Bow Wow

Cape Cod Dogs they don't chase cars they like to pick up girls in bars!

Lewmew mentioned in the Comments section that she loves dog canvases and is looking for a blogger who talks about their dogs and dog designs both. I don't know of anyone who shows off a lot of dog canvases, but several bloggers I know have dogs and mention them occasionally, just not as often as Lewmew would like.  Sorry!  I can tell you about dog canvases and designers who have some spectacular ones, however.  If you like realistic dog canvases, Barbara Russell and Tapestry Tent are the places to start.  Here is Barbara's website.  Click on any thumbnail to see the entire canvas.
http://barbararusselldesigns.com/browse.html

I found the most Tapestry Tent dog canvases on The Needlepointer's website, but it takes a little work to get to them.  Go to the link below and choose Tapestry Tent from the list on the left side of the page.  Then use the pull down menu in the middle right under Tapestry Tent's name to choose Dogs.  You'll get two pages of delightful canvases.
http://www.theneedlepointer.com/store/index.php?main_page=index&manufacturers_id=71

Amanda Lawford also has some great detailed realistic dog pieces from Constance Coleman, just not as many as the first two designers.   Here's where you can see them.  Just put your mouse on top of a thumbnail and the entire design will appear.
http://www.amandalawford.com/products/coleman1.html


There are other designers with an occasional wonderful dog canvas here and there.  Top Drawer has a page of dog and cat designs that gives a wide range of styles.
http://www.topdrawer-needlepoint.com/canvases/index.cgi?Field=category&Key=Cats-and-Dogs&Sort=title&disp=thumbs&ptitle=Cats%20and%20Dogs

If humorous canine canvases are what you want, Maggie is the place to start.  Her dog canvases are in two locations.  Choose "Cats and Dogs" from the Category pull down menu.  Once you are done there, return to this page and click on "Our Faithful Friends" at the bottom of the page.
http://www.maggieco.com/html/main_table.html

If you want stylized dog canvases, I love the Paper Russells ones that DJ Designs distributes.
http://www.designsdj.com/paperrussells.html

I have to admit my very favorite dog canvases are from Shorebird Studio.  They are not totally realistic but they are all elegance.  Click on "New in 2012" on the left side of the page to see the new poodle design, then click on "Pet Portraits" to see both custom pieces and Katie Molineux's terrific dog ornaments.
http://shorebirdstudio.com/

By the way, my Cape Cod Dogs purse above is an Elizabeth Mumford painting translated into needlepoint by Needlepoint of Back Bay.
http://www.needlepointofbackbay.com/product_pages/Elizabeth-Mumford.htm

I know I've forgotten great canvases, so why not help me out by mentioning your favorite dog canvas in the Comments below?


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

Needlepoint Purse Considerations

Needlepoint of Back Bay's Cape Cod Dogs

Remember the Elizabeth Mumford painting adopted to needlepoint canvas (by Needlepoint of Back Bay) I stitched and put on the front of a purse?  I've been carrying this purse for almost 8 months straight now.  Before I start stitching another canvas meant to decorate a pocketbook, I wanted to take a good look at the wear and tear on Cape Cod Dogs.

The Padded Satin Stitch Outer Border Being created

Overall, the canvas is in good shape.  The little starfish charms at the corners keep cutting through the thread that holds them on so I have to occasionally restitch them into position.  In other words, heavy trim can rub through threads, even thread coated with beeswax.  I used three plies of DMC cotton treated with beeswax to attach the charms.  Beaded trim or attachments with charms are probably not a good idea.  If I want to use a charm or large bead, I might attach it to a zipper to use as a pull next time.  I think beads or charms as trim around a canvas aren't going to hold up well based on my experience with this canvas and purse (although they are perfect for this design).

Long Stitches Under Window Right Side

This canvas was stitched with a variety of threads:  silks, cotton, speciality threads, metallics and wool/synthetic mixes.  I only see wear in two places--the long stitches (over three threads so they aren't terribly long) of the satin stitch border are snagged in one place and the long stitch that defines the wood paneling under the window broke at one end quite early on.

Dog's Ear and Long Metallic Stitches on Bottles

Interestingly enough, the Water N Ice that completely covers the window (brick stitch) and the largest dog's 3-D needle lace ear are untouched by wear.  I don't see any wear on the mermaids or the sailor or the bookcase with bottles behind the bar.  Most of these stitches are fairly small and don't cover more than three thread intersections just like the padded satin stitch border. I am surprised the dog's ear isn't rubbed.  Everything else seems intact, even the metallics on the bottles and the beads on the mermaids' tails.

