Dede's Cat Topiary Garden Canvas

My Cat Topiary Garden Canvas

Do you remember when I stitch dede Odgen's Cat Topiary Garden (above)? 

This is a discontinued canvas and although some folks managed to find one, not everyone did.  But there's good news!  I spotted one at Enriched Stitch!  If you are a fan, hurry over and pick it up while it is on sale.
http://astheneedleturns.com/blow-out-sale/

Written by Jane/Chilly Hollow
Blogging at http://chillyhollownp.blogspot.com
and at http://chstitchguides.blogspot.com
© Copyright June 28,  2014 Jane M. Wood. All rights reserved.

Enabling

Cat Topiary Garden as Wall Hanging

How about a little enabling this morning? Fans of the Cat Topiary Garden I stitched for my mother last year (above) will be happy to hear Amy Bunger has this discontinued canvas for sale at Amy's Golden Strand.  You can use "cat topiary garden" as a search term here at Blog and follow what I did to stitch it if you like.
http://www.amybunger.com/catalog/item/7997827/9581182.htm

If that's more than you want to spend today, visit Joan Thomasson's website and browse the angels that she's famous for.  They are reasonably priced (particularly if you buy the canvas only and stitch from your stash) and very attractive.  Don't miss the Fun Angels who are perhaps better described as fallen angels.
http://www.joanthomasson.com/ProductCategories.aspx

I am also quite fond of her Santas, especially this elegant French St. Nick.
http://www.joanthomasson.com/ProductDetail.aspx?RowID=136

Do you have favorites you've spotted at a very good price?  Comment below.

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.

Cat Topiary Garden Wall Hanging

Rear of Cat Topiary Garden Wall Hanging

The cat topiary garden canvas is made up into a wall hanging now. The back side is blue silk damask with a circle pattern.

I cut a dowel from the craft store to the proper length with an inch on either side to allow for a wooden knob (also from the craft store) to be attached on each side.  Then I sanded and stained the dowel and the knobs with cherry stain.  It's a light wash, which is suitable for the environment it will live once I give it to my mother for Christmas.

The tabs are woven trim from the sewing store.  I cut three identical loops large enough for the knobs to slide though and positioned them at either end and in the middle of the top.  They were stitched into place, then I laid the NP canvas face down on the backing fabric and hand sewed three sides together.  I left the bottom edge open so I could slide in a piece of plastic canvas covered with quilt batting on the front.  The plastic canvas had to be trimmed slightly to fit but it is easy to cut plastic canvas with scissors (not the good embroidery scissors, though!).

Once the innards were in place, I sewed up the bottom edge.  The gold braid (also from the fabric store) was tied around the dowel at each end after I stuck the dowel through the loops.  Then I put a drop of Aileen's Fabric Glue on the knot so that once it dried, I could cut the raw frayed edge of the braid away.  Aileen's Fabric Glue dries clear so you really have to look carefully to see that the knot is held in place by glue.

Cat Topiary Garden Ready for Christmas

Then I hung this up to take photos so you can see the finished piece.   Hope you've enjoyed this journey full of bushes of all shapes and sizes.


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

The Cat Topiary Garden Complete

Cat Topiary Garden by dede Odgen

I thought you might like to see photos of the finished cat topiary garden. Of course it's not made up yet but that is still to come.

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

Final Touches on the Cat Topiary Garden

Bird Finials and Gold Necklaces Beaded

The end is in sight with the cat topiary garden--hurrah!  (Although I should not cheer as when the stitching is over it will be time to make this up into a wall hanging--and I hate finishing.)  This last week I was able to add beads and tent stitches to finish up the actual stitching.  First, the beads.  They went on the canvas in several places:  the topiaries, the cat statues and the bird finials on the garden gate.

I used four colors:  the topiaries got a size 11/0 hex shaped bead in teal green from Miyuki.  These have a lot of sparkle because they are six-sided.  The cat statues' necklaces are made from gold hex beads, but this time from Sundance.  The gold beads are size 14/0, which means they are smaller than the teal ones. (The larger the number, the smaller the bead, just like needles.)  The bird finials use white round beads like little pearls from Miyuki that are size 15/0 and pale blue hex beads (also from Miyuki) that are size 11/0.  Note that I mixed various bead sizes and shapes on the finials.

