The South Seas Fiji Purse

I tend to let my finished canvases pile up if I plan to finish them myself.  I don't like finishing very much--stitching is a LOT more fun!--but I can do simple finishing and often do since it is a lot cheaper to Do It Yourself.  An example is the lovely Leigh Designs canvas above:  South Seas Fiji from the Dynasty ornament series.

I finished this piece last summer and started looking for a purse to attach it to as I just love the piece and want to show it off.  I finally came across the perfect purse last fall, too late to carry the purse as it seems to be a summer into early fall purse to me, not a winter one.

Then I needed trim to hide the round edge of the canvas where I stitched it to the fabric of the purse pocket.  I settled on the beads you see strung on River Silks ribbon above.  These are agates, polished and shaped to look somewhat like bamboo segments, with a hole drilled in the center.  They are heavy stones, in other words, so I strung them on silk ribbon instead of thread, using a lovely grape color that matched the purse.  I used the John James double ended needles (size 26).  The eye is in the middle of these needles.  The ribbon went through the eye, then the ribbon and needle slipped fairly easily through the hole in the agates.  Once I had the ribbon stitched to the edge of the canvas, I tied a double bow knot at the bottom and let the ribbon hang at the bottom of the ornament.

Here is the end result--a beautiful summer purse that I will carry with pride and enjoyment for years to come.

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

Stars: Eva Starts to Grow Wings

As you can see, Eva Marie Saint has grown since yesterday.  I finished step four (the chevrons around the center) and did step five as well. That's the eight little boxes that flank each of the diagonal points of the center shape.  I wish you could see the subtle copper touches to the boxes but I don't think the photo shows it well.  The next step is the box that fits between the little pair of boxes and then the box that flows diagonally from that to the corner.

I might take a break and do the rays below the chevrons, though.  They will also make pairs of wings.  The next steps introduce black to the design, which means that all four colors (violet, black, terracotta and copper) will be in the block soon.

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

Giveaway Winner

Eight people entered in the comments for the Giveaway, so I headed to Random.org and asked for a random number between 1 and 8. The number is....
FOUR!
So the winner, counting from the top down, is Pamelaric. Congratulations!  Send an email to me at chillyhollow at hotmail dotcom, Pamela, and I'll arrange to mail you my extra copy of the March/April 2010 Needlepoint Now.

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

New Things On the Way

TNNA's trade show in Columbus, Ohio starts next week, so folks are beginning to post messages about the new things that will be available for shops to purchase then.  Here is the class Barbara Bergsten will be teaching at the trade show.  Barbara is a master at choosing stitching "sisters" so that the different parts of her designs are stitched differently but harmoniously.  By the way, if you click on the "New, New, New!" title above this article, you'll go to links showing Barbara's catalogue of designs and her stitch guides.  She's unique in that each canvas she designs comes with a free stitch guide that you download from her website if you want to use it.  It's a great way of distributing guides to students who have computer access.
http://createneedlepoint.typepad.com/create_needlepoint/2010/06/needlepoint-class.html

Are you a fan of Mindy's painted canvases like me?  Check these new designs out!
http://pocketfullofstitches.blogspot.com/2010/06/new-pieces-from-mindy.html

How about Julie Mar?  Do you love her designs from nature?  This shop has new designs in stock.
http://bristlythistle.wordpress.com/2010/06/05/new-julie-mar-needlepoint-at-the-bristly-thistle/

Janet Perry has written a summary of new products she's heard about on her blog.
http://www.nuts-about-needlepoint.com/new-in-needlepoint-june-2010

Ruth Schmuff has a stitched sample of one of her new canvases on her blog.  I used it to illustrate this article.  Isn't the Queen a scream?!
http://www.notyourgrandmothersneedlepoint.com/2010/05/queen-speaks.html

Finally, I have three thread reviews I thought you'd like to see, even if these threads aren't brand new on the market.  They still may be new to stitchers and shops who haven't stocked them yet.  Robin King shows off an original project she designed for a charity auction and explains how she used DMC's memory thread on it.
http://needlepointstudyhall.blogspot.com/2010/06/m-and-dmc-memory-thread.html

Want to try something not widely available here in the United States?  Stef Francis' Silk Impressions is a lovely thread.  If you want to buy some, there are links in the review to a shop in Massachusetts that sells it.
http://bargelloneedlepoint.com/thread-spotlight-silk-impressions-by-steph-francis/

Were you curious about the Silk Lame Braid I used on the little mermaid?  Here's a brief review.
http://bristlythistle.wordpress.com/2010/05/30/new-needlepoint-thread-silk-lame/

Everyone who is going to the TNNA show, travel safe and have fun. Come home with great things for your shops for us, ok?

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

Stars: Stitching Eva Marie Saint

After stitching my brains out on the little Melissa Shirley mermaid and also finishing two purses this week, I'm not ready to work on assembling the little Nordic snowman into a Christmas stocking, so it's back to Stars for the New Millennium for me.  I've started the second block in row two, which is called Eva Marie Saint.

There are nine steps in this block.  As in all of the blocks so far, each section repeats either four or eight times, which means I finally master a section after the second or third try.  This can get tedious but fortunately most of the sections are small.

In the photo above I've done steps one and two, which are Burden stitches on the horizontal in an upright cross shape and then Burden stitches on the diagonal.  The same threads are used and in the same pattern of couching but the side "petals" look darker because they are on the diagonal. Interesting effect!   I didn't expect this to happen.

In this photo I've started step three, which is adding chevrons around the center.  There will be three more chevrons, which took more time than I expected for something that looks simple in the diagram.  I am not wildly experienced in working from charts, though, so perhaps I don't recognize what is going to be hard and what isn't yet.

As always, my colors are violet (A), black (B), terracotta (C) and metallic copper (D).

If you'd like to see other Stars projects underway, Sara Leigh has posted progress photos from her stitching group of the various colorways they've chosen.  I love seeing the various colors folks have chosen.  Each one is different and beautiful!
http://remedialstitcher.blogspot.com/2010/05/sunday-was-stars-day.html

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