Cha's Large Full Flower is Done UPDATED

I've finished the large flower in the front left corner of the Cha-Cha canvas.  That's it on the left,  next to some of the background wide diamonds stitch.  What do you think?  Do they play nice together?





On the right is the small flower for comparison purposes.  Sadly, this canvas is large enough that I can't get a scan of both flowers at once for you to see how they compare.  You can't really see how the full flower's stitches are larger and how that makes the full flower come forward and the partial flower recede.

I'm working on the fruit now, but I think I'll stitch one leaf near the large full flower so I have an idea whether I can continuing working wide diamonds as the background stitch.  I don't want to leave the miles of background until last.

UPDATE:  Glenis requested a photograph of the whole canvas instead of a scan of sections of it.  I'm afraid it is very difficult to see detail but perhaps this will help.

Cha-Cha as of 6/21/10

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

A Bit More from TNNA

I have a few more postings from here and there about the Columbus, Ohio trade show.  The DMC blog has two new postings. The first is all about their tapestry wool.  This is a thread not easily available to me so I was eager to see needlepoint stitched with it.
http://dmc-threads.com/?p=2353 

The second posting is about trends they noticed at the show.
http://dmc-threads.com/?p=2372

The trend I'm picking up on is needlepoint purses myself.  Margaret's report from TNNA today shows what leather goods, including purses, are available from Stirling.  I just love the new purse shape!  The bronze and pewter colors don't do much for me but they are neutrals, so you can use any stitched canvas with these colors and they will harmonize.
http://cranecottage.com/stitchingblog/?p=1561

But adding stitching to a purse isn't the only purse trend I've noticed.  Pocket Full of Stitches has just posted a blog entry about all the various stitching purses they carry for carrying your stitching projects and tools.   I don't know it any of these are new bags, but I thought you'd like to see the huge range of totes available from just one shop.
http://pocketfullofstitches.blogspot.com/2010/06/you-can-never-have-too-many-bags.html

Do you love charted pieces, laying tools or threads?  You'll be interested in what Scarlet Thread picked out at market.
http://stitchything.blogspot.com/2010/06/new-from-laura-j-perin.html

Before I forget, remember how I covered the SharonG camo bra and tap pants set all in beads?  I just discovered that one of Pocket Full of Stitches' customers has done a SharonG wine glass canvas in all beads. I think even the wine cork is covered in beads!  You can see it here in PFOS' customer profile.
http://pocketfullofstitches.blogspot.com/2010/06/guest-blogger-suzanne-hicks.html

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

Anchoring Ends When Stitching Light

Yesteday morning I found a question from Melinda in the Comments section. To quote her in full--"This is a beautiful canvas, Jane. Tell me how/where you are anchoring your Walsh thread so that it doesn't show under the blank areas of the background. Thanks!"

Starting and ending threads is one of those basic techniques that are hard to master.  Do you use a knot?  Or not?  [LOL.  Sorry, I had to say that!]  Just how do you end off slippery threads like rayon?  Is it really important to have the back side of your work look as neat as the front?  Etc.

However you normally start and end threads, if you stitch part of a painted canvas with light coverage stitches to allow the painted shading to show, you will find that ending one or two plies of a thread is much different than ending off 4-6 plies.  The less thread you are using, the harder it is to tie off a thread or get one started.  After all, there's not much thread on the back side to anchor a new length in.

Sometimes there is a place nearby where you can start/end threads the way you normally do.  Unfortunately, most of the wide diamond stitches were done before I had stitched anything else so there is no stitched area to start/stop threads in for this canvas.  Even when I have more of Cha stitched there aren't going to be many areas where there is full coverage.  Here is what I do with my one ply of the 5-plied JL Walsh silk/wool thread (but this applies to all the light coverage threads and stitches I'm using on this piece):

To start a thread, I tie as small a knot as I can manage in the new length of thread.  Then I stitch a Locking L stitch in an area that will be covered by one of the long stitches in wide diamonds.  I stitch until the thread is about 2-3 inches from running out.  (If you are using a thread that unravels in the eye of the needle you might have to stop stitching with a length when there are 4-5 inches left.)

