Sketching Elmer the Candy Cane Dog

I'd appreciate it if you would hold the snickering down this morning as you look at my sketch of the candy cane dog stocking from Kirk & Hamilton I am about to start working on.

Yesterday after making a color and then a black and white copy of my canvas, I put the copies and my original away and sketched what I remembered of the design.  I do this to help remember what's going on in a design that is important to me.  Compare the sketch to the photo of this design--

You can see that I didn't miss much in my sketch but then this is a pretty simple design.  The central image of the stocking is the dog and his candy cane.  The secondary bits are the snowflake stocking top and the toe.  I will make sure I emphasize these three areas as I stitch.  I totally missed the fact that the dog has a Santa stocking cap and ignored the snowflakes in the blue "sky" behind him.  These will be less important in my interpretation of this design.

I find sketches like these very useful in picking out the important parts of a design and also in discovering what is less important.

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

How to Choose a Painted Canvas: Elmer The Candy Cane Dog Stocking

The first and most important thing to do when you are choosing a painted canvas to stitch is to fall in love.  If you don't really like a design, the first time you run into a snag you will put it away into the Someday Pile, from which it will likely never emerge again.

I fell in love with Elmer here.

If you are going to do anything except tent stitch the design, it is easier to work with a simple canvas.  The beautifully drawn, realistic canvases with gorgeous shading are what I love but they are harder for a beginner at painted canvases to deal with.  Luckily I adore the Candy Cane Dog stocking from Kirk & Hamilton which I've named Elmer.  The dog isn't all that detailed and the background is very simple.  Plus if you look at the snowflakes, you can see that the painted area of each flake is carefully centered on each stitch intersection.  There is not going to be any question as to what is a snowflake stitch and what is a background stitch.

If you are a beginner at painted canvases, this is exactly the sort of canvas you should work with first.  It is simple and well painted but something I really like so I will enjoy stitching it.

After you fall in love and bring your canvas home, make a color copy.  I use copies as a template for finishing a design by cutting out the paper shape, then using it as a pattern for cutting the backing material and lining.  A color copy comes in handy if you need help figuring out where something belongs that you stitched over, too.  I sometimes also make a black and white copy to mark up with notes.

Now put the canvas and your copies away where you can't see them.  Once they are out of view, pull out some scratch paper and sketch what you remember of the canvas.  Tomorrow I'll tell you what I do with these scribbles.

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

Introducing the Candy Cane Dog

This canvas is one I discovered at The Scarlet Thread during their closing sale last summer.  I didn't even know this counted thread shop carried painted canvases until almost The End, but luckily, the owner had this one on display at the checkout counter and it came home with me.

It took me a while to identify the designer as the English firm Kirk & Hamilton.  They have a nice website and I've also found some images of their painted canvases plus a few silk screened canvases on a British online site.
http://www.kirkandhamilton.com/

http://www.tapestry-kits.com/kirk+hamilton_handpainted_tapestry_canvas_1.htm

http://www.tapestry-kits.com/kirk+hamilton_handpainted_tapestry_canvas_2.htm

http://www.tapestry-kits.com/kirk+hamilton_printed_tapestry_kits_1.htm

As you can see, there are similar cat themed canvases now available but they aren't on the website yet.
http://needleworkshow.com/cgi-bin/incentive_detail.pl?516-cai114-20

Here are the details about my Candy Cane Dog canvas, which is about 5 1/2 inches high and almost 3 1/2 inches wide at the base.  It is on 18 count canvas.  I didn't realize he was a beagle, but I am pleased that the designers intended the candy cane dog to be a beagle as my husband had a beagle when he was small.  Stories about Elmer and his antics have enlivened family gatherings since we married.
http://www.kirkandhamilton.com/designs/kh74.htm

By the way, Old World Designs has a Kirk & Hamilton trunk show starting Monday, March 1st, if you want to pick up one of their canvases and stitch along with me.
http://www.oldworlddesigns.com/trunkshow.html

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

Stars: Marilyn Monroe is Finished

Last night I added the last few beads to my Marilyn Monroe block and added the last border to the design's top to see how it all looked together.  I wanted as much information as possible on this design so I could decide how the sashing would look with or without the purple metallic touches I was considering.

The photo shows the results.  First of all, I love the top violet border but discovered it is extremely difficult to keep the two strands of Impressions you need for full coverage straight, even with a laying tool.  I am leaving this for now but when I get to the "local" shops after I go to the Woodlawn exhibit, I will check to see if Vineyards Silks has a similar color as it will cover better with only one ply.  I would hate to leave this as bumpy-looking as it is now!

As you can tell, I decided it would look better to have all black sashing. In the poll, 47% of the voters thought touches of purple would look nice here, while 37% voted for all black and another 15% were undecided.  When I see how busy Marilyn Monroe is and look at other color versions of Stars (see link below for quite a few to browse), I can tell that I am going to need the restful solid black sashing and borders of plain black and plain violet to counteract the flash of the star blocks.  No matter what colors you use, solid lines of color help unify the busy star blocks in my opinion.
http://www.ridgewoodneedlepoint.com/index.php?p=stars

So my sashing will be plain black.

However, there is a problem with all black sashing--the terra cotta colored canvas shows through quite a bit.  I am going to have to either increase the thread coverage from 4 plies of silk to 5 or 6, or I'm going to have to color these areas with black marker.

I decided black marker was the way to go, so I'll be pulling out the sashing I have finished to color the areas black.  I will also color the middle border area black although I am not pulling out the stitching I have already finished at the top and left side.  The fern stitch offers better coverage than the fancy sashing stitches do.

Once the existing sashing is removed and the plain canvas areas blacked in, I will restitch the sashing you see above.  Then this canvas will be put aside for a while since I have a small painted canvas to start.

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

Reminder: Woodlawn Exhibit Opens March 1

The Woodlawn Plantation Needlework Exhibit opens Monday, March 1st and is open daily from 10 a.m. through 4 p.m. every day in March.

To whet your appetite, here is a photo of one of last year's ribbon winners, courtesy of Nimble Needle.
http://thenimbleneedle.blogspot.com/2009/05/nimble-needle-class-spawns-award.html


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