Christmas March part 5

For the background I used a Wave Variation from Brenda Hart, starting with the dark sky area.  For the lower area I chose a Diagonal Hungarian stitch, again from SuZy's Lite Stitches.  I loved the effect when I started on the left side of the canvas, but as I spent literally hours using my Dazor to adapt the stitch to the other lighter areas I came to the realization that it was the right stitch in the wrong place.  I ended up using the Wave Variation throughout the background.

This project is almost finished...soon I can move on to another wonderful canvas - the Easter March!

Christmas March part 4

The moon is one of the last items I stitched.  I needed Santa's stitches to help anchor the Kreinik #8.  I used an open stitch called the Four Way Continental D from SuZy's Lite Stitches.  I tried filling in the open spaces with Accentuate and decided that the open version was much better.

Happy Thanskgiving!

Christmas March part 3

I toyed with the idea of stitching the bear entirely in cut turkey work, but with so much else going on (and not wanting to spark a rebellion in the class) I kept it simple.  He is stitched mostly in Petite Very Velvet using basketweave.  The hat has style, though.  It is stitched in the Diagonal Knitting stitch with satin-stitched tassels.  French knots separate the tassels from the ties and there is fur (faux, of course) trim to add warmth and elegance.  You could also add a bead in place of the French knots for a more dressy effect.

Christmas March part 2

Last Friday at our reception for Sharon G, one of my customers said “Michele, doesn’t your Christmas March class start in two weeks?” Yikes! Nothing like a little time crunch to focus the mind.

So, on Sunday, with plenty of sports to watch on television, I buckled down and stitched the Christmas tree. I started with the beads, breaking “the rule” about stitching beads last. I wanted to place them when I could still where the artist had painted them and I didn’t want to refer back to a photocopy for placement. I used a combination of Mill Hill iridescent beads and Sundance size 14 beads, attaching them with my favorite beading thread, Prisms.

Taking two different skeins of Boucle’, one overdyed and one solid, I stitched the tree needles using a satin stitch. I cut the overdye into two parts, giving me one length of light green and one of medium green. I had thought about stitching the lighter areas as though they were snow-covered, but I didn’t like the idea of the snow from the tree blending into my snowgirl. I decided that the effect that I wanted was of a moonlit tree.

The ornaments were originally stitched as Smyrna crosses with Kreinik #12, but I thought they got lost in the foliage. I then stitched over the Smyrna crosses with YLI Ribbon Floss in the Shimmer Blend version and they popped right out. The star was stitched with the same Ribbon Floss—I stitched two vertical lines slanting inward and topped them with two horizontal lines to make the star shape.

And now, back to work—the next Giants playoff game starts at 7:30.

Let the Christmas March begin!

 It seems like weeks since I had a chance to sit and stitch. I told a customer that I feel like Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz, only my tornado dropped me on an Island named Amelia, in a small mountain of packing boxes.

A couple of nights ago I finally set up my stitching nest in the living room. I have a comfy spot in front of the television with my System 4 stand and my Dazor lamp.

I picked up the Christmas March again and did some touch up work on Santa's coat. I then worked on his candy cane staff. The first step was to stitch a chain stitch with perle cotton #3 "inside the lines". Step 2 involved satin stitching the cane with a very light cream Flair. In step 3 I used a red and a green Petite Frosty Rays for the candy cane stripes. The colors I chose were more muted than the traditional bright red, white and green. I managed to loosen up a little and stitch the stripes in a less than precise fashion. This Santa has a hand-crafted candy cane to go with his patchwork and patched coat.

My boss is letting me go early today, so I'm going to sneak in some more stitch time....

Halloween Cat needlepoint project

I've been stymied by the Christmas March, so I worked on a couple of my Petei Nativity figures and this cute little Halloween cat.  She fits on top of a hinged china box by Julia's Needleworks.  There's a little bat painted on the inside of the china box.  This was super quick and easy.  I used Vineyard Silk and a Jacquard stitch for the background, Fuzzy Stuff and the random long and short stitch for the cat, and Petite Very Velvet for the bat.

Santa Martini needlepoint by CBK

This is one of the canvases from the 4 classes I took at the Columbus market. Nothing quite like coming back from a trip with four more UFOs (UnFinished Objects).

The class, taught by the delightful SuZy Murphy, was called "Santa in a Martini Glass". The canvas was provided by CBK Needlepoint.

This was a breeze to stitch and will look great finished as a stand-up for our bar.

Since stitch guides are just that, guides, I made a couple of changes to SuZy's stitch guide.

SuZy stitched her glass with Water 'n Ice from Rainbow Gallery, which gave the glass a frosted effect. I decided to stay with the bright holiday colors and stitched my glass with Petite Frosty Rays to match the painted canvas. The base of the glass is painted a bright royal blue. Although I have seen martini glasses that are painted exactly that way, I had to agree with SuZy that no matter what thread you pull in blue, the base just screams "look at me first...and second...and third."

The second change I made was to use a darning stitch from Brenda Hart's book "Stitches for the Millennium". Appropriately enough, it's a martini glass pattern. I chose to stitch Lemon Drops instead o Appletiniis in honor of my stitching friend Linda B.