Tissue Toppers

Over at Needlepoint Nation, someone asked if there were tissue toppers for needlepoint.  The answer is yes!  If you are interested in the long rectangle tissue box covers, Leigh Designs has eight that are lovely.

https://www.fleurdeparis.com/product-category/canvas_designs/leigh-designs/tissue-toppers/

There are stitch guides for three of these.  I'm sorry the photos aren't better.  They are fabulous stitched! West Coast Finishing made these up and says they aren't hard to do.

https://chstitchguides.blogspot.com/2018/01/the-tissue-toppers-leigh-designs-pat.html

Lee's Needle Arts has a long rectangular leather box with room for a needlepoint insert that is 2 3/4 inches wide by 6 inches long.  This is self-finishing.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/2019-Black-Leather-Tissue-Box-made-for-Holding-a-Needlepoint-Canvas-by-LEE/372598558303?hash=item56c09ace5f:g:avMAAOSw3qdbL-nf

Lee also has a small tissue box cover in leather with a round insert that is about 2 3/4 inches.  Both styles of Lee tissue box covers come in a variety of leather colors.  This is also self-finishing.

https://www.needlepointbywildflowers.com/collections/lee-needlearts/products/copy-of-accessories-mahogany-finish-octagon-box-for-needlepoint-cross-stitch-photo-sudberry-house-1

For a while Needlepoint.com had acrylic tissue boxes with a space for a canvas insert but they don't seem to have these any more and I can't find them elsewhere.  Regardless, your tissues can be just as pretty as the rest of your home in this unusual way to showcase your needlepoint.

Written by Jane/Chilly Hollow

Blogging at http://chillyhollownp.blogspot.com

and at http://chstitchguides.blogspot.com

© Copyright October 13, 2020 Jane M. Wood. All rights reserved.

Darling Finishing!

The finishing of Pat's elephants is darling!
https://needleartnut.blogspot.com/2020/07/scott-churchs-elephant.html

Written by Jane/Chilly Hollow
Blogging at http://chillyhollownp.blogspot.com
and at http://chstitchguides.blogspot.com
© Copyright July 12, 2020 Jane M. Wood. All rights reserved.

Stitching Glasses the Leigh Designs Team Way

Leigh Designs has a tradition of releasing a series of small canvases on November 1 each year. Leigh calls this her November Surprise. For 2018, she's celebrating Oktoberfest and beer!
http://www.leighdesigns.com/Grp813x.html

There are 8 types of beer, each in their own special glass, and each canvas has a stitch guide by Leona Cole, Pat Miller or Carolyn Taggart.  To see the models, click on the photo of each unstitched canvas. If you do, you'll see a Master Class on stitching glassware!  Note how the tall, thin glasses use tall, thin stitches, for example.  Check out "Swaggering Stout."  The faceted glass is beautifully handled.  I was especially intrigued by the use of diamond shaped stitches for some of the more rounded glasses.  It works!

Kudos to the Leigh Design teams!

Written by Jane/Chilly Hollow
Blogging at http://chillyhollownp.blogspot.com
and at http://chstitchguides.blogspot.com
© Copyright November 1, 2018 Jane M. Wood. All rights reserved.

Raymond Crawford in Cross Stitch

The Needlework Retailer just announced two of Raymond Crawford's needlepoint designs are going to be available as cross stitch.
http://yarntree.typepad.com/needlework_news/2018/07/here-for-the-boos.html

It will be interesting to see if this becomes a trend, although I think anyone who has seen what Pat Miller did with the needlepoint canvas version will find the XS version way too plain.
http://needleartnut.blogspot.com/2018/02/finished.html

Of course not everyone likes embellishment….

What do you think?  Are you buying the canvas and Pat's stitch guide or are you a cross stitcher?

Written by Jane/Chilly Hollow
Blogging at http://chillyhollownp.blogspot.com
and at http://chstitchguides.blogspot.com
© Copyright July 27, 2018 Jane M. Wood. All rights reserved.

A Brief Light Coverage Tutorial, Part Two UPDATED

Melissa Shirley's "Red Geisha"

Once you understand a bit about how to create light coverage stitches by picking a stitch and a thread that won't cover the intricately painted areas, then you need to understand the problem that using light coverage stitches mixed with regular coverage stitches can cause on a canvas.