The topiaries got teal green beads scattered at random to make them stand out a little bit.  If you look at the photo, you'll see that the beads are placed to sort of enhance the shapes.  However, if you don't do random, just put a bead approximately where the eye of the cat, fish, mouse or bird would be, then pour 6-10 more beads on the topiary.  (More beads go on the larger topiaries and fewer on the smaller ones.)  Shove them around with your needle's tip until you like the distribution.  Mark the approximate position of each bead on a xerox of the canvas, then slide the beads off the canvas into a tray so you can pick them up one by one to attach them in the positions marked on the paper copy.

The cat statue necklaces have each gold hex bead attached separately just as if I were doing tent stitches.  By the way, I thought about using the same gold hex beads on the gold lock in the gate, but when I put a bead on top, it didn't look good. So I tent stitched the lock with gold Kreinik and the keyhole with black Trebizond silk perle.  In the photo above, I haven't stitch the lock yet.

Beads on the Topiary Bushes

The final beaded area are the bird finials that top the gate which are visible in the top photo.  They were the most interesting area to bead because I had to mix round white pearl beads in size 15/0 with hex shaped blue beads that are larger (size 11/0).  I don't recommend mixing bead sizes unless you want an effect like larger and smaller seeds in a pea pod, for example.  But since I could only find the right colors in such different beads, I was stuck.  I had to mix them.  So how to attach them so that they would look ok, even with the differences in the shapes and sizes?  In this instance brick stitch is your friend.

Remember Robin King's diagram for using brick stitch to attach beads?  Each bead nestles in the hole between two threads.  This means there is a little space between each bead and the thread used to attach them shows a bit. In other words, each blue hex bead is not jammed up against each white pearl bead.  The space between them hides the fact that they are not the same size and shape.
http://needlepointstudyhall.blogspot.com/2010/04/beading-pumpkin-balloon.html

If I had tried to solidly bead the finials in tent stitches, the size and type differences between the white and blue beads would have been emphasized.  Which is fine for some effects but not for the finials.  I needed a smooth look despite the differences between the two colors of beads.  Brick stitch gave that to me.

Now it is time to start to assemble the cat topiary garden into a wall hanging.  More on that later.

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

Latticework on the Cat Topiary Garden

Latticework Stitched

The last large remaining feature in my cat topiary garden is the latticework gate. It puzzled me for quite a while since I needed a stitch that looked like wood but that wasn't too dense compared to the light coverage stitches used most everywhere on this canvas. I finally just stitched long stitches (either diagonals or verticals, depending on the space) with #8 perle cotton. #5 perle cotton was a little too heavy but #8 is just right. It doesn't quite cover but it looked good to me. It took two nights' stitching to finish the latticework and then took two more nights to add the blue outline around the edges of most of the lattice pieces in the arch and gate.

Shadows Added to Latticework

I almost didn't stitch (stem stitch with two plies of my thread) the blue shadows around the white pieces of wood but I am glad I did.  They add a bit of depth to the design.  The most interesting thing about the blue shadows is the thread I used, which was new to me.  It is overdyed DMC cotton which comes from their Variations line.  You can see all the colors here.  (Note that there are two pages to view.)  I used #4020 which is lighter in person than in the photograph.  It shades from white to a pale sky blue with a few darker sky blue areas in the skein.
https://www.stitchingbitsandbobs.com/cgi-bin/Store/pageread.cgi?DMCColorVariations

I'd never used Variations before.  I've seen it in the craft chain stores, of course, but always turned up my nose at it.  After all, there are a dozen or more overdyed cotton brands available, all of which sport lovelier colors than what is available from DMC Variations.  But when I didn't find the shade of blue I needed for the latticework shadows in my stash, I went looking at the only threads easily available to me--the DMC cotton floss display.  I spotted Variations, realized This Was It, and bought a skein on the spot.  As I remember, it's more expensive than regular DMC cotton floss and the plies also seem coarser than their regular floss.  I suppose that is due to the extra dyeing needed to create the colors.  It's good to know that I can pick up other overdyed cottons in a pinch from DMC.  If you also live far from any shop and have to rely on DMC in an emergency, remember to check out the specialty threads DMC offers.  It's not just regular cotton floss any more.

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

Cat Topiary Garden: Why Tulle?

