Last night I pulled out all the sizes of Kreinik's 002 gold I had and started trying to figure out a smaller version of Maltese Cross for the background. As you can see in the photo above, I haven't worked out anything yet. I discovered I had trouble seeing to stitch with gold thread on a gold background. I'll try again today while it is still light. I probably will use either my 002 blending filament or the #4 braid for the Maltese Stitch background, but that is still up in the air.
I ended up stitching the left corner in diagonal mosaic as specified with my Kreinik 002 gold in size #12 braid. I need to put the cross on top but I discovered my On The Surface vintage gold thread didn't show up enough against the gold Kreinik so I pulled it out. I'll have to see how the two threads look in natural light and rummage around for a better color to put on top of the gold. Red Kreink might look very nice, actually, especially since I already covered my halo edge in red beads....
I always intended to do a second border around the fancy frame painted around the two icons. For inspiration, I turned to SharonG who puts lovely borders around her designs. You can see two examples all diagrammed out for you in ANG's Stitch of the Month for 2005. SharonG did a wonderful dragonfly kimono pattern then.
Here's her Favorite Border. Isn't it lovely?
http://www.needlepoint.org/StitchOfTheMonth/2005/oct.php
And here is the border I used as inspiration--Simply Elegant Border #1.
http://www.needlepoint.org/StitchOfTheMonth/2005/mar.php
If you look at this smaller photo, you see the upper left hand corner with it's diagonal mosaic stitches in gold and the Kreinik 002 gold (#16 braid) laid in two parallel ditches around the outside of the original frame. At the bottom I've started couching the thread down with a strand of my On the Surface Vintage Gold metal thread. It is pretty subtle but I hope the change in color of the couching thread adds a bit to the piece. It's often the little things that make a difference! You can also see that I'll added three tie down stitches to the corner to make this more like a frame. That's a wonderful touch in my opinion. SharonG is very, very smart!
Now I need to look for red metallic threads for the original border and the crosses that go on top. Wish me luck!
By the way, I've been meaning to mention that I try to explain why I choose the threads/stitches/colors/whatever I did when stitching a painted canvas but if you are at all insecure of your ability to do this all on your own, a canvas that comes with its own stitch guide is a good investment. You can finish a project and know what it'll look like and learn enough to give yourself confidence for the next time. I just discovered that The Needle Works in Austin, Texas has photos of 73 canvases that come with a stitch guide included on their website. It's a nice place to browse if you want a little help before you start your first painted canvas.
http://www.theneedleworks.com/catalog/index.php?cPath=27
Jane/Chilly Hollow
Archived Yahoo 360 postings at http://profiles.yahoo.com/chillyhollow