I have been very careful with this purse.  When I go somewhere in the car, it sits on the passenger seat with the NP facing out.  I often hold it by the handle instead of putting it over my shoulder where an arm might rub the canvas.  I don't put it on the floor anywhere, but put it in my lap or on a chair when I am at a doctor's office or a restaurant.  But you do forget occasionally, and that's when a snag happens.

The Cape Cod Dogs purse has taught me that I don't have to be as careful about the types of threads I use for a purse canvas as much as I need to avoid long stitches, especially near the perimeter of a piece.  Long stitches (like the satin stitch border or the long window paneling stitches) snag more than long stitches that are more towards the center of the piece (the metallic bottle stitches).  Beads scattered in the center of a canvas (the mermaid tails) hold up ok as long as they are secured with doubled and waxed thread.  Heavy trims with sharp edges are not a good idea. Of course I'm not thinking about carrying this purse for years.  If I were, I think I would avoid all beads, stitches that cover more than 2 threads,  and any thread because wool or silk, just because these have held up for centuries in museums.   With these things in mind, I am ready to start my first purse canvas.

Anyone curious about "Cape Cod Dogs" can use the search function in the upper left hand corner box to read about how it was stitched.

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

Remember the Cape Cod Dogs?

While finishing up the Nordic Snowman, I also have been busy attaching this Elizabeth Mumford reproduction canvas to the front of a  corduroy bag I picked up at Target on sale last summer.  Remember Cape Cod Dogs?

My husband likes it so much that he wants me to stitch one for the granddaughter's birthday.  Which is in less than a month!!!!!

Eeeeeekkkkkkkkkkk!

Here is the finished canvas before it was whipstitched into position.  You can re-read my stitching adventure with this piece, complete with swearing at the dog's ear, by using the search box at the top left. Just enter "Cape Cod Dogs" or "Elizabeth Mumford" and my blog entries about this should come right up, last on top.

The silver starfish are from the local crafts emporium's jewelry-making section.  I must have spent $16-17 on the purse and the starfish charms but it does look like a million bucks.

I splurged yesterday on a $12 canvas purse for the granddaughter and instead of working on Stars, I will start stitching a small canvas from my stash to attach to it.  Details tomorrow.

Written by Jane/Chilly Hollow Blogging at http://chillyhollownp.blogspot.com Archived Yahoo 360 postings at http://profiles.yahoo.com/chillyhollow

Cape Cod Dogs is Done

Cape Cod Dogs is done! Hurrah!!!!

I was able to capture almost all of the design on the scanner for you to see everything. I hope you enjoyed visiting and watching this Elizabeth Mumford piece from Needlepoint of Back Bay come to life.

It now will be put away until I find the perfect red tote (or maybe a blue jeans jacket) for me to applique it to. This one I want to wear, not frame or make into a pillow.

By the way, you may remember my joke challenge. The Chitownstitcher sent me not one but two jokes based on Two Dogs (or mermaids) walk into a bar.... They were both funny so she's our winner! I'd like Nancy to email me at chilly hollowat hotmaildot com and list things like her favorite color, animal, whether she is a counted thread of a painted canvas person, what thread she loves or always wanted to try, if she collects tools or books or threads or charts, etc. Just tell me privately about what sort of stitcher you are, Nancy. That way I can select something from my overflowing stash to send you. And let me know your snail mail address too please.

Everyone, thanks for visiting and cheering me on through this piece. Your ideas and encouragement mean a lot.

I've already picked up Tony Minieri's Glittering Kimono to catch up on that before I go back to South Seas Fiji. More on that tomorrow.

Written by Jane/Chilly Hollow
Blogging at http://chillyhollownp.blogspot.com
Archived Yahoo 360 postings at http://profiles.yahoo.com/chillyhollow

No Pictures, Just Talk

Cape Cod Dogs is very nearly done. I'll finish it tonight for sure, so I thought instead of doing a photo today and again tomorrow that won't be very different, I'd talk about the canvas today and do a photo of it off the stretcher bars tomorrow so you can see everything in the final form.

When I finish I canvas I try to summarize what I learned from it. Needlepoint for me is a stitching journey that explores an original design, adds some of me to it through my choices of stitches/threads/colors, allows me to polish my technical skills, and teaches me something new with each canvas I stitch. There's a reason Blog is called The Chilly Hollow Needlepoint Adventure!