Since I've gotten multiple questions as to why I layered tulle over the cat topiary garden canvas, I thought it is worthwhile to provide an explanation for those who missed it the first time round.  When I finished stitching the background, I realized there was a problem.
http://chillyhollownp.blogspot.com/2011/06/its-ruths-fault-we-are-going-shopping.html


I knew from paying careful attention to Ruth Schmuff's stitching and from using tulle over the Melissa Shirley Red Geisha that tulle could fix my problem.
http://chillyhollownp.blogspot.com/2011/06/how-ruth-brought-tulle-into-my-life.html

Tulle isn't the perfect answer.  If I knew in June what I know now, I would have just put a piece of tulle over the background only and left the rest of the canvas uncovered.  But if I hadn't tried covering the entire canvas, we wouldn't know this, so it is a worthwhile experiment.  Making mistakes in your stitching is how you learn.  The perfect stitcher never gets beyond perfect stitches to memorable needlepoint.
http://chillyhollownp.blogspot.com/2011/06/tulle-on-needlepoint-canvas-drawbacks.html

On the other hand, the tulle provides a secure background for making French knots if you are doing light coverage.  That's something worth remembering if you ever need to scatter French knots over something that won't really hold them in place well.


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

Cat Topiary Garden: Putting Leaves on Topiaries

Cat Topiary without French Knots

There are only four topiary bushes on dede Odgen's Cat Topiary Garden design but they seemed to go on forever!  Since I choose to stitch them in a variant of skip tent that uses cross stitches instead of tent stitches (using two plies of my DMC cotton colors), they did take a while to stitch.  All the topiaries are shades of medium to dark green against the blue tinted other bushes, so they stand out from the background, but I wanted to make them stand out even more, so once the skip tent was all finished on all four topiaries, I added tiny French knots (one wrap only with the two plies of DMC cotton) along the yellow highlighted edges of each bush.  That gave a rather leafy edge to the bushes.  In the photo above you see the cat topiary before any French knots were added.  See how the cat shape blends into the bushes behind it slightly?  The other topiaries have the same problem to a lesser degree.

Topiaries with French Knots

This photo shows the cat with its French knots in place.  The addition of small French knots helps lift the design somewhat and defines it.  By the way, remember my complaints about how the layer of tulle that lies on top of the canvas prevents my basketweave and any satin stitches from being as smooth as they normally would be?  The same layer of tulle really helped give my French knots something to hang on to.  Ordinarily I would not be able to use French knots on a skip tent area but the tulle really helps in this regard.

In other words, tulle is a plus on top of your canvas sometimes and sometimes it isn't.  Choose your canvas carefully if you are going to use this technique.

Once I finish the tiny French knots around the feet of the cat statues,  I can turn my attention to the gate, which is the last remaining large element of this canvas.

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

Cat Topiary Garden Thread Dye Lot Problem and Solutions

Problem Area

Despite my having two partial spools of Trebizond Silver 953 here in CH, I ran out of this medium silver color while working the right hand cat statue. I called up the local shop that I knew stocks Trebizond and ordered a spool (plus some other goodies I'll report on later) and it arrived Saturday. Hurrah!

Sadly, the dye lots had changed substantially and all of a sudden Silver 953 was much darker.  In the photo above, the right leg is the original Silver 953 while the left leg is the new spool of Silver 953.  The circled area is where I mixed threads to get by.  See my problem?  I've never had this issue with Trebizond before but some threads (I'm looking at YOU, Watercolours!) are notorious for dyelot changes.  This is why you always should buy plenty of thread.  However, with two partial spools and not that much area to cover, I thought I'd be ok.  Much of the second cat statue was done in half cross stitch, by the way, which uses much less thread than the basketweave of the left cat statue.  I still ran out, though, and ended up with two shades of silver. So I did what any stitcher would do--I rummaged through my stash. I had a similar silver in Presencia perle cotton but it didn't have the sheen of the silk Trebizond and didn't look right.  I did have Trebizond 951 which is very light silver, however.  So I plied the light 951 and the dark 953 and experimented to see what mix of plies got me closest to the original 953.  I ended up stitching the rest of the right cat statue with two plies of 951 and one of 953.  If I worked carefully so that the 953 showed more than the 951, it came close to the original 953 color.

Can I get by with this?

It is not perfect but it is ok.  There are things I can do to minimize the color difference.  I can put a few lines of darker grey on top of the legs to do shading.  That will minimize the color differences.  I could create a blooming vine to climb up the problem left leg and shoulder. That will also fool the eye which will look at the vine, not the leg.  If the cats were supposed to be real cats, not statues, I might try brushing the threads to make them fuzzy, which would also hide the color change.  But for now I'm tent stitching the green leaves around the cat statues' feet and working on the small cat topiary in the background while I think all this over.  Anyone else have ideas on hiding dye lot changes?


