Laura Perin Is The Border Queen

I read Laura Perin's blog religiously. She is a counted thread designer of both realistic and geometric pieces and there aren't many charted designers active today. So I like to keep an eye on what she's up to.

Right now she's talking borders. What you see above is the border she created to mimic an expensive triple matted framing job for her version of the Gay Ann Rogers' "Mystery in a Corner" design. It is what I call a KNOCK-OUT idea.

It's not the only one she's had, either. Head over to Laura's blog and back up until you find the 10/6/08 posting about her Halloween House, then start reading forward to discover several cheap and easy ways to put fake mats and lovely borders around your pieces. You may never pay Big Bucks to a frame shop again.

http://two-handedstitcher.blogspot.com/

Laura's website lives here.

http://www.ljperindesigns.com/index.htm

Gay Ann Rogers just has finished her annual e-Merchandise week but in about three weeks you ought to be able to see various stitched Mysteries in a Corner on her website again. But nobody has a mat as beautiful as the one Laura stitched!

http://www.gayannrogers.com/site_2/Home_Page.html

Jane/Chilly Hollow
Main blog at http://blog.360.yahoo.com/chillyhollow

Finishing with Beads

Over on the main Yahoo 360 blog, Madonna mentioned she didn't have much experience with using beads in finishing. I can't say it is hard--I do it all the time, after all!--but it helps to see what is possible.

Let's head over to Summer Truswell's Finishing website and look at some examples of the ornaments she makes from your stitching. Read the descriptions to both see what sorts of finishing you can order from here and see what you can do yourself. Many of the edges have beads incorporated into the trim and they all are lovely.

http://www.needleworkfinishing.com/needleworkfinishing-ornaments.htm

Great job, Summer!

Jane/Chilly Hollow
Main blog at http://blog.360.yahoo.com/chillyhollow

Slow Progress

Last night I attached another 3 inches' worth of Kreinik silver metallic thread around the outside edge of the wizard. It is very slow as I have to blindly push the needle with one hand inside him and grab it with the other on the outside to pull up and through. Takes forever! If I do beads on top this will be much faster as I can simply catch the Kreinik already in place with my needle. But for now, don't expect much progress. By the way, I'm still have significant problems posting to Yahoo 360 and reading comments. Apparently readers are having trouble reading Yahoo 360 and I am not able to close the poll there I did to ask you guys how you liked the feather trim.

[deep sigh]

Jane/Chilly Hollow
Main blog at http://blog.360.yahoo.com/chillyhollow

Yahoo 360 Hates Me UPDATED

I have posted the No Feathers entry to Yahoo 360 three times already today and each time the entry vanishes. So I've given up. There is only so much time I have to blog, much less try to cope with Yahoo!

UPDATE: On attempt #4 I got the Yahoo 360 blog entry to post but I haven't been able to make any links clickable. Sorry. I am afraid to attempt that as Yahoo will just erase the entry again.

Jane/Chilly Hollow
Main blog at http://blog.360.yahoo.com/chillyhollow

No Feathers

The people have spoken! I've gotten lots of emails on top of the poll on the 360 blog and most folks say I should ditch the feathers. Janine sums up everyone's reasoning particularly well, so I'm going to quote her here.

"I voted for leaving off the feather trim. I think it is mainly because I don't view the trim as 'matching' the rest of the piece. I also think the sheer volume of the feather trim distracts from the wizard. Janine"

So last night I reluctantly put the pretty feather trim back with the other braids, trims and ribbons, pulled out a spool of Kreinik #16 braid and started to attach that to the outside edge of the wizard. I looked at other colors, particularly a tube of Kreinik Ombre in Misty Violet (navy, silver and touches of purple), but the silver looks the best. If I'd had a spool of the #32 braid I would have used that but since I don't, I doubled the thread and am in the process of stitching both lengths along the edge.

Most folks, whether they liked the feather boa trim or not, spoke of things like "cold" or "snow" or "snowglobes" and I think the silver Kreinik is both subtle, looks good with the wizard piece colors, and also gives a wintery feel. By coincidence I traded brands of beads with LD and now have a tube of Sundance beads which are clear and faceted. They look like little ice beads and I may scatter groups of them along the edge with the silver. I won't decide that until all the braid is attached.

I'm half-way through hand sewing it on. Right now it is slow going because I have to put my hand inside the piece like a hand puppet to attach the Kreinik across the top. I will speed up when I get the top arch finished and start down the other side. I am also not couching it but am attaching the Kreink by piercing it with a tiny sharp sewing needle. You can read how this is done here in section 7 near the bottom. I'm not using the flat Kreinik ribbon but the same thing can be done with #16 and #32 braid. The main thing to remember is that your thread will be abraded by going through the Kreinik so use short lengths and when it starts looking rubbed like it might break along the length, change threads. You won't have this problem with the flat ribbon as much. It is easier to attach this way, also.

http://www.needlepoint.org/StitchOfTheMonth/2005/december/directions.php
More details on the edging challenge as I figure out what I want to do and manage to do it!

You can see the Sundance beads on their website. They are really really really nice but no one in my area carries them so I haven't stitched with them much. If I remember correctly I have the Clear in size 14.

http://www.sundancedesignsonline.com/catalog.php?Line_ID=7&Subject_ID=All&Designer_ID=All&PageFinder=1&LimitRows=3
For those who don't know already, size 14 is perfect for 18 count canvas. Read more about various bead brands and see the recommended sizes of beads for various canvas sizes here.

http://www.firesidestitchery.com/FIRESIDE/FSgeneralpages/beads.htm

Jane/Chilly Hollow
Main blog at http://blog.360.yahoo.com/chillyhollow