The Whimsey Mermaid

As I said yesterday, the Cape Cod Dogs purse turned out great.  My husband likes it so much that he wants a purse done for the granddaughter's birthday....which is in a month.  [a brief pause while Jane runs around her living room, screaming and pulling her hair]

So I picked up a purse from the local crafts emporium yesterday.  There's a pocket on the front, about the right size for a cell phone, that I will adorn with a NP canvas.

This canvas, in fact.  This is a mermaid from the Seaside Whimsey series by Melissa Shirley.  Luckily I had it in my stash already.  Here is the rest of the series.
http://melissashirleydesigns.com/gallery/?index=753&cat=66

The pocket on the purse is around four and a half to four and three-quarter inches square and the little mermaid herself is about three and a half inches square.  So I marked out the area I need to stitch beyond the mermaid to completely cover the pocket. That is the blue corner markings you see above.  Last night I stitched her skin and features except for her eyes.  I think I'll work on the background next.  After all, I only have about two weeks to complete this and get it on the purse and pop it in the mail.  [More screaming from CH, and a few swear words, too!]

Written by Jane/Chilly Hollow Blogging at http://chillyhollownp.blogspot.com Archived Yahoo 360 postings at http://profiles.yahoo.com/chillyhollow

Remember the Cape Cod Dogs?

While finishing up the Nordic Snowman, I also have been busy attaching this Elizabeth Mumford reproduction canvas to the front of a  corduroy bag I picked up at Target on sale last summer.  Remember Cape Cod Dogs?

My husband likes it so much that he wants me to stitch one for the granddaughter's birthday.  Which is in less than a month!!!!!

Eeeeeekkkkkkkkkkk!

Here is the finished canvas before it was whipstitched into position.  You can re-read my stitching adventure with this piece, complete with swearing at the dog's ear, by using the search box at the top left. Just enter "Cape Cod Dogs" or "Elizabeth Mumford" and my blog entries about this should come right up, last on top.

The silver starfish are from the local crafts emporium's jewelry-making section.  I must have spent $16-17 on the purse and the starfish charms but it does look like a million bucks.

I splurged yesterday on a $12 canvas purse for the granddaughter and instead of working on Stars, I will start stitching a small canvas from my stash to attach to it.  Details tomorrow.

Written by Jane/Chilly Hollow Blogging at http://chillyhollownp.blogspot.com Archived Yahoo 360 postings at http://profiles.yahoo.com/chillyhollow

The Nordic Snowman Is Done

The Nordic Snowman is done!  Hurrah!  My next step will be to assemble him into a stocking.  Stockings are not difficult although turning small stockings right side out (they are often assembled with the wrong side facing out) can be painful.  I have some nice red velvet for the back side and some pretty blue silk moire for the lining.  I'll pick up trim today as all the trim I have is a bit too fat for this small stocking.

When I finish a piece, I always thinks about what I learned, what went particularly well and what I wish I'd done better.  I certainly learned about how to mix various white threads in a piece in this one!  I also was very careful about the threads on the back side since I didn't want any of the ends on the back side causing shadows behind the white areas.  I stitched most of the whites first and was careful to not put starting knots or weave ending threads in bright colors too close to white areas.  This seems to have worked out well.  I am particularly happy with the fur trim on his stocking although I don't like the fur ball at the base of his stocking as well.  It is a little too prominent.  Next time I might try using a thinner thread than Faux Fur for French knots fur.  I also am very happy with the red bow around the stocking.  There I mixed Kreinik's red holographic thread with a regular dark red Kreinik metallic for shading and it looks very nice.  The new Kreinik holographic thread is very shiny and in the right place, it looks terrific.  It also holds up well with other metallic threads so you can use it for jewels in a gold crown and not have the jewels be overwhelmed by the gold setting.  Holographic Fyreworks from Rainbow Gallery is a similar thread but it only comes in one width so I would choose Kreinik holographic when I could, just because it has the flexibility of a stitcher being able to choose thread sizes.

Hope you have enjoyed watching the Nordic snowman evolve.  After I tackle finishing the stocking and doing some other finishing that I've let pile up, I'll be back working on the next quilt block in Stars for a New Millennium.