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

Back to Work on the Cat Topiary Garden

The Cat Topiary Garden Progress Report

The power outage last weekend and all the associated yard work to remove downed trees and limbs have put me way behind on posting about dede Odgen's cat topiary garden. I've been working away, though--I just haven't taken time to talk about it.


As you can see from the photograph above, I've finished the brick border (using Felicity's Garden silk/wool in a nice rusty orange called Cinnamon 012) and also tent stitched the two cat statues using Trebizond Silver 956 (the dark gray), Trebizond Black 111, and Trebizond 953 (light gray).  Since I wanted a smooth and slightly shiny look for the statues, the Trebizond silk perle worked well.  The black eyes of each cat are cross stitches, by the way.  I thought about doing tent stitches for one cat's eyes and reverse tent for the other's eyes but cross stitches looked best to me.

I left the gold necklaces the cats wear unstitched.  I will bead the necklaces but that needs to wait until the end as beads snag threads you are stitching with.


Working both the brick border and the cats was more challenging than I expected.  Remember, I am stitching through a layer of tulle laid on top of the canvas.  This makes laying stitches for a smooth look or doing perfect basketweave stitches harder than I expected.  No matter how careful I was, my stitching wasn't as nice as I'd like.  The tulle catches the threads slightly and keeps them from being perfectly smooth.  If I had it to do over again, I'd put the tulle layer just on the top over the already stitched background and not stitch through it, but I've also discovered that the right thread doesn't snag on the tulle.


Take the brick border, for example.  I used one strand of Impressions (light pinky tan), two plies of Lorikeet (dark brown) and one strand of Felicity's Garden (rusty orange) for the "bricks."  Of the three threads, the Felicity's Garden definitely laid best.  It's the thickest of the threads, so I think what is happening is that the Felicity's Garden comes through the tulle and then meshes together with previous stitches better than the other two brands.

What I'm trying to say is that if you have to stitch through tulle, some threads work better than others for long stitches.  But overall, I'd not recommend using long stitches on top of tulle unless you really must.  I didn't have the same problem with my previous stitches but they all used 1-2 plies of floss.  Of course it is hard to see just where to put my skip tent cross stitches on the topiaries because the tulle masks the canvas thread locations, but a good light and some careful planning gets me over that hump successfully.

Remember, this piece is not just a present for my mother:  it's another mad needlepoint adventure!  That's how we learn what works and what doesn't--by trying everything.  You'll soon find out that some things work, some don't, but you will increase your stitching knowledge immensely and be better prepared for the next project and the next! I highly advocate experimentation in needlepoint.  It is a fun way to learn.

Speaking of next, I'm working on the bird topiary.  After that I hope to alternate work on the cat topiary and the white fence and gate.  But first, there's a problem with the cat statue on the right side....


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

Cache Pots for the Cat Topiary Garden

Two Cache Pots

I decided the next area I would tackle on the cat topiary garden would be the two big cache pots that flank the garden gate.  I had the perfect thread--a beautiful overdyed silk 12-ply floss from Gloriana called Deep Blue Sea.  The photo above shows the left cache pot with the stitch I choose from Brenda Hart's Favorite Stitches, page 35 underway.  This stitch isn't named in Brenda's book but I have seen it other places.  It is done in two steps:  first the framework which you see above, then the circles are filled with straight stitches.


Careful study of the photo will show you that the right pot has a different thread.  Yes, when I stitched the left pot framework, I discovered the Gloriana silk that looked so perfect in the skein had too much green in it to actually work well for the pots.  So I switched to two shades of medium blue in DMC cotton floss for the right pot.  The lighter blue that makes up the bulk of the cache pot on the right is 825 but I used the darker 311 for the edges of the pot where the paint is darker.  I stitched the framework and the central circles in the correct shade of DMC cotton to echo the shading on the big jar.

Right Cache Pot Finished

The final area to stitch in the cache pots is the lip around the top, which I did in padded satin stitches.  The second photo shows the right cache pot finished.  I pulled out my Gloriana silk from the left cache pot and hope to have it stitched by the time you read this.

