A Contest Challenge

Donna just wrote in the comments of Two Dogs, "For a second there I thought this was going to be - two dogs walk into a bar..."

Which gave me an idea for a contest. How about writing a joke about two dogs (or two mermaids) walking into a bar? If you can work needlepoint or other stitching into it, there are bonus points. Post your comments here or email me your joke directly at chilly hollowat hot maildot com.

The reward will be something really nice from my stash. We'll pick a winner and after consulting with them as to their color and style preferences, I will send them something from my extensive stash I hope will please them.

Ready? Ok, go!

I'll allow a week for any jokes to arrive, then I'll post the winner....

Written by Jane/Chilly Hollow
Blogging at http://chillyhollownp.blogspot.com
Archived Yahoo 360 postings at http://profiles.yahoo.com/chillyhollow

Two Dogs

They may be missing eyes, noses or the little shading details I have yet to stitch, but we have two dogs mostly stitched now!

Note that the small dog in the background has two long stitches over his tent stitched ear to give him a little dimension, just not much. He is in the background, after all!

This weekend I will add the details that I need some time when I'm not tired to stitch. Until then, I am testing stitches for the mermaids't tails. This is what I've come up with so far, done in four plies of a special edition Gloriana 8 ply silk. The stitch is called Helen's Lace (page 31 of Julia Snyder's Backgrounds & Such). I hope that I can do the same stitch over fewer boxes on the background mermaid's tail. Since there are two of them, one in the foreground and one in the background, I need a stitch that will work both places. I'm beginning to think my thread is too bright, though.

Stay tuned to see if this works....

Written by Jane/Chilly Hollow
Blogging at http://chillyhollownp.blogspot.com
Archived Yahoo 360 postings at http://profiles.yahoo.com/chillyhollow