It's like those man versus wild adventure shows except I generally don't have to eat odd things or run up against snakes and other things that bite. (Mosquitoes--shudder!)

More than one person remarked that they were impressed I managed to pack as much detail into Cape Cod Dogs as I did. I think this is more due to the fact that the canvas painter at Needlepoint of Back Bay translated Elizabeth Mumford's original painting so well than any skill I have. Here's the painting itself--

http://www.elizabethmumford.com/images/portfolio/20.jpg

It couldn't have been easy to make this painting into a NP canvas but the only big thing that was left out was the ferry you see in the window of the original design. I imagine the boat was omitted because the NP artist couldn't make it look right. So the ferry has sailed in my version of the design! Guess the folks are waiting in the bar until it comes back, right? LOL

Once you have a NP canvas that has good detail painted in, you are faced with the issue of how to stitch it to not lose these delicate features. Many folks go the All Tent Stitch route. I am seeing more and more canvases exhibited at Woodlawn Plantation that are done entirely in tent stitches executed in a huge variety of threads (metallics, silk/wool blends, perle cotton, silk, etc.) all in one piece. This is perfectly valid. Some folks (including me) find basketweave soothing and deliberately choose to do many painted canvas projects in this manner. The tent stitch family is durable, easy to do (but hard to do well) and looks good when you are done.

I went another route. I decided to use fancy stitches where I could on Cape Cod Dogs. However, I ended up almost a majority of stitches from the tent stitch family, although it doesn't look like it since the fancy stuff catches the eye. I took a quick inventory last night.

The main dog is entirely in fancy stitches.

The main mermaid is 60 percent fancy stitches for her hair and tail and the rest tent for her face, bare back and arms. The small mermaid is the same mix of fancy/plain.

The sailor is tent stitches except for his hat and long ponytail. The small dog is 90 percent tent stitches. Only his ear and nose are not done in basketweave.

The floor, the top of the bar and the window are all specialty stitches. However, the wall under the window, the bar stools and the dark shadows under the bar are basketweave.

The shelves behind the bar and most of the bottles and glasses are tent stitched although I did often top stitch or backstitch on top of the basketweave and continental stitches I used.

The wall between the shelves and the window is in brick stitch. Most of the items hanging on the wall are tent stitch with back stitches on top, although there are a few long stitches mixed in.

The border's black background and inner red line are all basketweave and continental. The shell corners and the red margin around the outside are done in specialty stitches. The red metallic lettering is cross stitches, but only because I had done a full word before I realized I should have used two strands of my Hi-Lights instead of one. I could have stitched another tent stitch right on top of the finished word but I thought I'd try cross stitches instead to see if the little bump you get gave the lettering a slightly raised look. It did not. I should have done the words in all tent stitches, too, with two strands of Hi-Lights instead of one.

If I add this all up, I think 55 percent of the canvas area is covered with fancy stitches and 45 percent is in basketweave or continental stitch, which are in the tent stitch family. I would recommend anyone with a very detailed canvas like this see if that can use fancy stitches only in the largest areas where they add texture and realistic dimension and stick to good old tent stitches elsewhere as you know you can always get detail with tent stitches. The fancier stitches may or may not convey shading and detail as well.

But how to add detail and still use fancy stitches isn't what I learned from this canvas. Instead, I learned that there are all sorts of alternatives to the standard stitches I normally use in certain situations. I deliberately set out to find something other than my usual free form long and short stitch to use for the dogs. Knotted stitch was an accidental find for the main dog's coat that turned out well. I normally would not use tent stitches for the smaller dog but they were perfect in this situation as he is so small and is in the background where he shouldn't call attention to himself. Your comments when I had such trouble with the mermaids' faces gave me the idea of using split stitch for faces which I plan to implement rather soon. Using real shells in the corners or on the small mermaid's chest for a bra were other great alternatives that I didn't think of that were mentioned in the comments. Many thanks to everyone who adds something to a blog entry. You give me great ideas and feedback when I need it most!

The moral of this canvas for me is not how to mix tent and fancy stitches, it is to not fall into a rut. Always try to think of alternatives to your usual set of stitches. Sometimes the old favorites are the best, but sometimes they are not, and we'll all do well to remember that and test drive a variety of stitches before settling for the Same Old, Same Old.

