Jean Hilton Died

We got word on the ANG list today that Jean Hilton has died in her home in Arizona. She was one of the most creative and inventive designer of what we call counted thread designs today.

Thank you for everything, Jean.
http://stitches-heart.com/jeanhilton/

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

Holi The Tudor Dog Goes Cinco de Mayo

I should have waited until tomorrow as that's the holiday of Cinco de Mayo but Holi's done today, so here is her official portrait, at least until I get her finished as an ornament with her siblings. You can see I added clusters of three beads all along the green hem of her robe. I thought that made it look a bit like the green and gold squares on her over skirt. Occasionally I just used one bead in areas that were pretty narrow. Hope you like that effect. I do.

I learned from this piece that folks really love a mix of color and pattern. She's my most commented-on angel in the five I've done so far. To my eyes, she is a bit of a mess but she was a lot of fun to stitch and she certainly will stand out in the crowd of the other pet guardian angels at the ANG Auction. I hope Blog readers will visit her at the ANG Auction in Milwaukee this fall! Even if you don't bid, you can see Holi in person and laugh.

I also learned that white threads can be tricky, both on a pink background (I used a scrap of pink canvas for her) and next to bright red (her collar). Both of these things give her face a pink cast under some types of light. The stitches on her are marvelous. I will use the boxed pattern of her overskirt somewhere else if I can. It's really beautiful. And the diagonal hearts are lovely. The designer Kandace Merric did us proud with her!

Next up is the last pet guardian angel, the Georgian Rabbit. She's already started but today is Holi's day and I will wait to post progress photos of the next and last angel in the six animal set until another time.

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