Cinco de Mayo Crepe Paper Flowers

Are you having withdrawals now that Juanita the Mexican Lady's weekly stitching blog post is over? I am!

But Janet Moyer kindly sent a photo from the Cinco de Mayo celebration in San Diego Sunday that shows the big crepe paper flowers she wanted Juanita's flowers to resemble. She really did a good job with her version, didn't she?

So celebrate Cinco de Mayo with us and enjoy one last posting about The Mexican Lady.

(Thanks, Janet. The photo is lovely.)

Main blog at http://blog.360.yahoo.com/chillyhollow

New Pictures of Juanita

The images I uploaded yesterday weren't as clear as Janet and I would have liked, so Janet sent new ones last night for me to upload this morning. My Internet connection was so spotty because it was raining that we think the image quality suffered.

So there are new pictures of Juanita for you to admire down two blog entries.

Main blog at http://blog.360.yahoo.com/chillyhollow

Thanks for Sharing Juanita!

Ok, I can't help it--I had to post one last link to Juanita, the Mexican Lady. This time, what you see below is the unstitched painted canvas from Melissa Shirley Designs. This is based on a painting by Carter Holman called Secrets. The design is available on either 13 or 18 count canvas. The photo you'll see is courtesy of Laura Zickus who photographed it for the Needlenook of La Jolla website. The classes with Brenda Hart Janet Moyer mentioned in her posts about the Mexican Lady are at Needlenook of La Jolla, but of course your local shop can order this canvas for you in the size you prefer straight from Melissa Shirley.

http://www.needlenookoflajolla.com/storedir/proddetail.php?prod=ch118-2

If you want to see more of Linda Carter Holman's art, visit her website here.

http://www.carterholman.com/

If you think about having to stitch enough on a piece to post photos and a description of what you've done each and every week, you will know what I've put Janet Moyer through over the last two months or so. She deserves our thanks for keeping to my deadlines and also being brave enough to show her mistakes, problems, successes and the final product to 1500-3000 people each and every Sunday over that time. Janet has also promised to send me a photo of Juanita and her bouquet when it comes back from the framers. So stay tuned.

But first, please give Dr. Janet Moyer a standing ovation.

Main blog at http:///

Juanita, the Mexican Lady, is finished

Many thanks to all of you who followed the Lady and who commented on her progress as I stitched on her through the past few months.

We all owe a big thank you to Linda Carter Holman for the original painting, to Melissa Shirley for putting the painting to needlepoint canvas, and to Jane of Chilly Hollow for allowing us to participate in this adventure on her blog.


I finished the branches the birds sit on, added more greenery around the roses, and stitched the birds. The branches are stitched in a Needle Necessities overdye (I think it was discontinued). Brenda Hart had suggested a whipped chain for the branches. I was watching T.V. as I stitched and had to laugh when I finished and realized I’d come up with a variation of the whipped chain. I liked the accidental variation as it added to the gnarly look of the branches. I will add the variation to my list of stitches.

The birds were stitched in basketweave in an Anchor floss (bright blue, #132). You cannot tell it from the picture but I made three layers of threads for the wings in a ray stitch. I kept stacking one layer over the other: first a metallic ribbon (Kreinik 1/16” # 850), then a deep purple/blue petite frosty ray (#PY370) and topped off with sewing machine metallic thread in two colors, silver and multi-color pastels. I also made two layers of the petite frosty rays for the bottoms of the birds’ tails.

You can see that I changed the calla lilies slightly by using fabric for the center and for the stamens. I may change them again but will leave them for now.

When I started this project I “chatted” with Linda Carter Holman via email about the piece she had entitled “Secrets.” I wondered aloud with her if the calla lilies
meant Resurrection (as seen in Easter) or death (particularly symbolic in the Victorian era). I also opined that the roses might mean life or love.

She responded that: “Calla Lilies do give a certain feeling-- Someone told me that it is the flower of the bride of Christ. I like that description. I Like that idea too --of Death and resurrection. These two ideas may come down to the same meaning. And Roses another flower that comes to -----love. The thorny path.”

So from this conversation I concocted Juanita’s back story. She is obviously a young woman, well dressed in Mexican clothing with the addition of her pearls and diamond jewelry. She is wearing a diamond ring on her left hand, a sign of being engaged. She is taking the calla lilies (death and Resurrection) to the grave of her deceased husband (see how prominent in size they are on the canvas?) and is also carrying roses for her living fiancé. I like the story as it alludes to Juanita’s secrets. There is a wonderful festival called “The Day of the Dead” in Mexico (especially in Oaxaca) where people go to the graves of their relatives and celebrate the dead. People dress up and take gifts to the graves. So, Juanita is celebrating also.

The night I was in Michael’s buying ribbon, floss, and beads for the roses, two Mexican women walked by, examined the canvas, and said they really liked it. I mentioned that I had been criticized for adding jewelry to ethnic clothing but I thought Juanita was dressed up for a festival of some kind. The two ladies agreed with me and said that women in a more southern part of Mexico dress like that. So, I was content that my interpretation was not culturally insensitive.

