Saturday, December 7, 2013

The Cat's Out of the Bag

The cat's out of the bag!  Leigh Designs posted this to their Facebook account Friday--

"Jane's Christmas Gift to you!

After a tough day of fighting the crowds at the mall, what could be more relaxing and inspirational than joining the amazing Jane of Chilly Hollow for a 'stitch along' on her Blog? Her December project is one of our brand, spanking new, Russian Santas, to start very soon. Each step will be posted at a leisurely, holiday pace (about every two weeks), along with the thread brands and stitch diagrams. Lose track of a lesson update? Don't stress (you have enough in your life), Jane's full stitch guide will be available at a nominal charge. So, watch for Jane's big announcement at http://chillyhollownp.blogspot.com/. Tell your LNS you want to 'stitch along with Jane' and we will rush your canvas right out! Then, pull up your chair by the fireplace and prepare yourself for an adventure in seasonal stitching!"

Yes, you guessed it.  I am going to stitch the Northern Lights Santa from Leigh's new Russian Santa series right here in public on Blog.  The four Santas in the series are all 6 inches high on 18 count ecru canvas.  There will be four more released in January, making a total of eight Santas from Rassiya (Russia) for your stitching pleasure.
http://www.leighdesigns.com/Grp833x.html

Everyone always wants more blog-stitching and thanks to Leigh, I have the perfect project.  My Blue Russian showed up today, so I'll get Santa on stretcher bars tomorrow and start rummaging around for threads.  I expect to have a progress report early next week, with new reports every two weeks or so.  Please join me with your own Santa.  Even if you didn't choose Northern Lights Santa, I hope my ideas and tips are useful for any Russian Santa, or any Santa you might have in your stash, period.

If you did choose to stitch Russian Santa with me, I'll post threads and stitches (with diagrams) here.  When I've finished my Santa, I'll write up a stitch guide for a nominal charge so you can have that if you find blogged ideas hard to follow.

Regardless, I guarantee we'll have fun, and the fun starts now.  I'm going to add a poll to Blog asking whether you want Northern Lights Santa stitched as a stand up or as an ornament.  After all, once I have him on stretcher bars I'll need to figure out how much space around him to stitch.  Please vote your preference below.  Thanks!

Questions?  Email me at chillyhollow@hotmail.com and I'll get back to you within a day or so.

Should Northern Lights Santa Be An Ornament or a Stand Up Figure?



Written by Jane/Chilly Hollow
Blogging at http://chillyhollownp.blogspot.com
and at http://chstitchguides.blogspot.com
@ Copyright 2013 Jane M. Wood. All rights reserved.

2 comments:

Judith said...

I am looking forward to this. I love hearing how you decide what stitches and threads to use.

The Chilly Hollow Needlepoint Adventure said...

Thanks, Judith. I'm looking forward to this a lot, especially since my canvas arrived and I could see how lovely he is. Very detailed and elegant!