The Smart Cookie Award for June Goes To….

The Smart Cookie Award for June Goes To….
Lisa!

[wild applause]

Why did she win it?  For the repurposing of those rubber tourniquets techs use to draw blood to cover one's stretcher bars for comfort!
https://www.facebook.com/groups/NeedlepointNation/permalink/2252238311519981/

Written by Jane/Chilly Hollow
Blogging at http://chillyhollownp.blogspot.com
and at http://chstitchguides.blogspot.com
© Copyright May 20, 2019 Jane M. Wood. All rights reserved.

Woodstock for Christmas's Ornament, Or, The Perfect Fix for Wonky Beads

With the background, bird and guitar finished, it is time to wrap up the Woodstock Christmas Logo ornament by stitching the little Christmas ornament that dangles from the guitar.

I've always intended to bead it.  So I grabbed a bunch of size 11 and size 14 beads in red, gold and black and started playing around.  The size 11 (sometimes written 11/0) beads turned out to be too large.  I wanted beads jammed close together so size 11 is just too big.  Luckily I had the smaller sizes in all three colors.  So I started and came up with this.

Drunken Christmas Ornament

Ugh.  Not the look I wanted!  So I ripped the beads out and tried again, but this time I put red felt padding on first.  Here is the red padding in position, tacked down with my beading thread.

Felt Padding

Felt is a good choice for solidly beaded areas as it helps hold the beads in position.  Then I added my peace sign, then started putting on beads in horizontal rows.  I ended up with this.

Still Pretty Wonky!

Still not great.  Better but not the right look.  Sigh.  Luckily beads are easy to remove.  Clip the beading thread (preferably over a tray in your lap) and off they come.

Beads Over Padding in Vertical Rows

This time I added the gold peace sign first, then started adding the beads in vertical rows.  Once I finished a row, I went back through it a second time to straight it up.

Done!

The moral of the story is beads are wiggly things, and sometimes you have to try a lot of ways to attach them to get the look you want. Felt is a very good choice in some situations.  You can also pad with cotton makeup pads that can be cut to size.

The only thing left is to check the ornament for missed stitches and then start the process for making it up into a hanging ornament.  Stay tuned.

I am adding each week's progress report to a tab on the Chilly Hollow Stitch Guides blog. If you want to catch up on what you missed or just re-read everything, it's all there. Click on the Magic Carpet photo on the right side of this blog and you'll go straight there. Then all you have to do is click on the right tab at the top of the page under the header photo. Click on the Magic Carpet photo there to return to Blog's home page.

Written by Jane/Chilly Hollow
Blogging at http://chillyhollownp.blogspot.com
and at http://chstitchguides.blogspot.com
© Copyright May 26, 2019 Jane M. Wood. All rights reserved.

Breaking News: Needlepoint For Fun Shop Opens

I've been enjoying the newsletters from Needlepoint for Fun for several years now, and I'm sure you have been, too. They are fun and educational, but the shop was always online only. Now they have opened up a physical shop in the Amish Country of Pennsylvania!
http://www.icontact-archive.com/archive?c=741718&f=10538&s=15482&m=394608&t=7690ffdc97f8d6f6bd572e0a634f2c41646ac7876716726d9925f5a49a49c567

(By the way, if you aren't familiar with their weekly e-newsletter, here's the latest.  It's all about one of my favorite versatile stitches—Double Stitch.)
https://www.needlepoint-for-fun.com/how-to-do-the-double-stitch-in-needlepoint-and-the-best-places-to-use-it.htm

The company is still a major importer of canvases from Australia and New Zealand and of course their online shop is still there for those of us who aren't visiting Lititz, PA anytime soon.
https://www.needlepoint-for-fun.com

Hope the shop has a red couch like their logo!

Written by Jane/Chilly Hollow
Blogging at http://chillyhollownp.blogspot.com
and at http://chstitchguides.blogspot.com
© Copyright June 14, 2019 Jane M. Wood. All rights reserved.

Threadaholic Alert: Vineyard Jewels

The Needlepointer is selling all the colors of Vineyard Silk's new Vineyard Jewels, a 100% polyester thread that is a bit thicker than Kreinik's size 8 braid.  You can see the colors and read a bit about this thread here.  Click on any photo for a better look.
https://www.theneedlepointer.com/product/vineyard-jewels/

Written by Jane/Chilly Hollow
Blogging at http://chillyhollownp.blogspot.com
and at http://chstitchguides.blogspot.com
© Copyright April 26, 2019 Jane M. Wood. All rights reserved.

The Summer Mystery, By Ruth Schmuff UPDATED To Two Mysteries

Ruth Schmuff has revealed the mystery class she'll be teaching at Bedecked and Beadazzled throughout the summer of 2019—Johanna Virtanen's "White Cat."
https://bedeckedandbeadazzled.com/2019/05/whats-up-pussycat/

As always, I'll update this article with Ruth's steps in stitching this charmer as she blogs about each lesson.

UPDATES:  Ruth has started with the background and the cat's body, both using open stitches to allow the paint shading to add depth behind the stitches.
https://bedeckedandbeadazzled.com/2019/07/how-to-stitch-a-painting/

The cat has a body, ears and wonderful eyes.
https://bedeckedandbeadazzled.com/2019/07/its-all-in-the-eyes/

And the White cat has flowers!
https://bedeckedandbeadazzled.com/2019/08/flowers-are-growing/

MANY flowers!
https://bedeckedandbeadazzled.com/2019/09/joie-de-vivre/

Here is White Cat framed. It's wonderful.  The companion piece will be Ruth's mystery class for July-August 2021.

https://bedeckedandbeadazzled.com/2021/07/time-for-a-finish-and-a-start/

Special Update:  Ruth is adding Johanna Virtanen's "Wings" as a second mystery class because they are so similar.
https://bedeckedandbeadazzled.com/2019/08/wings/

https://bedeckedandbeadazzled.com/2019/08/fairy-wings-and-gowns/

https://bedeckedandbeadazzled.com/2019/11/gown-for-a-party/

https://bedeckedandbeadazzled.com/2020/02/gorgeous-wings/


Written by Jane/Chilly Hollow
Blogging at http://chillyhollownp.blogspot.com
and at http://chstitchguides.blogspot.com
© Copyright May 29, 2019 Jane M. Wood. All rights reserved.