Bullions

When I posted about the Golden Rabbit's bullion stitch paw, Mickstitch wrote this comment on Blogspot, "I love your bullions! Any tips on how to get them to lay flat? I've been practicing them for one of my current projects, but I always get an extra strand underneath that twists the bullion. Any suggestions?"

I thought perhaps Mickstitch wasn't pulling the tail of the loose end of thread tightly enough, or perhaps wasn't holding the wraps tightly enough to keep one from unraveling into that extra strand underneath. It's not possible to diagnose a problem without seeing the problem stitch but here are two websites with good instructions for making bullions.

The first is SharonB's site. She has a whole series of stitches here, all with clear instructions. Note that she is making a small bullion. When you are learning, just do a few wraps. A 20 wrap bullion is a lot harder to do than a 5 wrap. Wait until you understand the stitch before running wild, ok?
http://inaminuteago.com/stitchdict/stitch/Bullion.html

This site is by Carol of Stitchin Time. I think she is a counted thread and XS designer, although I'm not certain. Look carefully at the needle she uses to explain how to make a bullion. It is longer and thinner than the one SharonB used for a reason. Bullions are made by wrapping thread around a needle, then sliding the needle through the wraps. Using a needle with a narrower eye than tapestry needles means you don't have so much trouble sliding the needle through the middle of the stitches. A lot of folks use millinery or crewel needles for bullions since they have narrower eyes. That's my first tip--use a needle with a skinny eye! They will have sharp tips, though, so be careful. By the way, MickStitch, perhaps your bullions are curving because you did too many wraps for the area you want to cover? Carol is curving her bullions because she is making roses from them.
http://www.needlework-tips-and-techniques.com/bullion-stitch.html

Another tip I've heard--as you pull the needle through the wraps you've made, think of this little rhyme. "Pull his tail, tickle his tummy." Pull the needle through the wraps, and continue to pull on the thread to snug the bullion down on the ground fabric. Don't rush this and use the tip of the needle to gently stroke the underside of the bullion so it lies smoothly. Bullions actually are about practicing until you get the tension right. You have to wrap the thread around your needle tightly but not too tightly, then hold the wraps steady with one hand as you pull the needle through the wraps with the other. This takes practice.

Gay Ann Rogers is called the Queen of Bullions by her students. Want to know why? Check this out!
http://www.gayannrogers.com/site_2/Bullion_Knots.html

Gay Ann says if you practice bullions ten minutes a day for ten days, you will own this stitch. I recommend you try it! You won't "get" this stitch immediately but you will eventually and it will become second nature.

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

Golden Rabbit Finished

While the computer was in the shop, I finished the basketweaved background around Kandace Merric's Georgian Rabbit, the last of the six pet guardian angels that I'm stitching to add to a group of these ornaments that will be auctioned next fall at ANG's Seminar to raise money for ANG programs. You see the Golden Rabbit above. Note that her halo is surrounded by three gold Mill Hill beads topped by a pale copper Toho bead for contrast.

Below you see the Golden Rabbit with the final touch added--a Mill Hill "Glass Treasure" which is a glass charm that has a hole in the top leg of the star. I simply sewed it on with a few passes of a ply of cream silk through the ecru background stitches. I like this final touch and feel lucky I noticed the star at Scarlet Thread during my stopover there on the way to the computer repair place. Thanks, Sara Leigh! Hope you all like how she turned out.


The next step is to finish all the ornaments and write up instructions so that the other folks stitching angels have something to use to finish their ornaments themselves. I plan to post step by step instructions here and then send a more coherent and polished set of instructions to the participants in this stitch-along. Whether you stitched an angel or not, I hope you find the instructions helpful. I'm going to start working on them this holiday weekend.

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

Golden Rabbit Without Makeup, With Beads

In between sessions of backetweave marathoning, I removed the black thread outlining the Golden Rabbit's eye and replaced it with a dark brown bullion in the same DMC cotton floss as her face. I decided the black was too harsh. The bullion is made of three plies of the floss and it is couched in the middle to bend it to arch over her eye. What do you think?

I also added three bullions to her paw to give it dimension. These are in the same thread and same number of plies as the eye bullion, but I started with the longest bullion on the right and did around 20 wraps, the middle bullion only had 15 wraps and the short bullion on the left only 12. I tried to do "fingers" to give depth to the area, inspired by Joan Thomasson and Amy Bunger.

I first saw this technique on Joan Thomasson's Nativity figures. Here are her Three Kings. The hands clearly have bullion fingers.
http://needlepointnow.com/back_issues/2003/2003_11/2003_11_cover.html

Amy Bunger does the same thing in her stitching class on the Kelly Clark Nativity. Look at Joseph's hands.
http://www.amybunger.com/albums/album_image/6366238/4533002.htm

One needs to practice bullions and they are easier to do with a one stranded thread, but I think the bullions I added look good. What do you think? Will you consider doing this on one of your next pieces?

