Blogspot Posting Only

Just to let everyone know who is watching me stitch at Blogspot instead of Yahoo 360, I've started posting links to other blogs about needlepoint on the right hand side of the page. I started with the ones that I check often because they change frequently. I'll add to the list occasionally as I have time. If your favorite blog isn't there, look at the main blog website and if it's not there, either, please let me know. By the way, I put the link to my main blog website at Yahoo 360 at the top of the list for your convenience. Normally, what I post there will be identical to what I post here. Blogspot is my backup plan.

Main blogging site--
http://blog.360.yahoo.com/chillyhollow

You can email me at chilly hollow at hot mail dot com
Thanks!

Blogspot and Sue's Google Reader

Yesterday I got a nice email from Sue who is very glad I set up a mirror blog on Blogspot. Sue says her Google News Reader reads the Blogspot version of Blog much better than it reads the Yahoo 360 version. Google owns Blogspot so I guess that's why their news reader works better for it. Not being familiar with news readers I asked Sue about them and this is what she said:

"...this software allows me to subscribe to blogs and it appears on screen similar to a Window Explorer screen. The left side - a thin tall pane - displays the name of all the blogs I've subscribed to. When I single-click on a blog name on the left, the right side pane displays the most recent feeds - just the posts, without the blog headers or lists of links folkes may have created. One cool thing it does is that it'll bold the name of those blogs who've updated since I last viewed them thru the Google Reader software. So no more checking on blogs just to find they've not been updated! Streamlines my blog checking. Isn't modern technology wonderful?! The only drawback seems to be that those blogs on typepad or yahoo only display the text of the entries ... I have to open those blogs in my browser to access the pictures. "

I asked Sue for further clarification about how the Google Reader looked. Here's what she said:

"Think of your blog as twofold - the "shell" and the "meat." The shell generally includes a header (where many include a pretty graphic to remain at the top of each page), footer (many include copyright notices at the bottom ... and many blogs automatically include navigation here - the "prior posts," "home," and "newer posts"), and extras - here it's totally up to the user what they want to include but most include navigation links USUALLY at the sides (lots of blog software allows for links to recent posts; lots allow for labels so readers can, for instance, search for all "woodlawn" posts; etc) - but blog software can also allow the user to insert special html coding or javascript so the blog owners can insert their own slide shows or video, counters, guestbooks, etc. The content of the shell shows up on every page. Then, there's the "meat" of the blog - your posts. What you see within Google Reader is the posts themselves in that right-hand side pane - without the part of the area I've noted as within the shell. IF you include a link within your post, it's still treated as a link and is clickable. Also, the name of the blog itself is a link that you still have the option to click on to open. I love the Google Reader and would recommend it to anyone who has bookmarked blogs they read on a regular basis!"

If you are interested in using Google Reader, here is what I found out about it from Google:

http://www.google.com/reader/view/?hl=en&source=en-mmm#directory-welcome-page

Some other needle bloggers at Yahoo 360 are setting up mirror sites on Blogspot as well. Some of them are finding that Blogspot versions of their pictures are better than on Yahoo 360 and others find the opposite. I guess this has to do with how we make our photos and how we export them to each blog. Plus your own monitor may well display some things better than others. So experiment and see where you like the postings best. For now I plan to post everything to both blog sites. I prefer Yahoo 360's features, but it is bug-ridden and I feel I have to have a backup plan.

Sue, thanks very much for helping me understand how Google News Reader works. Hope someone finds Sue's information useful.

Main blogging site--
http://blog.360.yahoo.com/chillyhollow

Want to Stitch a Rug?

This Maggie Lane design is painted on needlepoint canvas and comes with yarns. The seller has several other rug kits painted from her designs. Click on View Other Items under Meet the Seller to see them all. This seller has offered several rug kits over the last two weeks. Of course these are charted in one of Maggie Lane's books if you own them.

Here's the link to eBay.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=350038914725&fromMakeTrack=true&ssPageName=VIP:watchlink:top:us

Mirror blog at http://blog.360.yahoo.com/chillyhollow

Fan's Obi

Since I was setting up and learning how to use the new computer AND the mirror blog at Blogspot this weekend, I didn't have time to stitch much. However, I did finish stitching Fan's obi. At least I think I did. I don't have time this morning to check for missed stitches and it's too dark anyway. I like to hold a canvas up to the sun and see if I see holes where stitches were missed and the earliest I'll be able to do that is tonight. However, I might be able to tell from the scan I did.