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

Cat Topiary Garden: Bricks and Mortar

Progress on dede Odgen's Cat Topiary Garden

I've been working various areas of the cat topiary garden, putting off going back to the topiaries for now since they are wearing on my nerves. (The next time I decide to stitch a piece this large with this much similar background, someone please shoot me.)  The first thing I did after I finished stitching the sleeping cat was to stitch the yellow mortar lines in the brick border. I used a slightly tan thread (Impressions 1115) instead of the bright yellow that is painted since I don't particularly like the yellow color. That took several nights to stitch all around the border. After that, I returned to the cat and stitched the dark brick the cat sleeps on using plain old mosaic stitch and one ply of Gloriana's Lorikeet wool.  Here's mosaic stitch--
http://www.needlepoint.org/StitchOfTheMonth/1999/99-01.php

The next link shows all the colors of Lorikeet.  It's a 9 ply wool that is quite fine--it'll work on congress cloth or 13 count, depending on the number of plies you use. One ply doesn't quite cover but since the color I am using (Rosewood Dark) is a close match to the painted area, I don't need to  completely cover the canvas.
http://www.glorianathreads.com/Lorikeet.html

I've started working on the bricks in the border using two plies of the same Rosewood Dark Lorikeet.  As you can see, I'm filling each rectangle with satin stitches on the diagonal.  I will probably do all the dark brown bricks, then turn my attention to the blue cache pots on either side of the cat.  After that, it's back to the topiaries for poor me!

Tomorrow I'll change the header photo to show the latest progress on cat topiary garden but today you can compare the photo at the top of this Blog entry with the header to see how much (or little) I've accomplished since the last update.


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

The Cat Topiary Garden Reappears

dede Odgen's Cat Topiary Garden

I'm sure at least some of you noticed that the cat topiary garden piece I was stitching for my mother's birthday has reappeared. I ran out of time to get it done and made up so I worked on the pink geisha Miko instead. Cat topiary garden will now be a Christmas present, which means I'm working it each night, trying to get more finished on this fairly large piece (eleven inches wide by thirteen inches high on 18 count NP canvas).

In the header photo the cat is almost finished but the dark gray shading is just too dark.  I pulled all that out and replaced it with a lighter gray thread.  Sometimes what looks good at night when I do most of my stitching doesn't look good the next morning, which was the case here.

The cat is done in needle painting, which is basically a random long and short stitch with outlines in stem and outline stitch.  The eyelids are tent stitches.  I used two shades of orange Impressions, a cream from Vineyard Silk Classic, and gray Medici wool.  Basically, I found similar diameter threads in the right colors from my stash and stitched away!

I plan to go back to the topiaries but I needed a break from them.  There are a lot of topiaries in the background and stitching them is tedious work, so I hope to alternate finishing them with other parts of the canvas.  Stay tuned!

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

Back to the Topiaries

dede Odgen's Cat Topiary Garden

Now that my deadline for finishing Smilin' Jack in time for the Baltimore trade show is met, I am back working on the topiary bushes on my dede Odgen piece.  Cat Topiary Garden has to be finished in time for my mother's birthday in September (Shhh!  Don't tell her!) so I am trying to get the big topiary bushes done quickly.

I'm working on the center back topiary, the one with the bird on top, using a variant of skip tent stitch in which I substitute cross stitches for the tent stitches one normally uses for skip tent.  My threads are four shades of DMC cotton floss, using two plies.  (If you are stitching the 13 count version of this piece, you may want to use three plies.)  I like the regular look that skip cross stitch gives me.  It resembles the close clipped look of a real topiary bush.

From darkest to lightest, I am using DMC 319, 987, 905 and 703.  Rummage in your stash and find four shades of green that work well together.  You don't have to use exactly the thread I did.  I think a thin wool would look very nice on the topiaries--particularly on the 13 count version of this design-- but I didn't have any thin enough in enough shades of green to use on my 18 count version.

In the photo I have used all but the lightest shade of green. I'm saving that for the top of the topiary.  I'm working the bird topiary with the canvas upside down to reach without touching areas I've already stitched.  I'm considering whether to sprinkle tiny French knots or beads (or both) along the top margins of the topiaries but I have decided to wait until all the bushes are done before I decide whether to use beads and French knots on areas.

I hope to finish the bird topiary and also the short cat topiary behind the gate this week.  Then I will work on the shorter fish and mouse topiary bushes next week.

