Easter March part 3

Stitching the little girl in the Easter March brought back fond memories of dressing our girls for Easter Sunday and the Easter egg hunt that always followed.  For myself as a child and for our girls, egg hunts continued into the high school and college years, where fooling the eye and the brain became a diabolical game.

This little girl's hat is stitched in two sizes of the Double Nobuko.  I tried appliqueing River Silk for the ribbon, but no matter how subtle my efforts to attach the ribbon, the result was not good.  I used the same ribbon in an Outline Stitch for the final result.

Her hair was stitched with 2-3 strands of Lorikeet using a long bullion needle and the Bullion Knot.

I didn't care for the way the dress was painted mostly white, so I took the richest pink and stitched the dress with two strands of one of my favorite threads, Floche.

This happy little blonde is even able to ignore her little brother, who is kicking up the back of her skirt.

Easter March part 2

I'm finishing up the Easter March--this is a photo of the flowering shrub at the lower right of the canvas.

In each 4 x 4 flower I tried: 1) 4 size 14 beads, 2) 2 x 2 Cross Stitches, 3) 2 x 2 Upright Crosses and 4) Smyrna crosses (not shown).

The beads would have driven my class nuts and I don't think the effort was at all worth the effect

The Cross Stitches would have overwhelmed the shrubbery; the Smyrna crosses were even more overwhelming.

The winner was Upright Crosses. Another option would have been a single size 11 bead placed in the center hole.

Time to write the stitch guide!

Easter is coming!

It's a beautiful, sunny, warm day on the island.  With nothing to do but cook and stitch without guilt, it's a perfect day.

I'm working on the leader of the Easter March, the Easter Bunny.  I'm using Silk & Ivory and an encroaching Gobelin over 4 for his fur.  I tried Silk & Ivory for his arm to bring it to the forefront, and ordered Trio for his body.  The Trio was not nearly as white as the Silk & Ivory, so I ended up not using the Trio.  The fatter thread has been just fine for the areas that are stitched in Basketweave and I can sculpt the fur to add dimension.

If I had been thinking ahead, I would have stitched his body first and fluffed it up with my nap brush.  Now I am using a combination of the nap brush and Judy's Boo Boo Stick to bring up the nap.   A credit card or store loyalty card is perfect for protecting the areas stitched around his body from the brushes.

My next fix will be to redo the lower part of the basket--it needs to come out from the canvas.  Since my first attempt is never going to rip out, I'll be working over it.  Now, back to "work".