Lean Left, Lean Right, Stand Straight (Diagonal Mosaic for the Win)

Coco Frank Studio shows off the versatile Diagonal Mosaic stitch.

https://cocofrankstudio.com/blogs/blog/diagonal-mosaic-stitch?utm_source=Klaviyo&utm_medium=campaign&utm_campaign=Diagonal+Mosaic&utm_id=01K20ASN2GTXT673265A7V99FV&_kx=fpwRhZR6oWBP-QRpljb7pZMDJB9SEzHyKJegAKdmP8-TPQzDcjAtm1ktAvh5CV4x.XYMb7E

This stitch can slant to the right or left or just run in vertical columns, making it exceptionally useful.

Written by Jane/Chilly Hollow

Blogging at http://chillyhollownp.blogspot.com

and at http://chstitchguides.blogspot.com

© Copyright August 7, 2025 Jane M. Wood. All rights reserved.

Email Feeds of Blog Postings End July 2021

Google just announced that they are ending the widget that powers email feeds of blog postings on July 2021.  So shortly you will no longer get a notice that Blog is updated.  Sorry, but I have no control over this.  It's possible that another email widget will be made available but there are no guarantees.  I suggest you use Feedly or Feed Burner or Bloglovin or another RSS reader to keep up with postings of blogs that use Blogger like I do.

Of course, Blog updates daily so you can bookmark and visit each day.

Written by Jane/Chilly Hollow

Blogging at http://chillyhollownp.blogspot.com

and at http://chstitchguides.blogspot.com

© Copyright April 14, 2021 Jane M. Wood. All rights reserved.

BREAKING NEWS: Google Removes Destination Dallas

Last night Google informed me that the Destination Dallas 2021 tab was flagged as malware and removed it from Blog.  ?????

I have no idea why Google thought it was malware as the page is just a collection of links to needlepoint shop and designer websites, posted as a service to everyone in the needlepoint world to alert you to the latest products and designs.  It is possible that one of these links to hundreds of websites has been infected with malware.  It does happen.  That's totally out of my control.

I protested Google's decision last night; they reviewed it and restored the tab this morning.  It appears to be somewhat different than it was, but there's no way I can review it all and fix issues, so we'll just have to go with what they put back up.  If this happens again I will stop providing this service.  Stay tuned.

Written by Jane/Chilly Hollow

Blogging at http://chillyhollownp.blogspot.com

and at http://chstitchguides.blogspot.com

© Copyright May 15, 2021 Jane M. Wood. All rights reserved.

Mr. Cat, Mr. Bat and Mr. Pumpkin Are Ready for Halloween~

My Debbie Mumm Halloween ornament is nearly done.  All that remains are the cat's features.  Since the face is three layers of satin stitch over four layers of felt, you need a sharp needle to add those.  I used a beading needle but an embroidery sharp or a crewel needle will also work as long as it will go through the bead holes.  (I used beads for the eyes.)

First I looked at my zerox of the canvas and the bits of orange I could see through the background stitching and placed the orange whiskers.  I used one ply of some orange Gloriana silk I had.  I copied the slant of the original painting as best as I could.  Next I did the nose and mouth.  I thought about using using three stitches for the nose/mouth, but I ended up breaking up each line a bit.  This area is the most raised and to get a smooth look over all that padding, I had to break up the two horizontal lines that make up the nose and mouth.  It is a little wonky but that suits Mr. Cat I think.  

If your first attempt doesn't go well and you have to rip out, you are going to disturb the smooth satin stitches that over the face a bit but that's not a big deal.  Rip out, add another layer of satin stitch with your black floss over the area you disturbed, and tray again.  

The eyes are entirely beaded with white pearls and black rounds that are all the same size, 15/0.  These are pretty tiny beads.  I used black floss to attach them as I was afraid the clear beading thread I used elsewhere might show against all that black.  I looked at my xerox again for reference.  The eyes are painted in five rows (top to bottom) of three white stitches, four white stitches with a black one in the middle, five white stitches, five white stitches and three white stitches.  

I copied that exactly.  In the top photo you can see the eyes underway.  I could have stopped right there but I wanted Mr. Cat to look like he was looking at Mr. Bat who had just landed on his head.  The moral is stitch this to suit yourself.  One stitch (or bead) can make a big difference in the expression.  The second photo shows my first attempt at the beading.  It's not easy to get beads to lay evenly over the curve of a heavily padded area.  I ended up taking them all out and trying again.  My second attempt worked much better.  

To make sure that both eyes were even, I did them at the same time, working the top row in both, then the second row in both, etc.  This helped me level the eyes as much as possible.  The photo at the top is me working both eyes simultaneously.

And here is the finished design again.  It was a lot of fun to work.  I hope you enjoyed it and will try some of these raised techniques on your own designs.

