My newest project

I felt such a relief when I finished my sister’s Tapestry Tent Christmas stocking. When it came back from my finisher I was so inspired that I went back to work on her husband’s stocking, also by Tapestry Tent. I counted the maximum number of days until the December finishing deadline and even tried to psych myself out by stitching my initials and the year 2009 in an inconspicuous place. When even I realized that I was exceptionally crabby each night as I stitched (mostly basketweave due to the level of detail in the painting) I ripped out “09” Next year, Dennis.

I had been casting around, trying to find an inspiring piece when I realized I had one in my stash. I had kept an elephant canvas from a summer trunk show. Part of a large scale nativity set, I thought I would finish it as a pillow. It will look lovely with my Tap Tent 3 monkeys and my Trubey palm trees pillows, completing my exotic family room theme…when I finish stitching them. (Did I mention that I am not a serial stitcher or that I have HOW MANY unfinished/not begun canvases?) I put the elephant on stretcher bars and moved it from room to room just so that I could look at it. Wait a minute I thought, I’m off the hook for that %^&** Christmas stocking (all my stockings have a cursing phase towards the end). I immediately started pulling threads and planning stitches.

I started with the blanket, ultimately ending up with the Checkerboard Cross in overdyed Kreinik and Sprinkles for the turquoise section. For the purple section, I used the Cross Stitch with

Beads from “Suzy’s Mini Stitches”, substituting Sprinkles cross stitches for the beads because the beads stood out too much from the surface. The oblong cross stitches are done in Burmilana. Still to come—lots of tassels and hot fix Swarovski crystals—and basketweave. The irony is that I had burned out on Santa on the motorcycle because there was so much basketweave to do. As I found myself stitching the elephant’s headpiece in basketweave, looking at more basketweave to come, I realized I was stitching another Tapestry Tent canvas. Even better—I’m going to stitch the entire nativity set. Oh well, at least driving myself crazy is a short trip.