Snow & Bunny

It’s snowed again in the Midwest; we got 6 ½ inches in my yard. Today it is suppose to give another dusting and Sunday another accumulation. Don’t know why this is such a big deal to everyone (especially the news media…must have nothing else to report)…But here’s a newsflash for everyone…

It is January in the Midwest!

Kids love snow and snowdays, parents hate snow and snowdays, and we stitchers don’t care as long as we have something to stitch. 

This week I spent some time looking though my stash, I was looking to see if there were any canvases I wanted to reconsider as my favorites. My local needlework shop is sponsoring a sell your stash. You pay $5 per item (2.50 goes to the American Heart Association), register each needlepoint canvas, set a price and if and when it sells you will receive a store credit to purchase whatever you like. If you purchase someone else’s canvas you can also purchase threads at a discount. So I headed to my canvas stash box to make some choices and soon realized I will not be parting with my stash. As I was perusing the canvases, so many memories came flooding back…oh I bought that canvas when…and this canvas always reminds me of…

So after about and hour tripping down memory lane I realized I have this thing about painted canvases (I am really a geometric person or a chart stitcher; so when I purchase a painted canvas it really has spoken to my heart.  I seldom stop to think about threads and stitches at the time I purchase the canvas. I think you have to live with a canvas to decide what it will become. Ornaments can become pillow inserts; some canvases need to have a portion omitted or changed; and colors are not written in stone. But one thing is common among all my painted canvases…I love them!

I found an old Sharon G canvas that I know I will never stitch BUT I love the canvas; All Eyes-Keyhole. I know stitching this canvas would never do it justice it is a work of art as is, so I’m taking it to the framer to have a mat cut and I am just going to frame it. I do have a question if anyone would like to weight in on this. The left picture was taken on a black background, the right on a white background. I’m going to use a black mat and frame but which background do you prefer or will it matter?

 

Periodically when I look through this stash box a canvas will jump out at me and say, “It’s my turn!” That happened when I found the bunny with a basket; the canvas was panted by Barbara & Charlotte and has the #bss 4. I don’t know if they still paint canvases or not but this one is sure cute. I collect Peter Rabbits (my Peter Rabbit has to have a blue coat and carrots to be in my collection), so this one will fill the bill if I stitch his coat predominately blue. In my minds eye I could actually see the canvas stitched and finished. I measured it, pulled the stretcher bars, and started to pull the threads…All of a sudden I noticed this canvas was unusual…What size is this canvas mesh? I was thinking 14 but my mind was telling me ???…it is 10 mesh! Oh my gosh I would have never guessed, I’m not sure I have threads to stitch this canvas…Oh good, a justified trip to the LNS (not that I need an excuse or justification)! Off I went, and then I hit a roadblock. I had decided on threads for everything but the rabbit and he was proving to be a real challenge. The gray threads available at my LNS were either to blue gray or too brown gray…not a neutral gray in the bunch.  Someone suggested trying knitting wool and so off I headed to a knit shop. I even took a needle to check that the yarn would cover well… I found a gray that will be great.

So now I have the threads and I have begun to stitch… I’m stitching this canvas front the back to the front. So even though this canvas may not still be available I will keep you posted on the stitches and techniques as I move along.

The background stitch is a woven stitch using #3 DMC pearl cotton. In one book it is called a T-Stitch another Woven Stitch. I stitch it diagonally so I guess the T-stitch would be the name using these two references: T Stitch from June McKnight; Decorative Backgrounds  For Needlepoint; Self Published; 1992. Woven Stitch from Suzanne Howren and Beth Robertson; Stitches for Effect; Self Published; 1996. As soon as I get the background and I’m going to cover the green carrot tops, I am going to baste the carrot tops placement on the background for later stitching.

Hope everyone stays warm and has time to stitch everyday. ttfn…sue

A heart for all

You all are so sweet to read my blog, I want to share a Valentine with you.

 I have been reading about Stumpwork: A Beginner’s guide to Stumpwork by Kay Dennis (http://www.amazon.com/Beginners-Guide-Stumpwork-Kay-Dennis/dp/0855328703/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1266015043&sr=8-3 )  and A-Z of Stumpwork from Country Bumpkin Publications (http://www.countrybumpkin.com.au/product_info.php?cPath=40&products_id=432817) … Both stumpwork books available at Nordic Needle ( http://www.nordicneedle.com/ ) I am also reading Ann Strite-Kurz  (http://www.needleartworks.com/dsgnr/ask/askimages.htm)  book Stitch Variations and Mutations. I decided to play around with these for Valentines Day and this is one of my results.

 I made the heart outline on the computer and then stitched it on a 10 inch square canvas, eyeball centering it. I stitched the red and white band down the center using 1 strand DMC #5 Perle Cotton: red (321) and white (blanc) in a Scotch Stitch variation (later will fill some centers with red bead). Then I stitched the left red and white band using the same threads and Scotch stitch in a different variation. I repeated the threads on the right band with still a different Scotch stitch variation with a French knot in the center of four areas.