Tomorrow I'll unveil Cape Cod Dogs. Thanks for coming over!

Written by Jane/Chilly Hollow
Blogging at http://chillyhollownp.blogspot.com
Archived Yahoo 360 postings at http://profiles.yahoo.com/chillyhollow

Finishing Touches

I've been doing finishing touches all over this canvas now. I'm working on the wall between the window and shelve, outlining with black #4 Kreinik braid the bouys and other items I stitched with my white #5 perle cotton.

I also added the red bow to the little mermaid's tail, using the Mandarin floss I've used for the small dog's collar, the wall highlights, etc. This is big canvas so there is still more to go.

Written by Jane/Chilly Hollow
Blogging at http://chillyhollownp.blogspot.com
Archived Yahoo 360 postings at http://profiles.yahoo.com/chillyhollow

What Happened to the Weekend? With Shells

I'm not sure how it came to be Monday morning as a few hours ago it was Friday night. Where does the weekend go? Well, I have a few corner shells and a clean garage area to show for whatever happened between Friday and Monday.

The top photograph shows the bottom half of the canvas and how the shells look with the overall design. I think it very important that the shells not be too dimensional. I feel that takes away from the canvas as a whole. The corner shells are just a decorative element that carries out the "bar at the beach" theme. Therefore, I just used my Vineyards silk to suggest shells instead of doing bullions or a modified spider rose stitch on top of a padded scallop shape. This is a busy canvas and I didn't want too much in the corners.

I have three of the four shells finished. Each is painted a bit differently with different shapes of coral that have more or less brown on them with the main yellow color. I like the fact that each corner is slightly different. Things can be too even.

I have to finish the tops of two bar stools, add a bow around the small mermaid's tail, and finish the wall between the window and the shelves of liquor bottles. I may have other things to finish, too. I haven't stitched an eye for the largest dog yet. On a piece this large (it is 12 inches square on 18 count canvas) with this much detail, it is easy to forget something, so I'll take it outside in the sunshine and check each area carefully for missed stitches before I put it away.

I'm still looking for a red tote bag with a zip top (I don't like open totes as I lose things that way) or a blue jeans jacket to applique this canvas on. It'll have to live in a drawer until I find the perfect item. I don't want to settle for second best!

If your weekend zoomed by also and you are sorry to be facing another Monday morning (I hate those!) then you need to go visit the Spinster Stitcher. I thought I had a bad weekend until I read this....

http://spinsterstitcher.blogspot.com/2009/08/they-should-make-pills-for-this.html

Don't fall out of your chair laughing, ok?

Written by Jane/Chilly Hollow
Blogging at http://chillyhollownp.blogspot.com
Archived Yahoo 360 postings at http://profiles.yahoo.com/chillyhollow

The Mermaid Gets Another Nose and I Start the Corner Shells

The largest mermaid has been back to the plastic surgeon as I try to do a nose that looks right on her. This time she has a little pug nose (which I hope you can see well as it's only 2 small stitches) stitched more to the center of her face. Again, I used one ply of my darkest skin color to over stitch the tent stitches of her skin. If you look in the background you can see I've stitched the white items on the wall all in my #5 white perle cotton. I've started to add the details to these things. I think they are mostly small buoys although it is hard to be certain. One might be a thermometer. I have to finish the round plaque above them, the one with the bird's head on it. That is not done yet. This piece has a lot of small detail in various areas. The smaller mermaid has a red bow around her tail I haven't stitched yet, either. I'll get to them all eventually.

I've also started the corner scallop shells.


What you see above is two layers of long radiating stitches and a short row of small stitches below it that make up the scallop shell. I've also started stitching the yellow coral that flanks the shells in each corner. I decided not to do the detailed shading that is painted but to use the Bleached Blonde Mermaid's brown and yellow Vineyard silks. This thread stitches up beautifully. I've made the little coral tent stitches a bit plump so they sit up higher than the background black Impressions tent stitches. Impressions (a silk/wool blend from Caron) is slightly smaller in diameter than Vineyards Silk (100% silk) so this works nicely. This area is not finished. I need to finish the coral and add yellow streaks to the top of the shell. Tomorrow I should have one done for you to look at.

Written by Jane/Chilly Hollow
Blogging at http://chillyhollownp.blogspot.com
Archived Yahoo 360 postings at http://profiles.yahoo.com/chillyhollow

Plastic Surgery

The blonde mermaid has a new nose and the little one has boobs (she is supposed to have her back turned but it doesn't look like it to me so I made a "front"). The sailor has clothes and a hat. Now let's see how it all looks in the photo. I wasn't sure last night....

