Another Pair of Stitching Sisters

Remember my interviews with twin sisters Eileen Aird (owner of the Ridgewood Needlepoint shop) and Elizabeth Hess (owner of Needlepoint Broad painted canvases)?  I've found another pair of sisters in the business, Cindy of Cindy's Needle Art and Randi of Sew Much Fun.  Cindy's shop is in Canada but she has an online store.
http://www.cindysneedleart.com/

Here's a brief interview Cindy did with her sister about the Sew Much Fun line.
http://www.cindysneedleart.com/index_files/aboutus.htm

And here are some of the Sew Much Fun designs for your viewing pleasure. (Prices are in Canadian dollars if you fall in love.)
http://www.cindysneedleart.com/index_files/other.htm

Many thanks to the Spinster Stitcher who is going to stitch one of the frog designs from Sew Much Fun.  I got curious and tried to find a photo of the canvas online only to discover this interview and all the interesting designs that the shop sells.
http://spinsterstitcher.blogspot.com/2009/09/provenance-of-ms-lily-frog-her-very.html

Written by Jane/Chilly Hollow
Blogging at http://chillyhollownp.blogspot.com
Archived Yahoo 360 postings at http://profiles.yahoo.com/chillyhollow

Auditions and Rehearsals

I've been talking exclusively about repairing the burn damage on Rabbit Geisha but there is another area in this canvas that gave me a lot of worry--how plain it is.

If you look at the photo in the left column of the entire unstitched canvas, you see that the design has these elements:  the rabbit face and hands, the two ribbons and the tassel, the decorative sleeves, the over tunic and the under robe, and finally the blue background.  Each of these main elements has other things in it (one ribbon is gold edged and the other is not; the tunic has a curved line and dot trim) but those decorative bits are fairly sparse.

This is a problem for me as I usually look at those decorative elements as well as the shape of the area I am going to stitch to get ideas for stitches.   The only real decoration is the fan shapes on the sleeves.  I think the squiggles and dots on the over tunic are not really large enough to base anything on.  So this canvas is a pretty open one without much to help me decide on stitches that'll look good.

I had to do a LOT of test stitching which you'll see in the photo above.  Those are mostly stitches I was auditioning for the part of Background Stitch.  The entire canvas is 7x13 inches, which means it is tall and thin.  So I looked for tall stitches like the double column in the middle of the design or the interlocking L shapes in the upper right hand corner.  I also decided to try the Ming Variation stitch that failed to work out in the sky so spectacularly on my South Seas Fiji ornament.  I really like Ming Variation (it is the second row of stitches from the top) but once again it turned out to be not right for the part.

I got fairly desperate and tried a lot of things before I came up with the split pavilion stitch I am using for the background.  First, here is the normal pavilion stitch.
http://www.needlepoint.org/StitchOfTheMonth/2001/01-08j.php

I saw a lovely version of this in one of Brenda Hart's books (Favorite Stitches, page 31, split diamond variation).  In my test stitching it is to the left of the double column stitch and is offset split pavilions with each row separated by a complex row or two of horizontal stitches.  I knew that as Miss I Can't Count To Ten Successfully, I'd never get this stitch right so I experimented to find a variation of it that was easier.  The two small split pavilions diagonally below Brenda's complicated version were what I came up with but they are too small in scale.  They just are too little for this large canvas.  I tried again and you see the larger split pavilions underneath the other versions in the second row from the bottom.

That's what I went with, turning the canvas so I could work these in a vertical manner, and doing a row of the top halves of the split pavilions, then coming back the other way with a row of the bottom half.  These all interlock nicely as you see below.

This stitch takes a lot of thread so I'm going to have to buy more DMC cotton floss.  I have three skeins of color 794, all of which I bought this week as the skein I had in the right color is Anchor and I can't buy Anchor locally (note to self:  update the total stash credits) but the area above already has used up one of them.  To be fair, I am also using the same thread for the three rows of tent stitch around the perimeter which also eats up a lot of thread.  I think I'll need 8-9 skeins of DMC 794 to do the background.  Better go shopping!

