That Skull Winked at Me!

Since Cha is finished and on the way to Leigh Designs to be a model, I am settling down to finish up the iPhone case.  Side one is finished and I've completed the skull and crossbones border across the top of side two.  I stitched the skulls on the second side, thinking that I would put them in a different place, just to be more interesting, before I started the background grid.  As you can see, one of the eyes in the left skull is very different from the rest.  I ran out of black thread when working on that eye and as I reached for the card to cut another length to finish, I looked down at the skull and saw what a neat pattern I'd get by not finishing the eye hole all in black.  I did a square of holographic purple Kreinik first, then finished the eye with the same light purple JL Walsh silk/wool thread that is used for step one of the background stitch.  It's a touch of whimsy that I hope will help remind the owner of the iPhone case that the little open pocket inside in the lining is on this side of the case.

Before I forget, Elizabeth saw another of Leigh's Brazil Series (Mambo?) in the 60% off bin while she was traveling last week.  She thinks she saw it on sale at this Spartanburg, SC shop.  If you have a hankering to stitch something like Cha, you should follow up on this sale.
http://www.theneedleandcanvas.com/index.html

Here is the full set of Brazil if you want to check out what Cha's sisters look like.  They are all 12 inches square on 18 count pink mono canvas, so 60% off is a good deal.  I think you could stitch all of them using the ideas I came up with for Cha with only a little modification.
http://www.leighdesigns.com/Grp403x.html

Sorry it took so long to get this posted.  My ISP is having problems this morning.


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

Cha's Final Touches

Parrot Head with Beads and Embroidery

Yesterday I put the final touches on Cha-Cha from Leigh's Brazil Series.  I added a few extra silk ribbons to the end of the pink tail feather, I added a few violet beads to the parrot's head (mostly around the neckline where the Ultrasuede ended), and checked everything for missed or loose stitches.

The Bird

It all looks ok.

The Flowers, Leaves and Fruit

I think Cha is done.  It certainly isn't typical of my usual stitching, which is good.  My New Year's Resolution for 2010 was to not stitch my usual Asian-themed painted canvases this year.  I wanted to try new things and I've stuck to my resolution so far. (But it is only August!  Don't hold your breath I'll make it through all of 2010 Oriental-free.)

The River Silks ribbons didn't work the way I thought they would.  I had planned something more whimsical for the parrot but it turns out silk ribbons make fantastic, fairly realistic feathers and wings.  The extra embellishment I originally planned would detract from the effect.

Attaching the Ultrasuede parrot head, then adding embroidery and beads on top was pretty easy to do--much easier than I expected.  I like how it looks.  I also like the overdyed pink thread in the background, although the faded and splotchy look is not to everyone's taste.

In fact, this over-the-top style is certainly not going to be something every stitcher will want to mimic.  I just have to get out of my stitching rut occasionally and try something new.  I've been talking with a friend about light coverage stitches and integrating various sections of a painted canvas into a coherent whole.  You'll remember that the flowers and leaves are light coverage stitches. The background is all tent stitches to make it a muted background.  Contrasting those two areas with the solid parts of the fruit cluster (particularly the beaded grapes and the long fruit pod) I think helped it all look ok when I added the very solid and flashy parrot with its moving wings.  The image I had in my head the whole time I was stitching Cha was this Escher drawing.
http://www.worldofescher.com/gallery/A13L.html

Cha-Cha Finished

I tried to make Cha-Cha look like a piece of old faded fabric, from which the vibrant bird was coming to life into a 3-D existence from a flat two dimensional world.  I succeeded somewhat, I think.

The new challenge will be Cha's finishing but that is up to Leigh Designs.  Cha is on her way to live with Leigh as a model.  Which reminds me, if you are going to the St. Charles trade show in September, my O'jishi will make his debut as a finished piece of art in the Leigh Designs booth.

