Stitch Guides Blog Updated

I've updated the Stitch Guides blog with a new article listing some of the stitch guides available for SharonG canvases and have added a complete list of guides available from Janet Perry to her earlier article.  You can visit Stitch Guides here.  Remember to use the search box at the upper right to explore what is available.
http://chstitchguides.blogspot.com/

I'm trying to add Paypal to the site so you can buy my guides directly from me if you want a PDF file (instead of having to email me to set up a sale) but it's not cooperating. Wish me luck!

By the way, the Comments section seems to be broken here on Blog.  I moderate all comments but somehow I can't publish some of them today and others keep showing up to be published although I have already.  Expect the unexpected until Blogger fixes this.

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

More Tent Stitch Excitement (With Diamond Rays)

Cha: Bird Body Underway

Due to popular demand (not really), I did more tent stitches yesterday.  I managed to finish my goal of 1/3 of the background in continental stitches (one of the tent stitch family) and also completed the bird's breast and underside in basketweave (also a tent stitch).

I wanted to mention that I used four plies of the darkest purple color (Gloriana overdyed silk floss) but only needed three plies for the medium mauve and the pink (both Splendor silk floss).  Both brands of silk are a strand made of 12 plies, but the Gloriana seems thinner.  I needed more of it to cover up the pink smile shapes painted on the canvas.  It may be a difference in the underlying type of silk used, or it may be that the purple thread got thinner in its many trips through the dye bath necessary for this very dark shade.  Regardless of the reason, you may find yourself needed to adjust plies to make sure all your tent stitches are the same, regardless of the colors you use.

Once the lower bird body was finished, I mixed it up a bit by adding rows of diamond ray stitches on the bird's back, which you can just see between his wings.  These were done in one ply of the same pink Splendor I used on his underside.

The paper head is gone in this photo.  More on that later on....

On a personal note, I found the cat Tommy dead this morning.  He had been failing for a long time as he was very old--he'd lived with us for almost 18 years.  Great mouser, Tommy, and a very sweet cat who purred loudly whenever he saw me, and who lived to hunt.  I shall miss him and I am glad he died in his sleep instead of having to be put down at the vet's because of his failing health.

Tommy Tune, Good Cat

UPDATE: Thanks for all the consoling messages about Tommy's death.  I can't post them here (Blogger is having trouble with Comments) but I appreciate them greatly.

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