For illustration I'm using Melissa Shirley's "Red Geisha" which has areas of light coverage (the face) mixed with areas that are covered in solid stitches (everything else).  Often you will see a light coverage background with solid coverage everywhere else.  That makes logical sense because light coverage stitches recede while full coverage stitches look as if they are closer to the viewer.  So how come I used light coverage for a face?  Because faces tend to be focal points and often you can get away with light coverage on a focal point.   In this case the expression of the face, particularly the more heavily stitched lips, eyes and eyebrows mask the fact that I used light coverage stitches on the bulk of the face.

You can also get away with light coverage in foreground areas if you intend to draw the eye by using beads or sequins or metallics or other heavy textures.  Ruth Schmuff used a light coverage for her background AND flowers AND birds but the birds have beads and the flowers have very textural stitches, even though they do not complete cover the painted canvas.
http://www.notyourgrandmothersneedlepoint.com/2016/02/sparkling-birdies-and-pink-flowers.html

If you use light coverage everywhere, as in Kirk and Hamilton's "Magnolias," stitched by Pat Miller you don't have to worry about heavy coverage areas overwhelming the light coverage ones.  (She has a stitch guide for this, by the way.)  In this case all the petals and leaves and the background were stitched with light coverage stitches.  Obviously if you plan to work the entire canvas in light coverage stitches, you don't have to worry about a mix of light coverage and regular coverage stitches.
http://needleartnut.blogspot.com/2016/10/magnolia-finish.html

To help you figure out what areas besides backgrounds can handle light coverage, I thought I'd use Melissa Prince's new small travel coaster canvases as examples.  These are all on 18 count, by the way.
https://www.melissaprincedesigns.com/travel-coasters.html

Look at the pink flamingo for Florida in the second row.  You could use light coverage stitches for the martini glass because in real life glasses are transparent.  Just make sure the leaves sticking out of the drink aren't too dimensional and don't use stitches that stick up really high over the glass area for the flamingo float. That will look odd.  You could add sparkle to the glass with the use of beads, metallics or crystals to draw the eye and help the glass compete with the flamingo, though.

Look at Washington, D.C. in the third row.  You can use light coverage stitches for the buildings as long as you don't make the pink cherry blossoms or the blue sky too prominent.  The cherry blossoms are the focal point so it's ok for them to be dimensional. In fact, don't use light coverage for them.  That would look odd.  But don't have too heavy a hand here if the buildings and sky are both light coverage.  Balance is everything here.

The NYC skyline in the fourth row is a good design for light coverage stitches for the background and buildings and a heavier coverage for Miss Liberty's arm and torch.  That emphasizes the importance of Liberty over the ephemeral buildings of Manhattan that come and go as the city morphs and changes over time.

Make sense?  Use light coverage for focal points only when you can add emphasis in some other way.     If you have questions, post them in the Comments or email me at chilly hollow at hotmaildotcom.

By the way, here's the link to Part One of this light coverage tutorial, in case you missed it.
https://chillyhollownp.blogspot.com/2017/09/a-brief-light-coverage-tutorial-part-one.html

UPDATE:  It occurred to me that some sort of mention of what color to use on a beautifully shaded area is in order.  Light coverage stitches often are put on top of a multi-colored area like a flower petal or a skirt that is rippling in the wind.  In those instances I probably will choose either the most prominent color or a medium shade from the colors painted.  That's a starting point, though.  What color works best can sometimes only be discovered through trial and error.  Lay the end of the various skeins you are considering on top of the area and see which looks best to you.

Written by Jane/Chilly Hollow
Blogging at http://chillyhollownp.blogspot.com
and at http://chstitchguides.blogspot.com
© Copyright September 20, 2017 Jane M. Wood. All rights reserved.

The Summer Sips Backgrounds

The newest series from Leigh Designs is a set of 4x5 inch ovals called "Summer Sips."   As you would expect, they show eight different summer drinks, all the sort of thing I associate with a trip to the beach.  Six of the series have stitch guides, and you can see photos of those on the Leigh Designs website.
http://www.leighdesigns.com/Grp811x.html

It's those stitched models I want to talk about today since they all have fabulous backgrounds and backgrounds are things many stitchers struggle with.  So why not visit the masters of the art and see what they came up with?  First, let's look at Carolyn Taggart's "Hurricane" and  "Pina Colada."