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

Cha's Tail Feathers Done UPDATED

Cha's Tail Feathers Completed

Cha's tail feathers are done!  [loud cheering]

The important thing to notice here is how the different feathers slant differently to match the orientation of the tail feathers as they were painted.  I had to figure out just how to position the slants but once I had that, all I had to do is cut a long length of ribbon and get to work.  I did have to fill in the tip of the pink feather where my first stitching didn't completely cover but otherwise, this was pretty smooth sailing.

Notice that I left the middle of the long pink and red tail feathers unstitched where there is a dark purple vein.  I decided that looked better than couching a thread or doing a line of stem stitch down the middle.  The feathers turned out to be much more realistic in silk ribbon than I thought they would.  River Silks ribbon does a fantastic job of creating realistic feathers!

UPDATE:  I almost forgot to say that I decided my original plan of tent stitching the dark purple tail feather with JL Walsh silk/wool didn't work as well as I had hoped. The fact that one feather was not in silk ribbon seemed distracting so I just added ribbon stitches on top of the tent stitches and now the purple tail feather is like its neighbors.  When you stitch something it is hard to know if your plans will work out as expected so you have to be flexible and ready to abandon ideas that don't work.  Fortunately, one can often just stitch right over a plan that didn't work out!

I have a few little touches to add before Cha is actually finished, but I need to wait for good natural light to decide whether the things I plan are a good idea or not.  I also need to check for missed stitches, which I do by holding my pieces up to the sun to look for empty spots.

In other news, yesterday I accidentally posted the wrong link to Summer Truswell's auction.  Sorry!  Here is where you can go to look at the items she is selling and read about where the money will go.  It's a good way to pick up some lovely finished needlework either for your collection or to give as a present in the upcoming holiday season.
http://summerlouise.blogspot.com/2010/08/truswell-needlework-garage-sale-2010.html

I'm going to work on the skulls iPhone case for a bit until the weather clears.  I hope to finish that this week so I can get back to Stars!

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

SF Stitch Sale

Got an email from Debbie last night that announced SF Stitch in San Francisco is having a 70% off sale on all their in-stock canvases!
http://www.sfstitch.net/canvas.html

There is also a sale section of their site and a consignment section.  I imagine that those prices are not discounted any further, but I don't know for sure.

There are some real bargains on the website.  I bet it is even better in person.   Ten enabling points for Debbie!

The photo above is probably a Nan Hempel design from the Christmas stocking section.

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

Sunday Morning News

Lots of things have been happening here and there.  This week I updated the Chilly Hollow Stitch Guides blog with articles about Rosalie Peters and Lucinda Gregory Rice, both of whom have some stitch guides available for their pieces. I am not certain, but I think in both cases the guides come with the canvases instead of costing extra.
http://chstitchguides.blogspot.com/

The photo above is from the Santas o'Round the World club that Squiggee (Gail Hendrix) is doing for What's the Point?  It happens to be one of my favorites, China!  You can see the rest of the series (some are stitched and some aren't) up at the What's the Point? website.
http://www.whatsthepoint.biz/worldsantapics.php

More information about this and other clubs here.
http://www.whatsthepoint.biz/clubs.php

Summer Truswell is having an auction of finished pieces to raise money for the swimmer in her life. If you need a stitched present but don't have time to do the work yourself, this is the place!
http://summerlouise.blogspot.com/2010/08/truswell-needlework-garage-sale-2010.html

Speaking of Summer, Elaine asked in the Comments if Summer's finishing book had instructions on making a tote bag similar to the Rabbit Geisha one she made for my mother.  I've shot off an email to Summer asking and will post her reply here when I hear back.  It's the weekend, after all, and Summer is a mom with a few other things to deal with besides my message!

If you just want a nice site to browse over your morning cuppa, you need to spend a little time browsing the National Academy of Needlearts' exhibit winners.  The Exemplary has stunning stitching to enjoy and best of all, some of the pieces will probably turn up as teaching pieces in future years.
http://www.needleart.org/Exemplary10/

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