By the way, The Needleart Nut has also stitched her cat, bat and pumpkin.  Hilarious and different than mine.  I want to pet her cat.  I want to avoid being trapped on a desert island with mine.  LOL

http://needleartnut.blogspot.com/2020/10/it-is-finished.html

Happy Halloween!

Written by Jane/Chilly Hollow

Blogging at http://chillyhollownp.blogspot.com

and at http://chstitchguides.blogspot.com

© Copyright October 3, 2020 Jane M. Wood. All rights reserved.

The Bat Needs a Body: Needle Felting Tutorial

Last week I talked about my Debbie Mumm Halloween ornament.  I'm working from the background forward, playing with various dimensional techniques and trying to balance the elements of the design.  Mr. Pumpkin is beaded so he draws the eye, but the bat who has just landed on the cat's head needs to be prominent, too.  I decided I would needle felt Mr. Bat.

Needle felting is quite easy but you do need special supplies.  In the photo above you see a felting needle, a felting block (it's just a square of heavy foam), and some purple wool roving.  If you need to buy supplies, your local big box crafts store may have what you need but I recommend you buy from Sandy Arthur's Etsy shop.  She teaches a lot of needle felting on needlepoint canvas and likes the Clover brand of needle felting tools and felting blocks.

https://www.etsy.com/shop/DuoDesignsBySANDRA?section_id=25377073

When I wrote this Sandy was temporarily out of the Clover tools.  Here is what they are like—

https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_trksid=p2386202.m570.l1313&_nkw=clover+felting+needle+and+mat&_sacat=0

It doesn't matter what brand of felting needle and block you buy in my opinion.  You can get single needles, multiple needles in a handle, two different kinds of blocks.  The important thing is to use only a wisp of roving.  Put the felting block on a table (with some sort of protection), put your canvas on top of the block, pull a tiny tiny wisp of roving from the mass of wool, and use the needle perpendicular to the canvas to poke the roving through the holes of the canvas.  Go slowly and be careful.  The needles are SHARP and they are barbed.  You don't want to poke yourself by mistake.  In the photo below you see how much roving I used—and it was nearly too much for this small a space.

You don't need much wool roving.  The bat's purple head and body are smaller than my smallest fingernail and my thumbnail, after all.  Cover up his eyes, mouth and fang with roving.  Keep poking it.  On the back side the roving will start to show through and you'll have fuzz front and back.  Keep poking it, remembering to keep the needle perpendicular to the canvas.  Don't worry about damaging the canvas.  As long as you work slowly you won't.  

Here I'm working on the bat's face.  The needle is slanted a bit to show you how this is done, but remember to keep your needle perpendicular to the canvas as you work.  The body isn't finished but I worked body-face-body-face alternatively, just trying to shape the two round areas so that there was a little gap between them.  

I ended up with this—

Doesn't look like much but it's featureless right now.  I added a long bullion for his ears, I padded the wings with long stitches in perle cotton that I covered with black Flair, and I gave the bat two red Swarovski crystals for eyes and a silk ribbon orange bow tie since I decided (the bat's head is tiny, remember?) I didn't have room for eyes/mouth/fangs.

Here is Mr. Bat, all finished.  Next time I'll talk about Mr. Cat who is going to be heavily padded in a stumpwork technique using layers of felt covered with satin stitches.

By the way, if you want to try needle felting on your own canvas, I have more information about it in a separate tab.  

https://chillyhollownp.blogspot.com/p/needle-felting-needlepoint-canvas.html

 

Written by Jane/Chilly Hollow

Blogging at http://chillyhollownp.blogspot.com

and at http://chstitchguides.blogspot.com

© Copyright September 22, 2020 Jane M. Wood. All rights reserved.

The Cat, The Bat and the Pumpkin

The above design is what I've been working on during the last month.  This is Debbie Mumm's "Cat and Bat."  It's on 18 count and the ornament is three inches in diameter.  

http://melissashirleydesigns.com/galsearch/index.cgi?index=1347988786_5152&col=&cat=

I choose it as Halloween and autumn are in the air here in Chilly Hollow and I wanted something to try various stumpwork techniques on.  Can you tell how raised the cat's face and leg are?

Stumpwork techniques are becoming more popular in needlepoint.  Kimberly's "Dragon and Son" design is a great example.

http://www.akimberlydesign.com/2020/09/the-journey.html

So is what Kelly Clark is doing with her canvases.  Click on Stumpwork to see closeups.

https://www.kellyclarkstudio.com

These techniques can be used on any type of canvas whither it is painted, line drawn or charted.  All you need is a little imagination and some idea how to go about it.  You have to supply the imagination but I can tell you how I did this, to help you get started.

Using several raised elements on one design is always a challenge because some things need to be more prominent than others.  The first thing you have to decide is what is most prominent, what is less so, and what is receding into the background?  For me, the cat is the most prominent thing, then the bat, and finally the pumpkin.  Not every canvas has such obvious focal points, though.  