Hurricane Stitched by Carolyn Taggart

Pina Colada Stitched by Carolyn Taggart

Hurricane has a simple upright stitch that skips a channel. It's small scale and effective since it doesn't fight with the central motif but it does echo the upright shape of the tall drinks glass that is elongated even more by the fruit on the flamingo toothpick.  Pina Colada's background is a simple trellis pattern.  The diamonds formed by the lines crossing look a bit like the paper umbrella, unifying the background with a main part of the design.

Strawberry Daiquiri Stitched by Pat Miller

Pat Miller's "Strawberry Daiquiri" has a very unobtrusive background which appears to be skip tent stitch.  Because the color of the thread is almost exactly the same as the pink canvas in the background, all you see is a little texture, allowing the string of diamonds and pearls to be prominent and setting off the drink with its huge strawberry very nicely.  If you compare the unstitched needlepoint canvas outside the red oval with the stitched background inside the oval, you will see just how much the texture adds to the canvas without really making a loud statement.

Lemon Drop Stitched by Sandy Arthur

Sandy Arthur's "Lemon Drop" also has a very unobtrusive background, a darning stitch that slants / to echo the flow of the lemon slice and flower that decorate her drink.  Sandy use a quiet background stitch that copies the direction the main elements slant.

Cuba Libre Stitched by Sharon Quick

Bloody Mary Stitched by Sharon Quick

Sharon Quick's "Cuba Libre" and "Bloody Mary" have use the same pale pink color in their threads as the background canvas and both have decorative stitches in the background.  The Cuba Libre has a wave stitch which is neutral despite its horizontal orientation because of the up and down movement of the stitch.  This is a nice choice because of the seahorse and the fact that Cuba itself is an island, suggesting waves and a drink to be enjoyed with an ocean view.  The Bloody Mary also has a decorative stitch, this time an eyelet stitch that give the background the sense of oval petaled flowers. Since the Bloody Mary has peppers, celery leaves and an olive as garnishes, it makes sense to have a plant-themed background.  

So all the backgrounds relate in some way to the main theme of the design or echo the direction of the main motifs and all are light coverage.  One last thing I noticed was that all the Summer Sips except the Pina Colada have pink backgrounds that are very close to the background canvas color.  This helps keep the background in the background, even when it is quite fancy like Sharon Quick's wave and floral eyelet backgrounds.

Hopefully this gives you ideas for your next backgrounds.  Thanks very much to the extremely talented team at Leigh Designs!

Written by Jane/Chilly Hollow
Blogging at http://chillyhollownp.blogspot.com
and at http://chstitchguides.blogspot.com
© Copyright June 2, 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.

I've Been Enticed

Entice in Many Colors

Have you tried Rainbow Gallery's new Entice yet?  Entice is a rayon thread with a bit of matching metallic woven into the strand.  Here are the available colors.  The photo above doesn't have them all, just the first set that Rainbow Gallery kindly sent me for review.  Note there are many shades of gold, blue, green, and purple plus several reds and pinks as well as black and white and cream.
http://www.rainbowgallery.com/detail.cfm?id=1347

I don't really like rayon threads much so I am not that experienced with them.  Therefore I enlisted Pat Miller of the Needleart Nut blog to help me with this review.  My first thought was how does Entice differ from Twinkle and Silk Lame Braid?  Pat's used Twinkle, a similar rayon-metallic thread from Gone Stitching.  She says Twinkle has only one strand of sparkle so that the metallic isn't always on top when you are stitching.  There are 37 colors of Twinkle and only 23 of Entice right now.  (I'm writing this in July 2015.)  Twinkle doesn't unravel much at the cut end (Entice does that Big Time) , the metallic doesn't unwind, and Twinkle is about the same diameter as size 8 perle cotton.  I think Entice is a bit fatter, sort of larger than size 8 perle but smaller than size 5 perle cotton.  Twinkle has good coverage on 18 count and isn't hard to pull through the holes.  It doesn't snag on dry hands either.
http://www.gonestitching.net/new/index.php/supplies/threads/twinkle-threads.html

