Dog Collar and More

Holi's bodice was stitched this weekend. The stitch is a green framework with fancy interlaced cross shapes inside the frame. I mixed two plies of my medium green DMC with one ply of the lime green DMC and stitched the frame with that. The centers are filled with my red Trebizond silk perle. The final touch is gold beads, one at the center of each cross shape and one at the end of each arm of the cross.

I wanted Holi to have an Elizabethean collar for some unknown reason. It just seemed "right" and since I had a sample of red Ultrasuede, I had a thread thick and stiff enough to stitch large lazy daisy stitches which are not tacked down at the tip. That makes the lace part. They are a bit mashed by lying face down on the scanner but you get the general idea.

I've started the wings, using my medium green DMC cotton floss (4 plies). The leaf stitch I'm going to use has four parts, and right now I plan to use my three shades of green DMC floss. I don't know what the fourth color will be but I'm considering yellow, red and turquoise. Stay tuned to see what crazy thing I do next!

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

April 2009 Chilly Hollow Newsletter Article

I noticed quite a few items online this month in various blogs that talk about how small changes can personalize and enhance your stitching. ABS Designs Online (that's Anne Stradal's blog) has a series of very interesting postings this month about her painted canvases and how she and others have changed little things to bring personality and style to the designs. First, Anne is showing off the hair on two of her angel designs. Take a look at the fancy hairstyles! Abigail has brunette bullions.
http://thecapestitcher.blogspot.com/2009/02/introducing-abigail.html

The Heart Angel is also a brunette, but she has a fancier style that is smooth on the front side and fancy on the back. Doesn't that give you ideas? It does me!
http://thecapestitcher.blogspot.com/2009/04/dressing-angel-hair.html

Anne also has showcased two versions of one of her small oval eggs. The egg is called "In the Garden" and Anne shows the unstitched canvas and two interpretations in this blog entry. Again, this is food for thought. There really is no "wrong" way to stitch painted canvases, is there?
http://thecapestitcher.blogspot.com/2009/04/interpreting-painted-canvas.html

I've found postings about color and how they change a design at Jan Fitzpatrick's wonderful blog and at the British Japanese Embroidery Center's blog. Jan has stitched a Laura Perin charted design with different colors, which turned the original into a totally new design.
http://threadmedley.wordpress.com/2009/04/09/choosing-colors-for-a-project/

Jane writes about color in Japanese Embroidery, how it is used, and what colors mean to Westerners and Japanese. She has posted pairs of designs in various colors to show how a change in color changes the traditional designs students all stitch. So besides tweaking a design to add your favorite hairstyle or a different motif, think about what changes in color you'd like to introduce. As Jane says, there is no right or wrong, just different interpretations.
http://japanese-embroidery.blogspot.com/2009/03/colour-in-japanese-embroidery.html

I'd like to add that changing small things in a design personalizes it and adds a bit of your own personality to a design. These changes allow us to interact with the original artist and collaborate with him or her in a unique piece of stitching.

Jane, wishing everyone lovely spring weather from Chilly Hollow

http://blog.360.yahoo.com/chillyhollow
mirror blog at http://chillyhollownp.blogspot.com

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