Tweets from Columbus

The trade show in Columbus has started and news is starting to appear. I'm collecting what I can find from designer and shop websites. So far the big news is that Amy Bunger and her staff are posting news on her Twitter account about the show. I personally would find it very difficult to confine my messages to so few characters!

You can follow the Tweets on Amy's website if you don't have a Twitter account. The latest message is on top, just like here at Blog.
http://www.amybunger.com/twitter.html

We've already seen that SharonG can make even a painted canvas of a horse's ass look great in her new items on her blog.
http://sharongneedlepointdesigner.blogspot.com/2009/06/ct35-is-newer-canvas-that-now-has.html

There are lots of new designs and stitch guides on Melissa Shirley's What's New section of her website.
http://www.melissashirleydesigns.com/gallery/?bsn=1

Ruth Schmuff has new artists in her line of painted canvases and shows them off here.
http://www.tistheseason.org/ptdproducts.php?catid=216

And here.
http://www.tistheseason.org/whatsNew.php

I have a spy at the show who has promised to write a report for us, so stay tuned for that. As other things start appearing on the WWW, I'll keep you informed. After all, there are probably new tools, new designers, new canvases, new threads and new charts we really do "need." Fortunately, Ruth Schmuff is blogging about her adventures in Columbus. Here's the first posting.
http://www.tistheseason.org/blog/2009/06/were-in-columbus.html

Hugs from the Master Enabler,
Jane/Chilly Hollow
Archived Yahoo 360 postings at http://profiles.yahoo.com/chillyhollow

Angel Hair (Do These Wings Make Me Look Fat?)

I'm making great progress on the Blue Angel. First, her hair. It is stitched in packed stem stitch and packed outline stitch (the needle is on the right or left, depending on which side of her face I'm working on, which changes the stitch name). using the same Wildflowers (Caron) that I used for the French knot curls on the Baby Jesus' hair in the Red Madonna piece. The color is 196 Sable, which is a mix of black and dark brown. In the photo above the right side of the hair is done. You can see I added bullions here and there on top of the outline/stem stitches to raise the bangs or indicate curls on her choulders. On the left side there are no bullions yet. Because Wildflowers is a thin perle cotton thread (you can see a strand of it on the canvas on the left), I found I could make fat bullions by using 15 or so wraps and tiny skinny ones with only 8 wraps.

Once the hair was finished, I moved on to the collar. I added a bit of blue Sparkle Braid #SK19 on top of my tent stitches to add a bit of embellishment, then stitched a row of clear Toho crystal beads (size 11/0) on top around the neckline. They barely show up in the photo and in real life but you can sense the sparkle, always a good thing for an icon and a Christmas ornament in my opinion.

Next I did the inner part of the halo, using ribbon floss as I did with Red Madonna. But this time I used Shimmer Blend #148F-32 Smoke Blu/Blu which is a lovely shade that coordinates with her robe. I used the same thread in long stitches on her wings. The gaps where the pairs of stitches meet will be filled with a bead, probably a crystal one like the ones on her neckline.

I used the same thread for tent stitches in the framework over her head, again the same thing I did for the Red Madonna, but in another color. Now I've started outlining the wings. On the left wing you see regular (not Shimmer Blend) white ribbon floss ##142-F2 White. Last night I wasn't happen with the long white stitches which I had to stitch twice (one stitch right on top of the ones that looked skimpy) so I used Kreinik's medium #16 braid in o33 on the right wing in long and skinny cross stitches. This morning I like the white wing edging better than the blue!

Guess I'll think this one over. It may be that natural light is kinder to the white wing tips and electric light kinder to the blue wing tips. Since this is a Christmas ornament, I may go with the metallic blue. These sorts of pieces will be seen in artificial light from the Christmas tree probably. I think I'll start working on the halo's outside edge while I mull this one over. Any opinions?

Jane/Chilly Hollow
Archived Yahoo 360 postings at http://profiles.yahoo.com/chillyhollow

These Boots Were Made for Hanging

Boots Bailey has boots made for Christmas, both stocking size...
http://www.bootsbailey.com/Western/stockings.php

...and ornament size.
http://www.bootsbailey.com/Western/ornaments.php

I'd heard about these but never seen them so I had to share!