Locking L stitches are just a little stitch over one thread followed by a second stitch over one thread next door to the first. Together these two stitches make the shape of the letter L.  (If I am using a really slippery thread, I might make a Z shape from three tiny stitches.)  In most cases, even if you are using only one ply of silk, these tiny stitches will be hidden by the regular stitches.  You just need to figure out where to put them so that the stitch will cover the Locking L.  This is one reason it is smart to do some test stitching in the margin of your canvas if you haven't done the stitch before.  You'll soon have a good idea where to hide the Locking L.

The reason you will want as tiny a knot as possible on the back side is that if you tie a knot that has a little tail sticking out, that little tail will start to poke itself through to the front.  Once you do your starting Locking L and then stitch that first stitch or two, turn over the canvas and check the starting knot to make sure there is no tail to stick out on the front.

If you are stitching one small area instead of the whole background, try starting your stitch in the middle of the area.  That also helps keep any ending thread from showing at the margin of the area you are working.  This is particularly important if your thread is slippery or if it is 100% silk.  Silk becomes more of an escape artist the less of it you use to stitch with.

To end a thread once you have finished a section, use the Locking L stitch again. This time, slide a stitch you've done already over with your needle tip and run the ending Locking L stitches under this thread and its neighbors.  Then turn the canvas over to the back and slip the end of your thread under neighboring stitches, if any.  I often slip my thread under previous stitches on the back going in one direction, then slip it under neighboring threads going in the opposite direction so that there are 2-3 inches of thread ending off on the back.  Trim the end.

Even if they are light coverage stitches, one ply on the back probably won't show.  However, some folks make a point of putting a piece of fabric under their canvas in finishing.  If you layer your canvas over a thin fabric, it helps mask those stitches running from one area to another.  Choose a fabric color similar to the background stitch if you do this or use a sparkly fabric like gold lame.

Folks who do a lot of blackwork learn to plan their stitching path to minimize any threads from the back showing on the front.  For more insight on this process, read the February 2004 Stitch of the Month information Ann Strite-Kurz wrote for ANG's website.  She diagrams each stitch in such a way that the working order is very clear to minimize such problems.
http://www.needlepoint.org/StitchOfTheMonth/2004/feb.php
http://www.needlepoint.org/Stitch.php

My way of starting/stopping threads is not the only way.  Here is how Marj describes what Shay Pendray recommends you do to start and end threads.
http://chillyhollownp.blogspot.com/2010/02/starting-and-stopping-threads-shay-way.html

I have written on this topic before.  The best explanations I can find from older blog postings are listed below.  It's a complex topic and if the above confuses you, read these explanations from me  for more help.  Sometimes I phrase things in a better way.
http://chillyhollownp.blogspot.com/2009/12/light-coverage-stitching-imperatives.html

http://chillyhollownp.blogspot.com/2009/11/locking-l-stitch-in-close-up.html

Great question, Melinda.  Thank you!  Please ask if any of the above isn't clear.

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

Cha's Flowers and Optical Illusions

Looking at the Cha-Cha canvas, the flowers immediately jumped out at me as a logical starting point because it was easy to choose stitches for them.  As you know, I like to choose stitches based on the shape of the area they will go into.  The flowers are roughly round, so using round stitches seemed to make sense to me.  I had the added bonus of the full flower on the left bottom being located near my test background stitches.  If I stitched the flowers, I'd have a better idea just how well the wide diamonds stitch in the background would look with stitched flowers.

Of course the flowers have red-edged petals and a round center surrounded by a ring of stamens.  I would have to come up with different ways to stitch those areas.  I couldn't use round stitches on the edges.  Well, I probably could but I didn't think that would look good.  I want smooth edges to contrast with the stitch pattern on the petals.  That made me think of padding the petals in perle, then overstitching the red edges with long satin stitches to give them a slightly raised look.

