We Are Busy

I'm working away on Joan Thomasson's wizard but I don't have enough progress to show just yet. I pulled out all the purple robe stitches I'd done since I realized that area wouldn't look good with the blue over-robe area and tried again. I've also started stitching the wizard's trunk in tent stitches but I haven't gotten very far.

We went to the county fair briefly after work this week and my Autumn Leaves and goldfish pieces won blue ribbons. Sadly, I didn't notice any other NP submitted at all. There were lots of pieced large block quilts and crocheted afghans and a little XS and an embroidered flower piece from a kit won a special award. The Best in Show winner was machine embroidery but I never managed to find it in the shelves of pieces. The items are jumbled along rows. A larger framed piece that didn't win anything hides all but the top of my goldfish's head and my Autumn Leaves purse is in the far corner where it is in shadow. Sadly, most of the pieces are treated this way. The only things you can actually see are a few quilts that are hung on a clothes line. I guess I should be thrilled crafts still draw enough pieces that there's a good showing, even if the categories are based on 1960s-style stitching, the displays a disgrace and the judges don't have a clue what they are looking at. [Jane, please tell us how you really feel!]

I will take photos of the finished Autumn Leaves purse when the fair is over. I ran out of time to take them before I had to have it at the fair.

I'm thinking about how to finish the Gay Ann Rogers Challenge Ornament and I have an interesting idea I'll share later on once I try it.

Somehow while I was busy with all of the above, we passed the 600,000 page views mark and are approaching 602,000 pages viewed. That's a lot of needlepoint people!

Thanks for your support, Dear Readers.

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

August 2008 Chilly Hollow Newsletter Article

If you belong to the Shining Needle Society and sit in on the open email classroom Gay Ann Rogers holds through SNS, you might have seen the new small Challenge Ornament or the Twilight Angel design that she is selling. Act now if you are interested because this is a limited time offer.

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

I personally think five Challenge Ornaments would make a spectacular box like Jocelyn has done (for for the diameter of the box and one for the lid). She has posted several box photos on her blog and also written complete and detailed instructions for making your own box here.

http://pinsneedles.wordpress. com/needlepoint-box/

Note that Jocelyn used Smyrna stitches to seperate various areas. I've read someone else used tent stitches to separate areas in a canvas and that tent is just too small in scale to divide areas well. Interesting point!

Talking about new designs that are available, here is a fascinating free one based on Celtic Medieval designs. It's really cross stitch but because the pattern uses full XSs only, it could easily be stitched on NP canvas.

http://www.inkcircles.com/html/Book_of_IC.html

Finally, I have a new eBay store for you to explore. This is Squiggee Designs. You can buy directly from the artist at a fixed price and there is a large variety of items to admire.

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

Hope everyone is enjoying stitching these last few days of August!

Jane, waving from Chilly Hollow

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

Are you bidding on the wizard on eBay? UPDATED

Are you one of the folks bidding on the Joan Thomasson Holiday Spirit Wizard canvas I'm stitching that is on eBay?

http://cgi.ebay.com/Handpainted-Needlepoint-Wizard-kit-by-Joan-Thomasson_W0QQitemZ320284522672QQcmdZViewItem?hash=item320284522672&_trkparms=39%3A1%7C66%3A2%7C65%3A16%7C240%3A1318&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14&timeout=1218633572619

or Tiny URL
http://tinyurl.com/5hvhs4

If so, stop it right now! Buy from Joan herself. Even with $10 shipping you can get the full kit for almost half what the price is now. Click on Catalogue on the left, then look for Holiday Spirits and click there.

http://www.stitchinstuff.com/

I might be a Master Enabler but I also want you to buy wisely.

UPDATE: This canvas sold for $96.99 plus shipping which probably was $5-6. Joan Thomasson sells the full kit for $56 and the painted canvas alone for $40 plus shipping.

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

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