Introducing The Ladies of the Night

The Ladies of the Night are revealed!
http://www.leighdesigns.com/Grp513x.html

They are seductive vampires all, very slinky with their blood red lips and fingernails and long hair and gowns.  Each has a special touch--a frilly apron worn while stirring a bubbling cauldron, carving a pumpkin with a sharp dagger, petting an evil cat companion, looking at a fancy candelabra or wearing a beautiful Russian shawl, bats or blackbirds as pets, a haunted mansion or a cemetery in the background.  There is a Lady of the Night for every taste, so have fun exploring the latest from Leigh Designs.

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

More News from St. Charles

The news keeps showing up on the Internet:  Scarlet Thread has an interview with Debbie Rowley of DebBee's Designs on their shop blog that has photos of her newest designs to be released at the St. Charles market this weekend.  Counted canvas fans, this is for you!
http://stitchything.blogspot.com/2010/09/talking-with-debbie-rowley-of-debbees.html

Squiggee is tempting me with her Eyebrow Halloween Pumpkin.  The spider in her web ornament is traditional, but that pumpkin!  I bet he has a French accent!
http://squiggeedesigns.blogspot.com/2010/09/st-charles-ready-set-go.html

There are no photos but Shakespeare's Peddler writes about her experience at St. Charles.  I can just feel her excitement!
http://shakespearespeddler.blogspot.com/2010/09/st-charles-market-post.html

There's more to come.

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

The Pirate Cat Adds Thread

Swarkovski Crystals Before

After narrowly averting disaster yesterday when using a hot fix tool to attach pre-glued Swarkovski crystals to the background of the Pirate Cat--I didn't burn myself or glue crystals to my hair-- I moved onto embellishing the embellishment (so to speak).

But before I do, here's a video that shows how the crystals are attached.  There are several brands of tools, but they all seem to work with the flat-backed crystals in pretty much the same way.  It isn't quite as easy as it looks (the crystals tend to get stuck to the tool so have an old small needle ready to pry them out or move them quickly around if they aren't quite in the right place) but it isn't hard, either.  Just remember that the tool gets quite hot, the liquid glue is hot and the crystals themselves are hot, too.  I plan to talk about this in detail in the Pirate Cat stitch guide for Patt and Lee Designs.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JTHCbA7kO1E

Being Embellished

The crystals looked plainer than I expected once they were in place so I framed them with L shaped lines of gold metallic.  Then I added the same green and gold metallic that makes up the cat's eyes in another L.  The close-up shows three crystals, one with two Ls framing it, one with the second L underway, and with with the first gold L in position only.

Once I made the Swarkovski crystals more confetti-like, I decided the canvas is done.

Swarkovski Crystals After

I hope you enjoyed watching.  The trick or treating Pirate Cat is certainly not my usual choice of canvas but it was great fun to come up with a suitable background, figure out how to make a wonderful pirate's hat, and to play around with detached buttonhole lace on his coat collar.  I also found brick stitch makes very good animal fur when you want a delicate instead of furry look.

Many thanks to Patt and Lee Designs for making this possible!

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