Five Whites for a Snowman

Yesterday I talked about all the white areas on the various parts of this little stocking.  I've picked five brands of white threads from my stash to use on the stocking.  The somewhat disarranged skein on the left is DMC cotton floss #Blanc.  (It had an unfortunate encounter with Tommy the Cat who grabbed it off the table and attacked it yesterday evening.)  The top row left is Flair #F502 and the top right is Burmilana #3891.  The bottom row left is DMC Blanc #8 perle cotton and the bottom row right is Impressions #0057. All are stark whites, although as Judy pointed out yesterday in the Comments, I really don't have to worry about the shade of white too much as different stitches and textures reflect the light differently.

I started stitching the snowman's body with Flair and the snow on the ground using the DMC #8 perle.  The Flair sparkles while the cotton perle is more matte in texture so the snowman stands out a little at the base against the snowy ground.  I'm not sure how well you can tell the difference between the snowman and the ground as this is something obvious in person but not in photographs.  The photo shows also the white dots and lines on the scarf which I stitched with my Burmilana. Burmilana is an acrylic/wool blend so it looks fuzzy.  That's appropriate for a knit winter scarf.

Although it is not white, I should mention that the blue shadows in the snow and along the snowman's body are stitched with ThreadworX's overdyed Kreinik #91018 which is a beautiful pale blue.  It is perfect to add a bit of shadow and sparkle to this canvas. Many thanks to Beth at ThreadworX for sending this thread for me to try.  I do love the look of icy blue shadows that it gives the design.

By the way, all the white stitches are tent stitches except for the Burmilana areas on the scarf.  The dots there are cross stitches and the long lines of white are elongated cross stitches.

Tomorrow I'll talk about the snowman's face and the blue sky in the background.

By the way, yesterday's Canvas of the Day has been identified as to designer.  This is Dancing Lion by Melissa Shirley.
http://www.needlepointalley.com/Merchant2/merchant.mv?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=npa&Product_Code=a71-565a

Credit to whom credit is due! Thanks for letting us know, Melissa.

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

Exactly How Many Whites Are There?

Remember how I said yesterday this piece was going to be challenging because of all the color and pattern in it?  I've actually found another challenge is going to be all the white in it.  Take a good look at the photo of the plain canvas above and start counting the white areas.

The snowman's body and face are white, as are the furry rim, half the stripes and the ball at the end of his stocking cap.  He stands in white snow.

There are white dots on his scarf, the toy bird and the package he holds in his mittens.  There are also white snowflakes falling in the sky behind him.

I'm going to have to either use the same thread in all these places or find the same shade of white in a variety of threads to use for fuzzy fur, icy snowflakes, raised polka dots, knitted scarves, and snowmen and snow on the ground.  Looking at the large variety of white items, all of which should be different textures, I think I need to use a variety of threads for the various white areas.

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

Introducing the Nordic Snowman Canvas

Nordic Snowman by Melissa Shirley

Several years ago I stitched a small Christmas stocking with a snowman design for a small child.  Now that the owner of this stocking has a younger sibling, I want to stitch another snowman stocking so that each child has their own.  For the second snowman stocking I choose a Melissa Shirley design called Nordic Snowman.  This canvas is on 18 count canvas.  The design itself is 5 1/2 inches high and 4 1/2 inches wide at the foot.

There are several versions of the Nordic Snowman in the Melissa Shirley line as well as other designs with a Danish, Swedish or Norwegian flavor.
http://melissashirleydesigns.com//gallery/?cat=31

There are also snowmen with the same side profile and different clothes.  Six of the first seven snowman at this site (working from the top down) are all relatives of my Nordic Snowman.  The seventh is my design exactly.
http://store.apneedlearts.com/snmi1.html

This design is going to be a real challenge as it has so much color and pattern.  The snowman is wearing a long stocking cap with a bell and perhaps a bow tied around the fur ball at the end.  He has mittens and a colorful scarf with long beaded fringe. He wears a patchwork coat that has a beaded bottom hem.  He carries a package with a bow and what appears to be a colorful wooden bird toy.  There are wrapped Christmas packages and apples and holly leaves scattered in the snow at his feet.

You can emphasize three elements in a stitched design:  the color, the texture, or the stitches. If you emphasize more than two of them in one design, you run the risk of making a mess that is so busy it is unattractive.  This design already has so much color and pattern going on, I am going to have to restrict how many different stitches and thread varieties I use.  I think I will probably vary textures some but be restrained in how many stitches I use.

As always, my first step was to make a color copy of this canvas.  I almost certainly will cover the tiny white dots in the sky with stitches and then go back and add white beads or a metallic thread to indicate they are snowflakes.  The color copy will help me figure out just where they go.

Many thanks to Melissa Shirley for giving permission for me to post photos of her design here and stitch-blog it publicly.

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

Stars: Marlon Brando Is Finished

The Marlon Brando block is finished and surrounded by the black sashing and one of the three borders.  Hurrah!  The photo shows as much of the entire piece as I can squeeze onto the scanner bed for a good look.  Pretty soon I'm going to have to use the digital camera to give you an overview of this piece as it develops.  It is going faster than I thought it would but the quilt blocks themselves are addicting as I can't wait to see how each one looks in my colors and threads.

Sara Leigh's version of Stars (it is the Peacock colorway from the various recommendations in the Stars book) keeps getting more beautiful.  Her's is bright and cheerful while mine is more muted.
http://remedialstitcher.blogspot.com/2010/04/where-does-time-go.html

Now it's time to start a new painted canvas.  Hurrah again!

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

May 2010 Chilly Hollow Newsletter

This month I have a great number of fabulous Internet resources to help with all types of stitching.  First of all, have you heard of DMC's new memory thread?  It is a thin copper wire wrapped with thread that comes in many colors.  Want some tips how to use it?  Judy has a good tutorial showing how she used memory thread to make coral on an original underwater design.
http://needle-crafts.blogspot.com/2010/05/using-dmc-memory-thread-tutorial.html

Ever wanted to try goldwork?  Tanja Berlin has a marvelous tuturoal on her website.  She also sells the supplies you need and has good photos of all the different types of metal threads used in goldwork.
http://www.berlinembroidery.com/sampler.htm

Need good diagrams to help attach beads to needlepoint canvas?  These two sites have great information about various ways one can attach beads.
http://thenimbleneedle.blogspot.com/2010/04/as-michael-would-say-just-bead-it.html

http://needlepointstudyhall.blogspot.com/2010/04/beading-pumpkin-balloon.html

Speaking of beading, there is a wonderful video about tambour beading on YouTube.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ctalL88NMqM

Want to see something inspirational?  How about this embroidery taken from old fashion plates.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/copygirlx/sets/72157623747063603/

Need help choosing colors? This design site is set up to help folks choose color combinations.
http://www.colourlovers.com/browse

I hope you find all these resources helpful with your stitching and fun besides!

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