The gorgeous finished piece you see above is a Lee canvas, Wisteria Kimono. Lee has several kimono designs featuring wisteria in bloom but this has always been my favorite. The photo came from Judie at Thistle Needleworks in Connecticut. Judie took the wisteria kimono class Ruth Dilts and Joan Lohr teach and she and Linda P. at Thistle stitched the design. Isn't it lovely?! I don't know when Ruth and Joan will teach this again but you can contact Ruth via her website and ask if she'll be in your area. UPDATE: Ruth tells me she sells the stitch guide to shops, so you can ask your shop to order it from her for you. She does not sell directly, so get your shop to email her.
http://www.ruthdiltsdesign.com/index.html
The kimono design itself used to come in different sizes but Ruth told me the large one has been discontinued. The piece you see above is the 8x10 design. I saw Ruth's and Joan's two models in person at Waste Knot in Arlington, VA and it is a spectacular display of color and silk ribbon embroidery on NP canvas. Great job, ladies!
UPDATE: I found a site with the 15x18 version of this design. Just because it is discontinued doesn't mean there aren't any big wisteria kimonos in the shops still.
http://www.oldworlddesigns.com/themes/asiancanvases.html
I begged Judie for the picture for a reason besides its intrinsic beauty. My next canvas is a small teapot with a wisteria design on it. I plan to attempt SRE (silk ribbon embroidery) on it and only hope that my final piece is half as lovely as Judie's version!
Wish me luck....
Jane/Chilly Hollow
Main blog at http://blog.360.yahoo.com/chillyhollow