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

Achieving Dimension in Needlepoint

We've talked some about how to make the background recede while making some of the bushes on cat topiary garden come forward while I worked on dede Odgen's cat topiary garden.  If you'd like more ideas on how to do this with your own painted canvases, Anne Stradal's latest lighthouse project will help.  Head over to her blog and starting with July 22, discover how the stitches and threads she choose make her lighthouse stand out against the sky and how she made some tree covered hills closer than others.
http://thecapestitcher.blogspot.com/

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

Cat Topiary Garden: Miles to Stitch

Remember last time I used skip tent (or basketweave twill since I'm doing this on the diagonal like Ruth Schmuff does) to stitch the two small bushes lurking behind the gate?  And I told you I was going to use a variation of that stitch on the topiaries?  That's exactly what I have been doing, except instead of doing tent stitches on the diagonal as in the diagram here,
http://www.notyourgrandmothersneedlepoint.com/2010/06/one-of-my-favorite-stitches.html

I am doing tiny cross stitches with my darkest green DMC cotton and the medium green DMC cotton I used on the hedges out front. You can just see what I've done in the photo I posted last time which I've reposted here.  The little yellow-green bush behind the gate is in skip tent, the tiny bit of topiary behind the cat topiary is in skip cross stitch.  The profile is higher in skipped cross stitch which makes it a tad more prominent.

I've turned the canvas upside down and am working the big bird topiary in the middle rear first.  The base of the bird topiary is dark green but a bit towards the top of the base is lighter green.  I am switching colors as I near the edge.  I plan to fill the entire bird topiary except for the very edges with this skipped cross stitch.  The edges will have French knots.  At least that is the plan.

Base of Bird Topiary Underway

This photo shows my progress to date.  It's going to take quite a while so I'm going to switch to a new project with a deadline and work on that most of the time, just doing skipped cross stitches when I am too tired to do anything fancy.  But not to fear, I'll be working on this.  I'm just not going to post again until the first topiary bush is done.

Anyone working this with me, use 1-2 plies of your thread to make the skip cross stitches.  When you get to the top where there is a lot of light yellow, stop.  That's where the French knots will go but I plan to do all the bottoms of all the topiaries in skipped cross stitch before I tackle the tops.  So leave those areas alone for now, ok?

I have a deadline for this piece also (mid-September) so I will be back to it, promise!

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

Cat Topiary Garden: Two Missing Bushes

dede Odgen's Cat Topiary Garden

Last week I planned to basketweave the egg shaped topiary while I pondered how to stitch the large bush to its right.  As I worked on Egg, I realized just how much of the large bush is behind the trellis arch, which means it needs to recede.  I don't want any bush hogging the limelight when the arch and gate are more important!  So I decided that I would basketweave the big bush, too. Above you see how they turned out.  I like the contrast of the smooth basketweave on the egg shaped bush and how the bigger bush looks compared to the ones behind it.  Now I need a rough-textured stitch for the big fish, bird, cat and mouse topiary bushes.

Remember, I used just two plies of my flosses in the basketweaved bushes.  I tried three plies but the stitches looked uneven and a bit twisted, which is always a sign you have too much thread in the needle.  I suppose that the tulle layered on top of the canvas means I need to use a little less thread since normally three plies of floss look good when I basketweave on 18 count.  But your own stitch tension also comes into play, making it hard to know exactly how many plies each of us needs to use.

I also "needle blended" colors, which is a fancy way of saying that I used two plies of my teal green thread in the teal green areas and two plies of the dark teal in the shadowed areas, then used one ply of each color in the areas between the very light and dark spaces to mix the colors.  You can get very elaborate with needle blending, working from four plies of AAAA to three plies of AAA plus one of B to two plies of AA plus two of BB, etc. but I didn't really need to be that subtle here.

Two Yellow-Olive Bushes Behind Gate

After I finished the two bushes I took a good look at my canvas.  I discovered I'd completely overlooked two small yellow-olive bushes that lurk behind the lattice gate.  I left my magnet and needle on the canvas on top of one of them in the first big photo so you won't overlook them also.  I found a yellow-olive size #5 silk perle (Rainbow Gallery's Grandeur G848) in my stash, and after some thought, decided skip tent stitch might be just the thing to use. In the photos above and below you see how they turned out.

By the way, here is how Ruth Schmuff does Skip Tent.  She calls it Basketweave Twill since it is done on the diagonal like basketweave is.  If you do it in horizontal rows, it's called skipped tent.
http://www.notyourgrandmothersneedlepoint.com/2010/06/one-of-my-favorite-stitches.html

If you are stitching along with me, any #5 perle in approximately the right shade looks good here.  If your canvas is 13 count, you may want to use #3 perle but try it first to see if the little stitch bumps are going to be too prominent with the larger #3 size.

In the photos you can just see that I've started the big central topiary bush.  I'll talk about the stitch I choose for it next time.  Hint: I am using a variation of a stitch I used in this blog post.

