The Basketweave Marathon Continues

Last night I stitched more of the endless background about the Golden Rabbit pet guardian angel. How such a small piece (she's roughly 5 1/2 inches long and 5 inches high) could have so much background puzzles me, but there it is--a new law of stitching. The background takes forever, no matter how large/small the piece. No wonder I like stitching on silk gauze--traditionally the background is not stitched. You have to love that!

I didn't scan a photo this morning since nothing much has changed and I'm running low on printer ink but I do have many treats for you other places. First of all, the May-June Needlepoint Now has arrived and there's an article on blogging! I haven't read it yet but I did look at the list and found many of my favorites plus 1-2 I don't recognize. A little browsing is in order, don't you think? You can start with the magazine's very own new blog! A peek into magazine publishing should be very interesting.
http://nneditor.wordpress.com/

Madonna's Gossiping Geishas design is back from the framer's. Look at her May 12 blog entries. The first photo you see is the model from Pat and Lee Designs (there is a stitch guide available, see second link below) and the second photo is Madonna's version which has a gray cat instead of two white ones. I had a lovely time comparing these two stitched versions of the same charming design. Pat and Lee designs are unique in that you can get a chart, or have the design put on 18 count or on 13 count. I think the canvases are silk screened [No, I am wrong, the canvases are painted on interlock canvas per Madonna. Thanks for the correction, Madonna!] but the quality is very good from what Madonna says. Her version was on interlock canvas but regular mono is also available at a higher price.
http://frontrangestitches.blogspot.com/

http://www.pattandleedesigns.com/stitch_guides

Speaking of finished projects, you'll enjoy seeing all the customer pieces posted on Needle Works' blog. There's a bonus interview with Colleen, the shop's owner, as well.
http://theneedleworks.typepad.com/the_needle_works/2009/05/projects-finished.html

I'll end with Denise & Linda's blog (The Stitching Sisters) which is full of photos of small pieces they've finished. The little nutcracker is cute. You can't see his teeth much either, so I like him. Nutcracker canvases with their teeth often give me the willies! In honor of Denise's nutcracker, the canvas of the day is another nutcracker, one that is marching around the Christmas tree.
http://nystitchingsisters.blogspot.com/

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

Picking Flower Colors, Adding Fur

As you can see, I haven't worked any more on the skirt trims for Miss Honeybunny (honey=golden, does it make sense now?). Instead I stitched her paw and most of her face. I still have the eye and nose to do but these areas are essentially done. I just happened to have two skeins of DMC cotton floss not put away yet that were a perfect match for the golden gown the Golden Rabbit wears. (The dark brown is #610 and the lighter tan is #612).

You might think that I switched to the face and paw because I was tired and basketweaving these areas was an easy way to show progress. That's only part of the story. The real reason I wanted to stitch the fur was the floral trim on her over- and under-skirts.

The over-skirt trim is a floral pattern that is 6 stitches wide, while the under-skirt trim is a floral pattern 4 stitches wide. The outside edge of both trims in the original instructions is gold Kreinik braid. I have stitched this already for both trims. But moving to the next step was a problem for me. The floral trims both have French knot centers for the flower shapes. I can use my pale copper beads there. But what about the flower-shaped stitches (yellow in the original model), the tent and reverse tent sttiches that are supposed to be leaves (green in the original model), and the accent stitches (straight and large cross stitches) which are violet in the original. I have limited myself to overdyed gold and light gold colors, so I needed to introduce more colors that would work with gold. I decided that the brown and tan on the rabbit's face might do for some of the trim colors, but to know for sure, I thought I needed to stitch the face. So I did!

Every part of a canvas effects every other part, doesn't it?

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

Odette's Georgian Rabbit with Butterflies

I have another completed pet guardian angel to show off. Above you see Odette's Georgian Rabbit who has the special added touch of butterflies. Clever! The lavenders in the original model plus the flower shaped trim makes this a spring-themed pet guardian angel, so butterflies fit perfectly in the spring color theme. The rabbit's face is knitting wool and she wears cotton and rayon fibers for her gown with touches of metallic. I think she is lovely, so here's her picture instead of a photo of my rabbit who got more basketweave last night. Each angel has looked slightly different as folks changed colors or threads and added their own special touches. I am so pleased with how these are turning out!