Close Up of Pat's Fiery Brazil

Pat says that Twinkle has less metallic than Entice does.  She used both on one of Leigh Designs' Jungle Heat pieces and loaned me a photograph that shows both of them.  The green stems and caps are Entice and the black leaves are in Twinkle. Pat says Twinkle does twinkle in the light but Entice is more generally shiny.  By the way, the bits of light pink flower petal in the upper left are Silk Lame Braid so you can see all three threads in Pat's photograph.  Here's a larger version from the Leigh Designs' website.
http://www.leighdesigns.com/Mdl6303.html

Speaking of Silk Lame Braid, it is similar to Entice when it comes to the bits of metallic but the rayon of Entice is shinier than the silk in Silk Lame Braid.  Of course Silk Lame Braid comes in three sizes and Entice only one.  Entice is a bit fat for 18 count but if you use Silk Lame Braid you can choose a size. I imagine you can pull out a strand from both threads to make it smaller but I don't like to do that personally as the thread becomes unruly in my hands. (Other people do this successfully.  I am just clumsy I think.)   I discovered on 13 count Entice works very well, with little snagging and less unraveling at the cut end.  On 18 count I had more trouble with the unraveling.  I've not used my Thread Zapper to burn the end to see if that helps the fraying as mine died and I just replaced it, but if you use a large needle (size 18 or 20 are best) and short lengths, the fraying and unraveling of Entice as you work with it is minimized.  It's perfect for 13 count, though a larger needle helps here, too.

When it comes to sparkle, Entice looks like a softer version of Kreinik metallic.  On the sparkle spectrum, Kreinik has the most bling, Entice is next, with Twinkle and Silk Lame Braid bringing up the rear with a slight edge to Twinkle as the rayon is a little shinier than the silk in Silk Lame Braid (although there is more metallic showing in Silk Lame Braid).

I like Entice although I like it better for 13 count than 18 count.  I don't have any experience with Twinkle but hopefully Pat's experience and photographs will help you choose between these threads and Silk Lame Braid and Kreinik so you can find just the right amount of sparkle for your next project.

Many thanks to Pat Miller for her help with this review!  Do visit Pat's blog for more stitching fun!
http://needleartnut.blogspot.com

Written by Jane/Chilly Hollow
Blogging at http://chillyhollownp.blogspot.com
and at http://chstitchguides.blogspot.com
© Copyright July 14, 2015 Jane M. Wood. All rights reserved.

The Timeless Tiger is Traveling

Timeless Tiger from Leigh Designs' Imari Series

As you can probably tell from the change in the background, my Imari tiger piece is finished.  He is traveling to the Leigh Designs studio where he will be framed as a model. If you are a shop, you can visit him in Phoenix in January at the TNNA trade show if you stop by to tell Leigh and Robert hello.  I'm putting the finishing touches on the stitch guide right now, which is available from Leigh when your shop orders the canvas or you can get it directly from me if you aren't a shop.

He was a great deal of fun and at only six inches in diameter, he only took me about five weeks to finish, even though a lot of what I did in terms of needle felting was experimental.  I imagine if you stitch almost every day you could finish him in about a month.

Another View of The Tiger

Despite all the beading and the needle felting, the bulk of this classic design was done in basketweave, diagonal mosaic and brick stitches.    I wanted the tiger and flowers to look as if they were coming alive from a flat Japanese Imari plate so the majority of the design needed to be basic and flat to contrast well with the dimensional tiger and flowers.  Do you think I succeeded?

If tigers aren't your thing, check out the rest of the Imari series.  It comes in two sizes, both on 18 count canvas.
http://www.leighdesigns.com/Grp629x.html

http://www.leighdesigns.com/Grp628x.html

A rumor has reached me that Sandy Arthur will teach the Flaming Fowl at TNNA. If you aren't a shop owner going to the trade show, there are at least three other stitch guides available for these beauties.

Roar!

Written by Jane/Chilly Hollow
Blogging at http://chillyhollownp.blogspot.com
and at http://chstitchguides.blogspot.com
© Copyright October 17, 2014 Jane M. Wood. All rights reserved.