The first item I want to talk about is Mr. Pumpkin.  I decided to bead him.  I like brick stitch beading for solid areas.  It's fast and easy and works well for size 11 beads.  Luckily I had just the right shade of orange beads in my stash.  Unluckily, I only had black in size 14.  So the eyes and nose and mouth of Mr. Pumpkin were also brick stitch beaded with black beads, then I added beads here and there in the somewhat empty black spaces to fill in.  It's easy to just add a bead with a tent stitch if necessary.   I suggest if you have to mix sizes like I did, that you check after each new bead to see what you think.  It's easy to remove a bead if it's not working after each stitch.  The pumpkin stem is stem stitch using Straw Silk, by the way.  

I like the subtle sparkle of the pumpkin.  He doesn't overwhelm but you won't overlook him, either.

Next time, I'll talk about creating Mr. Bat.

Written by Jane/Chilly Hollow

Blogging at http://chillyhollownp.blogspot.com

and at http://chstitchguides.blogspot.com

© Copyright September 20, 2020 Jane M. Wood. All rights reserved.

Needlepoint Finishing Tab

In case you haven't noticed, I've added a new tab above for needlepoint finishing.  The link below will take you right there.  I've listed all the shops and independent finishers I have heard about. Note I have not listed their deadlines for Christmas 2020.  Follow the link and browse to see their deadlines, examples of their work, whether they will deal directly with you or only work through a shop, etc.  
https://chillyhollownp.blogspot.com/p/needlepoint-finishers.html

Whenever you arrange finishing, find out up front the cost, the approximate date your finishing will return, send photos/fabrics/trims/etc. of what you want being as specific as possible, and always ALWAYS ship things with tracking numbers and insurance.  Make sure it returns to you with a tracking number as well.  You might have to pay extra for this both ways but trust me, you don't want your finishing lost in the mail with no way to hunt it down.  It's also smart to put extra mailing labels in with the finishing so that the finisher can just stick your label on the box.  This eliminates the shipper getting your address slightly wrong.

Written by Jane/Chilly Hollow
Blogging at http://chillyhollownp.blogspot.com
and at http://chstitchguides.blogspot.com
© Copyright August 26, 2020 Jane M. Wood. All rights reserved.

Pharaoh Ramses II is Finished

My Leigh Designs Pharaoh is done!  Here is what he looks like.  Click on the photo to see a larger view.

I used two of the larger Gemstone beads from Sundance and a mix of olive-tan, red and gunmetal colors from Sundance's Color Inspiration Collections: Shells for the rest of the beaded area.  The beads are still wiggly and easily move out of position.  I've gone through them all 3-4 times to try and keep them in position but they are contrary things.  I may add a dab of glue on a toothpick to keep the worst offenders in place later.  (I use Eileen's Tacky Glue which dries clear.)  But I will wait until I decide how I am going to finish this before I actually use glue.

Here's a tilted photo to give you a better idea of the dimension I have.  By the way, I've always planned to not stitch the little hanger at the top of the ornament, so this section of the canvas has been ignored.  I didn't forget it—promise!

So what do you think?  Did I meet my goal of conveying a granite statue that wasn't overshadowed by a fancy feather fan?  Did my change of the gold and white striped background to a zigzag one work out well?  Would you stitch this?  

I hope to add more of the series to my stash and probably will do others from the Egyptian Dynasty collection over time.  Until then, time to move on to another project!

By the way, I have listed all the postings about this design on the Chilly Hollow Stitch Guides blog so you can easily follow along as I blog stitch this.
https://chillyhollownp.blogspot.com/2020/08/pharoahs-fan-finished.html

Written by Jane/Chilly Hollow
Blogging at http://chillyhollownp.blogspot.com
and at http://chstitchguides.blogspot.com
© Copyright July 15, 2020 Jane M. Wood. All rights reserved.

Pharoah's Fan Finished

Last time we talked I had chosen the beads to use on Pharaoh's feather fan.  But I had not finished stitching the head and shaft of the fan before adding the beads.  I could have just tent stitched the whole thing except for the spaces where I wanted to put beads, but I thought given that all the beads I'm using are round and some are really large for the space, that I might do little boxes around most of the places where the beads go to help corral them into position.  Beads are very wiggly things, especially round beads like the smaller ones I'm using from Sundance's Color Inspiration Collections.

So I got out my size 8 Kreinik gold and went to work.  First I did a little ladder shape — going up the shaft.  I was able to do the straight stitches going vertical as I went around the arched area so it looked natural.



Then I did back stitches with my Kreinik gold to make the sides of the little boxes.  I ended up with this.  At the bottom of the head of the fan I added a few tent stitches to cover spots that were not even.  Hopefully you can see where I am am going—I have empty spaces to settle my beads!

