Stitch Guides, Classes and Other Fun Things UPDATED

Those of you who think of stitch guides as just about one canvas may find Ridgewood's mention of the Brenda Hart Banner Book (which discusses stitching Rebecca Wood's series of seasonal banners) enlightening.  I may be slightly prejudiced since I write stitch guides, but I think of them as inspirational reading, not just a road map for a certain canvas.
http://ridgewoodneedlepoint.blogspot.com/2011/02/banner-year.html

Rittenhouse Needlepoint has posted a profile of their in-house custom canvas painter.  Many designers start out painting other folks' designs, then graduate to going out on their own but a significant minority of painted canvas designers started with custom work, catering to the customer's design to memorialize something special to them.  Jim is going this route and the photographs of his work are something special.  I particularly love his Scarlet Letter pillow but there is lots to admire here.  Kudos to Rittenhouse for showcasing his skills!  I can't wait to see what he does next.
http://rittenhouseneedlepoint.blogspot.com/2011/02/custom-painting.html

Laura Perin's first cyberclass is over and she is starting to post photographs of her students' finished pieces.  As always, the various colors they chose make each piece totally unique.  One of the greatest charms of counted canvaswork is picking your own colors to create something that is totally unique.  It's not a custom painted design like the ones Jim does for Rittenhouse, but it's the next best thing as the stitcher is the color artist.
http://two-handedstitcher.blogspot.com/2011/02/photo-finishes.html

UPDATE:  Laura has just announced her second cyberclass, Lilac Time.  Here are the details.
http://two-handedstitcher.blogspot.com/2011/02/my-next-cyber-class.html

Speaking of new blogs as I did yesterday, Beth at ThreadworX has started one, too.  She is heavily involved in ThreadworX's stitching publications and writes lovely stitch guides, so I have high hopes that Peppermint Street will be a fun place for stitchers to visit.
http://www.peppermintstreet.com/

My final treat for you this morning is a close up of Carole Lake's St. Basil's Cathedral.  Any of you who were at the 2001 ANG Seminar saw the original model on display.
http://www.needlepoint.org/WhatIs/2001/stbasils.php

Carole occasionally teaches this piece, much to the delight of lucky stitchers everywhere.  Ridgewood Needlepoint has the class scheduled and have received the class materials and the model recently.  They couldn't resist taking some close up photos to showcase this wonderful piece.  Note that there are a few differences between the 2001 model and the class model.  Carole restitched this as the original design and some of the threads are no longer available.
http://ridgewoodneedlepoint.blogspot.com/2011/02/st-basils-cathedral.html

By the way, there are two openings left in this class so if you live close to Ridgewood, NJ, act quickly!
http://www.ridgewoodneedlepoint.com/national-needlepoint-teachers-carole-lake-david-mccaskill-tony-minieri-deborah-wilson.htm

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

Luna's Mysterious Cloak

Cloak Stitches

I inadvertently misled you yesterday about which of the stitches I tested I am probably going to use on Luna's cloak lining.  I posted the photo with two of the three stitches upright but one was on its side as that's the easiest way to stitch it.  And that's the stitch that looks like the best choice for Luna's cloak lining. The stitch I have been working on is the June 2009 stitch from Tony Mineiri.  It's called Henderson Variant.  In the photo above I worked a line on the diagonal which is how it is diagrammed but in yesterday's test stitching, I was working it with the diagram and canvas turned on their sides.
http://www.needlepoint.org/StitchOfTheMonth/2009/jun.php

More Rows

Here is how Henderson Variant looks in two shades of purple.  The next step is to stitch some of the hair and see how it looks with the HV stitch.  You may notice another line of thicker thread in the upper left.  I tested Empress wool (from Pure Palette) there but it is a little too heavy a look for the cloak lining.  I may use it on the outside of the cloak, however.

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