Jane/Chilly Hollow
Archived Yahoo 360 postings at http://profiles.yahoo.com/chillyhollow

Stitch By Stitch Times 76

I've just discovered the amazing gallery of seventy-six stitched pieces on Stitch By Stitch's website. Click on the link to open a new window with the slide show. I saw the Christmas Door I have also stitched, bangle bracelets (which the Washington Post said in yesterday's paper are In this year), a headband, gorgeous purses (look at that monogrammed one with the raised letter on the beautiful background!), and lots of lots of nutcrackers in all sizes, shapes and designs.
http://www.stitchbystitchneedlepoint.com/photogallery.html

I was feeling sorry for myself not going to the trade show in Columbus this weekend to see all the new designs, but this slide show is almost as good.

Jane/Chilly Hollow
Archived Yahoo 360 postings at http://profiles.yahoo.com/chillyhollow

Blue Angel in SIlk and Merino Wool

Now that the Red Madonna icon is done, I've started on the Blue Angel. I stitched her face and praying hands first, using the same set of Splendor Bronze skin tone silks with a bit of pink DMC cotton tossed in for pink cheeks that is on the first piece. I used the same brown Sheep's Silk for her brown eyes and also did a few tent stitches in it near her neck with this thread. I like using tent stitches for faces and other details like necks and hands. It is the perfect stitch for smooth skin. Note that I had to use 8 plies on this 14 count canvas except when I switched to one strand of the dark brown Sheep's Silk wool/silk mix.

Her blue robe was a quick stitch. I used the same Scollop stitch from Brenda Hart that was on Mary's robe but this time it was done as a horizontal curve like a smile instead of the ) shape on Mary's clothing. Because there is less space horizontally you don't see much of the pattern but it is there. If you look at the photo of the unstitched canvas over on the left side of this page, you'll see that there are three shades of blue in the robe, but I only used two to stitch it. I often ignore shading. This shall be our secret, ok?

I didn't have three shades of the blue thread I wanted to use, so there! If I don't post anything tomorrow you know a Blog reader blabbed and the NP police arrested me.

The dark blue is a silk/Merino wool blend from Felicity's Garden called 023 Blueberry. The medium blue is a silk/Merino wool blend from Silk & Ivory called 102 Cornflower. Note that the two threads are both a 50/50 blend of silk and Merino wool but they have different finishes. Silk & Ivory is shinier and is plumper in diameter. It is actually made for 13-14 count which this piece is. (Brown Paper Packages also has a thread called Trio in the same colors as Silk & Ivory made for either 14 or 18 count that is strandable. You don't use all the plies on 18 count, just like Paternayan wool. You remember Paternayan, don't you?) Felicity's Garden is denser and the shine more subtle. It is also thinner. If you look very carefully at the two tiny compensation stitches at the base of the angel to the left of her folded hands, you'll see that the Felicity's Garden doesn't quite cover there. I pulled a little too tightly on them and the background shows. Not to worry, I just stitched right on top of them with another strand of the Felicity's Garden. Just be careful of your tension when stitching. It is all too easy to pull too hard when you have a tiny stitch to do.

The Felicity's Garden was used for the collar. Again (GASP!) I stitched over the gold on the collar as I plan to use the blue as the base for something that will go on top. Already I've done button hole stitch around the edge of the collar to raise it a bit. I pulled tightly on the poor Felicity's Garden when doing buttonhole to make the raised edge the proper size. The thread doesn't hide the gold paint but that's ok. Blackwork (in a thin gold metallic thread) or beads or perhaps the pearls I didn't use from the Red Madonna will cover the bare bits.

I had planned to also talk about the Blue Angel's curls but this is so long I think I'll wait to talk about that tomorrow. Just note that I used three different brands of silk/wool threads. That's one trick I used to stitch on 13-14 count--fatter threads that have the shine of silk appropriate to an icon and a Christmas piece and the ability of wool to fluff out and fill hole to cover the canvas.

Jane/Chilly Hollow
Archived Yahoo 360 postings at http://profiles.yahoo.com/chillyhollow