Boxes Done

I attached the beads in sections, doing the beads around the outside of the gold head first, then adding the rest of the head except for the two spots where I planned to use larger Gemstone beads.  Finally I worked down the shaft adding beads there.  I had to go through each bead 2-3 times to get them roughly where they belonged, using clear beading thread from Gutermann's. 

This is what I use.  It is actually nylon machine thread that I buy from Joann's Fabrics.  It comes in clear and brown.  
https://www.joann.com/gutermann-invisible-thread-273-yards/prd37982.html#start=1

I used the clear.  This is a thinner version of the clear beading thread you buy from companies like The Collection.  I like it better than the fatter version but it does knot itself.  However, a friend gave me a great tip—run a length through a flat iron and it straightens right out.  I never would have thought to do this myself for fear the flat iron would melt the nylon thread, but she turns her flat iron on low.  My flat iron—the cheapest one I could find at Walmart— doesn't have temperature control but I ran it over the thread as fast as possible and it straightened out fine with no melting.  It was also very well behaved after that!  Thanks, Sheena!

This is getting long so next time I'll show the finished fan and we'll talk about the final piece.

By the way, I have listed all the postings about this design on the Chilly Hollow Stitch Guides blog so you can easily follow along as I blog stitch this.

https://chillyhollownp.blogspot.com/2020/08/pharoahs-fan-finished.html

Written by Jane/Chilly Hollow
Blogging at http://chillyhollownp.blogspot.com
and at http://chstitchguides.blogspot.com
© Copyright July 15, 2020 Jane M. Wood. All rights reserved.

Pharaoh's Feather Fan

Fan Feathers Done

Once I finished the feathers on the fancy fan behind Leigh's Pharaoh, it was time to stitch the rest of the fan.  Above is the fan with all the feathers stitched so you can see how it doesn't overwhelm the statue of Ramses II.

If you look carefully at the fan you'll see I've done a lot of tent stitching on the head of the fan.  The red area is stitched and at this point I've also added gold tent stitches with Kreinik around the head's central area.  I ended up tent stitching the golden yellow areas, too.  With all that out of the way, I could bead the rest of the head section.  But first, I needed to rummage in my stash for beads in the right colors.  

Here's what I selected, all from Sundance Needlepoint.

Gemstone Beads from Sundance

Color Inspirations Collections from Sundance

The Gemstone beads are 3mm in diameter, roughly, which makes them larger than size 11 beads.  The little round beads from the Color Inspiration Collections: Shell are smooth and much smaller, probably close to a size 14 bead.  They are also more even.  The gemstone beads have been tumbled to shape I think and they are not smooth.  I like all of them.  The colors are right and I think they will add to the feather fan without drawing too much attention from Pharaoh.

When I laid them on the canvas, though, it was obvious that 3mm beads are too large.  I hope you can see the beads laid on the canvas.  One of the gemstone beads is at the bottom of the fan head and there is a smaller round bead below it and also one to the left.  

For me, scale is very important on a painted canvas.  Unless I'm stitching a portrait of Dolly Parton, I don't want one are to overwhelm another.  So although I might be able to use a few of the larger Gemstone beads, I will have to bead the fan head and shaft with mostly the smaller ones from the Shell Inspiration Collection.

However, before I can bead, I have something else to do.  Those who have sharp eyes can see the next step which I've already done but not described.

By the way, I have listed all the postings about this design on the Chilly Hollow Stitch Guides blog so you can easily follow along as I blog stitch this.

https://chillyhollownp.blogspot.com/2020/08/pharoahs-fan-finished.html

Written by Jane/Chilly Hollow
Blogging at http://chillyhollownp.blogspot.com
and at http://chstitchguides.blogspot.com
© Copyright July 15, 2020 Jane M. Wood. All rights reserved.

The Pharaoh's Statue

Highlights on Basketweave

I've finished basketweaving the statue on my Pharaoh canvas!  It took a while to do because I had to do the black areas in stolen moments during the day when I could see to stitch black on black.  I am not sure you can see the final touch I added to the basketweave.  I added metallic highlights.  To do this, use a very fine metallic and a beading needle.  Then turn the canvas a quarter turn so that Pharaoh is lying down and do a few tent stitches over the tent stitch layer you've already done.

This is the thread I used—Sulky's overdyed #7027 which is a mix of gold, red and green.   Sulky is a machine embroidery thread that is very fine.
https://www.sulky.com/catalog/sub/thread/metallic/original/

I bought my spool at Joann's Fabrics.  I had a spool of copper Accentuate but I liked the color mix of the Sulky so that's what I used.  There are sparkles on his shoulder, around his eye and cheek and a few on his headdress.  They are hard to see but this is the best photo I could get.  In person the sparkle is more apparently.  I wanted the look of granite which has crystals in it.

Once the statue was done, it's time to stitch the feather fan.  I'll explain how I worked that next time.

