Standing Nutcracker

It was love at first sight when I spied this canvas on Susan Roberts' website.  It is a 30-inch-tall Nutcracker that I'm going to stitch and then have made into a standing stuff.  What a marvelous thing to have standing by the Christmas tree or in the foyer to welcome guests.  

Susan has 2 different 30" tall nutcrackers; she also has six 18" tall nutcrackers.  And she has a tree skirt that has 8 panels with a 2 nutcrackers per panel for a total of 16.  And I'm sure any of those could be painted individually.  (Easy for me to say since I can't paint).

Since I plan on turning this into a standing stuff, I first drew an outline around the canvas.  Actually I did it quite poorly since I later decided that I need to have at least 10 stitches of background around the figure.  This will change when I get to his legs because he will need "a good foundation" and so the bottom border will be much wider.  I couldn't face doing all of that background in basketweave, so I selected the Jacquard stitch.

As you may have figured out by now, I like to have the background done before starting other stitches that edge up to it.  Thus, I usually stitch several threads of background and then do a strand or two of design.  In the above photograph, you can see the start of the Jacquard and then the interlocking gobelin I selected for the reds in his hat.  I lightened the photograph so you could see the gobelin while still seeing the details of the Jacquard. 

My intention is to have this stitched and finished by Christmas, although no one but me seems to believe I can do that.  It is true that I have several canvases to partially finish for customers--like the finished frog that sprang (?) a leak only to reveal it was filled with pinto beans.  That is definitely a no-no in Florida where bugs quickly befriend old beans.  Had to locate some poly-pellets at the local Joann Store.  And Isaac seems to be racing toward Florida.  My weekend plans definitely haven't included battening down the hatches in preparation for a hurricane.  Think positive thoughts--the best option might be going north in the Atlantic.  The only problem with hurricanes is that they eventually make landfall somewhere--and you hate to wish such bad luck on anyone.   Another installment on this impeding story will come:  Saturday!