Why Stitch Guides?

I've got a question for you today.  What do you want from a stitch guide?  Or do you see the point of using them?

I'm still tent stitching that amazing gown....

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

Madame X

The main reason I wanted to stitch one of Leigh's Ladies of the Night series is the challenge of working a piece with so much black on it.  How on earth do you stitch a piece with black hair against a black gown with a black cloak and black birds and not have it be a blot of black ink?  Of course Leigh Designs separates these areas through the use of gray and purple, but still....

I hope the use of texture will make the black areas separate.  I'm not sure you will be able to see the differences I put into the canvas except in person but I am going to try.

This is one source of inspiration--John Singer Sargent's Madame X portrait.  Isn't that gown amazing?!
http://www.themasterpiececards.com/famous-paintings-reviewed/bid/23543/Famous-Paintings-Madame-X

Before I forget, I updated the Chilly Hollow Stitch Guides blog with a short article on Bongo canvases which have guides available.
http://chstitchguides.blogspot.com/2010/10/bongo-does-stitch-guides.html

Jane, back to basketweaving that amazing gown and watching Sherlock on PBS
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/masterpiece/sherlock/watch.html

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