By the way, I have listed all the postings about this design on the Chilly Hollow Stitch Guides blog so you can easily follow along as I blog stitch this.
https://chillyhollownp.blogspot.com/2020/08/pharoahs-fan-finished.html

Written by Jane/Chilly Hollow
Blogging at http://chillyhollownp.blogspot.com
and at http://chstitchguides.blogspot.com
© Copyright July 4, 2020 Jane M. Wood. All rights reserved.

Wrestling with Pharaoh's Background

The last time I showed you Pharaoh, I was basketweaving the statue and trying to figure out how to stitch the cream and gold striped background.  The black areas on the statue took a long time as I had to stitch them during the day when I don't really have stitching time. I find black on black (and navy on navy) too difficult to do after dark, even with good lighting.  So I stitched a length of thread each day in the daytime, which is all I have time for.  But the statue is finally done.  More on him in a minute.  Let's talk about the background of the canvas now.

Background Auditions

I knew I wanted to use DMC's cotton floss in ecru but I had no idea what stitch would look best.  I needed something smooth and on a small scale that wouldn't outshine the statue or the fan.  I needed a background stitch that would stay in the background and not try to overshadow anything.  So I did some testing of various background stitch that are small and not overpowering.  That's the mess in the margins.

I ended up with two stitches that I liked and tested on the canvas itself.  The top stitch is Double Hungarian, stitched with three plies of the cotton floss.  It is in rows like the stripes are painted but the gold paint shows through and it seems a little too busy now that I've stitched a few rows.

The bottom stitch is Byzantine 2 which I found in Ruth Schmuff's iStitches Volume One.  It is a smaller version of regular Byzantine stitch which normally is over 3 or more threads.  You can see the stitch and other variations of Byzantine diagrammed on Susan Robert's Needlepoint Teacher website. She calls it Byzantine Variation 1.
https://www.needlepointteacher.com/stitches/numbered-a-b/byzantine-variations/

I ended up using Byzantine 2 (also called Byzantine Variation 1) with my three plies of DMC cotton floss in ecru.

Cream and Gold Area Done

As a finishing touch, I backstitched the "ditch" between the rows of the Byzantine stitch with gold Bijoux, which is a very thin gold metallic.  That adds a touch of subtle gold in keeping with the original cream and gold paint job.  Note that I ripped out the cream area at the top of the ornament and restitched it as lime.  I didn't think the compensation of the Byzantine stitch at the top would look good.

Original Unstitched Canvas

As a reminder, here is how the design was originally painted by Leigh Designs.  You can see I adjusted the cream areas to work with my vision of Pharaoh.

Next time I'll finish the statue and add a special touch, then tackle the feather fan.

By the way, I have listed all the postings about this design on the Chilly Hollow Stitch Guides blog so you can easily follow along as I blog stitch this.
https://chillyhollownp.blogspot.com/2020/08/pharoahs-fan-finished.html

Written by Jane/Chilly Hollow
Blogging at http://chillyhollownp.blogspot.com
and at http://chstitchguides.blogspot.com
© Copyright July 4, 2020 Jane M. Wood. All rights reserved.

Learn to Ruche Frosty Rays: The Movie

Jinny at Needlepoint.com has a short video explaining how to ruche Frosty Rays to create a flower, dress trim, clouds, or a really fun caterpillar.
https://needlepoint.com/blogs/needlepoint-know-how/all-about-working-with-frosty-rays

Bonus pro tip:  Thread a metallic in a contrasting color in a needle, then using the eye end, thread the metallic through Flair to create a custom thread with a fun look.

Written by Jane/Chilly Hollow
Blogging at http://chillyhollownp.blogspot.com
and at http://chstitchguides.blogspot.com
© Copyright July 11, 2020 Jane M. Wood. All rights reserved.

Let's Create a Pharaoh Statue

Brick Stitch on Head

Last time I showed you my Leigh Designs Pharaoh Ramses II, I was stitching away on the statue.  I'd chosen to use brick stitch over two for the coronet on top of the Pharaoh's head, then tent stitches on the rest of him.  The photo above shows my progress.

I swear that the tent stitches on his face and the brick stitches on top of his head are the same color of DMC cotton.  They are even done from the same skein, so there are no dye lot color changes.  What you see is the play of light on the straight brick stitches versus less light bouncing off Pharaoh's face.   There is a darker terra-cotta color in DMC cotton but it was too red to use, so my only option is to rip out the brick stitches, even though I like the texture of them on his headpiece.

All Tent Stitches

I ended up with what you see above.  It's much better.  I still really like brick stitch, however, so I used it on the cream and gold stripes on the left side.  It's running in a horizontal fashion.  I just turned the canvas on its side so Pharaoh was lying down to stitch it smoothly.