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

Cat Topiary Garden's Little Bushes

dede Odgen's Cat Topiary Garden

Last Monday I hadn't finished the central dark green hedge that the topiary shaped like a cat sits upon.  I made it a priority to finish all the bits of the hedge visible through the white gate, then moved on to the smaller bushes that flank the cat topiary.  All three of these little bushes (the two behind the bird topped posts and the small one on the extreme right) I stitched in a light teal green thread (DMC cotton floss #992).  Using one ply, I returned to the Double Stitch that I used for the two big bushes in the rear just in front of the background.

Double Stitch

Here's Double Stitch again for those who've forgotten. I haven't stitched the second step of this SharonG stitch, just the long skinny cross stitches which are the blue ones in the example above.  I may go back and add the tiny cross stitches or I might use beads in their place, or I might just leave things as they are right now.  I think I'll wait until more of the front of the design is stitched to make up my mind.  Here is what the three little bushes look like all stitched up.  Note that the small bush on the right is done with the same stitch as the bush behind it, but because the little bush is done in a lighter color, it seems closer to the viewer than the larger spruce behind it.

Three Small Bushes

I have started working on the egg shaped topiary in the middle of the canvas.  I am using three plies of the DMC 992 at the top.  I'll mix in the darker teal color used for the big juniper bush on the left side of the design (dark spruce green Au Ver a Soie #1826) when I get down to the darker area of the egg. Right now I'm using two plies of 992 in my basketweave but will switch to one of 992 mixed with one of the Au Ver a Soie 1826, then switch to two of the Au Ver a Soie as the egg topiary gets darker and darker.

Once I finish the egg bush, I will only have the topiaries themselves and one large bush on the left to stitch.  I am still debating what stitch to use in these areas.  You'll have to wait until next Monday to see what I decided.

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

The Cat Topiary Garden Hedges UPDATED WITH PHOTOS

Left Side Hedge

UPDATE:  Blogger finally allowed me to add the last two photos, after 18 hours of trying!


I've been test driving a lot of stitches for the various bushes, hedges and tall trees in the background of the cat topiary garden.  I am particularly interested in finding a stitch for the topiary bushes themselves since right now I'm thinking millions of French knots.  Anything is better than that, right?  LOL

So I'm reading carefully through my two best sources of plant stitches--June McKnight's Plants and Animals in Needlepoint and the three Stitches for Effect books by Robertson and Howren.  I found an interesting stitch called Staggered Cross in More Stitches for Effect (page 60) that is recommended for topiaries.  When I tested it I didn't think it was what I wanted for the topiaries in my garden but it sure looked good for the hedges!

In the above photo I've completely covered the front of the left hedge (but not the top, I'll use another stitch there) with the diagonal rows that are step one of Staggered Cross.  I used one ply of DMC 700 here.  I have started adding the tiny cross stitches of step two in the rows above the length of thread laying across the canvas.  I used the slightly lighter DMC 701 here.  That adds texture to the pattern and makes the hedge look slightly rougher--which is what you see in clipped hedges.

I originally thought I should use a darker thread for step two since I thought the big stitches of step one should be more prominent, but using the lighter thread for the tiny stitches looks better.  This is part of Color Magic, which is what I call the mysterious effect of two or more colors together on a needlepoint canvas.  You really don't always know what will happen!

Right Hedge Started

When it was time to start the right hedge, I turned my canvas on its side to make working the diagonal rows easier.  In the photo above I've stitched a few rows of step one.

Staggered Cross

Here's a diagram of Staggered Cross, showing both steps.  As you can see, this is an easy stitch.  The tiny green stitches are regular cross stitches while the red and yellow stitches are just big cross stitches.  I used one ply of my DMC floss on my 18 count canvas for both steps.  You may decide one ply looks skimpy if you are working the 13 count version of this design.  Go up to two plies--or maybe even three if you like the effect--but don't go any higher.  You don't want the hedges to be too heavy looking.  We have the more solid items like the cat statues and the real sleeping cat to do.  The hedges shouldn't overshadow those areas.

Note that the hedge fronts are painted a solid color without shading.  So I didn't bother with a stitch that would reveal shading in the paint underneath.  Staggered Cross pretty well covers the painted design, even with just one ply of cotton floss.    This means you can choose any two close shades of green for the hedges that look good with the other bush and shrub colors. This will help you use up stash threads, even if your greens don't exactly match the paint color. It's more important to have two very close shades of green that work with the rest of the canvas than it is to match the paint color.  DMC 700 and 701 are a pretty close match, though.