 Next I did the cherries using DMC Floss red (321). First I used a red pilot pen and marked the placement on the canvas, I free-handed mine but you can use the dots on the canvas graph as a guide. I stitched the cherries in the following order: felt padded, thread padded, and basketweave.

 Felt Cherry: I attached three layers of felt to the canvas with 1 ply of DMC floss red (321), starting with the smallest and ending with the largest. Over this I placed a layer of stitches going the opposite direction of the last stitches using 6 ply red floss. Then I placed the last layer of stitches over everything. And finally using 3 ply of red (321) floss made the Jessica around the cherry. Remember some Jessica stitches slip under other Jessica stitches.

 Thread Padded Cherry: Using 6 ply red (321) DMC floss I stitched the padding stitches going the opposite direction of the final stitches. I stitched the padding stitches twice. Over the padding stitches I stitched the final satin stitches using 6 ply red (321) floss, carefully laying the threads. Around this cherry is another complete Jessica using 3 ply red floss.

 Basketweave Cherry: I used 4 ply (You may need 6 ply depending on you tension.) to basketweave a partial cherry behind the thread padded cherry. I also did a partial Jessica around this cherry using 3 ply red floss.

 I made the leaves off to the side using a method I found in the Stumpwork books for making wire leaves. I also learned that when you do Stumpwork you incorporate needlelace techniques too. I was too excited to see how the cherries would look, I added the leaves and stems. DO NOT DO THIS…patience is a virtue and it sure makes stitching the background easier if you wait.

 All the backgrounds are stitched using 1 strand DMC Flouch .

 Upper Left Background: Stitch the background of the cherry area using 1 strand white (blanc) DMC Flouch. This is a Woven stitch stitches in rows from left to right and right to left. I started I the corner where the red and white bands meet.

 Upper Right Background: With 1 strand white Flouch I stitched this area with a backstitch starting again in the corner where the red and white band meet. Stitch all the rows in one direction before beginning the rows that are perpendicular to first rows.

 Lower Left Background: Traditional Nubuko stitched with 1 strand flouch. My long stitch (over 3) meets the red and white bands in the corner.

 Lower Right Band: Decided I need to repeat the green and brown and so in this small area I stitched a reverse Nubuko using 1 strand white flouch for all the long stitches (over 3). The small over 1 stitches are alternating rows of either 2 ply green (890) DMC Floss or 2 ply brown (840) DMC Floss. I started with a green/white row.

 Now I would make the leaves…I used two 12 inch pieces of 28 gauge green wire. The center vein is 2 ply green (890) DMC floss wrapped over the 2 wires at the end to make 4ply vein. This 2 ply vein thread should be at least 24 inches long to begin. Do not cut off it will be used later to attach leaves to back of canvas. Over the two wires and the 4 ply vein I wove 3 ply of green floss back and forth from the tip of the leaf to the open ends of the wire. Use a lon-n-ng 3 ply thread and weave snuggly…do not end thread, it will also be used to attach leaves to back of canvas. My leaves are about 1¼ inch long.

 Before apply the leaves I made the wrapped back stitches stems using 3 ply brown (840) floss.

I attached the leaves to the canvas by slipping the wires through the front of the canvas to the back. I also placed the extra 4 ply vein thread and the remaining 3 ply weaving to the back side of the canvas.  I secured the wires to the canvas along the stem stitch lines with the 4 and 3 plies of remaining floss.

 I was going to place this heart in a red tray, but that won’t work stumpwork does not work well under glass. So now my thought is a box, I would love to find a shinny red one or a picture frame. I can picture both so I will wait and maybe next year it will be finished finished.

 Hope these instructions, picture and graph are clear to you should you decide to try my project. I am going to write up the instructions and use pictures and hope to publish on a website that my DH is going to attempt to build for me soon…I hope.

 We are expecting more of the white glitter that falls from the sky, BUT I am not going to complain. My best friend’s daughter lives in Alexandria Virginia and she can complain. I talked with her this week and she has 30 plus inches of snow in her yard. She has 2 young sons who no more get outside than they need to come in…”I’m cold…I’m done playing now…I need to get…I gotta go.”  Been there, bought that snowsuit.

But if you are lucky enough to be able to stitch this week-end you might also want to listen to the Gone Stitching blog. I have no monetary interest in this website but I think it is so interesting and such a great addition to the needlepoint community. I found a couple months back and have downloaded 10 episodes to my I-touch but haven’t figured out how I did it so I still have to download the rest. BUT I have listened to every episode and found them all very entertaining and informative. Go to their new website (http://www.gonestitching.net/index.php/?SID=a4vhk4v2dn9541e1pdhhfro1e1 ) and you will see the blog link. There is also a great contest beginning there too. Check it out! 

 I am not thinking about the snow anymore…I’m just wishing you the warmest of week-ends, great stitching and

Happy Valentine’s Day!

 

ttfn…sue