Written by Jane/Chilly Hollow
Blogging at http://chillyhollownp.blogspot.com
Archived Yahoo 360 postings at http://profiles.yahoo.com/chillyhollow

More Faces and a Collar

I added a bit more blonde hair to the larger mermaid last night and smoothed out the zigzag lines on her face with a ply of my darkest skin color. I need to do a little more with the hair to cover her face more but ran out of time last night as I got distracted by the sailor.

I stitched his large collar in #5 white DMC perle cotton and the white areas of his hat ribbon in #8 DMC perle cotton. Red bits will go on top of the ribbon but I will need to finish his hair first before I do the ribbon and hat. I also did the blue highlights on the sailor's back with Thread Gatherer's Silk N Colours silk floss in the overdyed blue Delphinium. I'll see tonight if which size of the perle cotton looks better on the back of the sailor. My thought was I'd use the fatter #5 perle to make the collar stand out a bit against a back done in the smaller #8 perle cotton. We'll see if what I think will work actually does!

In case you didn't read yesterday's comments, Ginger recommended I try split stitch for a face next time I have one to stitch. She says many church embroideries use it and that it looks great. I know this, as I've long been an admirer of the ecclesiastical embroideries that Mary Corbet posts photos of on her website. Why I didn't think of using split stitch for a face I don't know! It's not like I am unused to using it. I've just never thought to do it when I had faces to stitch.

Thanks, Ginger. I appreciate the tip. For anyone who hasn't seen these English-style church embroideries, here is a taste.

http://www.needlenthread.com/2007/04/crucifixion-chasuble-historical.html

http://www.needlenthread.com/2009/05/readers-embroidery-icon.html

Amazing!

Written by Jane/Chilly Hollow
Blogging at http://chillyhollownp.blogspot.com
Archived Yahoo 360 postings at http://profiles.yahoo.com/chillyhollow

Zigzag Skin

As you can see, I have been busy. The mermaid tails have their beads (fewer on the background mermaid as she is further away and smaller, so needs to be less prominent), the small background, dog has his outlining and mouth, and I've started the hair of the bleached blonde mermaid in the center of the canvas.

I didn't finish last night--she needs longer hair in back--but I stopped where I did and left a thread hanging to point out the zigzag look of the blonde's face where it meets the bar. I didn't notice this until it was pointed out to me, probably because I was obsessing with the zigzag look of the arm of the mermaid in the background.

I fixed the smaller mermaid's arm by just doing a small \ with only 2 plies of silk (I used 4 plies for the arm stitches in the beginning) on top of the dark background tent stitches that looked like they needed smoothing out. Usually that is enough to at least convey the illusion of a smooth arm. Sometimes you can add one more tent stitch in the zigzag but that didn't seem to work in this case as the arm is too small. Another tent stitch made it too fat for the rest of the figure. UPDATE: If you want to compare the zigzag arm on the little mermaid now to my earlier attempt, look at the image in the August 9th Preparing for the Hairdresser entry below.

The larger mermaid's face also has this problem but I'm going to see if I can fix it another way. I'm going to put strands of blonde hair (this is Vineyard Silk, remember?) along her face. That's why the strand of "blonde" Vineyard Silk is hanging beside her face. That's my starting point. Well, it might be the finishing point. I'm not sure yet. I just pulled the thread through to show you the area I was speaking about. Some folks are really bothered by the zigzag effect on faces but there are several ways to adjust tent stitches to minimize the effect. You can't always get rid of it completely (like the mermaid arm, which is not completely smooth) but you can make it a lot less noticable.

We'll see tonight how it looks.

Written by Jane/Chilly Hollow
Blogging at http://chillyhollownp.blogspot.com
Archived Yahoo 360 postings at http://profiles.yahoo.com/chillyhollow

The Face That Launched A Thousand Headaches

The littlest mermaid has a face and curly red hair now. The face gave me fits. I stitched all the skin first, thinking I would then add the features but nothing worked. So I ripped it all out and restitched in my darker skin tone color since I was out of the medium shade, but I didn't stitch over the painted eyes and mouth and nose. The dark face looked odd but after I added the straight stitch of a nose (one ply), the green eyes (some of the mermaid tail dark forest green) and a little red mouth, then outlined the chin with brown and added eyebrows, she looked better. I took one ply of my lightest skin color and overstitched the dark brown tent stitches of her face and she suddenly looked better. Give her hair in French knots using the red boucle, add a few straight stitches in the boucle to give her longer hair on her shoulders and there she is! Sorry about the long green thread. I didn't realize that had fallen on the scanner but I don't have time to correct this or I won't get this article written!

