The February Canvas of the Month is a new Melissa Shirley canvas called Blue Butterfly Clutch #1363F. This design is 16 inches wide and 9 inches high on 18 count canvas. This design comes on 13 count canvas also, and is available as a smaller pillow design that doesn't have the elaborate side panels.
http://www.melissashirleydesigns.com/gallery/?index=3961&cat=70
Jane's Blue Butterfly Canvas:
The blue butterfly purse canvas is done in mostly blue and white with gold lines that divide the panels. The side panels have lavender touches and the butterfly itself has some cream or yellow, browns and possibly black on its wings and body. Since this is designed to be made up into a pocketbook, I need to use durable threads that will stand up to handling. I also want threads that have a bit of shine to them so the natural choice is to pick threads from the silk/wool blends like Silk & Ivory/Trio, Impressions or Silk n Cream. All seem to have good blues and lavenders and snow whites as well as a nice selection of browns and deepest black, but I think I'll add Vineyard Silks (which is all silk in a tapestry-type thread) to my mental stitching of this canvas as it has the Shimmer line that has metallic fibers mixed in.
Starting with the side panels, I'd stitch both sides in tent stitches but vary the threads. Trio is strandable so use the three shades of lavender in Trio so you can blend colors as you work. Once all the lavender stitches are in, work the blue pattern in Vineyard Silk Shimmer so that there is a bit of sparkle from the metallic thread there. It is a little boring for us embellishment artists to work so much basketweave (or tent) but this is a purse that will need to stand up to being carried. Once the two side panels are done, lay long lengths of gold metallic thread (Kreinik 002 in size 16?) along the gold separation lines. Cover the lines of gold thread with Treasure Braid Ribbon in a matching gold, with stitches laid perpendicular to the underlying Kreinik. If you want more sparkle, switch to a gold Fyrewerks Softsheen. I think regular Fyrewerks would be too much sparkle for this pieces.
For the top section with the blue flowers, work the columns in the background in Scotch stitches, either varying the blocks to fit the widths entirely, using two or three stitches to fill the area or compensating. (Or all three!) This article shows various sizes of Scotch stitches to better illustrate how to vary the stitch to fit the space.
http://www.summerlouise.com/2009/01/stitch-each-week-scotch-stitch.html
Use your Trio (or another silk/wool blend) and lay it carefully across the width of the Scotch stitches. You might want to start with the white columns and remember not to drag blue threads across the white areas in the back. You will avoid a "shadow" from the darker thread that way.
I'd switch to Kreinik overdyed metallics for the two-toned flowers and use a matching dark blue in regular Kreinik if you can find it for the dark blue flowers. If you can't find a good blue in metallic threads, try some Vineyards Silks (Shimmer again) in the deepest blue to match or see if Caron's Snow in blue is the right shade. Stitch the petals with brick stitch over 2 threads, then go back to add the white stamens in the flower centers. Use Caron's Snow in white for those stamens and just lay the white lines across the blue brick stitches. Attach a few clear hex beads in the center of each flower, using a doubled and waxed ply of white DMC cotton floss. If you want to add blue to the flower centers, use blue DMC cotton floss instead.
For the bottom band which is a trellis pattern, lay the long threads to make the trellis diamond lines. Couch each thread intersection with a stitch in the same thread to secure it. Remember, this is a purse that will be handled so you want the long lengths of thread secured.
Fill in the white background with white Caron Snow in all tent stitches (or basketweave). It will sparkle a lot which will lift the blue flowers. Work the flowers in Vineyards Silk Shimmer (or blue Snow) to make them look more like the background, or work every other stitch in tent and add more iridescent hex beads in the bare spots. I'd probably not do this myself since beads and hard wearing aren't going to mix well but it sure would look nice! You could always use a small thin metallic thread and work a cross stitch in between each skipped tent stitch instead of a bead. That gives you a slightly beaded effect and is more hard-wearing.
For the central butterfly pattern, I think I would use my Trio again to stitch the pale blue area in a pavilion stitch. Pavilions are diamond shapes and there are a lot of variations. Choose the right scale for your background. It should look like the white diamonds in the bottom panel but be smaller. You may find you need an extra ply of your Trio to completely cover the background. Here are two different Pavilions but you can choose from many versions of this stitch.
http://www.needlepoint.org/StitchOfTheMonth/2001/01-08j.php
Once the background is finished, stitch the darker blue flower stems with long vertical stitches that cover the stem, using Trio. The white flowers themselves should be stitched in long stitches that radiate from the flower centers, but first outline each petal with stem stitch. (For the flowers you could use either Trio or the white Caron Snow.) Then cover the outline with the long stitches so the edges of each flower are raised. The center of the flowers would look great if you added a small mother of pearl button there. You should find the correct size in buttons for baby clothes at fabric stores. Stitch them securely. You might want to use a small clear hex bead in each button hole to further secure it. An alternative would be to attach some of the Swarkovski hot fix crystals to the center of the flowers.
The body of the butterfly is last. First, pad the body of the butterfly horizontally and then lay long vertical stitches over the padding. Use Trio for the light and dark browns. However, it might look lovely to use brown metallic for the antenna and body segment lines. Use the same thread for the top edge of the wings. Again, pad this with stem stitch the same way you did with the white flowers in the background, then go back over with vertical long stitches to cover. Now work your way down each wing using Brenda Hart's mosaic stitch variation, stitching each segment in slants going in the correct direction toward the body.
http://www.needlepoint.org/StitchOfTheMonth/2007/dec.php
I'd use a mix of plain Vineyard Silk and Shimmer Vineyard silk in the same shade of blue. You could do the long stitches in the regular Vineyard Silk and then add sparkle by using Shimmer Vineyards Silk for the small group of three stitches. Once a section is done, outline it in stem stitch with a blue metallic thread, probably one of those you used for the flowers at the top of the design. You may want to add shading lines right on top of your mosiac stitches. If you do, switch to a sharp needle. You may also want to use a thinner metallic than what you used for the flowers at the top of this purse design.
Finish up with the brown edge of the lower wings, adding a little cream there. You can either use long stitches like the upper wing brown line (without the padding) or tent stitch the cream area.
My version of the purse would be simpler than if I were framing this but it'll make for a spectacular pocketbook to carry to elegant parties for years to come.
Written by Jane/Chilly Hollow
Blogging at http://chillyhollownp.blogspot.com
Archived Yahoo 360 postings at http://profiles.yahoo.com/chillyhollow
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