Up to My Eyeballs in Tent Stitches

I'm busy attempting to complete a third of Cha's background in tent stitches before I turn my attention to the bird.  Of course, this is pretty boring for you, Dear Reader, so I've pulled out some things to keep you amused by the World Wide Web while I stitch away.

If you don't subscribe to Needlepoint Now because you are leery of subscribing to a magazine you haven't seen, you will want to look at the two featured articles on their website.  That'll give you a flavor of what you can expect.  Note:  Neither is a project from the magazine and there are a lot of those in each issue.  Just click on the Featured Article Available Online link to read.  You might also want to check out the Watch Our Video Instructions link at the bottom of the page.  There are photos and videos to show you how to do stitches like bullions and techniques like making twisted cord are explained.  Great information for anyone who wants to learn or brush up their techniques!
http://www.needlepointnow.com/index.html

If you use iTunes or like to listen to music or audio books, you'll want to check out Gone Stitching's Blog Talk Radio program.  You can find them on iTune or just go to the link below, pick an interview with someone you are curious about, and push the play icon.  I recommend the Amy Bunger or Kate Gaunt interviews as great places to start.
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/gone-stitching

The Bristly Thistle has a Trubey trunk sale in the Michigan shop.  I don't see many Trubey designs online but they are all wonderful.  Here are the photos the shop posted of their canvases.  The Trunk Show link has a series of bell pulls based on cities of the world.
http://www.bristlythistle.com/trubeydesigns.html

Are you interested in counted thread designs for needlepoint canvas?  Then you'll enjoy reading Sara Leigh's guest article at Mary Corbet's blog.  Mary's on vacation and has asked several folks to step in for her.  SL talks about her introduction to canvaswork here.
http://www.needlenthread.com/2010/07/canvaswork-needlepoint-stitches.html

She's been inspired to dig out older charted pieces from her shop stock and kit the designs up for her online store, too. Interested in Jim Wurth designs?
http://stitchything.blogspot.com/2010/07/oldies-but-goodies-jim-wurths-keiko.html

Susan over at Plays With Needles has just had her blog published in book form.  If you are interested in a bookshelf copy of what you have written, check this out.
http://plays-with-needles.blogspot.com/2010/07/my-blog-books.html

I wonder if I should do this?  Well, maybe when I win the lottery....

UPDATE:  Here is Blog2Print's website.  Very pricey for big blogs like mine but it is something you might want to do for yourself.
http://blogspot.sharedbook.com/blog2print/googleblogger/index.html

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

Ending the Leaf Adventure and Starting Another

Cha Progress to Date

I promised you a photo of all the finished leaves around Cha's large flower and a photo of the whole thing so you can see it all in context.  Above is the Big Picture, with the flowers, leaves and fruit cluster all finished.  The bird is untouched and only a little background finished.  Below is a close up of the leaves around the big flower so you can see the difference between the rounded leaves with the brown veins and the one upright one with the green vein.

Three Backgrounds

When I got to this point, I happened to read Gay Ann Rogers' newest technique posting on her website.  It hit me like a ton of bricks!  (I'm sure it wouldn't have struck me so strongly unless I'd been unconsciously thinking the background wrong already.)  And it started my next adventure on Cha--wide diamonds, the gorgeous background stitch that I love, is just not right for this canvas.
http://www.gayannrogers.com/site_2/Techniques_11.html

The photo above is labeled "three backgrounds" for a reason.  If you look carefully you'll see wide diamonds on the left, a bit of skipped tent stitch along the front edge under the flower, and tent stitches between the flower and the bird and along the left edge.  Skipped tent stitch will minimize the color changes in my JL Walsh silk/wool pink overdye but it has too much texture for this background.  I found I was bothered by the dotted Swiss look, which seems distracting.  I already have wide diamonds screaming LOOK AT ME!  Substituting skipped tent isn't the answer to my background.

Tent stitches are.  I am in the process of ripping out the skip tent test and the wide diamonds and tent stitching the entire background.  I can't use basketweave, by the way.  If I do, I'll get diagonal stripes of color.  Instead I will need to work this line by line, with occasional areas where I'll concentrate pale or darkest medium pink.  The background will look somewhat mottled but I like it as this reminds me of the way old fabric fades.

Tent stitches should work very well given what I plan to do to the bird.  But that is a story for another day.

I recommend you think over Gay Ann Rogers' words carefully and look at your current painted canvas with them in mind.  You may find yourself embarking on a new adventure, just like me!