As you can see, I've been working on the little dog's face (he has brown eyes and a brown nose now) and the larger mermaid's tail. After completing the first pass of the Helen's Lace stitch (where I omitted stitching the central stitch in each horizontal or vertical set of stitches) I went back and added it in another thread - the sparkly green/gold/black Glamour #2500 by Madeira. This is a sewing machine thread which is a soft metallic made from six plies twisted together. The ends come untwisted in the needle's eye but you just leave an extra length of tail in the needle's eye and cut off the unraveled bit when you tie off this thread on the back.

After that, I have started stitching over the areas where each diagonal row of stitches meet with my dark green Petite Treasure Braid #PB53 and attaching a blue/green Magnifica bead (Mill Hill bead #10079) over where the Madeira thread stitches meet with the same thread. Do you think it is too sparkly? In person it livens up the piece which Margaret said was getting too dark, not realizing that the entire design is dark. I have carefully matched the colors of the painted canvas to my threads, so I am stitching this as painted. It is the inside of a bar, after all. The only bright spot is the window and the liquor bottles behind the bar which are in the sunshine of the window.

I hope to finish both mermaid tails tonight. After that I need to do the tarty blonde's hair.

Written by Jane/Chilly Hollow
Blogging at http://chillyhollownp.blogspot.com
Archived Yahoo 360 postings at http://profiles.yahoo.com/chillyhollow

Preparing for the Trip to the Hairdresser

I have to prepare for a trip to have my hair done. For one thing, it is a long drive and I have to make an appointment at a time when I can take off work since the person I use doesn't work Saturdays any more. Then there is the endless debate--do I wash my hair right before I go or not? How much should I have cut off? And there's always a bit of anxiety. Will I like what she does to my hair?

I'm preparing for a trip to the hairdresser's for Cape Cod Dogs, too. I have picked out some threads and tentatively decided that the larger mermaid will be a bleached blonde with roots showing and long, straight hair. I plan for the smaller mermaid to have red curly hair.

So I bought some threads (since according to the eternal law No Matter How Much Stash You Have, You Will Not Have Everything You Need to Finish a Project) to achieve this look. You see the results of my shopping above--I have a blonde and a brown thread in Vineyard Silks, the classic silk that looks like wool line without the metallic mixed in, and a skein of overdyed red boucle, which is the nylon thread used in Brazilian embroidery. I also put my new Needle Bling cat magnet back in the package so you could see it. The threads and magnet are lying on the color copy of the canvas which I'll need to help me with the next step, which is not the hair but the facial features. I need to stitch them in first before I put hair around them. Besides, those blank faces are pretty creepy!

The other preparation I need to do before the hair was finishing all that skin and working on the mermail tails (progress photo above). I was curious about how the larger mermaid's tail would look if I used two plies of my blue/green Soie d'Alger mixed with one ply of Treasure Braid in sparkly dark green to stitch the lighter areas of the tail. The stitch is diagonal mosaic, slanting one way on one fin \ and the other way / on the other. I just had to turn my canvas on its side to get the / slant. Easy. So here's a photo of my progress on the mermaids. I planned to work left to right on all the figures sitting at the bar: large dog, large mermaid, sailor, small mermaid, small dog. But in the end I am finding it easier to work on the pairs of similar figures simultaneously which means the sailor will be the last figure stitched.

Written by Jane/Chilly Hollow
Blogging at http://chillyhollownp.blogspot.com
Archived Yahoo 360 postings at http://profiles.yahoo.com/chillyhollow

Tanned Skin

As you can see, I'm stitching away on the mermaids. I was a bit tired to count out the Helen's Lace stitch on the tails last night or to do all the compensation necessary, so I switched to tent stitching skin last night, using the more tanned shades from my Splendor Design Collection of Bronze Porcelein skin tones (silk floss from Rainbow Gallery in a set that will mimic tanned skin). I didn't notice it last night but when I took the scan this morning I realized that the little mermaid's shading is too stark a contrast and her arm resting on the smaller dog's head is too jagged. I'm going to have to do some ripping out to replace the darker skin with something a bit closer in shade and to smooth out the arm.