Whether I finished or not, I wanted to point out that the bottom ribbon is alternated mosaic stitch and the other three parts of the obi are all diagonal stitches that alternate between being over one intersection and over two. Somehow the bottom ribbon looked good in a different stitch but I didn't have the right sized space to repeat it in any of the other sections.

So you don't have to use the same stitch in similar areas on a canvas. Just see what looks "right" to you. If it looks right, it probably is.

As a reminder, the main blog is at http://blog.360.yahoo.com/chillyhollow

The Mexican Lady Has a Name & Major Jewelry

Janet from La La Land is back with more details on the stitching of her Mexican Lady canvas. If you missed the introduction, she is working on an adaptation of a Linda Carter Holman painting from Melissa Shirley Designs. You can see the unstitched canvas below, courtesy of Laura Zickus who photographed it for Needle Nook of La Jolla’s website. Janet is working the 13 count version of this piece, although it is also available on 18 count needlepoint canvas.
http://www.needlenookoflajolla.com/storedir/proddetail.php?prod=ch118-2

Now here’s Janet.
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You can see the results of some of my thinking here. First, no flowers this week; as it turns out I had to do the stems first and they gave me fits and I've ripped out a lot. I know I told you I'm not a perfectionist but sometimes one has to admit defeat when the problem is not "fixable."

So, today I give you the completed face, hair, hands and jewelry. As I worked on the Mexican Lady she came to life and she now has a name. I dubbed her Juanita. Juanita is not poor; on the contrary she is well dressed wearing a pearl necklace, pearl and "diamonds" earrings, a heart shape "diamond" on her finger, and an interesting "gold" and "diamond" bracelet.

Her face and hands are stitched in basketweave (DMC floss, color number 407). The darker color on her face and hands is also DMC but I failed to note the number. Her fingernails and lips are the same red silk. Soie d'Alger was used in her blouse which was also stitched in basketweave.

Juanita's hair is black Flair (color F501), stitched in basketweave. I thought about different stitches for her hair but decided to keep it simple. I chose Flair as it gives the hair a little shine.

I do a lot of beading and checked my stash for pearl beads. I strung the necklace on beading thread (do not use a cheap substitute as it will stretch and break). I used a smaller pearl at the ends of the necklace so it would lie flatter where the thread goes into the canvas, to be tied at the back of the canvas. Then, at several points I tied down the necklace with a single stitch from the back, over and between two pearls and back down to the canvas. This keeps the necklace flat. Juanita's earring is made from two small pearls, with a #1 size clear glass bead from Sundance on each end. I used a single thread, coming up from the back of the canvas, running the needle and thread through all the beads and then back through the beads again.
The glass bead on the end holds the earring in place. I also used a single stitch across and between two pearls to hold the earring in place.

Juanita had to have a "diamond" ring. Looking in my stash I found the perfect one - clear and heart shaped. The picture shows the diamond reflecting red but it is clear. The heart is a type of flat rhinestone found in craft stores. It is held down with a clear bead (same as in the earring and on the bracelet). Bring the needle up from the back of the canvas, through the hole(s) in the stone and then put a small bead on the needle and stitch back through the hole(s).

{see bracelet close up photo above right)

The bracelet: First I stitched it in basketweave using Neon Rays (color NP51) which is a pretty coppery color. Then using a slight diagonal satin stitch I stitched over the basketweave rows twice to make the bracelet have a raised and a rounded shape. Since Juanita is not poor I added "diamonds" to the bracelet to contrast against the large flowers. I used the same clear beads as seen on the earring. I like the result as the added sparkle holds up nicely against the large mass of green of the stems and the large flowers.

*Note*: this is really a "figure it out as I go" piece. Sometimes even with the most advanced planning I realize things have to change when they get actually stitched due to size, color, texture, or shape. I think there needs to be a visual balance. I've already mentioned my personal 60/40 % rule, which I gleefully abandoned on this piece.

See you next week, hopefully with some flowers and the dratted stems.

Janet in La La Land

[This is a mirror blog for Blog which is at http://blog.360.yahoo.com/chillyhollow )