This entry ends our collaboration on Juanita. I’ve enjoyed the process and Look-I finished a needlepoint! I have an idea for the frame and if Jane would like to show the canvas in the frame, in the future, I will provide a picture.

Thank you for watching me stitch.

Janet in La La Land

Main blog at http:///

A Bouquet of Calla Lilies and the Mexican Lady

Janet from La La Land is back with more details on the stitching of her Mexican Lady canvas. If you missed the introduction, she is working on an adaptation of a Linda Carter Holman painting from Melissa Shirley Designs. You can see the unstitched canvas below, courtesy of Laura Zickus who photographed it for Needle Nook of La Jolla’s website. Janet is working the 13 count version of this piece, although it is also available on 18 count needlepoint canvas.

http://www.needlenookoflajolla.com/storedir/proddetail.php?prod=ch118-2

Now here is Janet:
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“As you know from last week I experimented with laying silk flowers on the part of the canvas that has the roses. I knew all along that their permanent placement would depend on the Calla lilies. The Calla lilies are huge and take up a lot of visual space on the canvas. They are also bigger than Juanita’s head. So, I could choose to de-emphasize them by using small stitches or an open stitch. Due to the large presence of open stitches in the shawl I decided not to repeat that idea.

I experimented with silk Calla lilies but they were way too big, nor could they be successfully flattened. Hmmm, what to do…. I cut out pieces of paper the approximate size shown on the canvas. I knew that white would look even bigger on the canvas. In the border town of Tijuana, Mexico there are street vendors with wonderful, huge flowers made of crepe paper. Having that in the back of my mind, I knew I wanted to somehow convey that idea onto the canvas.

Finally I picked a white fabric with small white stars to use as appliqués. Why the stars? Because all that white needed to be broken up. (When you see the actual piece the stars show up but my camera didn’t pick them up as they are white on white.) I used the stuff that quilters use to iron two pieces of fabric (front and back) together, and then machine-stitched tiny braid all around each flower. Finally, I hand stitched each flower onto the canvas. And I used an orange fabric ink to indicate the pistils. I am not done yet with the pistils but deadlines for Blog are such that I’m sending the ‘rough draft’ anyway. I made a bow out of the small braid and stitched it to the canvas so the bouquet was ‘tied’ together.

You can see that I removed the silk flowers for the roses. After all, too much is too much, and the fabric Calla lilies and the silk roses competed for attention. So, what am I going to do for the roses? As Deng Xiao Ping famously once said, ‘You cross the river by stepping on one stone at a time.’ I have some ideas but will have to try them out.



I attached the shiny metallic thread/sequin braid to Juanita’s skirt. I think you can now see why I waited to decide whether to attach or not to attach more sequins to her hat and skirt. Even though I gleefully abandoned my 60/40 rule on this canvas, I still had to use some restraint. I can hear you all saying, ‘That woman thinks she’s using restraint?’ ‘Yes,’ I say with a smile. On the bottom of the skirt I chose NOT to make fringes that would hang freely from the garment. Again, I think that would create another confusing area on which the eye would focus. By simply stitching the black fringe in basketweave with a satin stitch on top, I think that area is de-emphasized. I am stitching the other colors around the fringe in basketweave. Due to their size and whiteness, the Calla lilies are a primary focal point. I thought that adding the sequins to the hat keeps your eyes keeps moving around the canvas, down to the shawl, down to the skirt, and then back up to the large foreground leaf. This canvas is a riot of color and design and reflects the exuberance of Mexican life I think. Many thanks to Linda Carter Holman who captured that joy of color and design.

I will not be back on the blog until Sunday, April 20th. I hope to finish the Mexican Lady by then so you can see the entire piece.”

Janet in La La Land
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Remember, you may also view this blog entry at my main blog,
http://blog.360.yahoo.com/chillyhollow

Days of Frustration with the Mexican Lady

Janet from La La Land is back with more details on the stitching of her Mexican Lady canvas. If you missed the introduction, she is working on an adaptation of a Linda Carter Holman painting from Melissa Shirley Designs. You can see the unstitched canvas below, courtesy of Laura Zickus who photographed it for Needle Nook of La Jolla’s website. Janet is working the 13 count version of this piece, although it is also available on 18 count needlepoint canvas.

http://www.needlenookoflajolla.com/storedir/proddetail.php?prod=ch118-2

Now here is Janet:

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“I’ve spent days stitching and then taking out a number of stitches for what I now call the “dratted stems.” After a number of false starts I realized what the problem was for me. The stems are a large dark slash across the canvas. If I used 3-4 different colors as called for in the painted canvas I knew I would draw too much attention to the stems. The focus of the canvas should not be the stems.

There are four different kinds of stems: Calla lily stems, the big green leaf’s stem (near Juanita’s face), the large green leaf stem in the foreground, and the rose stem. The stems are all close together. I used Splendor silk thread for all the stems.