I have (thanks to Waste Knot in Arlington, Virginia) some tarty red hair thread (overdyed red boucle) and some bleached blonde hair (blonde and brown roots in Vineyards silk). And courtesy of Needlewoman East in Falls Church, VA, I have a new tiny Needle Bling magnet, a Hello Kitty style silver cat face with a red crystal flower above one ear. I'll make sure the magnet shows up in the next photo I take. I didn't leave it on the canvas in this morning's scan as I don't like having a strong magnet next to any computer equipment and can't have anything bumpy on the canvas I'm trying to put flat on the scanner bed. I should mention that the photos you see of Cape Cod Dogs are all cut off because the canvas on its frame is larger than the scanner's window. But I'll take a photo instead of a scan so you can see the magnet. Although I was tempted by the multi-colored apple and the darling blue crab, I went with the cat. Meow!

Cape Cod Dogs' design is 12 inches by 12 inches on 18 count canvas, which is really a bit too wide to fit on the 8 1/2 x 14 scanner bed, especially with two inches of bare canvas all around the perimeter of the design.

Written by Jane/Chilly Hollow
Blogging at http://chillyhollownp.blogspot.com
Archived Yahoo 360 postings at http://profiles.yahoo.com/chillyhollow

Mermaid Tails, Spooky Faces and Monthly Clubs UPDATED WITH PHOTO

Last night I carefully ripped out the Gloriana overdyed silk I had used for the largest mermaid's tail and replaced it with two plies of a mystery floss (which I think might be Aver A Soie but I'm not sure) and one ply of a Soie d'Alger silk floss. (I'm still using the Helen's Lace stitch, by the way. I think it is going to work nicely with a bit of manipulation.) The mystery floss is very dark forest green and the Soie D'Alger is more spruce in color. This adds a tinge of dark blue to the forest green. Mixing the threads gives me a less green color for the mermaid tails and matches the color painted on the canvas pretty closely. I very often don't change colors of my painted canvases since I buy them because I love the color scheme. So I am often scrambling to match the color with my threads.

I also tent stitched the face of the smaller background mermaid. Both mermaids are tanned so I am using darker colors than normal in silk for their skin and faces. There are no pictures this morning as I didn't have time to scan one. When I get a chance tonight I'll update this posting with a photograph although I have to say there is not much to see yet unless you think mermaids and dogs without eyes or noses interesting. It looks spooky to me!

In other news, Needlenook of La Jolla has updated their website with photos of six of the twelve holiday fairy pieces all stitched and made up. These are their Raymond Crawford monthly club.
http://www.needlenookoflajolla.com/events/fairies/index.html

Three Kittens has a traditional Twelve Days of Christmas club this year from Shelly Tribbey, using her little round ornaments.
http://www.3kittensneedlearts.com/3K_Needlepoint_Clubs.htm

The Needlepointer has done something interesting for their newest monthly club. They are offering Amy Bunger's 24 chapters of stitches and two binders to hold them instead of a series of designs. It's a clever way of tempting folks who don't really want a new series to stitch into parting with a bit of cash each month.
http://www.theneedlepointer.com/needlepoint-clubs.htm

Now that should keep you busy until I get a scan posted tonight!

Written by Jane/Chilly Hollow
Blogging at http://chillyhollownp.blogspot.com
Archived Yahoo 360 postings at http://profiles.yahoo.com/chillyhollow

Two Dogs

They may be missing eyes, noses or the little shading details I have yet to stitch, but we have two dogs mostly stitched now!

Note that the small dog in the background has two long stitches over his tent stitched ear to give him a little dimension, just not much. He is in the background, after all!

This weekend I will add the details that I need some time when I'm not tired to stitch. Until then, I am testing stitches for the mermaids't tails. This is what I've come up with so far, done in four plies of a special edition Gloriana 8 ply silk. The stitch is called Helen's Lace (page 31 of Julia Snyder's Backgrounds & Such). I hope that I can do the same stitch over fewer boxes on the background mermaid's tail. Since there are two of them, one in the foreground and one in the background, I need a stitch that will work both places. I'm beginning to think my thread is too bright, though.

Stay tuned to see if this works....

