It always amazes me to see stitchers simultaneously and independently decide to stitch the same subject matter. This year there were no Easter canvases at all, but last year there were 15-20 rabbits, Easter eggs, ducks, Fabrege eggs, etc. The Halloween designs were not as frequent as in the past but Christmas designs are holding steady. How on earth do we all decide to stitch (or not) the same themes at the same time? I can understand why some years there are many Japanese Embroidery pieces and other years there aren't many. These are large piece done for the various stages in JE study, and the people who showed last year might not have finished the next stage in time to show their work.

Speaking of Christmas pieces, there were two artificial trees full of cute ornaments on display and almost 10 large Christmas stockings, all lovely. But my favorite Christmas piece didn't win any awards. It was just charming, a cat with a crown on its head and a flying scarf out on the snow with a mouse friend (also with a scarf) examining the wrapped presents stacked on the ground, each with a bow and its own cat paw marked name tag. The snowflakes in the sky, the expression on the cat's greedy face, the little pointy nose of the mouse, they all combined to make me smile. The piece was very nicely stitched by Marla Frazier and I enjoyed seeing it a lot.

UPDATE:  This is a canvas by Lee which turned up in 2010 on the Destaashing Blog.  I decided to update the 2009 Woodlawn report with the photo of the unstitched canvas above. You'll have to imagine the finished design!
http://stitchingdestashing.blogspot.com/2010/12/christmas-kat.html

Geometric designs in NP had lots of wonderful representative pieces. My favorite was probably Cheyenne Dyarman's original bargello piece, full of lots of color and many patterns. She won the Emma Mathison ribbon which is for the outstanding "junior" stitcher's piece. Young AND talented? Nothing makes me happier (or more jealous).

I saw Carole Lake's In a Purple Passion in peach,
http://www.carolelake.com/TeachingPieces/PurplePassion.htm

three versions of Laura Perin's Amathyst Dreams hung together (a black and silver version; a red, green and gold one; and a blue and green colorways) as well as a blue and green piece that I think is her Amber Waves. You can see both of Ms. Perin's designs here. Click on the thumbnail photos for a better look.
http://www.theneedlepointer.com/needlepoint-canvases_artist.asp?ArtistID=159

For once, the geometric stitchers showed none of Susan Portra's designs. This is the first year I've been to Woodlawn that I have not seen a Susan Portra piece on display but these are out of print long ago and with her website closing, they are probably going to continue being scarce. This U.K. shop has a nice selection, however. Bring Your Canvas To Life will be open until the end of this month and also has some of her charts. If you ever wanted to stitch one of Susan's pieces, I think you'd better buy your chart soon.
http://www.westendembroidery.com/s_portra.html

http://www.bringyourcanvastolife.com/page/page/3354979.htm

I forgot to mention the samplers. The large room where you enter the plantation is always full of samplers. I did notice this year how many large samplers there were and how many were the monochromatic all-over patterned type. The two big winners in samplers were a blackwork band sampler by Melissa Nichols that alternated bands in red, blue and green on what seemed to be 40 count linen (each stitch perfect, by the way, and the docents claim also perfect on the back side!) and a red one by John Kazmaier with slightly oriental motifs arranged as if it was a rug. Here are two links to explore. The first has lots of reproducation samplers. These are big at Woodlawn.
http://www.samplersrevisited.com/reproduction.cfm

The second shows typical one-color samplers. The ones on display at Woodlawn come from a variety of designers but I know Long Dog Samplers are highly esteemed by counted thread folk.
http://pagesperso-orange.fr/longdog/catalogue.html

Medieval knot gardens appeared in several forms--my favorite was the book cover on small count linen by Catherine Jordan which is an original piece. The garden there was walled with a large front gate and a small back one. Wisteria spilled over the front in exquisite tiny French knots while the four little green gardens, divided by crossed paths with symetrical patterns of green. They must be herbs and trimmed shrubs. It was lovely! Luckily, I found a photo on her website although when the photo was taken, the design was not mounted on the book cover yet. I am very tempted to give this piece my I'd Take It Home If I Could Award.
http://www.catherinesdesigns.net/samplers1.htm

Catherine also entered a second piece, one of her hand dyed linen boxes. It had a high rounded oval lid heavily padded and custom fabric dyed by Catherine to be clouds in a blue sky. The sides of the box had trees in autumn colors along the edges of meadows and fields. I wish I could have seen all the sides! I know there was a rising sun and suspect there were other wonderful things to see! Here is Catherine's website. This box isn't the one I saw but this will give you the idea. Her stitching is exquisite and the hand dyeing very subtle and beautiful.
http://www.catherinesdesigns.net/Painting_and_color.htm

A second garden you won't want to miss if you actually get to the show is the bird's eye view garden rug stitched by Diane Mitchell. It is an original design, laid out like one of those architectural plans of a garden with a brick patio, a terrace with the cat snoozing, and lots and lots of plants, all seen from above. The stitcher carefully matched plant colors in her garden to a tray of threads, according to the docent. The garden is very elaborate and the rug quite large, probably 2 feet wide by at least four long and it was a tremendous amount of work to stitch, all in tent stitches, on 18 count. The stitcher obviously put a lot of work into designing the rug, stitching it and of course maintaining the large garden it memorializes!

Until I saw this blog entry, I wasn't sure I'd mention the stitched chair I saw. It was turned to show the side so I am not sure if it was this one but you get the idea. It would be a fun challenge for a counted thread/surface embroidery fan.
http://lovetostitch99.blogspot.com/2009/03/peacock-stitching-chair-by-cats.html

Dorothy Lesher's gold metallic dragon was on display in the formal parlor. I wish it hadn't been on the far wall to the left of the chimney. This piece needs a close examination to see the various textures of all the different gold thread types.
http://www.needlepoint.org/Seminar-08/classes/4day/40813.php

Elena Miagkova's surface embroidery white feather peacock was in the same room. This piece mixed white feathers with lace eyelet "eyes" and some crewel type flowers into something quite special. The folk art influence on this piece is obvious but it doesn't belong in any one category. Actually, a mix of influences was apparent in quite a few pices on exhibit. Lois Fisher showed a ribbon embroidery piece done on paper with a watercolor background which was lovely. Kathleen M. Olex stitched a mixed blackwork and tent stitch portrait of autumn leaves which was gorgeous enough to pick up a Judges Choice ribbon.