1. I stitched the big green leaf stem in plain basketweave in two colors (S1062 for accent and S940 for the main part of the stem). I used an outline stitch to surround the stem to set if off from the others.
2. The rose stem has not yet been stitched.
3. The Calla lily stems did not lend themselves to basketweave as all you could see was a blob with no differentiation between the stems. So, I used a random long and short in two colors to add some variety without making the stems too important. Sounds easy, hmmm? After I got all the stems done in the top half I realized I had used too many plies. Oh frustration! Before I took them out I tried reducing the 5 plies to 4 plies in the bottom half and was very satisfied. So I removed the stitches from the top half and began replacing them. This is not yet completely finished but I have this Saturday deadline for Sunday’s blog entry so I photographed it as is. The colors are S1064 and S49.
4. The foreground’s green leaf stem was also stitched in two colors (basketweave) with no outline stitch. The colors are S1064 and S1062 for accent.

I have been looking at the flowers for some time and deciding what to do. I experimented with silk flowers for the roses and laid them on the canvas for you to see. We now have a 'mixed media' piece. They are not permanently affixed to the canvas, as I need to finish the rose stem and branch that the birds are sitting on. I’m not convinced this will be the final outcome for the roses. I will spend this next week working on the roses and the Calla lilies. I think the roses are a tad large but cannot make a final decision until I do the Calla lilies to determine the balance. If I do use the silk flowers I will have to take them apart layer by layer and trim a bit I think.

For all of you who have been following the progress of the Mexican Lady I appreciate your patience as I stitch, have problems to resolve, and discuss how I resolve those problems. You all can hear me muttering clear across the country.

Until next week then.”

Janet in La La Land

Note: This blog is also viewable at http://blog.360.yahoo.com/chillyhollow

The Mexican Lady Has a Name & Major Jewelry

Janet from La La Land is back with more details on the stitching of her Mexican Lady canvas. If you missed the introduction, she is working on an adaptation of a Linda Carter Holman painting from Melissa Shirley Designs. You can see the unstitched canvas below, courtesy of Laura Zickus who photographed it for Needle Nook of La Jolla’s website. Janet is working the 13 count version of this piece, although it is also available on 18 count needlepoint canvas.
http://www.needlenookoflajolla.com/storedir/proddetail.php?prod=ch118-2

Now here’s Janet.
**************************************


You can see the results of some of my thinking here. First, no flowers this week; as it turns out I had to do the stems first and they gave me fits and I've ripped out a lot. I know I told you I'm not a perfectionist but sometimes one has to admit defeat when the problem is not "fixable."

So, today I give you the completed face, hair, hands and jewelry. As I worked on the Mexican Lady she came to life and she now has a name. I dubbed her Juanita. Juanita is not poor; on the contrary she is well dressed wearing a pearl necklace, pearl and "diamonds" earrings, a heart shape "diamond" on her finger, and an interesting "gold" and "diamond" bracelet.

Her face and hands are stitched in basketweave (DMC floss, color number 407). The darker color on her face and hands is also DMC but I failed to note the number. Her fingernails and lips are the same red silk. Soie d'Alger was used in her blouse which was also stitched in basketweave.

Juanita's hair is black Flair (color F501), stitched in basketweave. I thought about different stitches for her hair but decided to keep it simple. I chose Flair as it gives the hair a little shine.

I do a lot of beading and checked my stash for pearl beads. I strung the necklace on beading thread (do not use a cheap substitute as it will stretch and break). I used a smaller pearl at the ends of the necklace so it would lie flatter where the thread goes into the canvas, to be tied at the back of the canvas. Then, at several points I tied down the necklace with a single stitch from the back, over and between two pearls and back down to the canvas. This keeps the necklace flat. Juanita's earring is made from two small pearls, with a #1 size clear glass bead from Sundance on each end. I used a single thread, coming up from the back of the canvas, running the needle and thread through all the beads and then back through the beads again.
The glass bead on the end holds the earring in place. I also used a single stitch across and between two pearls to hold the earring in place.

Juanita had to have a "diamond" ring. Looking in my stash I found the perfect one - clear and heart shaped. The picture shows the diamond reflecting red but it is clear. The heart is a type of flat rhinestone found in craft stores. It is held down with a clear bead (same as in the earring and on the bracelet). Bring the needle up from the back of the canvas, through the hole(s) in the stone and then put a small bead on the needle and stitch back through the hole(s).

{see bracelet close up photo above right)

The bracelet: First I stitched it in basketweave using Neon Rays (color NP51) which is a pretty coppery color. Then using a slight diagonal satin stitch I stitched over the basketweave rows twice to make the bracelet have a raised and a rounded shape. Since Juanita is not poor I added "diamonds" to the bracelet to contrast against the large flowers. I used the same clear beads as seen on the earring. I like the result as the added sparkle holds up nicely against the large mass of green of the stems and the large flowers.

*Note*: this is really a "figure it out as I go" piece. Sometimes even with the most advanced planning I realize things have to change when they get actually stitched due to size, color, texture, or shape. I think there needs to be a visual balance. I've already mentioned my personal 60/40 % rule, which I gleefully abandoned on this piece.

See you next week, hopefully with some flowers and the dratted stems.

Janet in La La Land

[This is a mirror blog for Blog which is at http://blog.360.yahoo.com/chillyhollow )