In search of inspiration, I did a little browsing on Flickr, looking for photos of the centers of poppies.  Although I think of Cha's flowers as magnolias, the centers are clearly based on poppies.  Seeing good closeups helped me decide to do the yellow center in tent stitches topped with a + and then an X in green silk floss, then do the stamens around the center in fuzzy French knots.  I used Impressions in deep plum for the French knots and did only one wrap.  Here is a photo from Flickr that helped me make up my mind how to stitch the centers.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/peachesandolivia/3618445766/

I ended up using Brenda Hart's Ming Variation (page 17 in her Favorite Stitches book) for the partial flower's petals.  These were stitched with two plies only in two shades of Needle Necessities' peach/vanilla/lemon overdyes.  Once the Ming Variation stitches were done, I added a doubled strand of peach Accentuate to the empty spots between the Ming Variation stitches. The three top rows of stitches in the example above are Ming Variation.

Note that some of the petals have Ming Variation stitched running vertically and some have it running horizontally.  I did this deliberately to make the petals more distinct visually.  I think the enlarged photo of the partial flower will help you see how I turned the stitch.

For the larger full flower, I increased the size of Ming Variation so that the stitches are larger, then stitched the petals in the same way.  Both flowers use the same threads and stitches except I used my enlarged version of Ming Variation for the full flower to make it seem to come forward.  (In the stitched example on black plastic canvas above, the bottom row is the BIG Ming Variation.)  The smaller scale Ming Variation on the partial flower makes it recede.  It's all about optical illusion and playing with space for these flowers.

I am still stitching on the large flower but tomorrow I'm going to answer the question Melinda asked in the comments--how do I anchor my JL Walsh silk-wool when doing light coverage stitches?

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

Stitching Cha's Background (Or Not)

If you've been peeking over my shoulder as I stitch painted canvases for a while here at Blog, you know that I usually stitch the background of pieces first.  I often am asked why.  Is this the right way to stitch a painted canvas?  Well, no, I don't think there is a right or wrong place to start on a canvas, but personally, I like doing the background first.  It's my personal preference. I just like getting a good start on the background before I stitch the main parts of a canvas.  After all, backgrounds are HUGE and stitching them seems to take forever.

Sometimes it makes sense to do the background first.  Perhaps there is going to be a ton of compensation in the background.  It is often easier to count across bare, unstitched canvas to get the stitches compensated correctly if you work the background first.

Other times you'll want to stitch the background later, and I think Cha-Cha is going to  be one of these times.  Remember the six areas on this canvas?  The leaves, flowers, fruit, bird, branch and background?  If I am going to use fancy stitches in at least some of these areas, they all have to harmonize.  I am not sure I will know if the background stitch I've chosen (Brenda Hart's wide diamonds stitch from page 114 of her Stitches for the Millennium book) is right until I stitch a little of all the other five areas.  Here is what wide diamonds looks like.

To stitch it, I've found the easiest way is to do the blue stitches on the left first (working left to right), then working right to left do the yellow stitches, then switching to work left to right again, do the red stitches in the example above.  In other words, stitch the blue backbone of the stitch, then add the bottom area and finally stitch the top.  These three steps make up one wide diamond.  The diagram shows how the next diamond and other rows interlock.

It's a lovely stitch.  I saw it on one of Brenda Hart's student's canvases and think it is beautiful.  I also think it is perfect for Cha but I won't know for sure until I stitch some of all the other areas to see that the stitches I've chosen play nice together.

Here are the few rows of Wide Diamonds I've worked using one ply from the gorgeous JL Walsh overdyed silk wool in shades of pink.  I turned the canvas on its side to work vertical rows instead of trying to master the horizontal stitch.  If a stitch diagram doesn't make sense to you, turn the diagram and see if stitching it on its side seems more logical to you.  I do this all the time.  Of course I have to turn the canvas on its side, too!

Stay tuned to see if Wide Diamonds works or if I have to rip out the test rows I've done.

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