I don't want you to think that the traditional was overlooked. Kaffe Fassett's shells pillow was on display, charming me with its subtle coloration and perfect tent stitches.
http://www.resurgence.org/gallery/kaffe-fassett/kaffe-fassett.html

Two of Mindy's Asian quilt designs were also done in tent stitches, with texture provided by various thread types. Three pages of Mindy's Asian quilt patterns start at the link below. They are lovely and always popular at Woodlawn.
http://www.mindysneedlepoint.com/asian_default.htm

And there were slip on mules and sandals, pocketbooks (I particularly liked the golden elephants on coral red bagette purse), a stained glass window pillow, and many many more pieces which would not surprise anyone transported from 1973 to see the show. It's just that the threads are modern and the designs first rate. That brings traditional needlepoint to the 21st Century and is a hallmark of our times.

As usual there were many Asian inspired designs. I loved Lee's wisteria kimono, and
http://www.silk-road-needle.com/images/Website/Lee%27s%20Needle%20Arts%20006.jpg

Sophia's paper umbrellas fan and
http://www.needlenookoflajolla.com/storedir/products.php?cat=116

the lovely little turquoise "takeout" box purse with a geisha and double cherry blossom pattern (number 15 on the designer's website).
http://www.dirksdesigns.com/ddc/keeg/designs/des_handbg.htm

One of Tony Minieri's teapots (the Washington, D.C. one with cherry blossom sprays and an American flag hanging in the background) made a lovely showing, plus there were a great many animal canvases. In fact, if it hadn't been for all the flower canvases, I would have said animal canvases of all shapes, sizes, styles and colors were the coming thing in NP design. I saw The Cowardly Lion, Victorian kittens, a fat modern cat, colorful butterflies, a giant ladybug and even larger bee in the midest of a very stylish border, a dormouse at a picnic, dog portraits, chickens, fish, owls, circus monkeys, and much more. There was even a frog dressed to shop carrying her Shop Til You Drop tote bag. All those animals personify stitching today. They were in NP, XS, blackwork, were in all styles, sizes and made up into all sorts of pillows, framed works of art, even a doggy bag lunch bag sporting a dog, tongue hanging out over his sporty bandana.

Woodlawn this year is traditional but mixes styles and threads to show a great diversity and also a clear interest in the flowers and animals of our natural world. I hope you enjoyed a brief report on the exhibit and what I saw there.

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

Our History and What It Teaches Us

I should be working on my Woodlawn report since I have the computer controls right now, but when I read the following on how the Plimoth Plantation folks are figuring out reproducing birds on their 17th Century embroidered jacket, it gave me a piece of the puzzle that is samplers.
http://thistle-threads.com.mytempweb.com/blog/index.php/2009/03/bird-butts-a-long-tail/

I don't "get" samplers. Folks here love them, though, and over the years in Chilly Hollow I have seen a lot of the reproduction and also the modern samplers. But the reproduction pieces, ones either modeled on old samplers or that exactly reproduce one stitched in the 18th-19th Century, don't appeal to me much. Many of them are pretty big so stitching them is a sustained task. What accounts for the charm? What am I missing?

Reading the above, I think they are time machines. They put us in the shoes of our stitching ancestors and teach us how much we have in common with them, as well as exactly what makes the stitching we do today different from the stitching done in 1814.

By the way, the example above is Mary Cottam's 1814 sampler, charted and sold by Scarlett Letter.
http://www.scarlet-letter.com/rsdescr/19thengl/cottam.htm

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

Bears in the Air

Bear canvases seem to be in the air in the Blog-o-sphere. Kathy is stitching a bear on her Tapestry Tent Entourage stocking. Click on the title of her March 14 posting to see the whole thing.
http://kmack-backtothefuture.blogspot.com/

And Jane is happily taking a class from Tony Minieri to stitch her Brenda Stofft Frontier Bear Santa. Isn't it turning out beautifully?
http://janew1102.typepad.com/my_weblog/2009/03/frontier-bear-progress.html

http://janew1102.typepad.com/my_weblog/2009/03/im-busy-stitching.html

By the way, the Stitching Sisters have a bunch of finished items to admire. There's a purse finished by Marlene's that's gorgeous, a Barbara Elmore room with a lovely chimney, mantel and mirror decorated for Christmas, a gorgeous pillow from Shelly Tribbey that will remind you of Audrey Hepburn, and the first stitched All That Glitters Xmas ornament from the Needle House monthly club.
http://nystitchingsisters.blogspot.com/

Kelly's dragonfly pillow is back from the finsher's. It's spring in pillow form.
http://kellysorts.blogspot.com/2009/03/dragonfly-is-back-from-finishing.html

Ruth Schmuff's finisher has come up with a way to add feet to Ruth's Halloween standups.
http://www.tistheseason.org/blog/2009/03/how-cute-are-these.html

I tell you, seeing all these wonderful designs is really inspiring. It's better than Spring (although I can't wait for Spring to arrive). Progress on Holi is slow--I did more tent stitched background last night. But I'll have something fun for you to look at soon. I bought a mixed bag of sequins at the crafts emporium yesterday at lunchtime. I think Holi will have a sequin or two on her floral halo.

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

In Need of Inspiration?

Are you in need of Inspiration? Then run--don't walk!--to the Stitchamaze website and sign up for the e-newsletter. Perhaps inspired by the writing she is doing for Needlepoint Now magazine, Rosalyn Cherry-Soliel is sending out a newsletter packed with links, information and photos of her current projects, and planning to release a DVD about her work next summer. Whether you plan to tackle canvas collage or not, you will love reading about her art needlepoint.
http://www.stitchamaze.com/joinmailing.aspx

If your inspiration needs different food, how about reading Mary Corbet's review of Embroidered Flora and Fauna?
http://www.needlenthread.com/2009/03/embroidered-flora-fauna-book-review.html

Are you a threadaholic or bitten by the History Bug? Then you will want to seek out the Spring 2009 issue of Sampler and Antique Quarterly.
http://thistle-threads.com.mytempweb.com/blog/index.php/2009/03/article-on-gilt-silk-twist/

Finally, if you just need eye candy in your life, try searching Flickr. Type in flowers or Siamese cats or landscapes or toys or anything else that catches your fancy and explore the photographs folks have published publicly on that topic. I am using Flickr for inspiration for the flowers that will cover Holi's halo eventually.
http://www.flickr.com/

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

Nifty Tools

Yesterday was pretty blah in CH. The weather was lousy (cool, overcast, damp, dark, etc.) and I worked on the tent stitch background behind the pet guardian angel dog Holi. Nothing worth mentioning.

But there was a surprise in my mailbox! A friend sent me one of the above. It's called a Snag Nab-It and it is intended to grab snagged yarn ends and return them to the back side of that pretty sweater you just knit/bought/wore. I could have used it Monday instead of my crochet hook on my chenille cowl neck sweater with two slight snags on the sleeve.