More Brick Stitch—and More Ripping

And that's too much texture!  Sigh  I'm going to have to rip the brick stitches out and try for a smoother look that doesn't detract from the fan and statue.  Oh, well, on the bright side I managed to do basketweave on the cream section at the top under the ornament hardware and in the lime section of the fan.  I had originally planned something else for the lime sections of the fan but I don't have lime in the threads I plan to use.  Given the difficulty of shopping for it, I opted to use tent stitches for the lime. 

By the way, the lime area is done in size 8 perle cotton but I had to rip out the size 8 perle cotton section in ecru.  The ecru thread seemed thicker than the lime, even though they are both size 8.  The lime is from Prescencia and the ecru is from DMC, so probably the manufacturer of one makes a skinner version of size 8 than the other.  Not to worry, I used three plies of DMC cotton floss in ecru and that looks good.

Plans change all the time as I stitch.  Sometimes things don't work, sometimes I can't get threads or embellishments I want.  So needlepoint embellishment for me is always changing and evolving to meet my mental idea of what I want a painted canvas to be.  This involves a lot of ripping out but sometimes you don't know what it will look like until you try and sometimes the threads surprise you.  On Pharaoh the threads and stitches certainly threw me a lot of curve balls!

Stay tuned to see what surprises the threads and stitches have for me next time.  

By the way, I have listed all the postings about this design on the Chilly Hollow Stitch Guides blog so you can easily follow along as I blog stitch this.

https://chillyhollownp.blogspot.com/2020/08/pharoahs-fan-finished.html

Written by Jane/Chilly Hollow
Blogging at http://chillyhollownp.blogspot.com
and at http://chstitchguides.blogspot.com
© Copyright June 26, 2020 Jane M. Wood. All rights reserved.

Introducing Pharaoh Ramses II

I have chosen my next painted canvas, an Egyptian Dynasty ornament from Leigh Designs.  It is four inches in diameter (if you ignore the metal hanger for the ornament) and is on 18 count sandstone canvas.  This is called Ramses and it is one of a series of eight designs.  You can see all of the set here.
https://needlepointus.com/products.asp?cat=Leigh+Designs&pg=8






I suspect it was inspired by the photo of Pharaoh Ramses II in the British Museum.
https://sites.google.com/site/100objectsbritishmuseum/home/statue-of-ramesses-ii

This is going to be a challenge as the statue should look like solid granite and it cannot be overshadowed by the fancy feather fan on the left side.

Of course the pinkish clay color of the statute provided impossible to match in thread. The closest I've come is DMC cotton floss in 356. I wanted a metallic sheen to the statue—that's not only realistic as granite has some sparkle naturally from the crystals in it, but it will help to focus the eye on the statue, not the feather fan—but that's impossible. I studied the Kreinik online color card for a long time. They have a lot of pinks and a lot of siennas. It's possible that the new color 5006 Ore will work.
https://www.123stitch.com/item/Kreinik-Ore-5006-8-Braid/B85006

I thought about ordering Ore but I suspect it is more salmon than brick-clay in color, so I stuck with the DMC cotton floss. I have a plan that might work. Or it might not.  Fortunately I can always rip out.  I already have, in fact.  My first thought was to use the DMC 356 to attach clear beads. I tried that last night using both size 11 round clear beads and size 15 round clear beads with an iridescent finish. The smaller beads have too much sparkle that hides the color of the paint and the thread used to attach them. The size 11 round beads do let the color show better but it's not right. The beads detract from the statue. You see the round shape of the beads more than the detail of the statue, so Plan A is out!

On to Plan B. Here's what I got done last night. The circlet on top of his head is the circlet of uraei, according to the museum website above. That roughly means the sacred serpent. Egyptian art often used stylized cobra to signify sacred snakes. The statue is wearing a circle of them, sort of like a diadem. I used brick stitch over two (3 plies) there and I used my DMC 356 in basketweave on his neck (3 plies).  Plan B says to use the brick stitch in black DMC cotton floss (also 3 plies) for the shadow on the right of the face and the head cloth in shadow.  I'm not sure that will work. The head cloth might need to be in tent stitch, which is what I plan to use for the face, neck and shoulders using my DMC 356 with touches of black for the features.

Guess we'll have to see how this plays out.  I have an idea about how to add metallic sparkle and a gloss of hardness to the statue but that needs to wait until I have the whole thing stitched.  I'll come back with a progress report once I have something to report.

By the way, I have listed all the postings about this design on the Chilly Hollow Stitch Guides blog so you can easily follow along as I blog stitch this.
https://chillyhollownp.blogspot.com/2020/08/pharoahs-fan-finished.html

Written by Jane/Chilly Hollow
Blogging at http://chillyhollownp.blogspot.com
and at http://chstitchguides.blogspot.com
© Copyright June 21, 2020 Jane M. Wood. All rights reserved.