Written by Jane/Chilly Hollow Blogging at http://chillyhollownp.blogspot.com Archived Yahoo 360 postings at http://profiles.yahoo.com/chillyhollow

Bada Bling (or The Sopranos' Needlepoint Magnets)

Yesterday I was surprised by a set of magnets a friend sent me.  I knew they were coming but not what they looked like.  Imagine my surprise when I discovered that the magnets were half inch rhinestones!  They are called Bada Bling and are available from Dreamhouse Ventuers. Sadly, they aren't on their website.
http://www.dreamhouseventures.com/

The magnets come in a set of two, probably assorted colors like mine.  The back sides are very strong.  I almost tore the packages trying to separate the two sets from each other!  Once I got them apart, the rhinestones serve as a great place to park my needles.  They are not strong enough on the front to hold my scissors securely but on the back they are.  If you don't mind parking scissors under your canvas, the Bada Bling magnets will do a good job.  Just think of it as hiding your sharp, pointy things out of sight, ready to whip them out and use them when threatened. LOL

Here are what the magnets look like in their packages.  The top image shows me using all four to hold Cape Cod Dogs in position as I appliqued it to the front of a tote bag.  Worked like a charm, especially since the magnets are quite strong.  I prefer this to pinning the needlepoint in place in this case since both the stitched canvas and the bag itself are thick and not suitable for holding with regular straight pins.

If you love using stitching magnets like I do, these are definitely worth searching out.  And if you want something more subtle, yet cheerful, check out the Zecca magnets that PFOS have at their shop.
http://pocketfullofstitches.blogspot.com/2010/05/strong-little-magnets.html

 Written by Jane/Chilly Hollow Blogging at http://chillyhollownp.blogspot.com Archived Yahoo 360 postings at http://profiles.yahoo.com/chillyhollow

Faux Fur and Fake Stars

Last night I finished the bits of violet on the Snowman's clothes and the packages on the ground, then decided to tackle the two remaining areas--the fur trim on his stocking cap and the stars in the sky.

Above you see my materials--Rainbow Gallery's Faux Fur and some metal bits I got at the bead store.  I think the decorative metal bits are prefect for a little boy's stocking.  If this stocking had been intended for a girl, I probably would have used tiny glass pearls or perhaps blue crystals, but this stocking is for a rowdy boy.  Metal studs seemed to be something he'd like better.  They make good snowflakes or stars, whichever you think the white dots on the blue sky are.

I attached them with the same Burmilana I used for the background of diagonal mosaic stitches, coming up in the center and going back down around the outside edge.  Hopefully the edges don't abrade the thread and they all fall off before the kid graduates from high school!

If you want to look for similar metal bits online, I believe these are bead caps, intended to be used as the top/bottom of a large bead in jewelry.  They may be spacers instead, which are metal bits that go between beads in jewelry.  They were fifteen cents each, not too bad for bead stuff.

The Faux Fur is from my stash.  It is 85% acrylic and 15% wool.  It's a rather thick thread compared to many of the fake fur ones available.  I'd say it is around the diameter of #8 perle or perhaps as fat as a full strand of DMC cotton floss.  I used it to fill the center of the stocking cap brim with French knots, then along the edge where the original design had tendrils of white sticking up, I came up close to a French knot, rotated the thread and needle until I had a tightly twisted thread that started to double on itself, then went down at the tip of a tendril.  This gives a twisted single stitch that looks similar to the French knots but is not round.  In the photo above you can see the finished brim and how I started the furry ball at the top of the stocking cap with French knots clustered in the middle. I'll probably do more twisted tendrils around the edge of the ball than I did on the brim.  But I am not sure about that yet.

Once the ball is done, I think this piece is finished. I'll need to carefully check it for missed stitches, then pull out my stocking finishing instructions and see if I can make this up into a real Christmas stocking.

Written by Jane/Chilly Hollow Blogging at http://chillyhollownp.blogspot.com Archived Yahoo 360 postings at http://profiles.yahoo.com/chillyhollow