If you can't tell from the picture, the Snag Nab-It is a long needle (it's about the diameter of a size 18 tapestry needle, but much longer) without an eye on the rear end. Instead, it has grooves to catch a snag and pull it back into place. The person who sent it to me hoped I could use it on the misbehaving tied off ends of my rayon threads on Holi. I certainly will get good use of it there!

Here's an online photo. These things run between $2-$2.50 USD so shop around.
http://www.joann.com/joann/catalog.jsp?PRODID=prd10300&AID=1489912&PID=2187177&SID=Aa5zAASjFrg24SrxKPRxG2SGu6ywPQOd

Speaking of unusual tools, how about the bead spinner that Sue Dulle mentioned on her blog? Here it is in action. I want to buy one just to watch it!
http://www.beadspinner.net/page/page/3437207.htm

Do you use any unusual tools in your needlepoint? Comment below or email me at chilly hollowat hotmail dotcom and I'll report about it for you.

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

The Gingerbread House Series

Squiggee has just posted photos of all her gingerbread houses on her blog. I had no idea there were so many! I have always loved the blue and white Snow & Ice House, but you might prefer the log cabin, the castle, the pepermint stick house, the barn, one of the two Halloween houses, or maybe the thatched cottage or one of the fairy houses. Or one of the others....
http://squiggeedesigns.blogspot.com/2009/03/gingerbread-houses.html

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

Finally There Are Flowers

I've been dropping very large hints that Holi would have flowers somewhere on her person and last night I finally arrived at a point where I could start adding them. When I first saw the set of six pet guardian angels, I thought they should hold something in their paws. I didn't have a clue what until Holi started to evolve in my mind. The colors she wears were originally sparked by a photo of crepe paper flowers, after all. Since Holi celebrates those flowers and the Indian Festival of Holi (color), it seemed appropriate to add folk art style flowers on her halo and in one paw. She holds my interpretation of the hibiscus that has a third bud opening here in CH this morning. The center of the flower is 4-5 pink French knots in my pink Trebizond, surrounded by petals in the orange Panache and red Patina and a touch of the same red medium silk perle by Gloriana that makes up the braid on her sleeve in a French knot next to the pink ones. Folk art flowers are shaded with bright colors, after all. I used these two sources which both have images of Mexican floral embroidery for inspiration.

http://alliesinstitches.blogspot.com/2009/01/oaxacan-embroidery.html

http://worldembroideries.blogspot.com/2009/01/huipul-from-central-america.html

Holi's halo has one lazy daizy flower so far, done in a bit of the red Patina which I unraveled (Patina is a rayon perle thread) from the strand and then made petals from. The red center is a fake bullion in the red Gloriana perle. To make fake bullions, tie a knot in your perle thread (it doesn't work for any other type of thread than perle), come up, pull on one part of the perle and slide the other bits down to the canvas, thread up the ends of the unraveling perle again and tie off on the back. Easy!

The fake bullion technique is adapted from something the thread magician David McCaskill taught us on the ANG email list. Thanks, David!

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

News, Good and Bad

If you have been following Plimoth Plantation's stitching of their reproduction 17th Century jacket, you will have been a bit shocked to find the museum is laying off staff and isn't going to display it as planned. But they are scrambling to get the jacket finished, are going to have it displayed at two unnamed museums, have transferred the blog describing the action to another owner, and are generally busy as little stitching bees regardless. This thing is going to happen, economy or no.
http://www.plimoth.org/embroidery-blog/2009/03/16/project-changes/

In happier news, Sue reports on the NAN exhibit in Kansas City. She also shares her own entry (second link).

http://sudukc.wordpress.com/2009/03/19/wonderful-world-of-needleart/

http://sudukc.wordpress.com/2009/03/20/my-nan-entry/


The latest award winners aren't up on the NAN website yet but if you aren't familiar with their work, please take a tour. This is a fabulous resource for free patterns and for wonderful pieces of stitching art to explore.
http://www.needleart.org/

If you are feeling a little down with all the things going on in the world today and with the long winter not really over yet, how about we do something totally different and visit with a seamstress in Kyoto? This week she reports on the doll festival that celebrates girl children. It's wonderful, as always, and a good antidote to the blues. The photo above is a Hani Matsuri doll, by the way.
http://www.wabei-mono.com/blog/2009/03/20/and-a-happy-belated-girls-day/

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

New Skirt, No Flowers

My Tudor Dog Holi has the outer skirt almost finished now. This is a four step stitch. First you stitch the framework of steps that makes up the box frames. I did this in an overdyed green medium perle from Gloriana that was an experiment, not an item you can buy. (It was a gift from a dear friend who sweet-talked it out of Gloriana's owner.) Then I filled the perimeter of each box with tent stitches done in Kreinik's 5982, which is a deep green and gold (I used #16 medium braid). The third step was to fill the empty middle of the box with overdyed Kreinik in ThreadworX's yellow and orange #71072. You use a modified cashmere stitch for this.

I've not done the fourth step yet. You are supposed to add a long stitch that reaches most of the way across the box (but not all the way) in a long slanting stitch / in the same thread as the tent stitches that go around the edge. The slant echoes the \ diagonal of the underskirt and makes the patterns flow together visually.

I like how this looks so far and will decide whether to do the last step, and if so, in what thread, later.

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

Head of the Dog, Swedish Ornaments and More

Holi has a halo now, as well as ear, nose and eye touches. The black eye and nose are a few plies of Splendor in straight stitches while the pink inner ear is a few straight stitches in dark pink Designer's Dream. Note how much darker the pink is than the white fur of the ear. I had pale pink Designer's Dream but it didn't show up against the white. I had to remove those stitches and use a much darker pink before the inner ear section showed up. Remember, two light shades often are not distinct enough for the eye to separate them. Ditto two dark and two medium shades. Usually you need to mix light with medium or dark with light, etc.

The #16 braid of gold 002 Kreinik is also a long stitch that was couched down with a little gold Accentuate metallic to make it bend like a halo. I have started the background around Holi's head also. I have continued to add diagonal rows of hearts on the inner skirt. Today I'll start work on the outer skirt.

