Christmas stocking #15 for Grant‏

With stocking #14 still on the back burner (I might be over my angst by summer), I decided to start stocking #15 and a little later, stocking #16 for Grant’s cousin Evelyn.

My criteria: I wanted 13 mesh, a design that would use a lot from my stash and would lend itself to decorative stitches. I also wanted to get away from the monster-sized stockings that have become the norm. These two will fit with the knitted or sewn stockings the kids’ parents have.

This canvas from the Susan Roberts trunk show fit the bill. It is going to be fun and won’t take years and a lot of ground tooth enamel.

The tip… I love Silk Lame’ Braid and I ordered all the colors for 18 count canvas. I found the perfect color for my quilted coat lining and I wasn’t willing to wait for an order for 13 count thread. I first tried doubling the braid using the mosaic stitch, but it was way too fat. I finger-laid one strand and it covered beautifully.

Now it’s time to channel one of my favorite stitchers, Miss Y, and get this stitched in record time.

Three French Hens

Three French Hens is my latest canvas in this series. I finished him just before I started Kat Z Witch, a model for an upcoming class (photos to come).

Here are a few of my favorite things:

• Weeks Dye Works overdyed cotton floss in two different colors for the greenery. I used the satin stitch for both, although the style varied.
• Size 11 beads for the holly berries. There’s no real rule about what size beads to use; I’ve used Little Charmers beads on some projects. They are a sort of “bead soup” with beads in various sizes, shapes and finishes in a single color way—lots of fun.
• Coronet Braid 8 and the fly stitch for the epaulets.
• Combining Petite Very Velvet and red Snow for the coat.
• My very favorite thing—Santa’s shoes. I used Patent Leather following the Slanted Stitch Pattern from “A Background Stitch Reference Book” by the Golden Gate Canvas Workers Chapter of the ANG. The trick was to stitch every other stitch to allow the Patent Leather to lie flat. Voila! Gucci loafers for Santa.

Tip: I stitched the red velvet first, then stitched the fur trim in French knots using white Petite Very Velvet. The result was a pink-tinged fur trim—the white velvet picked up red lint as I stitched. Next time I will stitch the white first and then the colored velvet, using a soft toothbrush to remove the white lint. I’ve decided to leave the pink in—this Santa is very self-confidant and can carry off a little pink. (Besides, nestled in the tree branches, I’m the only one besides all of you who will know.)

Having FUN with Needlepoint

This past week a customer and her daughter bought the Pirate backdrop and all the small characters to stitch for their little ones. I have another customer who has stitched many ornaments for her three year old grandson who can decorate his very own tree without worrying about breaking anything. What I love is that these pieces will be touched and played with and will be a part of childhood memories--so much of what we stitch is not to be touched.

Happy New Year and have FUN stitching!

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.

Needlepoint monogram on canvas tote

I stitched this 6” x 6" 14 mesh Barbara Bergsten canvas during a couple of television shows—HGTV, of course. I love this as a teaching piece because each stitch is stitch-painted so that once you put the first color in a square, the pattern is easy to see and follow. I used Vineyard Silk as recommended in the stitch guide and it covered very well. I have said in the past that I thought VS was too skimpy on 13 mesh, but it is perfect on 14 mesh. I will use this design for a class in our Florida store in November.

I was going to use this to tote Morgan & Gracie’s leashes and such around, but it’s way too nice. I guess they’ll just have to wait for something else to come along to replace their grocery bag.

Kelly Clark Needlepoint Project

Since finishing the Halloween March pillow, I’ve been fiddling with little projects, trying to find my next big exciting project.

One of the canvases I have stitched lately is the 1st in Kelly Clark’s 12 Days of Christmas ornaments. The baseball playoffs were on, and I needed (mentally) a fairly easy canvas. Kelly’s designs do much of the work, although you can glitz them up like crazy. My few special effects:

The outside border is Petite Very Velvet using a simple cross stitch over 2 X 2. It gives a very cool raised border

The inside border is done in Neon Rays and a very bright green Trebizond using the oblong cross stitch. I love the modern punch of color the green Trebizond adds.

That green is also used on the tips and edges of the tree leaves.
The pears are satin stitched with padding to within an inch of their lives using YLI Shimmer Blend Ribbon.

The partridge is done in random long and short stitch with a combination of Petite Peluche, Fuzzy Stuff and Wisper.

Only 11 more to go!

King Arthur continued

The base is a very subtle stitch I found in one of Brenda Hart’s books. It’s a lantern stitch turned sideways. I worked the lanterns in Flair and the background in 8 ply of Splendor.

I made up the sword handle stitch (who knows, though, someone may have invented it first). It’s a variation on the Fern Stitch with the center of the Snowflake stitch, surrounded by tent. The tent direction was reversed in the upper left and lower right quadrants. I used the Fern stitch again, this time with Fyre Werks for the light gray areas of the blade.

The gold medallions hanging from the twisted cord (Kreinik #16 and Perle Cotton 5) are an Octagonal Rhodes in 2 shades of Shimmer Blend Ribbon. After I made my twisted cord, I unraveled one end and carried each thread to the back and anchored it. I couched the cording down and unraveled the other end, again taking the tails to the back and anchoring them. It was time consuming and nerve-wracking, but gluing the tails under the cording is wrong on many counts.

As we all know, one is the loneliest number, two starts a collection and three or more means you are a collector. Time to choose my second large nutcracker!