By the way, once I chose the right stitch in auditions, I had to do rehearsals to know how many threads I needed to look good on 18 count.  I ended up with four plies in my background split pavilions and four also in my tent stitches.

Written by Jane/Chilly Hollow
Blogging at http://chillyhollownp.blogspot.com
Archived Yahoo 360 postings at http://profiles.yahoo.com/chillyhollow

Mending the Rabbit Geisha with a Weave (and Water)

I have been rather busy (i.e., no stitching H-Q rows of the May stitch on Glittering Kimono) with the Rabbit Geisha's burned places.  Yesterday I showed you the patched areas.  Look back at the very last photo in yesterday's blog entry and you will see that there is a distinct dip in the burn hole area, with the scorched canvas well above the patch on the back side. Any stitches put on top of this are likely to have a dimple in them because there is a hole.  So I used another technique to handle this problem--weaving.

Patching is not the only way to mend canvas.  You can also pull away a thread from the edge of your canvas and weave it across the area.  In the photo above you'll see that I have done this.  I used a #20 needle so that the loose canvas thread would go through the eye and wove the thread to build up support.  I also started my background stitch over the burned corner area, just to see how it would work up.  First, I did two rows of basketweave outside the painted canvas area.  This stabilizes the patches a bit more and also will be useful in finishing.   However, another problem cropped up as I worked.

Look very carefully at this close up of the same photo.  See where the burned NP canvas threads broke as I stitched through them?  This is one reason I put the patches on the back.  I had no idea how stable the scorched canvas would be.  Before I did any more stitching, I grabbed my plant mister and sprayed the canvas.  (The thread I am using for my background stitches is DMC #794 and since most DMC colors are pretty stable--except for red and very very dark colors like navy and chocolate--I risked the color running.)  Once the burned canvas and the patch were damp and more flexible, I continued stitching the background over the burned corner.  The more flexible damp canvas (I didn't get it really wet, just flexible) took the stitches better and this morning when the spot is dry I don't see any more broken stitches.  There might be some under the stitching and the patch, though.


This photo shows what the corner looks like stitched.  Note that some of the brown burn shows between the stitches.  Someone asked (Was that you, Nancy?) in the Comments if I planned to repaint the burned area.  The answer is no.  I have no idea how burned canvas will take to paint or a marker so I won't risk that.  We'll see how prominent the burned areas are after stitching.  I may scatter beads on top to distract the eyes (beads hide a LOT of sins!) or maybe the finisher will use trim or something similar to hide this.  We'll worry about it later.  The first step is to get the background stitches in successfully.

The final photograph also shows that I pulled out my woven canvas thread and restitched it vertically instead of horizontally to better support my horizontal stitches.  I made sure to dampen this area and to soak the thread I was going to weave with to make it very flexible.  I also added another row of tent stitches around the outside as I realized that I had miscounted the background.  I didn't want to compensate.  Besides, three rows of tent stitches are probably better for the patched areas as that is where the finishing stitches will go.

Written by Jane/Chilly Hollow
Blogging at http://chillyhollownp.blogspot.com
Archived Yahoo 360 postings at http://profiles.yahoo.com/chillyhollow

Vandals in Chilly Hollow

Yesterday's photograph of Brenda Stofft's Rabbit Geisha is from her website.  There's a good reason for that beyond the fact that my scanner won't scan entirely a piece that is 7x13 on stretcher bars (which adds 2-3 inches all around), but if you have a weak stomach, you won't want to look at the photo of the canvas above.

