Canvas of the Day Idea

On a whim I started posting a Canvas of the Day on the left side of the page a couple of months ago.  I have a lot of fun looking for random canvases that catch my eye for one reason or another and posting a photo of them that links to the site where I stumbled across the design.  Click on the photo and you'll find the site with this canvas.  I like to look for sale items, although often I don't find anything that is cheaper than usual.  Occasionally I post a chart photo and I think I might also occasionally post a book, a tool, or a thread that catches my eye if you guys don't mind.

After all, publicity is really good for the designers, teachers, thread and tool manufacturers who make our beloved art possible.  The better they do, the more goodies we have to play with.  So I want to use Blog to promote these wonderful folks without their even knowing that I am doing it.

Now to the point!  I have decided I'd like to occasionally post ideas for stitching the painted canvases I show.  So some days there will be a canvas of the day with stitching ideas.  I often have folks tell me they haven't a clue how to stitch that canvas they fell in love with.  Perhaps this will help.   It's not going to be a stitch guide, mind.  Just a few ideas to get the ball rolling in case you really really like that painted canvas.

Today's canvas is a SharonG landscape from the Italian coast, an area I know from my day job of cataloguing images and film.  We did a huge number of photographs of Italy and I have to say, the entire office seriously considered moving to the Italian coast after seeing the rocky cliffs, the little coves full of small boats, the magnificent churches everywhere, the painted houses clinging together to the rocks and above all, the beautiful sea.  It is a beautiful place and one that this painted canvas captures.  This beauty is on sale, too!
http://www.elainemagnin.com/ponzaitaly.html

I'm not going to talk about how to paint this canvas, though.  The Shining Needle Society is setting up a class with SharonG herself to give tips on how to stitch her canvases, and there is no way I will have the great ideas that she will have!

But tomorrow, expect a fairly elaborate canvas with some ideas of how I'd go about approaching it.  After that, I'll post ideas when I have time for painted canvases of the day.


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

Between the Ears

As you can see, I'm working away on the background, doing split pavilions until my brain gives out each night.  I want to get as much background done as possible until my patience runs out and I switch back to the unstitched areas on the Rabbit Geisha.

The small area between the ears was a real problem to compensate. I think I got the count right but it does not look smooth despite my use of a laying tool  The area is just too small.  In these situations one can pull out the fancy background stitches and do tent stitches that will look fine from a distance.  The eyes of the viewer will not notice the different stitch in such a small area and this might be a better way to go than trying to compensate split pavilions in too narrow an area.  I left my thread on the back loose so I can pull out these stitches but I wanted you to see them so you'd understand why I am going to use tent stitches in this area.

Once the area is ripped out and restitched, I will go back and add a few stitches in Burmilana using my random long and short stitch to the ears to make the join between the split pavilions, the tent stitches and the ears smooth and natural.

I hope to do all this tonight as well as get more split pavilions done as I work toward the upper left hand corner with more background.

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