In other news, Fireside Stitchery has a virtual trunk show up of Mindy's designs. Mindy is one of my favorite designers. She also has a retail shop with a huge selection of buttons and trims, which explains the tassels, buttons and charms she adds to her canvases. Being so busy, Mindy's website isn't updated with new things more than a few times a year so trunk shows are the best place to see what she's been up to. I didn't realize she had little 2x2 inch designs, for example, and hadn't see all the purse-shaped canvases she has created. The colors are a bit light in the trunk show (they are rich and glowing in person) but you can still see how beautiful these are.

The trunk show is in four sections: pillows/pictures, purses, standup trees, and stockings. It looks like the jester stockings come with beaded balls for trim. Interesting touch! Navigate by selection one section to view, then click Next until there are no more pages. After that, click on Virtual Trunk Show-Mindy in the left column to return to the main page to choose another of the four sections. Have fun browsing!
http://www.firesidestitchery.com/fs/HandPaintedCanvas/index.cfm?fuseaction=GETVirtualTrunkShows&saleId=23&saleTypeId=1

Now I'm off to stare at Odette's butterflies again. They fascinate me!

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

The Art Nouveau (20th Century) Pet Guardian Angel

The six Household Pet Guardian angel ornaments Kandace Merric designed in the early 1990s all wear costumes from various centuries. There's the Medieval Cat, the Renaissance Rat, the Tudor Dog, the Georgian Rabbit, the Baroque Fish and the Victorian Parakeet. The colors and stitches Kandy selected are typical for each period. I've deviated quite a bit on some angels (Holi is not Tudor, she is a mix of Hindu and Mexican cultures) but the original guardian angels all are solidly grounded in historical costume and color. What you see above is the new 20th Century pet guardian angel-- the Art Nouveau Suger Glider.

When I wrote asking permission to use the pet guardian angels for the ANG Auction, Kandy immediately volunteered to stitch two new angels for the set. What you see above (minus the background) is the first of the two new angels. The 21st Century angel will appear when she is ready as we get closer to the ANG Auction date.

You can read about sugar gliders here. My nieces had one and it was really cute, but I don't think they are terrific pets as they are nocturnal. They are active when we are not. But they make superb pet guardian angels!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sugar_Glider

The Art Nouveau sugar glider adds a great deal to the appeal of the ANG Auction pet guardian angel ornaments. Unique and made with love by the incredibly talented hands of Kandace Merric herself, this pet guardian angel is not diagrammed in the magazines. Thank you, Kandy, for creating a new angel to raise funds for ANG and to delight us all.

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

Trims for a Golden Rabbit

I've finished the Golden Rabbit's underskirt area and I think it looks nice. The Silk Lame Braid adds a subtle sparkle to the underskirt without overwhelming it with metallic. I want the overskirt (that has Kreinik metallic thread) to be primary and the underskirt secondary, so I needed to control the accent thread that pairs with the same Gloriana overdyed silk in both areas.

When it comes to using Silk Lame Braid, it seems to eventually unwind itself and the metallic parts can escape the needle's eye. This wasn't a big problem but I'd use a shorter-than-normal length of this thread to help minimize the jailbreaks. I think this is a nice thread for subtle sparkle or for areas where a metallic thread might catch on the silks you already have in place. Used alone it might make awesome white snow or a navy velvet sky as well.

I decided to start on the trimmed edge of the over- and under-skirt next. The overskirt's trim border is 6 threads wide while the underskirt's is 4 threads wide. In the original model, Kandace Merric tent stitches the sides in metallic and I stuck to that, using my 002V copper/gold Kreinik. The rest of the pattern is done in cotton floss and perle cottons in a pattern that looks like flowers and leaves. The flowers have a French knot center. I will use my beads in the flower centers instead of French knots but I am not sure what threads I will use where for the last three stitches. Stay tuned! I'll pick up the Basketweave Marathon and get more of that knocked out while I ponder thread choices.

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