Day of the Dead: Where to Start?

First, Belleza Applies Lipstick

The Phoenix TNNA show has postponed my talking about the Day of the Dead ladies. There have been just too many other things to talk about, so I waited until the excitement died down a little to start talking about my current stitching. But Janet and Sheena and I have been working on our skull ladies, never fear.  I'm stitching Belleza, the more commercialized Halloween version of Manuel Salas' art which has a purple background.  By the way, Belleza is on 18 count canvas and the design is almost 11 3/4 inches wide by 13 inches high.  Belleza and her sister Pocito are big girls!

Normally, I start stitching on the background, so I immediately worked up two charted background stitches.  But then Janet (who is working with me on a dual stitch guide for Tapestry Fair) proposed that we work the same areas at the same time, which makes sense.

Janet always leaves her background until last, so my usual plan of working from background to the foreground has been scrapped.  We are working a major focal point, the lips and lipstick case.  You wouldn't believe how different that makes stitching feel to me! I am a little lost, but I managed to impose a sort of order again by stitching the background to foreground areas as I find "normal" by stitching the teeth first, then the lips and finally the lipstick case.  So we worked Janet's way and mine, too.

Second Try

By the way, I ripped out the lipstick case.  I was not happy with the look which seemed too busy and detracted from the lipstick itself.  The second photo shows the replacement technique.  I wanted you to see I'm actually doing something.  It's been very interesting to see how another stitcher likes to work and trying her way for myself.  Our brains are certainly wired differently.  I am eager to see how stitching foreground both aids and hinders my stitching plans.

In other Day of the Dead news, BeStitched in Arizona is going to have a series of workshops featuring both Belleza and Pocito starting in March.  You can read the details in their January 2012 newsletter.
http://bestitchedneedlepoint.com/january-2012-newsletter/

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