Magnets

Elmsley Rose asked in yesterday's comments what sort of magnets I used to hold the Ultrauede in position as I stitched it to my canvas.  She realized they would have to be small and powerful, and most of the pretty decorative magnets we can buy are neither small or really strong.  Fortunately, there are other types of magnets available.

My first strong set of magnets were rare earth magnets, recommended by folks on the ANG email list.  You can buy them from woodworking sites and science supply stores.  I have some donut shapes that are 10 mm (a bit less than half an inch) across.  DO NOT buy them any larger.  I think 3/8 inch diameter round magnets are a good size, better than my slightly larger ones, actually.  These are very strong magnets. They are hard to separate and will magnetize your needles and scissors without too much trouble.  Here's the first place I found them online.
http://www.indigo.com/magnets/rare-earth-magnets.html

These are not the ones I used, however.  I used a pair that were a gift from a friend but they are very much like the medium sized ones from this set.
http://www.nordicneedle.com/PROD/E39-00-00/7003V.html

I also have these from Romancing the Past which I like very much but they are not quite as strong.
http://www.nordicneedle.com/PROD/E39-00-00/7003A.html

Nordic Needle also had these similar strong, but small magnets.
http://www.nordicneedle.com/PROD/E39-00-00/7003D.html

I think any of these magnets will be strong enough to hold anything in place on top of your canvas while you stitch it into position.  Be careful, though.  3/8 inches in diameter is plenty big!  And keep these strong magnets away from your credit cards, your computer, or anything else that an electrical field could damage.

Great question, Megan!

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

Attaching a Parrot Head

Ultrasuede Parrothead

After a few more rows of tent stitches in the background, I attached the Ultrasuede parrot head to my canvas using a very strong pair of magnets.  Then with a tiny sharp beading needle, a ply of the same dark purple Gloriana silk used on the body of the bird, and my thimble at the ready, I carefully stitched around the perimeter of the fabric to attach it.  I used simple, small straight stitches and usually had no trouble penetrating the Ultrasuede.  The only hitches were when I had to pierce a canvas thread also.  I used the thimble then.

It took a while but the head is securely on now.  I will decide later whether to couch a thread around the edge of the head.  I stitched tiny stitches along one side of the eye hole to keep the fabric snug to the underlying canvas.  I will wait to see if I need to continue once I attach the long strip of ribbon floss above the eye to make the black streak painted there.

Once the eye is finished, I will embroider on top of the Ultrasuede.  I am thinking a scattering of motifs as I sketched out, not covering the fabric with a lot of embroidery.  We'll see how that works out tonight!

So far the hardest part has been cutting a smooth eye hole to allow the stitches and bead of the eye to show through.

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

Designing a Parrot Head

Last night was more rows of tent stitch while I sketched, then erased, various layouts of stitches for the parrot's Ultrasuede head.

The photo shows you my latest layout.  If you squint you can see where I erased smaller ray stitches around the bird's eye.

I finally decided simpler was better.  This afternoon I hope to start attaching the head so I can try this out.

It occurred to me on re-reading yesterday's posting that I wasn't too clear about the steps in stitching the parrot's head. Let me try to fix that:  The first thing I do before I even put a canvas on stretcher bars is to make a color copy of it.  For Cha I made two color copies because I already knew I wanted to do things that might involve cutting up one of the copies to use as a pattern.  I have one copy in reserve to check if I cover up things I have to stitch later.  The other copy was scissored to cut out the paper parrot head above.

I attached the paper head on top of the painted parrot head so I would know where to stop tent stitching the bird's breast and lower body.  I want the Ultrasuede piece to meet the tent stitches but not overlap them.  Once the tent stitching was finished, I put the paper head away for a while.

When I was ready, I used the paper pattern again to cut out my piece of plum colored Ultrasuede.  I used my sharpest scissors for this.  The eye hole is the hardest to do.  I punched a hole in the middle of the eye with an awl, then inserted my scissors tip to make the first cut.  I'm going to have to smooth out the hole with an Exacto knife later on today once the sun's out.

By the way, the Ultrasuede came from Orna Willis who sells small sets of assorted colors.  I didn't buy mine--I won them in a contest.  Luckily there is a wonderful plum square in my assortment.  A corner of that is now the parrot head.
http://www.ornadesign.com/shop/product.php?productid=114&cat=1&page=1

The plan is to use my strong set of magnets to hold the Ultrasuede in position as I carefully stitch around the margins (using one ply of silk and a very sharp needle plus my thimble) to hold it in place.  Once that is done, I'll start adding the stitches on top whose placement I worked out in the drawing.  The plan is to continue the three-quarters wide diamond stitches at the base of the bird's neck, then put a few of the diamond rays radiating from the eye.  The last step will be to put the wide black streak over the eye. I'll use the same Shimmer Blend Ribbon Floss used on the beak and claws there and tack it down with tiny stitches in the middle of the ribbon floss.

SharonG taught me to do that.  She used the same technique with 1/16 Kreinik ribbon on the free dragonfly kimono pattern she did for the American Needlepoint Guild.  She describes her technique (used to put in the grass) at the bottom of the second page of instructions for her project on the ANG website. I stitched this in purples and blues as a wallet insert.  It's gorgeous!
http://www.needlepoint.org/StitchOfTheMonth/2005/dec.php

Back to Cha.  I have only a vague idea how this will look or whether it is going to make the canvas look the way I want, but how can I challenge you guys to make a leap into painted canvas stitching if I'm not willing to try new things publicly myself?

Wish me luck!  [Jane holds her nose and leaps off the cliff into the deep water below.  Wheeeeeeee!]

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

Another Day, Another Sale

The Stitch Niche in Mississippi is having a 25% off sale on their hand painted canvases in the month of July. You can do a little browsing here.  Don't miss clicking on Sale to see needlepoint designs that are half off!
http://www.needlepointyaya.com/Canvases.html

The Busy Needle in Tucson is closed for summer vacation until July 12 but when they return, all Christmas or Hanukkah canvases will be 25% off until the end of July.
http://www.busyneedle.com/

Needle Nook of La Jolla's anniversary sale is over but they still have seven pages of 50% off painted canvases available.
http://www.needlenookoflajolla.com/storedir/products.php?cat=105

Have fun browsing.  Maybe you'll get lucky and find that canvas you've always wanted at a great price.

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

The Paper Parrot Pattern Reappears

Last night I worked a few more rows of tent stitched background, and also finished the feathering patterns on the parrot's breast and body.  What you see are diamond ray stitches, the same stitch used on the bird's back, except done as a single motif inside each partial wide diamond stitch.

I also used the paper pattern of the parrot's head I put on top of the canvas to mark where I needed to stop tent stitching to cut out a piece of deep purple Ultrasuede.  I plan to applique this on top of the canvas and then attach it with more partial wide diamond and ray stitches.

This is the plan, anyway.  I hope to make the bird and the cluster of fruit more solid than the rest of the design, a'la this drawing of Escher's, using fabric and embroidery on top of it.
http://www.worldofescher.com/gallery/A13L.html

I need to neaten up the eye hole (the bird's eye is already stitched) and use my paper patterns to figure out just where I want to put stitches on top of the Ultrasuede before I start trying to pierce it with a sharp needle and my hot pink Eterna silk.

Wish me luck!

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