This beautiful piece was a gift from a dear friend and I didn't know it was coming in the mail.  Much to my surprise the mail lady showed up at the house one day with an opened mailing box in hand, telling my husband she'd found the package she'd put in the mailbox the day before lying on the side of the road, ripped open, the wrapped contents set fire to by a match, and dumped in the ground in disappointment that there was nothing worth stealing, I guess.  The match and the ribbon that tied the canvas in a roll were in the bottom of the box but the tissue paper was burned away almost entirely.  Some of the canvas was damaged by the fire as you see above.

I was really sick about this, particularly since it was a gift, but the lovely lady who sent this to me briskly told me to pull myself together and not let the sick person who did this win.  So I put the canvas away, determining that I would stitch it and make a masterpiece out of it.  Fortunately there is no burned smell and the damage is repairable.

Here is the bottom of the design.  The three burned areas are in the top half, and the one edge that is charred we can forget about as it will be cut away in finishing.  None of this area is damaged.

But the two burns at the top must be dealt with.  First of all, I patched the burns.  This photo shows the burned hole with a patch in place.  I cut some spare canvas that is the same 18 count size in ecru (I wouldn't use a dark color of canvas for this unless the original canvas is also dark) in a shape that would cover the worst area, then lining up the holes exactly, I stitched it in place using long stitches that I can pull out later.  The second patch is lying on top on the right so you can see the general shape I'll use there.  That is not burned through but the canvas is charred on the back so I want to reinforce this area.  I am not framing this piece as I have no idea what being sealed in a frame might do to a burned piece of NP canvas.

This photo shows both holes patched. The thread tail ends are on top of the canvas so I can easily pull out the stitches when I am ready.  I will need to be careful to pick a stitch that covers the background completely to make sure the patches are secure.  I considered trimming the background around the rabbit geisha but consulted with my finisher who says it'll be easier to use this as a tote bag design if she has squared off edges to work with.  So I am going to use the patches to reinforce the canvas and patch the hole.

I have patched canvases before and never had one separate (my first spliced canvas was done as an experiment in around 1989 when I stitched a glasses case for my Mom who has carried it in her purse for decades without any problem) but you can't do light coverage or very dimensional stitches that are mostly on the front of the canvas instead of going through the holes in these instances. You have to secure the two pieces by stitching right though them both.

I will make sure I do two rows of tent stitches all around the outside edge of the blue painted background to help secure the patches futher.  That way the finisher can trim the patch away if necessary.

By the way, the mail lady now brings any boxes we get to the top of our driveway and leaves them in the open garage.  Both the post office and the sheriff's office told me there was nothing they could do to track down the vandal.

Written by Jane/Chilly Hollow
Blogging at http://chillyhollownp.blogspot.com
Archived Yahoo 360 postings at http://profiles.yahoo.com/chillyhollow

Introducing The Rabbit Geisha

The next painted canvas I am going to stitch is designed by Brenda Stofft.  I call it the Rabbit Geisha.  Brenda has the Cat in a Kimono also, which is similar but wears more elaborate robes.

Here is Rabbit Geisha (7 inches wide by 13 inches high on 18 count canvas) and then Cat in a Kimono (slightly larger at 9 inches wide by 16 inches high on 18 count canvas).
http://www.brendastofftdesigns.com/P4170159.JPG

http://www.brendastofftdesigns.com/IMG_0099.JPG

The reason I mentioned both pieces is that Jane in Alamo City is stitching Cat in a Kimono after a class with Tony Minieri helped her figure out how to handle the canvas.  If you are curious about Cat in a Kimono, I know you'll enjoy visiting Jane at her blog and watching how she handles this design.  Just scroll down the right hand column until you find the Category called "Brenda Stofft Cat in a Kimono." Click and enjoy!
http://janew1102.typepad.com/my_weblog/

Rabbit Geisha is going to offer an unusual challenge, which I'll talk about tomorrow.

Written by Jane/Chilly Hollow
Blogging at http://chillyhollownp.blogspot.com
Archived Yahoo 360 postings at http://profiles.yahoo.com/chillyhollow