Camel Flowers and How They Grew

Kimberly explains how her "Camel Flowers" design evolved.   Trust me, you will be charmed!
http://akimberlydesign.blogspot.com/2015/08/camels-and-flowers.html

You can see more of Kimberly's painted canvases here and speculate on how they grew.
http://www.bedeckedandbeadazzled.com/Products/?category=260

You can check out Kim's finishing on her Facebook page.
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Needlework-Finishing-by-Kim-Hollifield/828160593970183?fref=ts

Written by Jane/Chilly Hollow
Blogging at http://chillyhollownp.blogspot.com
and at http://chstitchguides.blogspot.com
© Copyright August 21, 2015 Jane M. Wood. All rights reserved.

Thoughts on The Finished Three Camels Stocking

The little three camels mini stocking is finally made up. Hope you like it!

To recap, this is a painted canvas from Liz (the precursor company of Tapestry Tent?) that I picked up cheaply to stitch for my neighbor who loves camels. It's on 18 count and is around 6 inches tall and about 3 inches wide at the widest point.

I learned several important things finishing this piece. As you remember, I decided to use foam core inside the piece and make it up as an ornament, not as a functioning stocking. I think it is really too small for me to successfully make it a Christmas stocking. Stockings are a bit tricky to finish and I know my limits! The thinnest foam core I could find was 1/4 inch thick. While it makes for a very light weight but rigid piece, it's a bit thicker than I like. Not much you can do about that--I doubt foam core comes much thinner than what I found. So I went with a broad wired piece of trim to cover the fat edge. I'm also not sure I would use wired trim again, either. It was very easy to mold into shape but it would not tie the fancy Chinese knot I wanted to put at the toe above the glass bead that hangs from the toe. I ended up using Kreinik's 002 gold in the #32 braid thickness for both the bead dangle and the loop to hang the stocking up instead. And that doesn't show the fancy knot well. Or maybe I just didn't tie it quite right since that was my first attempt!

The real moral of finishing this stocking is to not be intimidated by roadblocks in finishing. I just changed directions when things didn't work all that well and tried other things. Another example is the little bump of beads over the edges. (Squint and you'll see them in the photos.) When I got my trim attached at the edges, there were a few places where it didn't really cover the front and back join that well. I thought that over a minute and then rummaged through my beads and found half a box of Mill Hill gold seed beads. I just did another round of couching the trim to the stocking but this time I came up, threaded three gold beads on the needle, and then went down over the trim. This is couching with beads and it puts a cluster of beads around the trim periodically. I tried to space the beads evenly but where they would hide untidy spots. I think they look nice and they add a bit of interest to the plain gold trim. This piece is pretty busy, so a fancy gold trim wouldn't look good in my opinion but a plain one wasn't quite right either. I think I killed two birds with three beads, so to speak, by hiding problems and fancying up the trim with couched beads.



The last thing I'd like you to notice is how important it is to have the bead hanging from the stocking toe. Jane and I (yes, we have the same lovely name!) realized when we were looking at photos of finished Christmas stockings how important it is to consider how the stocking will be displayed. We saw a Santa with a long coat stitched in vertical rows that looked odd hanging because the very straight ||| stitches were slanted when the stocking hung off the mantelpiece. I was just starting to stitch this little mini sock when Jane and I made our discovery. This both influnced her choice of stitches for her Santa stocking and made me look at the design of mine. I photographed the finished piece laid flat and hanging at an angle so you could see what I mean. Go to the Yahoo 360 blog and look in the right column to see "The Wise Men's Stocking is Done" photographed straight to compare how the direction matters.

I realized that Liz designed the camels to be viewed from an angle. Look at any photos of this design on my Yahoo 360 blog and you'll see I stitched it in a frame with it upright but the camels look much more real hanging at an angle. That's why I added the heavy glass bead--the make sure the camels were always seen at their best angle. It's sort of like movie stars who always want to be photographed from their best angle only. When you stitch your stockings, think about how they will be displayed and choose stitches and finishing options that will make it look its very best.

Hope you enjoyed my stitching of the three little camels stocking.

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

Knotting

Check out the Chinese button knot in this link. I think I'm going to use one in finishing my three camels stocking.

http://www.chineseknotting.org/

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

Still Putting the Wise Men's Camels Together

As you can see from the photo, I've cut out the 1/4 inch margin all around the stitched NP canvas and snipped inwardly pointing lines into the curved areas. Those cuts, which only go in about halfway, help the turned under edge lie flat. And I laced the wool felt around the foam core, just like you lace a piece of needlework to foam core before framing it. Then I put the two sides together and stitched them, making sure that the hanging loop I made was attached to the back of the NP first. The lumpy upper left area stitched smooth once I started putting things together. I just turned under more/less of the needlepoint or the back felt to make the join smooth. When I cut my foam core I used my color copy of the plain unstitched Liz canvas as a pattern. I cut around it and used the cutout as a template on the foam core, but made the foam core 1/8 inch smaller than the NP. Next time I will make it 1/4 inch smaller all around. I think that will help with the joining of the front to the back. And next time maybe my lacing will be less lumpy! Practice makes perfect....

The final piece isn't shown yet because I need to find trim to hand stitch around the margins. Using 1/4 fat foam core means my ornament is light weight but 1/4 thick, so I need larger braid than I can make to put all around the edges. So I'll need to go shopping Monday and Tuesday to collect supplies.

As always, stay tuned!

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

Putting the Wise Men's Camels Together

Remember the Three Wise Men's Camels mini-stocking I finished last winter? (If you are at the Yahoo 360 blog, you can click on Wise Men's Camel Stocking in the right hand column to see a photo of the finished canvas.) I'm starting to assemble it into an ornament. I am using--for the first time--foam core for the middle part, sandwiched between the canvas and a nice piece of tan felt Abby Cat sent me from New Zealand a few years ago. I am not going to include any padding in the middle of the sandwich, just the foam core. If you haven't seen foam core before, it resembles two sheets of heavy, slick paper with a middle of foam. It's used in framing and is light weight and strong. You can buy it in acid-free for framing and it comes in various thicknesses. You can buy a big sheet or remnants and have to cut it to size. I trimmed my little 6x6 square remnant with an exacto knife, and never got it really rounded but I think it will be ok.

The photo above shows the felt laid out with the foam core on top. MAKE SURE that you know which side of the foam core will be facing your NP so you orient the fabic the right way before cutting. I wrote B for back on the correct side that will be the back before I cut my felt. The next step is to fold the margins over, roughly tack them into position by sewing them, and then put dots of glue under the felt to attach it in several places to the foam core middle.

Then I will turn under the edges of my NP canvas and trim them to about 3/8 inch, then start hand sewing the NP to the foam core & felt back. After that I'll need to add trim to hide the seam. Wish me luck!

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