News and Newsletter

This is just a brief note to let you know the latest shop newsletter from Needle Works in Austin is up on the shop website.  I especially enjoyed seeing more of the pretty glass magnets from Lee Cox but there are gorgeous canvases galore to admire and some neat scissors, too.
http://www.theneedleworks.com/newsletter/2009%20newsletters/november2009.pdf

Needle Nook of La Jolla has photos on their home page of the Julia Snyder class pieces.  Both are Christmasy and both look like a lot of fun.  Click on either for a closer look.  You'll remember Julia as the author of three tall, narrow spiral bound stitch dictionaries.
http://www.needlenookoflajolla.com/

You can see Julia's books here.  Again, click to embiggen.
http://www.amybunger.com/books.html

All three of these shops have the latest Amy Bunger DVDs in stock.  The 7th in her How'd You Do That? series  is about woven stitches (half of it is taught by Amy and half by Kelly Clark) and the 8th is about spider web stitch and all its variations.
http://www.needlenookoflajolla.com/storedir/products.php?cat=83

I also have both DVDs here.  Review copies arrived courtesy of Amy Saturday.  Once I've hand time to watch #7 twice I'll write a review of it, then move on to #8.  So stay tuned!

By the way, the photo above is the view out my dining room window looking towards the Blue Ridge Mountains.  If there weren't so many leaves, you might get a glimpse of the Shenandoah River at the bottom of the hill.  I took this two weeks ago and by now many of the leaves have turned brown.  Being mostly oak trees, they will gradually lose their leaves over the next three months instead of dropping them all at once.

Anyone have a hankering to rake leaves?

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

O'jishi

My next project is the 10x10 square inch design on 13 count canvas shown above.  This piece is called O'jishi and it is from Leigh Designs' series of eight Japanese Noh masks.
http://www.leighdesigns.com/Grp467x.html

I've loved Leigh's masks for a long time.  She created the large triple Chinese drama masks pieces, one of which Rosalyn Cherry-Soleil stitched so memorably last year (smaller versions of which are to be released next January at the TNNA market)...
http://www.stitchamaze.com/pieces-in-work/dramamasks.aspx

...and the large and small versions of Carnavale, masks based on Venice's famous masks.
http://www.leighdesigns.com/IdxGroup.html

http://www.leighdesigns.com/Grp465x.html

But the masks that intrigued me the most were her masks based on Japanese Noh theatre.  There are quite a few mask styles used in Noh as all the actors wear masks.  You can see some of them here.  You'll note that "shishi" or "jishi" means lion.  This mask is a stylized lion, used to portray the father of Ko'jishi (another lion) or to depict more than one lion on stage.
http://www.nohmask21.com/eu/mlist/maledemon.html

The most famous play to use lion masks extensively is Stone Bridge which is the story of a monk visiting holy places, including one accessed by a difficult-to-cross stone bridge where he meets the dancing lion O'jishi.  In this story, O'jishi is the messenger of a bodhisattva, one who has achieved enlightenment but has postponed Nirvana in order to help others achieve enlightenment.  You can see photos of a performance here.  Explore the site further to learn more about Noh theatre, the gorgeous costumes and the fabulous masks.
http://www.the-noh.com/en/plays/photostory/ps_030.html

O'jishi was a gift from Leigh Designs.  Once he is stitched, he will return to the studio to be a model (when he isn't frightening small children) and I will offer a stitch guide.

Now all I have to do is figure out how to stitch him!

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