Friday, May 21, 2010

Petei Nativity Scene


I'm almost finished with Evelyn's stocking; in between sessions with that canvas, I worked on this little one by Petei.

A few years ago we had Petei's trunk show in our Michigan store and I bought the entire Nativity set for my stash.  I had seen it finished at a market in Dallas, stitched with stitch guides by John Waddell.  Of course, I had to have those, too.
 

I have started with Baby Jesus, Mary and Joseph, figuring the Wise Men, shepherds and various critters can show up later.


I made a few of changes to John's stitch guide involving my choice of threads.  For the sky, I used a thread that didn't exist when the guides were written--Vineyard Silk Shimmer in Night.  It covered the 18 mesh white canvas beautifully and was much easier to use than the Gold Rush 14 called for.  I substituted Vineyard Silk for Madeira silk because I didn't have Madeira and I didn't want to have to strip and ply a thread.  I know that a lot of the same threads are called for in the entire set and I am trying to keep this easy and quick.

John called for the Serendipity stitch, one I can't believe I had never tried before.  I found the easiest way to stitch it was to start with the Mosaic stitch as if I were stitching a Framed Mosaic.  I then added the second set of stitches.  This is definitely going to be one of my "go to"All in all, I know I am going to have fun following John's stitch guides as I work on this collection.

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