Right Hedge Top

Once the sides of the hedges are done, we move to the tops.  I wanted to use a slightly larger scale stitch here that is related to Staggered Cross with the same threads as used on the sides.  So it's back to the books!  I found just what I wanted on page 12 of June McKnight's Plants and Animals in Needlepoint.  It is called St. George and St. Andrew Crosses.

St. George and St. Andrew

This is a simple stitch.  You do the same large cross stitch used in step one of Staggered Cross but in a straight row, skipping two threads between each large cross.  For the rows above and below your first row, stagger the large crosses so that they are positioned above and below the skipped two threads in the first row.  Continue along, alternating large crosses and skipped spaces, until the area is filled.  Then put big plus signs + in the skipped areas, again working until the empty spaces in each line are filled.

Hedges

The above photo shows what you end up with at this stage.  By the way, I used my lighter color of green here:  DMC 701.

See the hedge top under the cat topiary in the center of the photo just above?  I stitched that the same way as the other two hedge tops so that all three are the same stitches and thread.  I'm also going to use Staggered Cross to do the very dark green front of that hedge, probably using DMC cotton floss in 319, which is a dark green with olive green mixed in.  For that center hedge, I'm going to use DMC 319 for both steps in Staggered Cross as I want that hedge in shadow without any color shading to catch the eye and detract from the gate in front of the hedge.)

But there is more!  I made sure that I didn't compensate my St. George and St. Andrew Crosses at the top edge of the hedge top.  If there were a stitch or two there uncovered by either the large crosses or the large plus signs, I did a small tent stitch over them.  I compensated at the sides and bottom of the areas but not the top. Once I finished adding a tent stitch here or there at the top side, I put tiny one wrap French knots along the top, covering the tent stitches which are just there to give something to stabilize the French knots so they won't pull out.  Then I scattered French knots here and there through out the cut top of the hedge.  This softens the regular look of St. George and St. Andrew Crosses and makes the hedge look more like the tiny leaves are growing back here and there after a trim with the garden shears.

The photo below shows the finished look and the diagram above shows just the St. George and St. Andrew Crosses without any French knots or tent stitches along the top.  The tent stitches and French knots were done using DMC 701 but the dimension you get from French knots makes it look like the hedge tops were done in several colors. They were not.  It's just more Color Magic.

Left and Right Hedges Done, Center One Underway

I need to finish the central hedge and then I'm going to stitch the four remaining bushes which aren't topiaries.  They are on either side of the egg-shaped bush and to the right side behind the cat statue.  That will mean the egg bush and the four shaped topiaries are all of the greenery unstitched at this point.

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

More Trees on Tulle: The Cedars

Left Cedar Tree

The cedar trees on this piece are tall and narrow so I went looking for a stitch that was upright and skinny, just like the trees.  I found the perfect stitch in June McKnight's Plants and Animals in Needlepoint (a great book if you are stitching flora and fauna and critters, by the way).  I'm calling the trees that are on either side of the fish topiary cedars, by the way, and they were both stitched with one ply of the same thread-- Soie Crystale 8092.  This is also the same thread used on the big spruce tree on the right side.

Tall Straight Cross

The stitch I choose is called Tall Straight Cross.  It's diagrammed on page 14 of June McKnight's book.  It is a very simple stitch, just rows of long vertical stitches over four threads.  You skip a channel (or two threads) between each long stitch.  The second step of the stitch is to cover those long stitches in the middle with a shorter vertical stitch over two threads.

In the example above you see the yellow straight stitches I worked from left to right and two horizontal backstitches that I have started working over the middles going from right to left.  You can work the stitch in any way that makes sense to you, however.  The rows above and below the first row interlock so that your canvas is covered with cross shapes.  Because you are using light coverage stitches, some paint shows but this is a much denser stitch than the one used for the juniper bushes last week.

In the photo above the cedar on the left is stitched but the one on the right (which is partly behind the arch of the gate) is not.  That's because I worked it slightly differently, but with the same one ply of the same thread.  I stitched it without doing the horizontal tie down stitches.  In other words, do the yellow stitches in the example without adding the tie downs on top.  This allows more paint to show as this tree has more shading.  It's also easier to compensate the cedar stitches that show between the latticework if you don't have to worry about the horizontal stitches.

Doing the first half of Tall Straight Cross is the same as during Parisian stitches.  Many stitches are created by not doing steps in another stitch.  Here's a photo of both cedar trees done.

Next time I'm probably going to work the short juniper bushes to the right and left of the cat topiary but I haven't decided yet.

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