The other thing I've done is scatter beads above the halo. This is a test to see how many and which color looks best, or even if I should do this at all. Starting at the rabbit's nose and arcing upward, you see two of the pale copper Toho beads, then a single gold Mill Hill Petite bead, then a cluster of three gold Mill Hill beads, and finally a single pale copper Toho bead. I think a mix of both types might work but I've run out of time to test that. What do you think?

The reason I've run out of time is that I have to take the laptop in for repair today and I don't know when it will be ready. Apple won't even tell me if they have the repair parts in stock (that's "propriatary" information? !?!??!!). Anyway, I won't be blogging for 2-3 days until the computer comes back but I'll work on the basketweave and once that is done, I'll decide about whether beads above the halo look good or not.

Y'all behave while I'm gone!

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

Scarlet Thread Threads

I picked up a few threads to use with my new canvas yesterday since shopping without buying threads for me is like taking a shower without using soap. Us threadaholics must have the threads!

Clockwise starting from the top left you'll see another skein of the lovely Gloriana Silk I am using for the Golden Rabbit. I love the Old Lacquer color and since I've used most of the skein I originally bought, I replaced it with another.

The next thread in the plastic cover is a spool of Gilt Sylke Twist in a similar gold color called Isabella. This is the new filiment silk wrapped in gold metallic that Access Commodities distributes in the U.S. I can't wait to stitch with this. Although it looks rather muted in the spool, I think this will be the perfect thread for the yellow labs in my Cape Cod Dogs canvas. On the back of the package is says to use a #24 chenille needle (or a #24 tapestry needle in a pinch) for this thread and that once you thread up, a twist of the thread tail will keep it from coming out of the eye. I'll let you know how this stitches up. I almost bought more of this as Scarlet Thread is the only shop in the area carrying it but at almost $20 a spool, I am too cheap to spend the money.

The last thread on the top row is a card of On the Surface's New Metallics. This is a thin wire-like thread in 2 plies (again, only Scarlet Thread carries this in our area) that is easy to work with and which does great metallic effects. I bought the color Matte Gold, a golden brown, thinking that one dog might be darker than the other. It also is a close match to the wooden bar color, so perhaps I'll use it there. I have a card of the pearl white and a card of a dark gray that I've used for angel wings and a wire metal chair. It's a great choice for special touches. On the Surface threads can be found in quilt shops. A friend send me a nice spool of the white from her favorite quilting shop in the NorthWest, so check at your local quilter's hangout to see if they carry it in larger sizes than this little card.

Continuing clockwise, we come to the lovely deep red #414 Rubasse spool of Bijoux, which is also from Access Commodities. Bijoux is thinner than even one ply of New Metallics. I thought it would be perfect doubled or trippled in my needle to stitch the red lettering of the border of Cape Cod Dogs. Other shops in my area carry Bijoux, but few have such a large range of colors as Scarlet Thread.

My final purchase is the pretty blue silk of Belle Soie, a 12 ply silk from Crescent Colours, which started out as an overdyed cotton floss dyer. They have moved into silks. The counted thread place that moved to WVA introduced me to this thread. I'm not wild about all the colors but when I like one, I really like it. I have a gorgeous pale lavender, a beautiful carrot color and a lovely pink in my stash already. Now that the counted thread place has moved away, I can't get this thread anywhere in the area except at Scarlet Thread.

I am really going to miss this place.

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

Cape Cod Dogs UPDATED

Cape Cod Dogs
They Don't Chase Cars
They Like to Pick Up
Girls in Bars

LOL! My husband lived in and around Boston for many years and loved it. I bought this canvas to stitch for him (he's also a dog lover) yesterday in what was probably my last trip to The Scarlet Thread, which is closing this summer. Sara Leigh the owner had it put aside for me, wicked girl! I am not sure who the distributor is (my best guess is Needlepoint of Back Bay as it has the initials NOBB on it) but the artist is Elizabeth Mumford. She licenses some of her paintings for NP. You can see prints on her website link below. Since I can't find any mention of which canvases are on NP, I can't tell you if any of these other charmers are available to stitch but Cape Cod Dogs is numbered EM-20 so I bet there are more. Just don't know which ones.

UPDATE:  Needlepoint of Back Bay has updated their website with several Elizabeth Mumford designs listed as available.
http://www.needlepointofbackbay.com/product_pages/Elizabeth-Mumford.htm

 Note that the NP version of Cape Cod Dogs doesn't have the big ship in the background window, probably the ferry over to Nantucket or perhaps Martha's Vineyard. My canvas is on 18 count mono and the design is around 8 inches square. There's not much room for the ship, although I might try to add it myself. It's a nice touch.
http://www.elizabethmumford.com/portfolio_open.shtml

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