In other news, I discovered photos of two of Leigh's Swedish Dynasty ornaments which are not on her website. These are the newest ornaments in the Dynasty series, which take motifs from various cultures and use them as ornaments. Here are the official Swedish Dynasty ornaments.
http://www.leighdesigns.com/Grp826x.html

At the January trade show Leigh also offered shops two limited edition Swedish ornaments. I saw them both at Waste Knot when I visited after the Woodlawn show. I love the painted roses pattern, but I know fans of Dalish animals will love the chicken. They both are pictured in the second row of designs here. The deal was shops could buy these at the show but when Leigh ran out, they were gone. I think a shop that got the limited edition ornaments can re-order but you can't get them any other place. So if you are a fan of these, order from Playful Needle where they apparently have both or call Waste Knot which had them both last week. I know, I drooled over the painted roses!
http://www.the-playful-needle.com/Index_new.html

http://wasteknotblog.com/index.php?option=com_dfcontact&Itemid=82

You can see the other Dynasty ornament sets here.
http://www.leighdesigns.com/ImgIdx2f.html

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

Beautiful Bargello

If you are a bargello fan, you must look at the website of Joyce Petschek, author of Beautiful Bargello, artist and tour guide to Italy and London and bargello.
http://www.bargelloarts.com/?page=10

Not all the links work for me at first. Explore and click on everything and you won't be sorry you did. Ms. Petschek does awe-inspiring and gorgeous work. Here's a bit about her book, which is worth seeking out for the lovely charted bargello designs she created.
http://www.amazon.com/Beautiful-Bargello-Charted-Needlepoint-Designs/dp/1570760934

Here's an old interview on the Caron website. The second link is the free project that accompanied the interview.
http://www.caron-net.com/may02files/may02des.html

http://www.caron-net.com/july02files/jul02cla.html

Note to Self: When we win the lottery, we really need to go on the London and the Tuscany bargello tours!

P.S. Liz Morrow has posted corrections to her bargello projects in Needlepoint Now on her blog. If you are stitching with Liz, make sure you print this out and put it with your copy of the magazine.
http://lizartblog.blogspot.com/2009/03/needlepoint-now.html

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

Hearts, Eyebrow Brush, Fur--But Still No Flowers

Holi got fur last night. In the photo above you see the card of white Wisper I used (one strand in a simple brick stitch over two threads) and also my eyebrow brush. The brush was a gift from my friend Mimi to use to make fuzzy threads fuzzier. It is perfect to brush up the delicate Wisper to turn it from somewhat lumpy-looking brick stitch into soft and touchable "fur."

Here is Rainbow Gallery's information about Wisper. Compare the diameter of it in the photo to the purple thread you see. The purple is four plies of Splendor. Please note that RG says to double the strand on 18 count but in brick stitch, it looked too heavy so I only used one strand.
http://www.rainbowgallery.com/jaystips.htm#35

http://www.rainbowgallery.com/detail.cfm?ID=79

I took before and after photos but since the thread is white, you really couldn't see the difference. In person, it is very obvious how much improved the Wisper is once it is brushed left, right, up, down, etc.

I need to add the nose and eye, then sttich a bit of background around Holi's head. The reason I will do this next (as well as another row of diagonal hearts which I added to last night) is to do with the flowers I keep mentioning but not stitching....

Stay tuned!

P.S. If you have the broad Revlon eyebrow tweezers, you might want to see how they are used in gold metal embroicery.
http://thistle-threads.com.mytempweb.com/blog/index.php/2009/03/tweezers/

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

Kristen from Carolina

I got a note via the Yahoo 360 system from Kristen asking for help identifying the stand up Santa in this portrait of Sue Jennings I took at Woodlawn. Since the default when you send a message this way is that anyone getting such a message can't reply, I'm posting my answer here so Kristen will see it.

I am not sure if she means the Santa on the far right (KS Designs) or the Santa head (Shelly Tribbey) on the pole, but here are the two websites for Kristen to browse and find the canvases.

Kristen, the right hand corner Santa you can barely see in the image most resembles the Naturalist Santa here but without the stuffed animal or the tree. Go to Gallery, then browse the Christmas and Stand Up sections plus What's New for a good look at many Kathy Schenkel designs.
http://www.kathyschenkel.com/Gallery/Christmas/13/Large-Stand-up-Santas/26.html

I think the Washington, D.C. Shelly Tribbey Santa face is a limited edition. Check with shops in the D.C. area to see if you can find it. Shelly's website has a lot of similar Santa heads and can probably point you to a place to pick up the D.C. Santa.
http://www.shellytribbey.com/christmas/santas/index.html

If Sue sees this, she'll let me know exactly who the designers and which canvases these are. By the way, the patriotic angel stand up on the left is from Mile High Princess (distributed by The Artists Collection). Here are their latest patriotic designs.
http://www.a-z-needlepoint.com/products-s/artistscoll-mhp2213.shtml

http://www.needlenookoflajolla.com/designers/artist_collection/index.html

The latest Mile High Princess canvases can be browsed here.
http://www.artistscollection.net/Artists_Collection/Design_Gallery.html

Thanks for your kind words about Blog, Kristen. Hope this is what you needed!


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

More Hearts, Still No Flowers

I didn't mention yesterday how I went about putting so many colors in such a small area. Basically, I choose a light color (yellow) for the background and then picked very bright (lime green) or strong (the reds) shades, usually picking two versions of a color. There's the red silk Trebizond and the red nylon Patina, for example. They are slightly different in shine and depth of color, which I thought would allow me to do two reds in a row but they'd not be too much because they'd be identical.

I tried to get enough variety (two blues, a blue teal, two reds, one orange because a lighter orange would not stand out on the yellow background, pink, two purples, three greens, etc.) so that Holi's underskirt would look like a flower bed planted in all colors of the rainbow.

Also, if you ever tried to color all the states in third grade like I did with only three colors, you know you need at least five or Kentucky will be the same color as Tennessee. In other words, you need 5 colors at least to mix so that you don't have rows where two colors touch or touch the same color on the diagonal row above or below the one you are working.

Other than that, just eyeball it and put navy where you haven't had any in a while. Very scientific, no? LOL

By the way, you might find what Kelly has written on her blog about her background color struggle interesting. Background color is important and hard!
http://kellysorts.blogspot.com/2009/03/background-choices.html

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

Frankly My Dear

Needle Nook of La Jolla has details of their latest monthly club up on their website. It's a series of small canvas by Maggie that reproduce the childlike and sophisticated art of Frank Bielec. They call it Frankly My Dear.

http://www.needlenookoflajolla.com/events/frankly/index.html

Not all the canvases in the series are up yet but you can browse his Maggie designs on their website to get a general idea of what you might be signing up for. Most of the canvases are slyly funny. Check out the Three Wise Men on page three. The title of their portrait is First Christmas Shoppers. LOL This is pretty typical of the designs, which are not nearly as child-like as they first seem.

http://www.maggieco.com/html/drill.php?category=&pg=1&q=@Frank%20Bielec

They lend themselves to fancy stitches and threads, so if you like your humor subtle and your canvases embellished, this might be the club for you!

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

Blogspot is Sick

I apologize to those who read Blog via Blogspot for the odd things that are happening to the data in the right hand column of this page. Everything has been pushed down to the bottom of the page, then popped back up where it belongs. The list of blogs I follow disappeared, then reappeared. Odd things are happening!

