I've been stitching on two new projects for a week now but there has been so much else to talk about (new items from the Columbus trade show, helping MNS decide about the Nutcracker Santa, pet guardian angels arriving in the mail, etc.) that I haven't mentioned them yet. Now's the time.
My friend Pat has been doing a project rotation on her Needleartnut blog and it has worked splendidly. I decided I would rotate projects, too, and see how I like it. Normally I have a large and a small project going and switch between them occasionally but I've found that I tend to concentrate on one and finish it, then go back to the other. This time I'm really going to try to rotate projects. I'm going to start out with a small project and a large one and when the little one is done, I'm switching to a second large project. Enough of the ornaments for now! After the Byzantine icons, the wisteria teapot and six pet guardian angels, I am burned out on small projects. And stitching two large ones means I won't have to do any finishing--HURRAH!
You've already seen the photos of the new bare naked canvases on the left side of Blog. I'm stitching a red dragon ornament from Leigh Designs' Chinese Dynasty series. This is on 18 count red canvas and is around 4 inches in diameter (although it is a bit more than 4 inches tall) if you don't count the metallic ornament hanger on top. Leigh has a lot of Dynasty ornaments, all named after various kings or royal families from various cultures. Here are the other Chinese Dynasty designs. If you are curious about other Dynasty designs from other countries, click on Image Library and browse.
http://www.leighdesigns.com/Grp821x.html
My other canvas in the current rotation is a reproduction of an Elizabeth Mumford oil painting called Cape Cod Dogs. My canvas is 8 inches square on 18 count canvas. It is not an exact match to the original painting in that there is no ferry visible next to the lighthouse in the window view. This design is licensed by Needlepoint of Back Bay. I know they reproduce other Elizabeth Mumford paintings but I am not sure which ones since they are not shown on the NP of Back Bay website.
http://www.needlepointofbackbay.com/canvas-lines.htm
The original Cape Cod Dogs canvas can be seen here. Look at the window and you'll see my NP version doesn't have the boat.
http://www.elizabethmumford.com/images/portfolio/20.jpg
The plan --subject to change at any time according to my whims-- is to stitch Ch'ing the dragon ornament alternately with tent stitching the black background border on Cape Cod Dogs. There's a lot of border to do, perfect for stitching when I am tired at night. Once Ch'ing is done, I am going to start working on other parts of Cape Cod Dogs and add another large, unnammed project to my rotation.
Two large projects at once?! Tell me I'm not insane!
I'll leave you by reciting the saying on the Cape Cod Dogs border in case you can't read it--
Cape Cod Dogs
they don't chase cars
they like to pick up
girls in bars!
they don't chase cars
they like to pick up
girls in bars!
Jane/Chilly Hollow
Archived Yahoo 360 postings at http://profiles.yahoo.com/chillyhollow
6 comments:
Jane, now why did you pick these two canvases? Are there meanings behind them for you? Do you like the Ch'ng Dynasty? Have you cataloged stuff from then? Did a dog try and pick you up in a Cape Cod bar? Are they gifts, etc? I'm always curious when people stitch canvases, what there reasons for choosing them are.
Nancy, I normally am a sucker for any Asian-themed canvas and I loved the red and gold dragon, so I had to have it. As for Cape Cod Dogs, my husband lived south of Boston before we were married and we've been in every dive bar in the area at one time or another. We thought this was a pretty funny canvas and it takes him back to an area he loves, too.
I can't wait to see how you do Cape Cod Dogs. That's one of my favorite canvases. I just loved the saying and the picture, so I had to get it when I saw it at market last year.
Lots of folks love Cape Cod Dogs. It will be a challenge as there is so much detail in such a small 8X8 area. Hopwfully I'll do it justice and make you proud!
Thanks again, SL. It'd do to your enabling skills that I bought this design.
Please let us all know how you like stitching the red 18 mesh. I have found the colored canvases VERY difficult to stitch. Tried both 18 & 14, so keep us posted. I am interested
M
p.s. I invested in quite a bit of it, anyone want it?
I love the colored canvases. I find all of them EXCEPT BLACK easy to stitch on and they give any design extra Omph.
You should try selling the excess colored canvas on eBay. I see if on sale there occasionally but the colored canvas sections don't show up that often that I've seen.
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