Beaded Sleeves

The Georgian Gold Rabbit got some basketweave background last night, then I started beading the inner sleeve. I tried to do the background around the sleeves to make less chance of snagging thread on the beads later. I should have waited to add the beads toward the end but I couldn't help it--I was dying to see how the color worked with the silks and wool. The beads go in the empty spaces made in skip tent but since they are size 11 beads from Toho in the color 1955-133 Hexagon Pale Copper, they probably don't need the skip tent stitches. Size 11 beads fit 13 count canvas. I prefer size 14 beads for 18 count. But the Toho beads only came in size 11 and you goes with what you got!

Note that I am stitching the beads in a backwards tent stitch \ with one ply of the same Silk Mori that couched the Lorikeet wool on her bodice and over-sleeve. That makes the beads look like the slant of the rest of the sleeve stitches which is more pleasing to my eye. I can't say it matters much but since I like that, that's usually what I do.

Tonight I'll attempt to finish beading the inner sleeve, then start back on the Background Marathon to get a bit more of that finished.

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

Introducing the Golden Rabbit

As you can see, I've started the last of the six pet guardian angels (designed by Kandace Merric) for the ANG Auction this fall at their Milwaukee Seminar Auction. You can see a photo of the original model on the left if you are here via the Blogspot address. We already have several beautiful rabbits in colors close to the original so I went for a monochromatic color scheme, thinking that I would use texture to make this a subtle and elegant piece.

The skirt is a bargello type stitch done in overdyed silk floss from Gloriana. The color is #169 Old Gold. The accent metallic is Kreinik's new 002V which is a mix of gold and copper. When you put this color with Kreinik's other golds, it looks copper. When you try to put it with the coppers, it looks gold! I like how the two shades are similar but there's enough color contrast for this to be interesting, instead of blah. I was afraid a regular gold wouldn't stand out enough from the gold overdye, so I think this was a good choice.

The bodice is couched Lorikeet (also from Gloriana, color Lacquered Gold this time). Lorikeet is a 9 ply wool and this color is overdyed and slightly darker than the Old Gold silk. I used a lighter gold in silk floss from Kreinik-their Silk Mori. The color is 0923. This is a faded shade from their Milk Paint color set.

The sleeve is in two parts. The outer sleeve uses the same stitch as the bodice but I changed the inner sleeve design and am stitching it in skip tent using two plies of my Silk Mori. More about that tomorrow. Right now I want to talk about the stitch on the bodice and upper sleeve. I told you it was just the Lorikeet (3 plies) couched down with the Silk Mori (2 plies) but I didn't say the original model uses diagonal mosaic slanted two different ways for the bodiee and the sleeve. Diagonal Mosaic is one of the stitches on ANG's website.
http://www.needlepoint.org/StitchOfTheMonth/2000/00-07.php

I wanted to emphasize the textures of my threads, so I came up with a couched version of diagonal mosaic, that couched a line of Lorikeet with only the short stitches, then the next row in only the long stitches. This way you can see the Lorikeet under the couching lighter Silk Mori.

When you have a specific effect in mind, you can often tinker with the recommended stitch to stay in the design's ballpark, but still do what you want with the threads.

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

Jean Hilton Died

We got word on the ANG list today that Jean Hilton has died in her home in Arizona. She was one of the most creative and inventive designer of what we call counted thread designs today.

Thank you for everything, Jean.
http://stitches-heart.com/jeanhilton/

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

Holi The Tudor Dog Goes Cinco de Mayo

I should have waited until tomorrow as that's the holiday of Cinco de Mayo but Holi's done today, so here is her official portrait, at least until I get her finished as an ornament with her siblings. You can see I added clusters of three beads all along the green hem of her robe. I thought that made it look a bit like the green and gold squares on her over skirt. Occasionally I just used one bead in areas that were pretty narrow. Hope you like that effect. I do.

I learned from this piece that folks really love a mix of color and pattern. She's my most commented-on angel in the five I've done so far. To my eyes, she is a bit of a mess but she was a lot of fun to stitch and she certainly will stand out in the crowd of the other pet guardian angels at the ANG Auction. I hope Blog readers will visit her at the ANG Auction in Milwaukee this fall! Even if you don't bid, you can see Holi in person and laugh.

I also learned that white threads can be tricky, both on a pink background (I used a scrap of pink canvas for her) and next to bright red (her collar). Both of these things give her face a pink cast under some types of light. The stitches on her are marvelous. I will use the boxed pattern of her overskirt somewhere else if I can. It's really beautiful. And the diagonal hearts are lovely. The designer Kandace Merric did us proud with her!

Next up is the last pet guardian angel, the Georgian Rabbit. She's already started but today is Holi's day and I will wait to post progress photos of the next and last angel in the six animal set until another time.

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

Ugly Scissors and a Goodbye

Yesterday didn't get off to a good start--it was raining (AGAIN-I swear that I am going to mildew!) and I got an email from Scarlet Thread--you remember the fun I had there just a couple of weeks ago, right?--saying that they are closing. Much weeping must be going on in the counted thread community in northern Virginia. The shop carries a huge variety of the overdyed cottons and silks that repo sampler and chart folks adore. I will miss it, myself, even though it was never my primary shop. I just hope the two needlepoint shops in the area (Needlewoman East and Waste Knot) take up some of the slack for my friends who love charts and history.

Some good things happened yesterday. I continued my Basketweave Marathon on Holi's background. I think a couple more days and she'll be finished! Hurrah! I love finishing one project and starting another, don't you?

I also heard about these Dovo scissors in Gay Ann Roger's cyber classroom in the Shining Needle Society. Gay Ann's students are mostly counted thread folks and may of them swear by Dovo scissors. No one here carries Dovos so I haven't seen them to give a review but judging from the technical skill of my fellow students, these are worth seeking out. These are called "ugly scissors" by Maxine. You can see why!

http://www.creweljewels.com/DOVO-3-5-Extra-Narrow-Curved-Scissors-p/30125.htm

I think I'll go work on my basketweave again and dream of new scissors instead of mourning a shop that is about to vanish. Things change, and not always for the better, but that is Life.

Hugs to all from CH-me

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