All we can do is wait patiently for Google to figure out what's going on and fix it. Anyone bothered enough by this can visit Blog at the Yahoo 360 address below. I post identical information both places just for this reason.

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

More Hearts, No Flowers

I've continued to add diagonal rows of hearts to Holi's underskirt. In order to anchor the nylon perle and Trabizond silk perles I'm using for the hearts, I started putting the tent stitches (yellow Splendor floss) around each row. That seems to hold the slippery nylon threads better. By the way, the purple heart on the right which isn't done yet is a hand dyed thread Odette sent me from South Africa. It's a very nice nylon perle, dyed an intense purple, that is even easier to work with than my Patina. I have to double it, as it is around the size of #12 perle, but I do like it a lot. The thread is from House of Embroidery and the label says is it rayon and 100% Viscoss. The color is #34 Lavender. Here is their website.
http://www.houseofembroidery.com/h_page.asp

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

Holi, The Tudor Dog

I just started on my 5th household pet guardian angel, the Tudor Dog. If you've been following all of us stitching this series to auction off in Milwaukee at the ANG Auction this fall, you know two other Tudor Dogs are done. Pat has been busy with hers
http://needleartnut.blogspot.com/2009/02/we-have-wings.html

and Margaret just finished hers.
http://cranecottage.com/stitchingblog/?p=876

Note that my dog and theirs all are different breeds. This outline drawing had three different heads so one could customize their angel to their liking.

My dog's name is Holi, after the Festival of Color in India last week. I didn't want to stitch my dog in the same beautiful colors that Pat and Margaret used. Inspired by a photo of crepe paper flowers from last years' Cince de Mayo celebration in California, I decided to use a riot of color. When I discovered the festival on the day I started my dog, well, it was meant to be!
http://www.holifestival.org/holi-festival.html

Here's more color inspiration from our friends in India. Holi's got a lot to live up to!
http://artnlight.blogspot.com/2009/03/kerala-truck-graphics.html

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

Happy St. Patrick's Day! UPDATED

I celebrated by arranging a power outage overnight that turned off the alarm and made me almost an hour late to work, so I have no blog entry for you today except to send you to visit Laura Perin, who is celebrating the Day of the Irish with a wonderful series of postings about her Celtic designs that started last week.
http://two-handedstitcher.blogspot.com/

You'll want to browse a bit, then head to Anne Stradal's blog to see her Celtic penguin.
http://thecapestitcher.blogspot.com/2009/03/happy-saint-patricks-day.html

Everyone wear green for me today!

UPDATE: Squiggee has a slide show of shamrock-themed pieces on her blog you won't want to miss.
http://squiggeedesigns.blogspot.com/2009/03/happy-st-pattys-day-to-all.html

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

The Renaissance Rat With Lace Collar and Halo

I finished the Renaissance Rat this weekend by adding a gold metallic belt (The #16 braid is couched down with matching gold in the #4 braid), a wire halo wrapped in the gold and then the red and gold Kreinik (which is a bit mashed in the photo since she was laid face down on the scanner for a picture), a gold lace collar made with my #4 braid in three rows of blanket stitch, a shiny black nose and eye in black metallic Cresta d'Or, and a little fancy gold stitch on the sleeve using gold Accentuate.

She was a lot of fun to do in the various metallic threads, the nylon Patina and the red silk Trebizond, and of course the lovely browns in Impressions.

Next up, the Tudor Dog. I also have to do the Georgian Rabbit but I decided to do the dog next since I had an eye about the colors I wanted to use for the dog.

Before I forget, Nordic Needle has a lot of threads on sale. Browse the link to see if the brand you prefer has a color you need listed.
http://www.nordicneedle.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=CTGY&Store_Code=NN&Offset=&Category_Code=L06-00-00&ph=&pl=&CpField=&CpValue=&show=&SortBy=id-asc&Search=

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

March 2009 Chilly Hollow Newsletter Article

If you love traditional oriental rugs, I have some wonderful resources for you to explore.

Anne Stradal is going to adapt a traditional Kyrgystan bed hanging to NP.
http://thecapestitcher.blogspot.com/2009/03/exploring-distant-land.html

She already has turned more traditional oriental rug patterns into NP.
http://thecapestitcher.blogspot.com/2009/03/magic-carpet-ride.html

Jan Fitzpatrick is busily creating her own rug from motifs she has taken from Moroccan tiles. She's also worked up smaller patterns from henna tattoos.
http://threadmedley.wordpress.com

If you are at all interested in trying this on your own, I have three books in my library to recommend to you.

The first is Janet Granger's Miniature Needlepoint Carpets. This paperback book by a dollhouse miniature artist has 25 rug designs charted, from a tiger skin rug to an Art Deco style rug to dollhouse carpet runners. The introduction talks about how to design your own pattern and outlines how to stitch and finish a dollhouse carpet.

Frank M. Cooper's book Oriental Carpets in Miniature is also miniature rugs but this paperback concentrates on charting oriental rugs in various authentic styles. His chapters are grouped into Turkish Rugs, Caucasian Rugs and Persian Rugs. Each of the 24 charts has a brief description of the region where this rug style originated. The rugs are beautiful and more elaborate than the Granger ones but they are also harder to stitch the designs are for traditional oriental rugs only.

Finally, the immortal Maggie Lane has a book of rug charts that has very beautiful designs. Her book is called Chinese Rugs Designed for Needlepoint. I would love to have one of these! Her graphed rugs are adaptations of Chinese motifs into rug patterns and she does talk about how to finish your own rug. There are only ten designs in the book but reading it brings her personality to life and you will fall in love with Chinese rugs as you read what she has to say about them.

Needlepoint Fun has a book and several miniature rug kits for sale on their website.
http://www.needlepointfun.com/pix7.htm

To wrap up, let's visit Access Commodities' rug adventure. Perhaps there is a similar magic carpet in your future?
http://www.accesscommodities.com/orderforms/aMagicCarpet.pdf