Written by Jane/Chilly Hollow
Blogging at http://chillyhollownp.blogspot.com
Archived Yahoo 360 postings at http://profiles.yahoo.com/chillyhollow

Van Gogh is Done

Van Gogh is done! Hurrah!!

I finished him late last night, and started the smaller background dog with the thread unused in Van Gogh's tail. I'm doing tent stitches on the smaller dog, starting with the lightest color first and stitching rom his collar down in basketweave whenever possible, still with two strands of Burmilana. So far, so good.

Speaking of dogs, while browsing for dog canvases (preferably yellow labs--have you noticed I'm trying to find other versions of the dogs in the bar on Cape Cod and post them as the Canvas of the Day?) I discovered Barbara Russell, famous for her dog canvases, has updated her website. She doesn't just produce dog canvases, there is a white peacock canvas on her home page that has to be seen!

http://barbararusselldesigns.com/

Written by Jane/Chilly Hollow
Blogging at http://chillyhollownp.blogspot.com
Archived Yahoo 360 postings at http://profiles.yahoo.com/chillyhollow

Bar Stools and Dog Fur

I continued working on the largest dog's body last night while thinking about the dog in the background. Pat suggested stitching him with long and short stitches which I think will work. He's much smaller than Van Gogh is and is less central to the design.

I've started the bar stools, all in tent stitches in the various shades of brown I've used already. The legs are almost all done and I've started on the stool tops. I thought about using fancy stitches for Van Gogh's stool top at least but like so many other areas in this piece, tent stitches work best as all the details are packed into small areas.

I'll work tonight on the dog but I don't think I'll finish him until tomorrow night as the knotted stitch takes quite a while. After that, I'll move to the other dog and finish the wooden bar stools.

Written by Jane/Chilly Hollow
Blogging at http://chillyhollownp.blogspot.com
Archived Yahoo 360 postings at http://profiles.yahoo.com/chillyhollow

Van Gogh's Ear and Body

Van Gogh got an ear yesterday.

It's needlewoven, but very loosely. As I worked each row, I carefully moved it back against the previous row. Pulling the tension tight with this thread doesn't work well (it just seems to stretch the thread) so I had to work very slowly and keep the tension even on the whole ear as it was worked. At the end the waste thread holding the tip of the two foundation loops in place was replaced by the thread I was stitching to attach the ear and make a pointed tip.

It looks more like what I wanted although I'm not entirely happy with it. I wish now it was higher on the dog's head, but it does fit in with the rest of the canvas and where it is now, it directs the eye toward the dog's eye and the mermaid he is talking to. I was very afraid of having such a dimensional ear that it would look like a beetle had landed on the canvas so I needed a looser "weave" to the ear. I don't know what thread Amy's lamp was worked in but it looks thicker than my two strands of Burmilana, which probably makes a huge difference.

Here is a close up photograph.

I've also been working the knotted stitch down his body. The arm is worked in the lightest color, the yellowest color, and a blend of the two to indicate shadow. I'll have to do some top stitching once the whole dog is done but so far, so good.

Written by Jane/Chilly Hollow
Blogging at http://chillyhollownp.blogspot.com
Archived Yahoo 360 postings at http://profiles.yahoo.com/chillyhollow

Van Gogh's Ears

The last two nights I have stitched ears: needlewoven ears, detatched buttonhole ears, even just slanted stitch ears. You can see them all along the side of my canvas. They all were done in the roughly triangular shape of the ear on the dog I'm stitching using the same two strands of Burmilana that I'm using to stitch the body of the dog.

I also worked on the dog's face which is mostly finished. The eye and mouth are unstitched (and the mouth is likely to remain unstitched as I like the effect) and I have not done the compensation stitches at the top of his head or at the neckline above the collar.

Looking at Van Gogh (yes, the dog has a name now) I can see that his ear needs something but I am not sure it is one of these ears. I am hesitant to use an ear like these. Looking at the stitched models (done with various slants, various methods, etc.) none of them look exactly what Van Gogh's ear needs....

I'll have to think about this some more.

I meant to mention yesterday that Amy Bunger is starting work on her seventh DVD this fall so it'll be ready for the January 2010 TNNA trade show. It is going to be about woven stitches and stitches that appear to be woven but aren't. So you can see why Amy Bunger and Robin were so helpful this week--they too are obsessing about ears!

Written by Jane/Chilly Hollow
Blogging at http://chillyhollownp.blogspot.com
Archived Yahoo 360 postings at http://profiles.yahoo.com/chillyhollow