Let's Try Something Different

The world of blogging is slowly dying, which means there is less needlepoint information Out There for me to mention.  All you have to do is check the blog list here to see how many blogs have not published in a year or five or more!  I don't have enough articles to publish every day now unless I start writing original content, which I don't have the time to do.  Writing even this short notice took me over 30 minutes this morning. time that could be spent stitching, doing chores, or even reading a good book.  So I'm going to switch to publishing articles every other day here on the odd days of the month and publishing an article about stitch guides on the Chilly Hollow Stitch Guides Blog (available by clicking on the magic carpet photo in the right hand column) every other day on the even days.  This will start June 3.

Occasionally I'll dig up an old article here for you to read.  There's a lot of good stuff.  Blog's ten years old here at Blogger and I started blogging using Yahoo's defunct 360 blogging tools at least a year before that.  Of course all the earliest information is gone, disappearing when 360 was shut down.  I published articles on both blogging sites for around six months when I learned that 360 was going to go dark.

If you show up here and there's nothing new, check out the CH Stitch Guides Blog because it must be an even day.  Or use the search function to find all sorts of fascinating things from the past.  A good topic to search on is "Bonnie," for example.  I won't tell you why, you'll have to discover for yourself!  Or read through the tabs just under the header where I have all sorts of answers to commonly asked questions in the world of needlepoint.

Sorry, but everything changes.  I am trying to keep blogging without increasing my work load too much.  Facebook is taking more and more of my time as I try to manage Needlepoint Nation there.  It is harder than you would think being a good hostess to twelve thousand needlepointers, especially if you have a busy and full real life going on, too.

Written by Jane/Chilly Hollow
Blogging at http://chillyhollownp.blogspot.com
and at http://chstitchguides.blogspot.com
© Copyright May 28, 2018 Jane M. Wood. All rights reserved.

How to Embellish Painted Canvases

Since the article I wrote about how to embellish painted canvases for the ANG website is unavailable while their website is being updated, I have republished it on the Chilly Hollow Stitch Guide Blog.
https://chstitchguides.blogspot.com/p/learn-to-embellish-painted-canvas.html

There is also a followup article in another tab with links to online embellishment help and a few tips from me as you tackle your own painted canvas.
https://chstitchguides.blogspot.com/p/learn-to-embellish-canvases-part-two.html

I hope these articles will help those who are starting to embellish their painted canvases.

Written by Jane/Chilly Hollow
Blogging at http://chillyhollownp.blogspot.com
and at http://chstitchguides.blogspot.com
© Copyright December 16, 2017 Jane M. Wood. All rights reserved.

The End of My Path (Angel with Tree)

The Angel with Tree Finished

As I continued stitching Melissa Shirley's Angel with Tree, I did a little editing of the design and of stitches chosen for it.  The photo above is the finished Angel, with her jacket, apron, skirt, petticoat, shoes and stockings and of course her little Christmas tree stitched.  If you compare my version with Melissa Shirley's unstitched canvas here,
http://melissashirleydesigns.com/galsearch/index.cgi?index=1430178336_7822&col=

…you will see that my version has the gray line of the skirt and petticoats stitched from left to right, although the original has the gray lines only on the left side.  As I worked I just felt that the line needed to extend all the way across.  So I did took it all the way across the bottom of the skirt.

When it came to choosing the jacket stitch (I used Combination Scotch and Inverse Mosaic Stitch) I decided that I would only do the first two steps in the stitch.  Adding beads as shown in the diagram above just seemed Too Much.  So I didn't.

You are stitching to a mental image that is informed by your own taste.  Sometimes the original design will need a bit added or taken away to fit what you are trying to do.  One of the problems people have in coming up with their own ideas for a painted canvas is that they do not trust either their instincts or their ability to figure out what is right and wrong with something they are working.

You just have to be brave and try it.  You can always rip out.  I audition a lot of stitches before choosing what I think works.  And if something that I start isn't working, I try something else.  It takes self-confidence and experience to do this but it is the only way to up your stitching game to the next level.  Learn to look critically at what you have done (most people are very critical of their own stitching so this will be easy) and then analyze what you don't like and how to fix it (which is much harder but you can learn).

The stitch guide moral here is to trust your own judgement.  You don't have to stitch a design exactly how it is painted or use a stitch exactly the way it is diagrammed.

Thanks again to Melissa Shirley Designs for allowing me to blog-stitch Angel with Tree.  Hope you enjoyed peeking over my shoulder to see her develop.  Her stitch guide is available for purchase from me, by the way.  Your favorite shop can pick up the canvas for you from Melissa herself.
http://chstitchguides.blogspot.com/2017/05/angel-with-tree-melissa-shirley-and.html

Written by Jane/Chilly Hollow
Blogging at http://chillyhollownp.blogspot.com
and at http://chstitchguides.blogspot.com
© Copyright May 28, 2017 Jane M. Wood. All rights reserved.

