Wednesday, October 29, 2014

The Egyptian Cat Returns

Sepals at Base of Lotus Blossom


As you can probably tell, I'm stitching the Egyptian Cat from Tapestry Fair again.  The design is called Cleo's Cat and it's painted on 18 count canvas.  I call her Catra, short for CleoCATra.  The design is 10 inches wide by 11 1/2 tall, so she's a pretty big girl.  Recently I've been working on the lotus pillars that flank Catra.
http://www.tapestryfair.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=79&Itemid=1

I discovered something interesting when I started to do the lotus flower sepals in padded satin stitches.  When I used the thicker Felicity's Garden (green) or Silk and Ivory (blue), I could use horizontal stitches over the padding.

When I used the thinner Impressions (purple), the satin stitches had to be on the diagonal to cover in one layer.  Diagonal stitches cover better than horizontal or vertical ones!

In the photo above you can see the vertical padding in the blue and purple sepals on the left side partly covered by horizontal and diagonal satin stitches.

Experiment a bit with this on some scrap canvas and you'll see what I mean.  Try doing brick stitches and then do Mosaic stitches with the same thread, then switch to a thicker (or thinner) one and do the stitches again.  It's amazing how much better Mosaic stitches cover if your thread is on the skimpy side.

Written by Jane/Chilly Hollow
Blogging at http://chillyhollownp.blogspot.com
and at http://chstitchguides.blogspot.com
© Copyright October 26, 2014 Jane M. Wood. All rights reserved.

Let's Visit Quail Run (and More)

Sue's on the road and managed to squeeze a visit to Quail Run in while she was away. Luckily she took her camera with her....
http://blog.njneedleartists.org/2014/10/16/a-stop-at-quail-run/

Sue and Rosie also went to BeStitched, Old Town Needlework, and Bead World.  Next year I'm going on vacation with THEM!
http://blog.njneedleartists.org/2014/10/17/make-a-u-curve-ahead/


Written by Jane/Chilly Hollow
Blogging at http://chillyhollownp.blogspot.com
and at http://chstitchguides.blogspot.com
© Copyright October 16, 2014 Jane M. Wood. All rights reserved.