Study in Gold and Silver

Shining Needle Society (SNS) has announce a new cyberclass starting May 20 which will run through the end of August. The teacher is Jim Wurth and the class project which you see above is called “Study in Gold and Silver.” Let me quote the class description from the SNS announcement--

“The timeless elegance of white, gold and silver is realized in this 18X 7 inch geometric panel that juxtaposes traditional stitches with modern classics. Silk, rayon and metallic threads are used to create dramatic focal points (Chilly Hollow Stitch, Pinwheel Mistake Stitch and double-thread Jessica) that are centered amid a variety of straight, diagonal, cross, eyelet, tied and padded stitches. This class is designed to nudge the intermediate stitcher into more advanced territory. (Note: Although not absolutely required, some prior knowledge of Hilton-type stitches will prove useful to the student.)”

If you are a member of the SNS, you can read the class description in the files section of the Home Room group. Go to:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/SNS_Home_Room/files/

There’s a photo of the completed project in the Photos section of
the Home Room group. Just go to:

http://ph.groups.yahoo.com/group/SNS_Home_Room/photos

I understand that the class will cost $94 for a 75-page spiral bound instruction booklet with four color photos and the teaching fee. Students will provide their own threads, canvas and stitching supplies. Provision has been made for prior students of this class to audit the online version and participate in the online support group for $10. Please note if you sign up after May 2, the fee goes up $5. To enroll, please email Jim directly at jwurth@msn.com and put "SNS Gold & Silver" in the subject line of your email. Please let Jim know which method of participation you would like --instruction booklet or audit--(again, only available to those who have previously taken this class). Jim will email you an invoice that can be paid via check. By the way, all that blurry stuff in the photo--bet that's the shine of the metallic threads. You know how metallics don't photograph well.

Many thanks to the Shining Needle Society for bringing nationally known teachers to us at home!

Who Am I?

I've been meaning to mention that the image I use to illustrate Blog is an early 20th Century magazine illustration. I can't identify the artist although his or her work does resemble that of Harrison Fisher. The signature on a typical Fisher portrait (below) doesn't look like what is on my lady.

You can check out more of Fisher's work here.

http://www.angelpig.com/harrisonfisher.shtml

If you figure out who our artist is, I'd love to know so I can properly credit him/her.

Color Mad

If you belong to Gay Ann Roger's Yahoo Group, you've probably been riveted by the color and design discussion going on there. Color is a mystery to me. I don't understand the Color Magic I see going on when I stitch and I am always flummoxed when it comes to picking colors for charted designs.

Fortunately, there's Orna Willis, color-mad color wizard. Check out the photos on her blog!

http://www.ornadesign.blogspot.com/

She mentioned another blog with great photos and when I followed the link, I found Kris posts wonderful photos and then puts color stripes under them that show the colors in the image. It's a great source for discovering what colors you like (pick a photo, then look to see what colors it has) and choosing colors for a design if you are Color Idiot like me.

http://color-stripes.blogspot.com/

Cooper Oaks Trunk Show

Fireside Stitchery has a big group of Cooper Oaks photos on their website and plan to add more as they have a trunk show going from this designer. Cooper Oaks is well known for their beach canvases but they also have the fun canvas Girlfriends (right, page 6 on the website), belts, some nice loud Hawaiian shirts, and now an interesting alphabet series (starting on page 18) that has a giant letter and one thing that starts with it in a folk art style.

http://www.firesidestitchery.com/infoAlerts/VirtualTrunkShows/cooperoaks04012...

Have fun browsing!

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

A Bouquet of Calla Lilies and the Mexican Lady

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 is Janet:
**************************

“As you know from last week I experimented with laying silk flowers on the part of the canvas that has the roses. I knew all along that their permanent placement would depend on the Calla lilies. The Calla lilies are huge and take up a lot of visual space on the canvas. They are also bigger than Juanita’s head. So, I could choose to de-emphasize them by using small stitches or an open stitch. Due to the large presence of open stitches in the shawl I decided not to repeat that idea.

I experimented with silk Calla lilies but they were way too big, nor could they be successfully flattened. Hmmm, what to do…. I cut out pieces of paper the approximate size shown on the canvas. I knew that white would look even bigger on the canvas. In the border town of Tijuana, Mexico there are street vendors with wonderful, huge flowers made of crepe paper. Having that in the back of my mind, I knew I wanted to somehow convey that idea onto the canvas.

Finally I picked a white fabric with small white stars to use as appliqués. Why the stars? Because all that white needed to be broken up. (When you see the actual piece the stars show up but my camera didn’t pick them up as they are white on white.) I used the stuff that quilters use to iron two pieces of fabric (front and back) together, and then machine-stitched tiny braid all around each flower. Finally, I hand stitched each flower onto the canvas. And I used an orange fabric ink to indicate the pistils. I am not done yet with the pistils but deadlines for Blog are such that I’m sending the ‘rough draft’ anyway. I made a bow out of the small braid and stitched it to the canvas so the bouquet was ‘tied’ together.

You can see that I removed the silk flowers for the roses. After all, too much is too much, and the fabric Calla lilies and the silk roses competed for attention. So, what am I going to do for the roses? As Deng Xiao Ping famously once said, ‘You cross the river by stepping on one stone at a time.’ I have some ideas but will have to try them out.



I attached the shiny metallic thread/sequin braid to Juanita’s skirt. I think you can now see why I waited to decide whether to attach or not to attach more sequins to her hat and skirt. Even though I gleefully abandoned my 60/40 rule on this canvas, I still had to use some restraint. I can hear you all saying, ‘That woman thinks she’s using restraint?’ ‘Yes,’ I say with a smile. On the bottom of the skirt I chose NOT to make fringes that would hang freely from the garment. Again, I think that would create another confusing area on which the eye would focus. By simply stitching the black fringe in basketweave with a satin stitch on top, I think that area is de-emphasized. I am stitching the other colors around the fringe in basketweave. Due to their size and whiteness, the Calla lilies are a primary focal point. I thought that adding the sequins to the hat keeps your eyes keeps moving around the canvas, down to the shawl, down to the skirt, and then back up to the large foreground leaf. This canvas is a riot of color and design and reflects the exuberance of Mexican life I think. Many thanks to Linda Carter Holman who captured that joy of color and design.

I will not be back on the blog until Sunday, April 20th. I hope to finish the Mexican Lady by then so you can see the entire piece.”

Janet in La La Land
*******************

Remember, you may also view this blog entry at my main blog,
http://blog.360.yahoo.com/chillyhollow