I was too tired last night to even think about counting out the three sections of pattern couching I need to finish on Stars last night, so I picked up my next painted canvas design (mounted on stretcher bars last week) and started doing some tent stitches on it. I can do tent stitches even when I am half asleep and I did want to stitch--I just didn't want to have to rip out what I stitched the next day! More about that later. I know you are asking, what new painted canvas?!
My next project is a Leigh Designs piece from her Dynasty Ornament series. It's one of the new British Dynasty series, just released at the February trade show. Leigh sent it to me free to stitch. It'll go back to her to use as a model at the trade shows and I will eventually write and sell a stitch guide for this ornament. More about that later. The entire new series of eight ornaments based on British kings and royal families can be seen in the next link. My ornament is the Stuart Ornament, first on this page on the Leigh website.
http://www.leighdesigns.com/Grp827x.html
All of the British Dynasty ornaments are painted on 18 count pink "blush" canvas and all are approximately 4 inches in diameter. Each comes with a little metal loop to attach at the top so they may be finished as an ornament. (My loop is seen attached to the canvas in the photo above.) They join the other sets of Dynasty ornaments all of which are linked to from this page. Look under Christmas and then choose whichever country's Dynasty ornaments interest you. Some of Blog's long time readers will remember the Chinese dragon ornament I did for Leigh last year.
http://www.leighdesigns.com/IdxCateg.html
Leigh choose the ornament for me since when we discussed this, they were still being created, so I didn't know which ornament I would receive or what the others looked like at that point. I think I got lucky--the Stuart Plaid Lion is my favorite of all the ornaments although the Plantagenet ornament is sitting there, whispering "stitch me in goldwork" every time I look at it. LOL
This is the back side of the Stuart Plaid Lion canvas. I'm showing it to you because Leigh mentioned in passing that one can always tell a painted canvas by looking on the back side. Hand painted canvases show blobby paint on the back where it bleeds through. A printed or silk screened canvas does not. I thought anyone who was unsure about a canvas they were thinking about buying might like to know this. Many of the printed canvases today are hard to tell from hand painted ones if they are well done unless you take a very careful look. This isn't going to help anyone buying online, but it is a good tip for the shopper in a real stitching shop, particularly a beginner who won't necessarily know that such-and-such a designer never sells anything except stitch painted or silk screened or hand painted canvases.
I plain to work on this piece once the Clark Gable block on Stars is finished. Until then, you might like to read a bit more about the Stuart kings, who include indirectly the ill-fated patroness of needlepoint Mary, Queen of Scots.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/House_of_Stuart
Written by Jane/Chilly Hollow
Blogging at http://chillyhollownp.blogspot.com
Archived Yahoo 360 postings at http://profiles.yahoo.com/chillyhollow
8 comments:
Absolutely going to be gorgeous! I love all of them!
Mmmmm - like the thought of the one ornament in goldwork - sounds like a challenge I may have to take up :) Interested in how you are going to attack the lion in your piece.
This is a very nice series. I know some folks are in love with the regular rose while the Tudor rose piece appeals to others. British royalty has a place in our hearts here in the U.S. where so many of us have British ancestors.
Great tip about painted canvases. If anyone has every tried to stitch a printed canvas you know how difficult they can be. Look for the paint on the back! Thanks Jane.
Oh, I may have to have an ornament or 8! I am a real Anglophile so these are perfect for me. I'm also looking forward to seeing how you stitch the Stuart ornament.
By the way, when Leigh of Leigh Designs saw this blog entry, she commented thusly: "Yes, in order to get good coverage, one must use a good deal of thinner - be it water or a solvent and that will go through the threads to the back. I see it as a sign of a good paint job."
Just remember that you need to evaluate canvases with your own needs (such as cost) and type of stitching you prefer (you may have to have stitch painted or charted pieces to enjoy stitching them or you may not mind inexactness) and the designs that speak to your soul before you buy. Good design is what you should look for. How well it is executed may or may not matter to you.
I love these ornaments. I'll be very interested to see how you stitch the tartan part. I have a last name that implies a tartan, and I have a few projects that I'd like to do using said tartan, but I'm hoping to find a way to do it other than just basketweave, but still have it look like fabric
B, I have ideas that are a mix of basketweave and other stitches for the plaid that you may or may not be able to use on your tartan designs. Feel free to comment on other ideas that come to you as you watch me start this. The plaid half of the ornament is what I plan to start with, and this will probably be in just a few days.
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