Jane, who loves oriental rugs in CH

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

What I Did on Spring Vacation

Yesterday was Friday the 13th. I looked out of the window before dawn to discover it was snowing. There was only one thing to do--go see the Woodlawn Plantation needlework show! So I did. Above you see the main building at Woodlawn Plantation. There were two daffodils in bloom in one flowerbed. Spring can't be too far away, despite the snowflakes! I also hit four shops in the general area of Woodlawn Plantation. This is the one time of year when I actually am able to visit the shops. It'll take me some time to write up what I saw at Woodlawn, so how about I talk about the shop visit and tell you a bit about each? They all are worth visiting when you are at the show, or any other time of year. In Stitches: In Stitches is very close to the entrance of Woodlawn. When I left the show, I turned left and at the top of the hill (2-3 traffic lights) I turned right into the shopping center with McDonalds's and found their entrance. In Stitches is a counted thread and knitting shop with a nice line of painted canvases. Here is their website. http://www.institchesneedlework.com/ It carries the full line of Mill Hill beads and findings, a huge array of stitching tools and gadgets, and some painted canvases. You can buy all the Paternayan, Needlepoint Inc. and Thread Gatherer threads here. They also carry the Gumnuts line of silks and wools, plus a nice selection of other thread lines. If you like counted thread, you will love this shop! I indulged myself by buying two of the Kelmscott Designs needle minder magnets, the initial letter ones with cherubs. http://www.sewandso.co.uk/ran2701-0.html I was tempted by their small embroidery scissors with the large finger holes, but I decided my slightly arthritic thumb can do without those for a while longer. I know where they are carried and can always pick up a pair next year. Sadly, the only time I visit In Stiches is after I browse the Woodlawn needlework show. It is just too far away for me to get there any more frequently. But I highly recommend any visitor to Woodlawn stop by. It is really quite close and worth the visit. Then I jumped in the car and drove about 45 minutes to my next stop--Needlewoman East. The shop has changed hands in the last year but it is still "my" LNS. You see the former owner, Sue Jennings, in the slide show. She was demonstrating needlepoint on the second floor of Woodlawn and allowed me to take a photo for her many friends to see. She is surrounded by her stitching. Sue loves patriotic designs in red, white and blue. Even the Tony Minieri piece she has on exhibit was a cherry red and blue and cream version of what I think is his Chicago du Soir design, in a beautiful cherry wooden frame. http://www.institchesatlanta.com/tonym.html The shop is owned by Liz now and since she's a fellow threadaholic, I turned to her for help finding a mauve pink substitute for a Splendor silk that isn't working for a piece I'm doing on congress cloth. Two plies of Splendor is too much and one isn't enough to cover on 24 count. Liz lead me to the pretty pink Soie Crystale and the equally lovely Elegance silk perle. Both match the color of my Splendor so I have two choices now. By the way, here's the shop website. Lis plans to update it fairly soon and to include a photo of the framed crossed stitch piece her elderly mother-in-law surprised her with - the shop exterior, beautifully framed with Needlewoman East cut into the mat board. I took a photo but it didn't turn out. I'm sorry! It is delightful and a wonderful present from Liz's MIL. [UPDATE: The camera disgorged the photo of the stitched front of NW East and I added it to the slide show.] http://www.theneedlewomaneast.com/Welcome.html You'll love seeing all the latest threads at NW East. Liz has a great many of the most popular, including Burmilana, Vineyard Silks, Soy Silk, Mandaran floss, all the colors of Splendor and Watercolors (plus the matching Waterlilies silks and Wildflowers cotton perle), and much, much more. She carries the largest selection of painted canvases in the area, so if you are a painted canvas person, you really must visit! The unusual thread snips you see in the photo came from Liz. She doesn't know who manufacturers them, but they are Japanese. I can't wait to try them out. I found similar "thread nips" at this Baltimore website, but these don't have the rubber grip protectors. These are sharp, mind. You need to keep them away from pets and small children (and husbands who like to use your best scissors to cut articles from the newspaper). http://www.allstitch.net/product/412-squeezers-thread-nips-1708.cfm Sadly, I was only half way through my shop tour and it was already after lunch, so I grabbed my threads and new thread nips and jumped into the car for the adventure of finding a brand new shop I hadn't visited before that is less than 4 miles from NW East--Waste Knot. Here is the shop website. http://www.wasteknotneedlepoint.com/ The shop is a bit hard to find but I'd been warned to look for a little strip mall with a pastry shop on the end. Waste Knot is around the corner in the back, in the bottom level with the pastry shop above it. What a clever idea! I can now add to my stash and waistline simultaneously! I parked the car in the parking lot behind the Lee Heights shop fronts, jump out and dashed down the stairs. The shop is a delight, very light and airy despite being the basement. It is full of the Lee leather goods. You can buy totes, coin purses, the little wristlet purses, almost anything! And Lori the owner has canvases to match. These are beautiful pieces (the leatherwork pieces are first rate) and the easy finishing makes investing in a purse or pocketbook as well as the canvas a good bargain. You couldn't have these made up for you at this price. I was delighted to find Lori had come back from the TNNA market with the Leigh Swedish Dynasty special edition ornaments which are not shown on the Leigh website. She has the large Dalish chicken and the lovely rose tree pattern which I had not seen. She had several other Leigh designs, including the red-haired Las Vegas showgirl which I adore. It's not in my budget, though, so I confined myself to picking the size 22 needles I prefer and which I run out of often and a skein of mauve pink Lorikeet from Gloriana. http://www.glorianathreads.com/Lorikeet.html I adore Lorikeet. It doesn't look much in the photo but it is a very thin 9 ply overdyed wool, thin enough for silk gauze and certainly 1-2 plies will be perfect on my congress cloth. There is not another thread quite like it and since no one else in the area carries it, I was really happy to find a source. She also has the new Vineyard Silks Merino Wool. It is very pretty in the skein but I don't have a need for it and didn't buy any. Besides, this gives me a reason to come back, right? LOL I browsed all the Petei Santas, rummaged around looking at Christmas stockings and Nativities, enjoyed the Melissa Shirley and Kelly Clark pieces (I never knew the Kelly Clark Nativity canvases are that large!) and generally had a wonderful time, especially when I discovered that Lori also carries Sundance beads. No one else in the area has them, so definitely I will be back to shop here. Don't miss the class picture on the Waste Knot website of the Lee wisteria kimono with the acid green background. (click on What's New, it is at the bottom of the page) It will be taught here in a few weeks but the reason I'm pointing you to this piece is I saw the original model at Woodlawn where I think it won a blue ribbon (the tag was in the bright sun and I can't be sure). Very lovely subtle version of this piece which is a favorite of mine! I finally tore myself away as I had one more shop to visit and a 2 hour drive home still ahead of me. Luckily Scarlett Thread is on the way back to Chilly Hollow. This shop is in a new location in Great Falls which I pass heading north. It's in a similar place to Waste Knot in the back of a series of shops and partly basement but once you find it, you'll go back again and again. Despite there not being a pastry shop upstairs. [lol] http://www.scarletthread.com/ This is another counted thread shop, chock full of threads that no one else carries. I saw my first spools of Gilt Sylke Twist in person there yesterday. This is the reproduction silk and metal thread Plimoth Plantation talked Access Commodities into helping create and distribute. It's almost $20 a spool but it is beautiful! The gold glint is very subtle, not gaudy and the thread itself about the diameter of heavy sewing thread. This is a special thread for a very special project and I suspect the gold will be less subtle if you use it to do surface embroidery stitches. Sara had a spool of Lincoln Green and the Bisse (sort of ecru). The gold showed up better in the green than the ecru but that's just in the spool. Remember, threads stitched can look very different than in the spool or skein or on the card. http://www.needlestack.com/WebStore/Thread/Access_Twist.html If you need Jean Hilton or Laura Perin charts, this is the place to come. They also stock overdyed cotton threads that the repo sampler folks love as they give an instant faded look to any sampler or etui. I picked up the skein of Dinky Dyes ecru silk there, as well as the Gloriana purple silk robbon, the Gold Rush 18 (they have chainette metallics I can't get anywhere else), and the pink Silk Lame Braid. I could have picked up the Silk Lame Braid at NW East but I had forgotten I wanted some. The green Petite Sparkle Rays was hanging next to the Silk Lame Braid and they looked so pretty together, I had to have both. Then I saw the pretty lavender Snow and remembered I'd meant to get some of this, so I did. This was my last shop and I got a bit frantic to get everything on my list and anything that caught my eye as it is probably my last visit to any shop for 4-6 months and maybe longer. Scarlett Thread has started to carry more painted canvases. They've always had a nice line of crewel kits and wools, which no one else has in this area, and that attracted enough NP folks that Sara is expanding her painted canvases. She mostly has smaller pieces and many are in big portfolias she'll pull out for you to browse if you ask. (This is a small shop and things are everywhere so you may need to ask for directions.) I asked for magnets as I wanted my other initials in the Kelmscott thread minders which Scarlett Thread carries but they did not have the cherub initials. I was very happy to pick up the plain little square magnets instead. This are very strong and small, perfect for a canvas with not much margin in which to park needles. I love them already! My final purchase was an impulse one--the candy cane dog stocking. See the candy cane in his mouth? I saw a wonderful Woodlawn piece with raised sections which I'd like to try and reproduce here. I am sorry I don't know the designer to credit. Sara looked and looked and couldn't find out where she got this from, but perhaps a Blog reader will know. You guys know everything! This stocking is destined for my oldest friend who will adore it. I have a lot of plans on how to stitch this one already--some pieces just shout ideas at you and this one was whispering things to me the instant I saw it on the mobile display with all the cute little Melissa Shirley reindeer ornaments. I will spend the weekend writing up what I saw at Woodlawn. Stay tuned for that in a couple of days. By the way, if you visit any of theses shops, make sure you mention any guild membership you hold as they all have a small discount for us dedicated stitchers. Jane/Chilly Hollow Main blog at http://blog.360.yahoo.com/chillyhollow

