Everyone Has Finished Stuff But Me

If you don't follow other blogs regularly, you might not realize some projects we watched being stitched are back from the finisher. They are all spectacular! Remember the kids in their costumes marching off to trick and treat? This is by Tapestry Tent (distributed by Susan Roberts) and it is wonderful as a pillow!
http://bristlythistle.blogspot.com/2009/04/halloween-march-needlepoint-back-from.html

All four of Madonna's Sundance Southwestern pieces are back from the framer. Aren't they wonderful as a set?
http://frontrangestitches.blogspot.com/2009/05/these-just-in_14.html

Anne Stradal's version of her dad's black and white sketch is framed. Look how well she handles shading, light and shadow in just black and white threads!
http://thecapestitcher.blogspot.com/2009/05/framed.html

Terry Dryden has finished her class model for Mediterranean Squares with a three stitch border that is the perfect finishing touch.
http://www.terrydryden.com/-blog/2009/5/19/mediterranean-squares-finished.html

I need to get busy and finish the last Pet Guardian Angel so I can put them all together and show off my own finished pieces!
Jane/Chilly Hollow
Main blog at http://blog.360.yahoo.com/chillyhollow

Beads and Eye Liner

Last night I managed to add the little gold Mill Hill Petite beads to the centers of the flower stitches on the trim on the Golden Rabbit's skirts. I discovered the pale copper beads just disappeared but the gold ones are a bit more visible against the ivory and golden trim stitches. I hope you can see them in the photo. I didn't have trouble getting them to stay in place but they are smaller than the pale copper Toho beads. Those might have misbehaved, as beads do. Odette had trouble with beads when she tried the same thing. Guess the size is what is important here. Smaller beads are less wiggly. Sort of. I still had one bead jump out of the box and escape into my recliner somewhere! Do NOT trust beads. They are escape artists!

i also added a bit of black thread to highlight her eye. Then it was back to the Basketweave Marathon. Lots to do there still! Once I get more background done I'll take beads down around the halo and you can help me decide whether I need beads there or not.

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

Golden Rabbit's Halo

Yesterday it was cool and rainy and windy and I was sick of housework so I couched a halo for the Golden Rabbit using a long strand of my Kreinik copper/gold 002V color. Traditional couching is pairs of metallic thread but I always have more luck couching one thread in such a small space. The halo itself is around an inch long and almost half an inch wide. It is tied down with two strands of gold Accentuate. I worked from the outside in and was very careful to keep the thread from twisting so it would lie smoothly on the NP canvas. After I had everything couched, I started on the background again to help me decide it the halo looks good. It is a bit offset due to the rabbit ears, but I think I like it. What do you think? I am considering adding beads around the outside but that needs to wait until all the background of this area is finished.

I finished all the trims on the skirts except for the final touch of beads. I'm debating whether to use the little gold beads, the larger pale copper beads, or to do French knots in my ivory Silk Lame Braid in the center of the flower shapes. Stay tuned! I'll work on background while I ponder it all. Sometimes it takes a while to visualize the possibilities and see if you can come up with any other ideas, then do a little test stitching.

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

A History Lesson (or Two)

I've noticed a lot of articles on the WWW about historical embroidery recently, enough to gather together here for you to browse if how our spiritual stitching ancestors worked interests you. First of all, ever wonder how sequins are made? The folks stitching the reproduction 17th Century embroidered jacket have photos of the raw materials that make up the spangles they are going to attach to their piece.
http://thistle-threads.com.mytempweb.com/blog/index.php/2009/05/making-spangles/

And they say that the silk purl that is being reproduced for the project may be available commercially. Another thread-hurrah! I'm sure those who like reproduction embroidery are thrilled but I must say the variety of new threads available makes me drool, too. We really are lucky that the interest in hand embroidery is strong enough to make new threads available to us.
http://thistle-threads.com.mytempweb.com/blog/index.php/2009/04/silk-purl-another-ripple/

As you know, I live in an area where there is a lot of interest in samplers, either modern takes or historical reproductions. I am starting to understand that stitching samplers is a kind of time machine, taking the stitcher back in time to another era and way of thinking, stitching and living. You can see some of this appeal in an article by Needleprints, an English sampler design company, describing a visit to some of the areas where samplers have originated.
http://needleprint.blogspot.com/2009/05/in-1847-sarah-pugmire-finished-her.html

Do you love Japanese Embroidery? Have you always been puzzled by the flowering trees depicted in Asian embroidery? Which is a cherry tree? Which is a flowering plum? What do these images mean? Then you will want to read Coral-Seas' explanation on her blog. Look for21 April to read about Cherry Blossoms and 9 April to read about Plum Blossoms.
http://japanese-embroidery.blogspot.com/

To jump to still another era, this Dutch museum has a display of embroidered slippers from the late medieval period. It is an amazing browse, even if I can't read Dutch.
http://m-silkwork.blogspot.com/2009/04/embroidery-at-rijksmuseum.html

I hope you enjoy learning about our past as much as I do.

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

Floral Trim for The Rabbit

Last night I added a bit more basketweave around the Golden Rabbit's wings, then started on the two trims at the edges of her over- and underskirts. Four colors are used n the original design but I decided to use the copper Kreinik for two of them. The ivory Silk Lame Braid is what I used for the flower shapes made of tent and reversed tent stitches. I have no idea what I'll do next but probably it'll involve more basketweave marathon while I think about it. Beads go in the center of the ivory flowers but I might use the little gold beads in her necklace instead of the larger pale copper beads. I don't want to cover up the flowers with a big fat bead in the middle.

Stay tuned.....

In other news, Stitch Niche is posting photos of new canvases daily as they arrive from their Dallas show orders. You can see them here. The second link is their shop newsletter, full of photos of projects finished and underway as usual.
http://www.needlepointyaya.com/website/new/may/mayindex.htm

http://www.needlepointyaya.com/newsletter/may/maynews.htm

Needle Works in Austin is also posting new items. I was particularly interested in SharonG's new half nature/half meditation pieces and in the bird stockings from Share One's Ideas. To see everything from these two designers, click on their name in the left hand column. Don't miss SharonG's Twin Beaks. The pun makes me laugh and the abstract birds would be fabulous stitched in silks and metallic fancy stitches.
Somebody call Marnie Ritter--have I got a painted canvas for her!
http://www.theneedleworks.com/catalog/

In designer news, Lani's updated her website. It's not quite done but you'll enjoy seeing the lovely slide show of finished pieces and the bare naked painted canvases are a treat!
http://www.lanienterprises.com/indexa.html

My final posting is really special. You may know that Kimberly Crum (now Kim Smith) has stopped created charts. I think her pieces are fabulous so I was really sorry when all the work got to be more than she wanted to take on. But we can take heart that occasionally, very occasionally, she creates painted canvases. The newest one is up on her blog. I don't know the size, cost, if a stitch guide comes with it, or any of the details, but the design itself is vintage Kimberly--floral and rthymic and nature in motion. Lovely! I was especially charmed by the large leaf and how the background is denser at the top and then fades towards the bottom. Thank heavens Kimberly gets inspired occasionally!
http://akimberlydesign.blogspot.com/2009/05/swooosh.html

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