After a Break for Thanksgiving,

I'm back talking about the Medieval Cat in the Pet Guardian Angel series that I'm doing for the ANG Auction. The photo above shows the cat's wings underway. I've been charmed by Judy Harper's talk of skip tent stitching an area, then filling in the non stitched parts. Judy always puts her tent stitches on the raised thread intersection so that the bead sinks a bit and is held on the thread intersection of the canvas where it is not raised by the skip tent stitches. So I thought I'd try it for the wings. Above you see the entire wing stitched in white pearl cotton #8 from DMC in skip tent stitches. I've put white beads in the unstitched intersections which means rows of beads, which you see on the bottom left side. The bottom right of the wings is just the perle cotton stitches. See how regular the left side's beads look? At the top I started putting beads on top of the skip tent/bead rows to make it look less regular. I didn't like the rows being so even. I thought wings should be a little messy looking so they'd seem to be in motion. This photo shows all the steps, however. That way you can help figure out what you like and use this on anything you are stitching.

Again, the top of the wing has the skip tent in perle cotton, beads in the unstitched skipped areas, and random beads attached on top. The rest of the wing also has skip tent in perle cotton, but the bottom right side has no beads at all yet and the bottom left side has just the beads in the skipped areas among the skip tent stitches. Make sense?

I hope you'll try this. It is a fun thing to do.

Jane/Chilly Hollow
Main blog at http://blog.360.yahoo.com/chillyhollow

Adding a Halo and a Fur Collar

Our French Medieval Cat in the Pet Guardian Angel series has a halo and fur trim along the collar and hem of her jacket. In the photo above you can see I've added a line of gold beads for the halo, tent stitching the background around the head first so that the beads can stick out a bit. I liked that look. I've also stitched the collar area in turkeywork with red Felicity's Garden, which is a silk/wool blend. I happened to have a skein in a very similar red to the red Petite Very Velvet and I really like the lush look of silk/wool blends in turkeywork, so that was an easy choice. Turkeywork is a stitch with many variations. I use one taught to me by Carole Lake. You start at the bottom of the area and come up/go down in the same hole, but don't pull the thread through. Holding the loop with the fingers of your other hand so it doesn't move, come up again in the hole above the hole that you came up in and went down in. Then go down in the hole you've sent your needle through twice already. This stitch variation is worked in horizontal rows from the bottom of an area up.

Another variation which is similar is a Stitch of the Month on the ANG website. This one is worked top down and you tie down your loop by using a hole two rows above the one you put the loop in. There are many more turkeywork variations but they all end up looking like the ruff around the cat's neck above before the loops are cut and the thread ends trimmed. Stay tuned to see how the turkeywork gets a haircut!

Happy Thanksgiving to all!
http://www.needlepoint.org/StitchOfTheMonth/2006/aug.php


Jane/Chilly Hollow
Main blog at http://blog.360.yahoo.com/chillyhollow

Fun Thanksgiving

I'm beginning to pack to leave for the Thanksgiving holidays but I thought you guys might like to have a little fun browsing the Internet while your turkey cooks.

On Thanksgiving Day, Jane Zimmerman plans to have a few special items for sale on her website. If any of the Thanksgiving Special items don't appeal, browse the two Needlework History articles instead. One is about English Medieval embroidery and I plan to read it the next time I put down my French Medieval Cat in the Pet Guardian Angel series.

http://janezimmerman.com/

If you aren't a chart person, how about checking out the new monthly Petei Santa club for 2009 at The French Knot? You can read about it in their latest newsletter here and discover other treats in store.

http://www.thefrenchknot.com/newsletter.html

Have fun browsing while I'm away. I will be back Sunday.


Jane/Chilly Hollow
Main blog at http://blog.360.yahoo.com/chillyhollow

Pearl in Her Glory

Here is Pearl with her head wrap and her yakuta stitched. Her hair is done also. I tent stitched the hair with one ply of Soy Silk in black, then on top of it I stemed stiched tendrails of hair that flow the way real hair does. Pearl's hair and the geisha's overlap some, so I had to decide where one stopped and the other started. The designer put a slight line of gray between the two that I used as a guide.

I am happy with Pearl's looks even though laying the sea green 4 plies of Mandarin Floss smoothly across the padding lines was tedious and time-consuming.

Jane/Chilly Hollow
Main blog at http://blog.360.yahoo.com/chillyhollow

Pearl

I've started stitching the woman on the far left, the one with the wrapped head. I think of her as the cleaning lady/washerwoman, the jack-of-all-trades servant who does all the heavy lifting and cleaning. Her name is Pearl. She is the figure furthest from the viewer and there isn't a lot of her showing. I've already done the white and red flowers on her cotton yukata in the same white cotton perle I used for her face plus 4 plies of red Mandarin Floss. Her lips are also in the same red Mandarin floss. Since there isn't a lot of space and I want her figure to recede, her yukata, lips, and some of her head wrap are in tent stitches. I also plan to tent stitch her hair.

The important part of her wardrobe is the wrap around her hair to keep it tidy and out of the way as she works. This is painted a pale sea green with gray outlines the same color as the outlines of her face. I could have used the same thread for the outlines on her wrap as the outlines of her face but I decided to try Thread Gatherer's Oriental Linen in Seal Gray. This is a silk and linen blend, with the slight roughness of linen and the sheen of silk. It isn't a solid shade of gray, there are slightly lighter and darker tones. I thought that variation combined with the very pale shade of sea green of the wrap material would suggest a cloth that has been washed many times. Pearl is a bit vain--she matches her head wrap to her cotton kimono--but she is a practical soul and keeps everything spotless, which means her clothes are washed frequently and you know how cotton fades. In the photo above, the gray outlines are done and I've started padding the wrap with the thread I plan to stitch it with, Mandarin Floss #M875. This is a thread made from bamboo that has 6 plies like regular cotton floss. In the photo I've taken all six plies and done straight lines down the areas of the head wrap. The next steps will be to tent stitch her hair and the yakuta, then carefully lay four plies of the sea green Mandarin Floss across the wrap perpendicular to the lines that will raise those laid stitches slightly.

Jane/Chilly Hollow
Main blog at http://blog.360.yahoo.com/chillyhollow