I've Got a Rock-Now What?

I've got hours of basketweave ahead of me still on Autumn Leaves, which I know must be as boring for you to watch as it is for me to stitch, so we'll take a little detour into rock slab jewelry land, shall we?

What you see above is the stuff I pulled out of my stash once I found the perfect rock at the local bead store. The threads are all Splendor silk, in the dark copper S850 and the lighter golden/tan of S839, plus the dark teal S1114. I also grabbed some Kreinik metallic in the copper 027 (size #16 medium braid) and a spool of Accentuate metallic in a similar copper 026. I may change my mind later (we are making this up as we go along, you know) but those are the colors I started with. They resemble the colors in my crazy lace agate.

Now, we have to come up with a design. My scrap of canvas looks to be 18 count and it is in the shape of a triangle, about 4 inches long on the short sides and probably 6 inches on the long side. So I have about a 2 inch by 2 inch space to fill with my rock and some pattern.

What to do, what to do? Well, when in doubt you know what I do--I cheat! This time cheating took the form of looking at my rock. I decided it would be easy to copy the shapes on my rock in stithes. I could plop the rock down on the canvas somewhere, either in the middle or off to either side, and surround it with patterns.

Let's look at my rock. The side I bought it for has a pretty agate swirl that has various layers of color, plus a few round or oval dots of various colors. The rock itself is roughly round with a hole drilled through the middle from one end to the other. I'll be able to attach it to the canvas with a thread quite easily. Neva glues hers but I was shopping at a bead shop, the closest thing I have to a rock shop anywhere near me. Then I turned the rock over and here's what I saw--





Doesn't that look like the head of a dragon to you?

I think we have our design motif!


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

Rock and Thread Jewelry

See this? This is a rock slab necklace modeled by Neva, a friend who is a very talented and inventive stitcher. Neva's made a lot of these using dollar rock slabs from rock shows or bead shops.

First, get a rock slice (or large bead or whatever you can scrounge from your local shops) and then raid your stash for matching or contrasting colors in various threads. Find a small piece of canvas in whatever shape you like. Glue the slab somewhere on your canvas, then stitch around it using whatever shapes you like. Design anything. Do a stitch you like, stitches you always wanted to try, stitches that are too big/little/fat/thin for your typical style of stitching. Run wild!

Then put bullions around the edge of the rock to sort of hide the edge. Finish your canvas with cording and wear your do-it-yourself rock and thread jewelry!

Neva says people in her local guild who never thought they could design anything have tried this and turned out lovely pieces. So today at lunch I headed to the bead shop and picked up a blue crazy lace agate and a white carved bead in the shape of Buddha. We'll see what I'm able to make of them. As always, stay tuned. This time the madness is rocks and scrap threads....

Neva, thanks for letting me use a photo of your necklace. Have fun in Africa!

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

The StitchIts Sweater Collection

My trip last week to Needlewoman East included a careful inspection of the current trunk show. No matter how good the pictures are you see online, nothing beats seeing painted canvases in person. So I look over all the NW East trunk shows carefully any time I get to visit. I don't want to miss anything!

This time the trunk show on display was by StitchIts, not a designer I know much about. They specialize in simple designs, not the realistic canvases I prefer. Not my cup of tea usually but I enjoyed their little sweater patterns. I photographed my favorites for you to see. Looks like they are on 18 count canvas, and all are in primary colors with contrasting polka dots in an all-over pattern. Each sweater comes with a series of 2-4 themed buttons in matching colors, and it is the buttons that set these designs apart. If you look closely you'll see the teal green wizard-castle-dragon buttons, the brown dog with a white bone, the three elfs on a blue sweater, and the tiny Nativity Mary, Jospeh and Baby Jesus. [NOTE: This image is on my main blog. The link is below.]

I've put a second image on my mirror blog (above) that shows the bright green cowboy boot, hat and cactus sweater; the one in blue decorated by the toy ship/airplane/truck; the red bowling pins and ball; and finally the brown trout and fish basket sweater. These are an easy and quick stitch with outstanding embellishments. There are a great many more of these (I saw at least 25 different sets of sweater canvases and of course their line has much more than sweaters), all very cute and all a perfect easy present to stitch for someone, or even for yourself.

By the way, if you love buttons with your canvases, Mindy and Squiggee also offer great buttons that match or enhance a painted canvas design.

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

Mighty Bright's Clip-on Light/Magnifier

I've been saving up for a Dazor light/magnifier for a while since my old light/magnifier died. They are expensive so I purchased a battery operated travel light/magnifier to stand in until my piggy bank is full again. The photo you see above is what I bought--a Vusion Craft Light by Mighty Bright.

It has a very bright LED light with a high and low setting controlled by the black button on the top of the light, a two inch magnifier that enlarged to twice the normal view through an "optical grade" acrylic lens, and a base where it stands upright until you need to clamp it on your frame. The clamp is large enough to handle my stretcher bars and ahoops, and the box says it will fit over Q-Snaps as well. The base has a large round magnet on the underside. You can put the light/magnifier in the base under a latch so it can sit on a table or hang sideways off the refrigerator when not in use. It takes three AAA batteries and is probably not meant for continuous use, just for travel. It seems to weigh about a pound and doesn't add substantially to the weight of any project I want to stitch holding the frame in my hand. The two necks bend separately in any direction--and stay there--to light or magnify your canvas (or both) as you stitch. You can buy an adaptor to plug into the wall and use like any electrical appliance but for me that would interfere with clamping this on my canvas. This AC adaptor costs extra and you have to buy it separately if you want it.

I've stitched a bit with my Vusion Craft Light and so far I like it very much. But I don't need a lot of light or much magnification and I don't mind the very small magnified area. I also don't need "true" illumination and don't mind a slight bluish ast from the LED lights. I am not sure it is wildly durable, however, since the clamp is plastic. I think a lot of clamping and unclamping might eventually break it.

Shop around on the Web before you buy something like this. I found it here on sale for $23.99 and no shipping charges. It came to me via UPS about four business days after I ordered it. I think it also might be available from Needle in a Haystack in California although I don't see it listed on their website now.

http://www.lampsplus.com/Products/desk-lamps/Type_Book-Lights/08118/


Here it sits on the base. Can you see how much the magnifier enlarges the base itself? I find it very useful and perhaps it'll meet some of your stitching needs also.

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

Anne Jerlow's Kite Kimono UPDATED

I found a kite kimono from the late Anne Jerlow up for sale on eBay today. Isn't it pretty? The design is around 14 inches square on 13 count canvas and comes with threads and a stitch guide. The price is already quite high, but I thought you'd like to see more from the late Ms.Jerlow than just the geishas canvases which decorate Blog now.

http://cgi.ebay.com/Kite-Kimono-BEST-THREAD-LOT-EVER-Hand-Painted-Canvas_W0QQitemZ330242118228QQihZ014QQcategoryZ3107QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItemor%20Tiny%20URLor Tiny URL

http://tinyurl.com/53g98b

Enjoy!

UPDATE: This canvas (with threads and stitch guide) sold for $565.00 plus $8.60 shipping. WHEW!

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