TheadworX's Overdyed Metallics

The late Elaine Warner of Needle Necessities introduced overdyed Kreinik metallic thread to us at least five years ago. I loved that stuff! In the photo above you see a small packet of it in lilacs and greens from my stash (color 2078) on the right side. You may still be able to buy it packaged this way if your shop hasn't sold out. I think my package of lilac and green is #4 Kreinik braid but the label doesn't say.

Luckily ThreadworX is making this available to us again. Through the generosity of a friend I have some of the new colors to show you lined up on the left side. The colors are (top to bottom) 71122 (silver), 71043 (copper and a silvery green), 71154 (reds, blues, green, yellow, orange, purples and pink), 71072 (orange and yell0w), 71148 (yellow gold and copper) and 71077 (copper). These are all the #8 braid size of Kreinik.

Here is ThreadworX's website where you can browse the overdyed metallic colors as well as other threads they offer. Almost all the colors are offered in #4, #8 and #12 sizes.
http://www.threadworx.com/catalog.php

This is a wonderful thread. I especially love stitching bullions with it but it works well in any situation where you'd use a regular metallic thread. I am planning to use some of it on my next pet guardian angel for the ANG Auction, in fact.

Happy browsing!

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

Rat Face

I've started the interlocking goblein layer on top of my tent stitches in this picture. You can see the light ecru spots on the rat's head and neck. I did those first. They are awfully close in color to the ecru background but I think that'll be ok. I plan to work a stumpwork-style halo on top of her head and that'll distract from the fact that the spot and the background are too close a shade. They don't look it in the skein, however. That's why I chose the Impressions #1166 for the white spots. It looks good with the Impressions #1136 which is the darker brown.

Just goes to show you can't trust colors to look good when stitched just because they look good together lying on top of your canvas!

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

Bad and Good News

A friend sent me this news link about the Dimensions company, which is closing their XS kit factory. Luckily it sounds as if the employees will be transferred into another division. The news writer doesn't mention Dimensions' NP kits but I imagine they are made at the same location.
http://wfmz.com/view/?id=661113

The good news is I discovered a new silk thread. It is called TESS, which stands for True Embroideries Sleave Silk. This is actually Piper silk, repackaged and distributed by Helen M. Stevens, who is famous for her needle paintings of nature, small animals and insects.
http://www.fritillary.co.uk/Pages/silkthreads.html

Life is full of both bad and good things.

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

Rat as Background

I've been tent stitching Rat for weeks on end, it seems. Besides the ecru background that ties all the angels together as a family, I have tent stitched the face (except for the eye and nose area) and paw of this angel also. These tent stitches are a background for something I plan to do to add white spots to her head, detail to her ears and to her paws. But first you have to lay the foundation, so that's what I have been doing.

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

Nativity versus Nativity

For me, there's nothing more interesting than comparing what two talented stitchers do with the identical canvas. Unless they are both working a set!

Here's Kelly Clark's entire painted but unstitched Nativity set. There are 17 pieces in all on two pages.
http://www.kellyclarkneedlepoint.com/nativity

Here is what Amy Bunger is doing with the set. Click on any photo and then use the arrows to navigate. http://www.amybunger.com/nativity_set_home_study.html

Here is what Chaparral is doing with the set. I am sorry, but I don't know who did the stitching for their series. They have a lot of talented people working at the shop.
http://www.ndlpt.com/html/series/snativity.html

Very interesting! Some things are similar and some are different but they all are wonderful. I had a lot of fun studying the photos to pick out what each stitcher did differently and what they did the same, and figuring out what I liked and what I didn't. There really is no one "right" way to stitch a painted canvas. You do the best you can with your talent and the threads and stitches available to you.

But seeing masters at work is very educational!

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

Motto for the Day

Since today is the first work day after the time changed for us in the U.S.A. (we lost an hour's sleep Saturday night), I was especially pleased to come across the above design by Rob Ryan, courtesy of Art N Light's blog.

Rob has an Etsy store, where you can buy this charming pillow top.

http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5204464

Thinking of this will make stitching tonight, and maybe even getting up at 5 a.m. tomorrow, easier.

Maybe. But at least I have a motto now!

