The Pumpkin Patch and Other News

It's been a while since I've reported on any new monthly clubs that shops are offering.  Old World Designs has a new club--a pumpkin patch of various little squashes in fascinating shapes.  The first five are stitched and look great.
http://www.oldworlddesigns.com/pumpkin.html

If you live in New Jersey and are a fan of Lynn Payette, you'll want to check out the Beautiful Birches class Gone Stitching is going to offer.  There's a small photo on the home page and a link to details about the class.  While you are at the site, don't miss the Flicker photo album of stitched or finished items from the shop and remember that Gone Stitching Radio is each Monday afternoon.  You can hear all the radio interviews with stitching personalities by clicking on the Blog Talk Radio Gone Stitching link in the right hand column.  Once you arrive at the radio page, choose an interview to listen to.  Better yet, bookmark the second link below.
http://www.gonestitching.net/index.php/

http://www.blogtalkradio.com/gone-stitching

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

Stars: Introducing Vivian Leigh

I need a little break before I start on the lion himself in my Stuart Plaid Lion ornament, so I've been working on the last block in the top row of the Stars piece.  This is called Vivian Leigh.  Just to remind you, my colors are:  violet (A), black (B), terracotta (C), and copper metallic (D).

The photo above shows the first four areas out of the seven that make up this quilt block.  The center square is worked first in C4 (Flair F527), then covered with straight lines using B7 (Cascade House's overdyed silk perle 9325). That whole area is topped by A6 (Trebizond silk perle 111), which seems to have pulled the straight lines out of true. I've been trying to straighten them, but so far without success.  Any ideas?

The second step surrounds the center square with a border of long armed cross stitch using B7 again.  Since my B7 is an overdyed silk perle, I got very pretty color variation as I worked each side.  The third step is to add pale terracotta kite-shaped areas around the perimeter of the center square using C5, my Impressions 3064.  Once these are all in, the fourth step is to top these shapes with a crescent stitch using just two plies of B8 (J.L. Walsh's silk/wool blend #1320).  I stopped after doing just one as it was difficult to see where the crescent went at night.  You may not have trouble if your underlying thread and the canvas color aren't as similar as mine are.  I just couldn't see easily where to put things.  I'll finish up this step late this afternoon when it is sunny.

And maybe I should start saving up for a new light/magnifier!

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