Miko and Her Stitch Guide Are Finished

This morning I posted on the Chilly Hollow Stitch Guides blog about Miko and her stitch guide being finished.  She joins Smilin' Jack at Leigh Designs to serve as a model.  The header photo above shows the final touches, from her lips to her kimono collar.  There are better photos on the CH Stitch Guides blog here.
http://chstitchguides.blogspot.com/2011/09/my-miko-stitch-guide-is-now-available.html

I have one more Fash Insert piece to stitch for Leigh but that will wait a bit until I have the cat topiary garden finished.  I'm going to be stitching Tea House.  The link shows it and the rest of the series.
http://www.leighdesigns.com/Grp761x.html

However, I'm going to go a slightly different route with Tea House.  It struck me as I've made lists of threads for the stitch guides I've written this year just how expensive all those threads, beads and sequins are.  Generally speaking, if you buy a $65 canvas (which is typical for a smaller one these days) you can count on spending nearly that much again for threads unless you happen to have a huge stash of threads you can raid.  Of course the Universal Law of Stash says that no matter how big your stash, you will still not have everything you need and will have to buy at least 1-2 things!

All of a sudden in this economic climate, I want to do a Fash Insert that won't break the stitching budget.  Tea House is the perfect canvas to do in cotton floss and perle.  I can already tell I'll need one metallic to complete the piece properly, but I plan to use as ordinary a set of threads as I can on this piece, just to see if plain cottons and perhaps wools can create as elegant a piece as what I've done with Smilin' Jack and Miko, but minus the beads, silks, metallics and sequins.  Stay tuned to see how this stitching adventure unfolds....

Written by Jane/Chilly Hollow
Blogging at http://chillyhollownp.blogspot.com
and at http://chstitchguides.blogspot.com