Hello/Goodbye

Many of you passed me Kleenex when you heard that the little counted thread shop I patronize on the weekends is closing due to the owner's move deep into West Virginia. (I live 8 miles from the WVA line but she's going hundreds of miles away!) Now my only shopping option is to drive 75 minutes one way to visit Needlewoman East. [Jane bursts into tears again.]

However, Sherry's sampler business is online and will still be around.

http://www.thegatheringplacedesigns.com/AboutUs.html

Check out her newest sampler design, Rabbit Run, by clicking on the Newest Designs link and then the photo of Rabbit Run. I'd file that under Modern Medieval Charming, wouldn't you?

While I'm thinking about new designs, Robin at Amy Bunger's website emailed me to say that Amy's latest class, the Halloween bear, is ready for viewing. Click on the link and then again on the little bear's front and back pictures to see larger images. We have another thing to label Charming!

http://www.amybunger.com/home_study_all.html

Fortunately, a new needlepoint shop is opening in the neighborhood of Needlewoman East so I'll have another place to visit occasionally when I do get in the area. It's called the Waste Knot. Here's their new website.

http://www.wasteknotneedlepoint.com/

Shops do come and go as things change and folks who spend so much time running a business for our benefit decide to go into other directions. We appreciate all that! So hello to the new folks (and items) and goodbye to those who are leaving the business behind and doing other things.

We love you all.

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

Insanity Improv

It is very hard to photograph metallics and beads but I hope you can get a sense of how nicely Insanity Improv turned out.

The challenges were many on this piece as Gay Ann Rogers deliberately omits any hints as to what colors to put where, or even what threads to use beyond starting with Watercolours or an overdye. I deliberately went with threads I could ply, even unraveling the four plies of the strand of Pebbly Perle to do the lace outline with only one ply. The original outlines were the entire strand of Pebbly Perle covered with four plies of silk to raise them a lot but the corner lines were only two strands of silk covered with metallic. I doubled the blending filament to couch those corner lines but only used one strand of blending filament to do the side stars. I ended up doing opposite corners with two colors of silk and metallic, changing one to more blue and one to more green. I wasn't thrilled with either but together they worked so I left those colors to vary. I did add black beads to the center around the edges of the waffle stitch. It needled something there.

It was a fun challenge and a nice break from the wizard. Thank you, Gay Ann!

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

Jane Goes Insane

So I was walking around the Internet one day, minding my own business, when I discovered the Shining Needle Society. It's a Yahoo Group that organizes cyber classes from various famous teachers in the NP world. You join the group and you get the announcements of upcoming classes which you can take or not, as you please. One of the classes has an "open" classroom, which means you can sign up for the emails from the class whether you actually are stitching it or not. The class is for Mystery in a Corner by Gay Ann Rogers. It's a big piece and I know my limits but I signed up for the emails so I could listen in. I have a lot to learn about counted thread and Ms. Rogers is a dynamite teacher.

I've enjoyed watching the photos of the mystery piece appear and hearing about the choices people have made while stitching this piece. I've been thinking it would be fun to try some of the same things on a small piece, and Gay Ann Rogers has been reading my mind. She's got a new little ornament chart package available. It's called The Challenge Ornament. You can see it here.

http://www.gayannrogers.com/site_2/Small_Designs_.html

Yes, I bought the design. (Gasps of horror from the peanut gallery!) It arrived in the mail Friday and yesterday (Saturday) I made a trip to the little counted thread shop that is closing. Most things are half price so I thought I'd kit out this piece from whatever they had left. The closing sale has been going on for a while and I'd be scraping the bottom of the barrel in some respects but that just added to the Challenge.

The first challenge on the spot at the shop was when I realized that overdyes aren't on sale. No way am I paying full price for them, so I decided I would just wander around the shop and find the three types of thread I need (an overdye, some perle, and a thin metallic) for the project in colors that would coordinate well. I can fake an overdye quite well. Remember the Sundance Indian Woman in a Blanket canvas? All the "overdyes" there were faked.

But before threads, I needed NP canvas. I've been watching the Mystery in a Corner canvas photos from a ton of people doing that piece and I preferred the bright colored ones (particularly the one on black canvas) that have a lot of contrast between colors and the muted ones that are all shades of one colorway.

I gave up on shades of one color right away as I didn't find enough variations on a single color I liked to make this work for me. As I said, the shop thread choices are limited as stock is sold off. So it was high contrast colors for Jane! And you know what that means--black canvas. (More gasps of horror.) You know how much trouble I have counting charted designs and black canvas is hard to see on. BRING ON them challenges!

Ok, black canvas in hand, I wandered around. The threads above are what I came up with. I have --left to right--Petite Treasure Braid metallic in light green (PB57), Pebbly Perle in lavender (P50), three cards of Splendor silk floss in teal blue S865, teal green S880, and light lime S1058, and a spool of Kreinik blending filament in blue 006. I've got two thin metallics, three silk flosses, and a cotton perle. The colors blend well with the purple for a muted background and the lime for a punch. I may not use both metallics or I may mix them.

Here's what I've done with my threads.



My challenges here were figuring out what colors to put where. I studied the finished photos of this piece on GAR's website and blog, deciding what patterns seems to stand out and what didn't, then decided I wanted the muted purple in the center and on the lacy sides. The middle box seems to be prominent on all the stitched samples, so I mixed my teal colors there to fake an overdye. The lime is the middle part of the center block of three squares to add a bit of punch. By the way, this piece has a name. It is now called Insanity Improv.

This really is going to be a challenge and a nice break while I figure out what I want to do with the Joan Thomasson wizard robes. Prayers are gratefully accepted!

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

Speaking of eBay

Mentioning Squiggee's eBay store reminded me that I noticed the Joan Thomasson Holiday Spirits wizard canvas I'm stitching for sale on eBay this week. I don't know if anyone wants to pick this up and stitch along with me, but here's the link--

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=320284522672&ssPageName=STRK:MEWA:IT&ih=011

or Tiny URL

http://tinyurl.com/5cjlnm

Signed,
Your Master Enabler, whose main blog is at http://blog.360.yahoo.com/chillyhollow

Introducing the Squiggee Koi Framed

I took photos of my little goldfish in his shadowbox frame this morning. I had trouble with reflections on the glass even on a cloudy morning in the shade with the camera flash turned off. Makes me wonder if the glass is UV protective--in my experience that glass is hard to photograph well. I didn't notice anything on the label when I bought the shadowbox. Oh, well, at least you can see the pattern on the fabric that covers the foam core mat in this photo.



Thanks very much for custom painting this for me, Gail. It's now available through Squiggee's website to anyone who needs a little koi in their life.

http://www.squiggeedesigns.com/

You might find it in the Squiggeeland Needlepoint eBay store occasionally, too.

http://stores.ebay.com/Squiggeeland-Needlepoint

Or bookmark this page and come visit anytime!

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