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

Hot Fix Swarovski Crystals

The latest thing to do with your needlepoint canvas is to attach Swarovski crystals that have heat-activated glue on the back on top of your stitching. This is done with a gadget similar to a hot glue gun. But different. Here are excellent pictures and instructions for attaching the crystals in general. I'll get to specifics for needlepoint in a minute.
http://www.hotfixcrystals.com/files/applicatorhowto.htm

There seem to be two types of hot fix "guns."
http://www.bullarddesigns.com/crystal_sets/lorna_det.htm

Here are tips for using both kinds of gadgets, again not specifically geared to needlepoint.
http://bcqonline.com/index.php?main_page=page&id=8&chapter=0

The Swarovski crystals come in various sizes. See chart here. There are a variety of colors also.
http://www.bullarddesigns.com/crystal_sets/crystal_catalog1.htm

Michele Herron of the Bristly Thistle has been experimenting with the crystals. You can read about her experiences on her blog. Check out the March 7th Kelly Clark basket canvas entry and the February 28th Melissa Shirley dress canvas entry.
http://bristlythistle.blogspot.com/

From Michele's experience it looks like the crystals which are 2 mm (6ss) cover approximately one thread intersection so they are similar to one tent stitch and the crystals which are 4 mm (16ss) cover approximately 4 tent stitches. Michele says you need a steady hand because it is easy to glue the smaller crystals to the wrong spot (although it seems you can reheat and move the crystals a small distance if necessary). Michele also says there is a bit of melting of her underlying Kreinik metallic thread as she set crystals on that background but she had no trouble gluing on top of silk threads. You might want to do some testing before you try this on an expensive stitched canvas, although she thinks that not pressing so hard helped keep this to a minimum and any melting didn't show up. Remember, her Kreinik background for the basket canvas is black, which probably also helped make a bit of heat melt inconspicuous. I would be very careful if my background was very light in color myself.

The first person I know of who used the hot fix crystals on her needlepoint was Ruth Schmuff. Here is her two sided Peppermint Santa, designed by Melissa Shirley.
http://www.tistheseason.org/blog/2009/01/santa-came.html

Ruth sells the Peppermint Santa canvas (both single and double sided versions) in her shop and sells a hot fix kit as well. I can't find the tool or crystal set on her website so I can't give you a price.
http://www.bedeckedandbeadazzled.com/products.php?catid=181&firstcid=3

If you are interested in hot fix crystals, I'd contact either Michele (here's the Bristly Thistle link)
http://www.bristlythistle.com/

or Ruth at their shops and see if you can buy a set and get personal tips for using the set on your canvas that really really needs Bling!

By the way, I can only vouch for Michele's and Ruth's online shops. I know nothing about the other links I put in this post. They were chosen for good information and photos, not because I know they are a good place to buy.

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

Book Review: Sundance Beads For Needlepoint--How To & Why Knot!

A friend sent me a copy of the new little booklet from Sundance called Sundance Beads for Needlepoint--How To and Why Knot! I'd been very curious about it since I heard Sundance had written a book to help folks put beads on their needlepoint. Sundance beads are a particular favorite of mine as they come in a lot of colors and finishes. Here's the Sundance website, but you won't see the booklet there. I guess they haven't updated their website in the last month or so since the book came out. Click on Catalogue, then choose beads from the drop down menu to see the huge variety of beads they sell.
http://www.sundancedesignsonline.com/

Back to the book review--Sundance Beads for Needlepoint is a small booklet, only 20 pages from cover to cover, but it is chock full of information from Cassandra Prescott and her daughter Nandra Hotchkiss. They are stitchers as well as designers and since they use lots of beads in their stitching and sell beads, they wrote this as a guide to folks who want to use beads to embellish their designs. Cassie and Nandra explain the various bead sizes and tell you which ones work best on which size canvas depending on how you plan to stitch with them, then go into great detail about the various finishes of beads you can buy. They talk about beading threads and needles, tell you how to use Nymo and beading wax, and explain how to start and stop beading. They even recommend how to hold your beads while working with them.

But the best part of the book for me is their brief section on the basic bead stitches, which is immediately followed by 9 pages of diagrams of stitches they love to use with beads. This is invaluable information that I have not seen elsewhere, at least not in such great detail. And because I know the source is very knowledgable, this is great information to have.

I was unable to find a source for the booklet online this morning. Hopefully someone who reads this can tell us where they've seen the booklets for sale or if their shop carries it. I believe it costs $15 but without any online sources, I can't confirm the price.

If you are really into beading your needlepoint, this book is highly recommended.

UPDATE: Judy Harper's blog has more information about Sundance beads and photos of her beaded projects.
http://fairy-crafts.blogspot.com/2009/03/using-sundance-beads.html

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

More Wings for the Renaissance Rat

Last night I worked another two rows of Angel's Wing stitch on Miss Rat, then stitched her paw and part of her face when I got too tired to concentrate on the wings. Her fur is in Impressions #1136 which is a light cinnamon-brown. I using tent stitches for the fur currently. Stay tuned to see what I put on top of them!

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

Wings for the Renaissance Rat

With my computer back from the shop and the failed wireless card replaced, I can post photos of my Renaissance Rat's wings. Above you see two and a half rows, the solid red one in Patina #PA247 and the metallic one my Kreinik red and gold #203, in size #16 medium braid.

The stitch is called Angel's Wings, on page 74 of Linda Corirossi's "Canvas Embellishment: Exquisite Needlepoint Stitches Made Simple" book. (Note: this is her first book, not "Canvas Embellishment: The Sequel.")
http://www.threadneedlestreet.com/booksndptstitches.htm

I think this looks quite nice as it echoes the zig-zag pattern of her skirt, but runs diagonally NE to SW which is the way the wings are laid out. It also looks like the fancy sleeve of her gown, which is a plus since it ties the outfit together visually. As an added bonus, I've not used this stitch before--something new is always fun to try.

As you can see, I have a lot of background to go and haven't started the rat's face and paw or the collar, either. But I'm getting there!

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

Laying Tools

If you haven't read Sue's blog posting about her various laying tools already, you should look at it here.
http://sudukc.wordpress.com/2009/03/02/i-lay-i-layed-i-will-laythreads/

I like to use metal laying tools like my Best Laying Tool (also known as the BLT) for silks and wooden laying tools for cotton floss, while I also use my trolley needle a lot as it is always handy on my left thumb. I also have a nut pick from my nutcracker set that handles ribbon threads like Flair and ribbon floss very well. I think one's hand size is important here, so do try out laying tools before you buy.

I recently found this nice source for laying tools, some of which are new styles to me. Have fun browsing now, and laying threads later!
http://store.apneedlearts.com/layingtools.html

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