This month's canvas is a JB Designs piece from Devon. I don't know the dimensions or the canvas count but I suppose it is a 5x5 piece, probably on 18 count.
It screams summer to me and looks like a very fun and easy stitch. Hope you like it!
Bonnie's Version:
What a fun little piece that would make a great summertime reminder for any age girl!
I would start with the mermaids using lots of silk so there would be a slight shimmer that looked like they just came from the water! Starting with the body and the face, I would use a strandable silk in a simple tent stitch for all including the face features. I would stitch right over the necklace on the one girl and add it back on top later using pearl like beads. I would do the tail in either a diamond ray using strandable silk with Accentuate added or maybe the smaller size silk lame braid (but that might be too thick). Another stitch that would be fun would be the mock buttonhole eyelet stitch from Amy’s Cookbook – Chapter 11. You could add extra sparkle if you did used that stitch by making the wrapped part of the stitch with a Kreinik braid. Lastly, to complete the mermaids, you have the hair. Again I would use a strandable silk probably just in a random long/short stitch. To add curls to one of them you could also do bullion knots.
The rock that the mermaids are sitting on would be next. Personally I hate coming up with stitches for rocks. I have yet to find the perfect stitch or fiber! So on this one since its large, I would try an overdyed cotton floss – something with just subtle color changes and when I separated the plies I would reverse some of the strands so the rock would have slight color variations, but wouldn’t end up striped! Another possibility would be a wool which would look a little more rough. Stitches to try would be a staggered cross (mix of larger and smaller cross stitches in a regular pattern) or a checkered cross. Again both stitches are in Amy’s Cookbook – chapter 21.
The best treatment I have found for sand is to do a skip tent stitch and then fill in the skipped spaces with single wrap French knots. I know that makes a lot of French knots, but the effect is really worth it! I would use either floss or an overdyed floss, again with the strands reversed so you don’t get striped sand.
For the water, I would do a swirl stitch stitched horizontally so it would look like waves in an overdyed cotton floss with Accentuate added in a few rows where the sun would sparkle off the water or maybe just closer to shore. Using the overdyed would allow you to ignore the shading on the canvas and use the shading in the floss instead. If you couldn’t find an overdye with the right colors pick 2-3 solids and use them instead, but don’t break up the stitches in the swirl stitch to get the color changes, switch colors when you can with full stitches. For the sky, a random horizontal satin stitch would work well with two strands or so of a floss. I am thinking a lighter coverage stitch so the sky recedes to the background. I wouldn’t worry about the shading in the sky since the coverage would be light – the subtle color changes will show through.
That leaves the star fish, which are the toughest part I think on this canvas. When I visualize a starfish, I see texture, but remember I have French knots in the sand, so I need another type of texture. I would try a small size perle cotton which would give a different texture and sheen. Then I would try to find a tied stitch or something like an upright cross to fit in the space you have. That would add some additional. This is the area where you would have to experiment a bit based on what you ended up using for the sand and the rocks. It may end up since there is such little room on starfish that you would have to just go with a tent stitch and have the perle cotton provide the texture difference.
That’s it for this little canvas. A fun little piece that just wants to make you smile! Happy summer!
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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