Exploring Surf and Sand with the Experts UPDATED

Seeing Stars Santa (Jane Wood)

This spring I've been busy stitching a Santa from Leigh Designs' Seashore Santa series. I'm not the only one--guides for this set are also available from Sandy Arthur, Pat Miller, Sharon Quick and Carolyn Taggart. All are superb stitchers with their own distinct style so I found it fascinating to see how we all choose to add sand and surf to the blank backgrounds behind these Santas.  This may be because Leigh Designs wanted these all to be made up as stand ups with an oval top to serve as models for trade and trunk shows.  So we all started out with a very similar background shape and size that we had to cover.  I want to talk a bit about the design decisions everyone made.  First, look at the entire unstitched series.  These are all on 18 count "sandstone" canvas, which is an ecru with a yellow cast.
http://www.leighdesigns.com/Grp835x.html

Now look at the photo above.  That's my Seeing Stars Santa.  I decided I wanted sand and ocean in the background because my Santa is a beachcomber, wandering the edge of the surf looking for washed up starfish and pearls.  I offset my Santa to the right so that I could add encroaching waves to the right corner.

It isn't obvious from the photo of the full Seeing Stars, but I used the same stitch, a wavy Bargello, for the entire background.  All I did when I got to the edge of the water is switch colors of silk floss and add pearls, clear beads and Swarkovski crystals to the join to indicate foam and washed up pearls.  The sand is Gloriana's "Honey Bronze 107."  The waves are Classic Colorworks' (formerly Crescent Colours)  Belle Soie "Babbling Brook CCS-027."  I should credit the idea for this to Brenda Hart who came up with something similar for a Melissa Shirley Beach Birdhouses canvas for a Bedecked and Beaddazzled embellishment class.  Here is Brenda's version.
http://www.notyourgrandmothersneedlepoint.com/2016/02/beachy-birds.html

Coral Reef Santa (Pat Miller)

Now let's look at Pat Miller's Coral Reef Santa.  Pat didn't add water to her background but the addition of little shaped beads gives me the impression of foam on wet sand around her Santa's feet.  She used a darning stitch background and an open stitch for the mound of wet sand.  Her Santa is centered.  Love those French knot corals, by the way!
http://www.leighdesigns.com/Mdl8353.html

Catch of the Day Santa (Sandy Arthur)

Next up on the page is Sandy Arthur's Catch of the Day Santa.  Sandy's Santa is centered on the background with his back to the ocean.  She also used an open darning stitch but it creates the sand while the wavy stitch at the top creates a choppy ocean.   While you are looking, check out the mermaid's hair--genius!
http://www.leighdesigns.com/Mdl8354.html

Globe Trotting Santa (Carolyn Taggart)

Carolyn Taggert's Globe Trotting Santa is next.   Her Santa also faces the ocean and is centered on the background.  The sand behind Santa is a  Bargello stitch (which I used) but the water is a random long stitch in an overdyed thread.  Carolyn added movement to the water by staggering the join between sand and surf.  Because both her sand and water stitches are horizontal ones, the join where the two meet is smooth.   By the way, I think the shells, coral and globe Carolyn created in Santa's arms are superb.
http://www.leighdesigns.com/Mdl8355.html

Treasure Island Santa (Sharon Quick)

The final stitch guide in the set is for Sharon Quick's Treasure Island Santa.  Sharon also used a wavy Bargello stitch on the background and her Santa also has his back to the water.  The wave in the stitch creates wavy water.  Her sand is quite unusual. It is a mounded shape like most of the other piles of sand but the mix of an overdyed thread (I think) with an open Staggered Cross (I think) creates a lot of movement in the sand.
http://www.leighdesigns.com/Mdl8357.html

To sum up, use a wavy stitch of some kind for water, overdyes make both great sand and surf, you can go with either an open stitch or a full coverage stitch for water and sand in backgrounds, create movement by staggering the margin between water and land in some way, and don't be afraid to toss beads and other embellishments around.

Many thanks to my fellow model stitchers for the master class in stitching surf and sand!

And now a word from our sponsor--all the stitch guides and canvases above are available for your favorite shop to order from Leigh Designs.

All the Seashore Santa Models (Sandy Arthur's tag is cut off but hers is the left hand Santa.)

UPDATE:  Thanks to Don Lynch of Associated Talents I have all of the Seashore Santa models from Leigh Designs' booth to show you.  Enjoy!


Written by Jane/Chilly Hollow
Blogging at http://chillyhollownp.blogspot.com
and at http://chstitchguides.blogspot.com
© Copyright June 13, 2016 Jane M. Wood. All rights reserved.

Monkey Stitches

I should have entitled this Blog article "Monkeyshines!" 
http://www.sheenasstitches.com/monkeys/

Hope you enjoy the fun monkey stitches.

Written by Jane/Chilly Hollow
Blogging at http://chillyhollownp.blogspot.com
and at http://chstitchguides.blogspot.com
© Copyright February 9, 2016 Jane M. Wood. All rights reserved.