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

Jane's Leafy Adventure: Part Three

A Brown Vein for Cha's Large Leaves

The six leaves clustered around the large flower are the biggest concentration of leaves on this canvas.  They are painted almost identically except for the upright one with green veins.  I decided to stitch the identical five just as I stitched the two oval leaves under the fruit cluster.  The veins are tent stitched using Rainbow Linen and the leaves themselves are done just as I described yesterday.  I realized after I stitched the first few leaves that I should do the veins before the actual leaf stitches were in so as to give myself a good place to start and end my light coverage leaf stitches.  If you do light coverage stitches, think about stitch order as much as possible so that you can give yourself good starting and ending places adjacent to the light coverage.

The final leaf I stitched was the one with the green vein shown above.  It has a lot of dark green on it and it is vertically oriented because of the point.  I thought about how to make it look a little different from the other leaves surrounding the large flower with my stitches and thread choices since the designer painted it slightly differently from its neighbors.  Might as well copy the designer's wishes, right?   After all, I love how this design was done.

So I used the same stitch used on the plum, the peach and the two small leaves near the partial flower, but instead of doing it running horizontally, I turned the canvas on its side and stitched this leaf so that when the canvas is in the upright position, it runs vertically.  I also used just the medium green thread instead of including any of my yellow-green silk.  Once the leaf stitch was done, I put stem stitches on top of the veins using that yellow-green color.  So this leaf is stitched the same and differently at the same time.

Tomorrow I'll post a photo of the big flower and its leaves and then one of entire canvas so you can see everything in context.

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

Christmas in July UPDATE

Tanja Berlin's Fruit Still Life Goldwork

It's the first of July and you know what that means--shops start their July sales!  I Googled "needlepoint sales" and came up with several great deals.  If you know of others, post full information in the Comments section please!

Do you love K's frames?  Discount Needlework has several styles on sale and they are throwing in free shipping, a great boon when it comes to a heavier item.
http://discountneedlework.com/needlepoint/ks%20creations%20lap%20frames,%20scroll%20frames,%20floor%20frames/

Pasttimes Needlepoint in Texas is putting all their in stock canvases on sale at 20% off for July and August only.  This is a great time to pick up something you've lusted after on their site.
http://www.pasttimesneedlepoint.com/

Elaine Magnin has the best sale of all--their in stock items are on sale at 60-70% off!  Search using the search box, but remember, if there is no photo of the search results, the item isn't in stock so it isn't on sale.
http://www.elainemagnin.com/

The first of the month is when e-newsletters appear as well.  Amy Bunger's is up, full of great photos and tales from the Columbus TNNA show.  Fans of her stitch guides will be very interested in her new guide that tells you how to stitch three tiny canvases.  This is a very inexpensive way to study with Amy and a great new departure for her.
http://www.amybunger.com/f/Amy_s_e-newsletter_July_2010.pdf

Tanja Berlin has sent out her monthly email note.  In it she announced three new kits--a blackwork horse, a new threadpainted rabbit, and a fabulous goldwork fruit still life kit (pictured above).  You can read all about them here, plus see previous new items.
http://www.berlinembroidery.com/whatsnew.htm#stilllife

She also has two items on sale at excellent prices.  I'm lusting after the stiletto myself.
http://www.berlinembroidery.com/saleitems.htm

Check the Comments today for more sales.  If I get enough sale listings, I'll post another Christmas in July posting later this month.

UPDATE:  Pocket Full of Stitches has every in-stock AND special order canvas on sale at 20% off during July.
http://pocketfullofstitches.blogspot.com/2010/06/christmas-in-july-is-coming.html

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

Jane's Leafy Adventure: Part Two

Brenda Hart's Large Ribbons Stitch

After stitching the partial flower's leaves, I moved to the two leaves under the cluster of fruit.  These rather oval leaves have the toffee colored vein down the middle but one has a a feature none of the other leaves have--a patch of peach at the tip where it connects to the stem.  I tent stitched that area using the same peach colored thread used on the peach.  I also tent stitched the vein with Rainbow Linen.

I'd already settled on Brenda Hart's Large Ribbons Stitch (page 62 in her Favorite Stitches) for the bulk of the leaves.  You've already seen my test stitching of this near the large flower (see June 25's Let's Talk Green blog entry).  Large Ribbons is very similar to the stitch used on the flowers but it is larger in scale and doesn't have the skipped spots between stitch elements.  It also looks less rounded.

Check the photo above to see how I stitched the two leaves as a single area, letting the stitch flow from one leaf to the other and dividing each leaf into a dark half (where I used the medium green thread) and a light half (where I used the yellow-green overdyed thread).

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