More Christmas in July (with Teeth)

The Christmas Alligator Stitched

Yesterday's Christmas in July finishing links reminded me that I hadn't shown off my Jude Designs Christmas alligator yet. It came back from West Coast Finishing about two weeks ago but the heavy rains meant a good photo wasn't possible then. When the rain turned into HotandHumid, I took photos for you to see.   So without further ado, here is Needlepoint by Jude's "Santa Al."
http://www.spicyneedlepoint.com/Christmas_Halloween/default.htm 

Green Velvet Backing

Several people asked about the string of lights attached around the alligator and wrapped around his support pole. These are from the scrapbooking section of my local crafts emporium.   They are little plastic molded light bulbs on a string couched into position.  I sent West Coast Finishing the leftovers and they wrapped them around the support, too.
http://www.joann.com/jolee-s-by-you-holiday-lights/prd47670/

Pedestal with Sparkly Blue Ball to Match Ornament Hanging from Alligator's Tail

West Coast Finishing did a lovely job.  I requested something sturdy and masculine since this is a gift for my brother but otherwise let Sue Parsons do whatever she liked.  I think she did great!

Rickrack and Gold Trim on Edge-No Foofoo Ribbons for This Alligator!

This is the perfect present for the man who never decorates the Christmas tree due to the mess he makes, don't you think?  Hahaha

Many thanks to Sue.  You are the best!

Written by Jane/Chilly Hollow
Blogging at http://chillyhollownp.blogspot.com
and at http://chstitchguides.blogspot.com
@ Copyright 2013 Jane M. Wood. All rights reserved.

Fans of the Christmas Gator Alert

The Christmas Alligator Decorates

This morning I stumbled across another Jude Designs alligator ornament on eBay and thought fans of the Christmas alligator (pictured above) might like to see another in the series.  The eBay alligator is called Madame Gator.  (Love the hat feathers!)
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Jude-Designs-Cajun-Madame-Gator-Needlepoint-Canvas-/120892870171?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item1c25c6ce1b

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

The Alligator's Girlfriend

Christmas Alligator Makes a Mess of Decorating

The Christmas Alligator is done! All I have to do is make him up into an ornament. I'm not going to have time to do that for this Christmas but perhaps after the holiday rush is over I can sit down and do the finishing that is piling up here in Chilly Hollow.  Hope you like him.  This is a Jude Designs ornament.

Fortunately Alligator Has Help Decorating

I've already started on my next small project, an angel holding a star garland from Petei.  For now, Petei canvases are not available so I feel lucky to have snagged this little beauty.  What you see is step one of the background, which I want to look like a starry sky.  You'll have to wait and see how it turns out....

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

The Alligator Has a Face

Jude Designs' Christmas Alligator

The last time you saw my Christmas alligator ornament, his face needed nostrils, his cap needed fur trim, and his face was disappearing into his body.  I fixed the first problem by giving him reddish bullions for each nostril.  After all, he already had bullion toes and repeating the same stitch helps unify a design.  I like French knots for somewhat tidy fur, so I tent stitched the fur trim with my Medici wool, then added French knots on top of the tent stitches which are a good foundation to keep French knots from pulling out.  To bring his face forward from his body, I outlined it with one ply of High Cotton in a dried blood color, which is prominent against the green without being too stark like white would be.  I liked the effect so much that I also outlined his front legs to make them a little more obvious.

You may not be able to tell but I outlined his blue ornament with gold Kreinik to round the bead edges a bit.  I still need to put another stitch through a few beads to straighten them.

I can see from the photo that his green belly needs \ and / stitches in green on top of the background to round off that area a bit.  I also need to add a row of background at the top above his head and tail.  I'll get those things done and then it will be time for the final touch, which you see below.

Scrapbooking Trim by Jolee's

I hope to show you a finished piece next time, plus a glimpse of the alligator's girlfriend.

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

The Alligator Decorates for Christmas

The Christmas Alligator's Tail Being Stitched

I've made some progress on the Jude Designs alligator, having beaded his blue Christmas ornament and put in his sunglasses' lenses.  Currently I am working his body in Dotted Swiss stitch, doing tiny cross stitches every other canvas thread with Kreinik's 070, which is cleverly called "Mardi Gras."  Since the metallic is gold, purple and green (Mardi Gras colors) the name is a great description of the thread.  The skipped stitches will be a dark green Felicity's Garden (a silk-wool blend) to tone down the sparkle a little.  Santa's fur, claws, nose holes, and the frames of his glasses are undone and I will need to do some outlining of his head and the ornament to tidy up the design before finishing, but he's coming along well.  He's been a fun distraction at night after a full day of Christmas prep plus all the other chores that come with living in Chilly Hollow.

Thanks, Jude Designs!

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

The Alligator Comes for Christmas

Jude Designs' Christmas Alligator

It is pretty hectic here in Chilly Hollow as we try to finish some renovations before company arrives for the holidays, but I have gotten a bit done on the small Christmas Alligator ornament from Jude Designs. Here you see the background almost finished and his red stocking cap finished except for the white fur trim.  For the background I decided to use Double Cross, a stitch Vicky DeAngelis talked about on her blog.
http://mostlyneedlepoint.com/its-all-about-the-finish-part-2/

I used Double Stitch on my Cat Topiary Garden for sone of the evergreens and it is a beautiful stitch. However, it is a thread hog and I ran out of the 18 count size of ecru Silk Lame Braid # SL03 I was using for the big crosses.  That's why I worked on the stocking cap before finishing the background while I waited for an emergency shipment of Silk Lame Braid.

By the way, step two of Double Stitch is the tiny cross stitches.  They are in a similar color in Impressions (#1146) but because of the difference in textures, the Double Stitch has some depth and interest to it, besides having the sparkle of Silk Lame Braid.  I like having a lot of metallics on Christmas ornaments to help them stand out among all the other Christmas decorations.  One thing I didn't notice until I did the scan for this posting was the loop of thread laying on top of the red stocking cap above the alligator's left eye.  This is a bit of the metallic from the Silk Lame Braid which untwists itself as you stitch.  I use short lengths of thread to minimize this, but you can still have something stick up at the end of a length of thread if you aren't careful.  Interestingly, I don't have this problem with the smaller Petite Silk Lame Braid, perhaps because the twist is tighter.

In the photo the right half of the background has the tiny cross stitches added but I haven't gotten to the left half yet.  I also still need to do the background between the tail and the head but I ran out of steam last night and went to bed.

The stocking cap is done in the new shaded Petite Very Velvet.  Rainbow Gallery shows off the colors of regular shaded Very Velvet in the link below so you can get an idea of the colors available.  Sorry but I couldn't find an online color card for the Petite shaded.    I am using V810, which seems to be similar to the regular Very Velvet's Holiday Reds.  I used Interlocking Goblein which is done in horizontal rows and allowed the colors to fall where they wished.  
http://www.rainbowgallery.com/detail.cfm?ID=1251

Once I finish the background, I plan to use Don Lynch's basketweave beading technique on the blue Christmas ornament.  While I run around like a maniac, getting ready for Christmas, you can wander over to Don's website at Associated Talents and see how he does basketweave beading.
http://www.atneedlepoint.com/Guides/HE-801-GUIDE.pdf

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