Friday, September 23, 2011

Longer and Shorter: Tips on Stitching Long and Short Stitch

Anyone who is intimidated by long and short stitch or who isn't happy with how their current attempts look will find Kathy's tips very useful the next time they are shading using this wonderful stitch.
http://www.theunbrokenthread.com/blog/2011/09/23/long-and-short-shading-going-deep-into-the-stitch/

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

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

Elizabeth I Portrait Gallery UPDATED

Since there has been so much interest in my comments about stitching Miko's face, I thought Blog readers would enjoy visiting Gay Ann Rogers' website which currently features her portrait of Queen Elizabeth I.  Not only do you get to see Gay Ann's portrait and read her own ideas about stitching faces and hands, you will be able to see the companion portraits of Bess of Harwick and Mary, Queen of Scots, and also see her students' Queen Elizabeths, each slightly different with their own personality despite the fact that this is counted canvaswork, and each student worked their face from a graph.
http://www.gayannrogers.com/site_2/Home_Page.html

It's a fascinating study of  just how much personality you can put into a face with only a few stitches.  Each face is slightly different which I find marvelous!

UPDATE:  Facial differences aren't the only ones, just the most obvious.  Ann talks about how and why her Elizabeth, stitched as a test model, differs from the one Gay Ann Rogers designed.
http://stitchingfoolishness.blogspot.com/2011/09/my-version-of-elizabeth.html

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

Needle House Stocking Show

Fresh from running the ANG Seminar shop, Needle House has put out their Autumn newsletter.  Take note of the Christmas stocking trunk show.  This is a chance to pick up a stocking from a variety of designers to stitch for Christmas 2012. They also announce their monthly club for 2012, a series of Faberge eggs.
http://www.theneedlehouse.com/jm/images/newsletters/autumn_2011_web.pdf

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

Kelly Clark's Elegant Thanksgiving

Kelly Clark is collaborating with Needle Works in Austin on a class called Elegant Thanksgiving. The canvases she designed for the class depict Indians, and Pilgrims, and a big fat turkey.  Kelly's incorporating a lot of stumpwork techniques on the first canvas, the Pilgrim Maiden.  You can see some of Kelly's work on this first piece on her blog, and you can read about the class and how to sign up in the September Needle Works newsletter. Scroll down to July 22nd to start reading about the magic on the first piece.
http://kellyclarkneedlepointhandbook.blogspot.com/

Even if you aren't wild about Thanksgiving pieces, it is fun to see what Kelly's up to and the newsletter has a fabulous stitch for fish scales diagrammed out for you along with a neat variation.  It isn't often that a painted canvas designer stitches her own pieces (SharonG is the other main example of a designer who also stitches fabulous pieces of needle art) so this is a unique glimpse into the creative mind.
http://theneedleworks.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/201109newsletter.pdf

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