BREAKING NEWS: Elizabeth Turner Collection Renamed

Meredith H. Willett, owner of M's Canvashouse and the Elizabeth Turner Collection, just announced she is renaming Elizabeth Turner Collection.  It will now be known as the Meredith Collection!
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10207131770405644&set=a.1844350721529.102957.1623451586&type=3&theater

Written by Jane/Chilly Hollow
Blogging at http://chillyhollownp.blogspot.com
and at http://chstitchguides.blogspot.com
© Copyright December 31, 2015 Jane M. Wood. All rights reserved.

Blog is Reborn

Regular readers of Blog will remember I asked back in October what folks like to read here. I'm making an attempt to cut down on the various chores I do each day so that I'll have more stitching time.  I asked for input and an amazing number of you revealed how you use Blog and what you think is important for me to keep.  Thank you!

Blog itself breaks down into three areas:

Daily updates, which tend to be news from blogs, websites, and Facebook.  That's the bulk of Blog postings these days.  Folks suggested I cut back to 3 times a week instead of a daily posting.  I may do that as blog news continues to dry up elsewhere but it doesn't save me time to do so.  I still have to read all the postings and pick the ones that are worth repeating.  That is what takes the time, not my creating links and brief descriptions.  I am just going to try to be more discriminating.  More and more things are published on Facebook only, which bothers me since some folks don't like or use social media, but there's nothing I can do about it except hope you non-FB folk can see at least some of the links.

Informational tabs, which list things such as Monthly Clubs, Classes and Events, new items from the latest trade show, etc.  These are more reference material items.  I'm going to stop updating the listings of classes and events.  Although people use them, they are a lot of work to keep up to date.  I'll leave the list of counted thread designers, list of tutorials, etc. alone for now.  The bulk of the work is already done on these.  I have combined the list of shops that service non-U.S. customers with the list of favorite shops already and will stop updating the Tutorials and Tips tab as folks rarely use it.  I'll still keep a list of new items coming out as the shops who don't go to a trade show use these and regular stitchers also look at this a lot.  It's some work to do but that is more manageable than other areas.

Blog-stitching is the most popular thing I do.  Folks love watching me stitch things and listen to my explanations of what I've done and why.   That's the most popular part of Blog, actually. I hope to do more of this in 2016, since I've stopped doing models and writing custom stitch guides.  I simply don't have the time with Real Life chores and the grind of constant deadlines is getting to me.  I may do a model here and there, but I won't be stitching 4-6 a year any more.  I will still do guides, but for canvases that I own, love and want to stitch.  Many of those will be blog-stitched although folks who want all the information on how to reproduce what I did in one compact piece will be able to purchase a guide.

So, that's The Plan for 2016.  I hope it frees up more time in my busy day to stitch.  Happy New Year!

Written by Jane/Chilly Hollow
Blogging at http://chillyhollownp.blogspot.com
and at http://chstitchguides.blogspot.com
© Copyright October 26, 2015 Jane M. Wood. All rights reserved.

Can't Find That Perfect Color?

Lorraine at Colour Complements showed off two stocking cuffs stitched by a customer today.  (Click on the thumbnail photo, then click again on the new photo for a really good look at these cuties.)  They are darling, but the point I want to emphasize is that Lorraine custom-dyed a color to create the perfect background thread for the stitcher.
http://colourcomplements.com/2015/12/christmas-needlepoint.html

The next time you are going nuts trying to find a color to match your canvas, small businesses like Colour Complements might be able to create just the right color in the right thread for you.  Of course you can use a different color or pick a light coverage stitch in a medium shade of the background color to show off the color you can't match, but light coverage stitches don't work in every situation.

If you can loan out the canvases or find a DMC color match to the thread manufacturer, they might be able to reproduce just the right thing for you.  It doesn't hurt to ask!

Written by Jane/Chilly Hollow
Blogging at http://chillyhollownp.blogspot.com
and at http://chstitchguides.blogspot.com
© Copyright December 21, 2015 Jane M. Wood. All rights reserved.

Want to Learn Needle Painting? Deviating from The Plan Part Two

Yesterday we talked about padding parts of the Miami Gold Digger's dog, then stitching over those areas, finishing up with my struggles to make the dog's mouth look good.  The photo above is my original sketch showing the ways in which I thought my stem stitches should curve to mimic fur realistically.

And here is how the dog looks once I finished the eyes, nose and mouth.  Look carefully at the dog's ears and you will see there is a line of tent stitches on either side of the face and under the mouth to create a chin. I liked the chin but the tent stitches on the side of the face had to go.  With needle painting, mistakes are easy--you just cover them with more stitches!  So I added more stem stitches flowing from the head to the ear tips, covering the tent stitches I didn't want.  Here is what the dog face looked like after I finished.  

You can see how the ear tent stitches are covered.  No one knows they are there except you and me!  I have to admit I worked hard on the chest to get the slant of the stem stitches right.  That was the hardest part of the dog for me.  But I worked this a little at a time by taking my four plies of Silk/Cashmere and splitting them further into eight sections.  You have to be careful doing this as the thread will separate if you pull too hard--it's not really meant to be separated into 8 plies.  But doing so enabled me to cover just a little at a time as I tried to get the chest area right.  I could have also used one ply of silk floss as well if I wanted just a touch of coverage.  That also works without looking too different than the Silk/Cashmere used for the fur.

Finally I ended up with a dog that looks like this--I hope you like him and that my struggles and planning show you how to proceed with needle painting.  It just takes a little planning, some careful observation when things go wrong to figure out how to fix them, and then layers of new stitches on top to hide your mistakes.  In fact, it is really not that hard once you understand how it is done.

I hope you'll give needle painting a try.

Written by Jane/Chilly Hollow
Blogging at http://chillyhollownp.blogspot.com
and at http://chstitchguides.blogspot.com
© Copyright December 24, 2015 Jane M. Wood. All rights reserved.

Criss-Cross Snow

Just in time for winter, Needlepoint For Fun has a great snowy skies stitch. 
http://www.needlepoint-for-fun.com/needlepoint-criss-cross-hungarian-stitch.htm

If you aren't familiar with the stitch, Pat Timpanaro has done a lovely numbered diagram for the ANG website.
http://www.needlepoint.org/StitchOfTheMonth/2000/00-06.php

I am not certain what threads Needlepoint For Fun used but it looks like Caron's Snow to me.  I happen to love that thread!  Of course Silk Lame Braid, Kreinik metallics and a lot of other threads will also work. Raid your stash and see what you can find.
http://www.needleworkplus.com/Threads/Caron_Collection/Snow_/snow_.html

Here's to beautiful icy snowy skies this winter--but only on our stitching!

Written by Jane/Chilly Hollow
Blogging at http://chillyhollownp.blogspot.com
and at http://chstitchguides.blogspot.com
© Copyright December 13, 2015 Jane M. Wood. All rights reserved.