Melissa Shirley's stable, finished

I finished stitching this stable canvas in plenty of time to have a local framer put it on a board, edge it with ribbon, and stand it on a semicircle of mat board.  I did follow Anne Stradal's suggestion of encroaching gobelin for the timbers.  I used the same watercolors as I had used for the roof.  The donkey I did in alpaca 18 with the mane in DMC perle 5.  The stars were stitched in Balger #8 silver and gold.

I am now in the process of putting the finishing stitches into the individual creche figures on congress  cloth. That includes checking the figures for missed stitches.  I'll take photographs before I send them to my finisher, which I should do by Friday.  Time is slipping away and I need these for the Festival of Trees the weekend before Thanksgiving.

My beautiful mermaid is even more gorgeous now that she has been made into a framed pillow with pearls and cording.  My pillow finisher wasn't sure about the pearls because if you look very closely you can see the white thread tacking the pearls down.  I think the finished product is wonderful.  I don't know about other people, but I just love to sit and look at my newly finished pieces.  I still take delight looking at Gustav, my 30" nutcracker, among other finished projects.

Poinciana tree, phase 3

Before I show you the updates on my poinciana tree canvas, I want to show photographs of some late arriving Christmas stocking canvases.  The first two photographs are designs by Ziggy of Walker St Designs.

There are so many stitch possibilities for this combination of geometric shapes.  Add some metallics and it could turn from simple to quite sophisticated, and fun to stitch.

This stocking comes with stitch and fiber suggestions.

I'm trying to figure out the new blogger.  It certainly makes it difficult to arrange photographs and descriptions

in a reasonably artistic way.  I think that last jog to the left doesn't add anything.  Hmm.  I feel like I'm playing a game of keep the blog writer guessing!

This is a canvas from Alice Peterson.  It's hard to find something for an a more mature recipient (I originally said older, but a friend was just told by her doctor that some things just happen when "you're older".  She was not amused.)  And I hit the computer's internal mouse and managed to scramble my description and eliminate my photograph.  So I'll insert it again.

Another canvas from Alice Peterson is this beauty:

And for those golfing aficianados, this colorful entry from, I think, Associated Talents.  I need to check on that because the designer code said Melissa Shirley.  Since I'm the date entry operator, how could I have made a mistake?  And may those who are thinking of opening a shop, please note that among my many duties are:  data entry operator, mail clerk, complaint department (both in and out), and more I'll list in another post.

And now to show the photograph that will answer Anne's question of several blog entries ago concerning the poinciana tree trunk. I stitched it in the chain stitch using watercolors from Caron.  I like to do the chain stitch after all of the surrounding stitches so it can lay over the other stitches.  That way no canvas peeks through.

You can see by looking at this photograph that I haven't done the branches up in the tree canopy.  I'm waiting to fit them in around the completed French knots.  In the next photograph, you can see where I am inserting some red-orange French knots.  I had originally selected red-orange as one of the original colors for the blossoms and then I didn't notice it when I started stitching.  So I have started squeezing it in between already completed French knots.

And I wanted to show a closeup of the satin stitch used in the green plant on the right side.  I need to remember to ask Trubey what its name is--it reminds me of a larger version of a succulent plant that is a houseplant, but I can't remember the name. 

Everyday I try to stitch 15 or 20 minutes--French knots often seem unending.  I goofed with this canvas since I'm usually much better about stitching a slow feature a little along while I'm doing other features, but before I finish everything else.  Sigh!  I will show the finished product, someday soon, I hope. 

Poinciana tree class

Well, took my computer in for some attention, but to no avail.  They were slammed, so my small potatoes laptop got bumped.  Monday they should be able to devote some time to its problems.  I'm just reminding myself to be patient

Here's a photo of the cording I made from silk lame braid:

Making your own cording adds a wonderful custom touch to finished items.  It's an easy technique to master.

While I continue with the endless background on my 2nd small flamingo canvas, I thought I'd show another Florida-themed class that I teach.  Trubey designed this about 5 years ago. 

This is 5x7on 18mesh canvas.  I started stitching the sky in Byzantine mosaic stitch in DMC perle 5.  Then I worked on the water, doing the Old Florentine stitch in Needle Necessities overdyed floss.  I've had to switch this fiber to watercolors.  That is also true of the foliage on the right side of the canvas--there I did the encroaching gobelin, again in overdyed floss that I've now changed to watercolors. 



Mish-mash mind

Mish-mash mind is just how I feel.  I can't stitch much further on my "Leaf medallion" class piece because someone (ME) picked a watercolors that I only had 2 skeins of--and of course I need at least 1 more skein, 2 would be better.  I've tried calling shops I know and Lois at the Caron Collection to no avail.  Barry at Town-Ho in Brewster, MA, even sent me 2 skeins, each a different dye lot to see if one would work.  Sigh.
I started with Fir #112, dye lot 311.  Tomorrow I'm going to make my first posting at the Needlepoint group on Facebook to see if someone there can help. 

And then the never-ending saga of the digital camera.  Canon keeps saying they are going to replace it.  However, because of the holidays they are out of stock.  They have said this repeatedly, with no expected delivery date.  Hmmm.  Finally yesterday the young lady mentioned perhaps she should check with a supervisor.  Sounds promising, doesn't it?  Doesn't work that way.  He merely exclaimed over the length of time I've been waiting and promised to expedite matters.  I almost laughed out loud, but instead thanked him before hanging up and then laughing.  And then an email appears from Canon.  Could I please answer a questionnaire concerning my 1/6/12 experience with their customer service?  I think I'll pass on that until I have a camera in my hot little hands. 

And then there was the little old man who wandered in this afternoon, looking for iron-on patches.  When I suggested K-Mart (across the parking lot), he looked around and said "Well, what do you do in here if you don't have iron-on patches?"  I should have told him I sell tropical fish, but I just smiled and said "Needlepoint".  He was shaking his head in puzzlement as he left. 

However, it's Saturday night and I have tomorrow's New York Times to look forward to.  Yum!  Hope your weekend is equally pleasant.

Not wanting to appear whiny, I must mention that I sent my camera in mid-November and paid for its repair 11/22/11.  I was told the next week that it was repaired and in transit to me.  Imagine my surprise when I didn't receive it and then called Canon to be told they were ordering more parts.  Not nice.

Leaf medallion class

Took the last of the Christmas stockings to the post office yesterday afternoon.  It's always such a relief when all of the items that customers expect actually are finished and on their way.  I expect one pillow on Monday that I wasn't sure the finisher could get done, but she made a special effort.  With that hurdle out of the way, I can concentrate on what I'll be teaching come "the season".  Demand for my classes has been down since the hurricanes (some people still haven't returned--just tried to sell their places and move on) and because of the slow economy.  Still, I try to find things that will catch people's interest. 

Today I worked on what I'll call my Leaf medallion class.  This is what I managed to stitch today in between waiting on customers and listening to Madame Butterfly from the Metropolitan Opera. 

This color is so off.  Canon is finally promising the return of my camera this week.  We'll see since it has already been over 3 weeks. 

Anyway, you can see where I didn't crop the bottom as closely as I usually do.  The canvas has a knot, so I need to make the stitch in that area cover it.  Something like a Scotch stitch or slanted gobelin should fit the bill.  Actually, even a tent stitch will cover it--knots can usually be forced to the back out of the way.

The fibers I'm using are splendor, silk lame braid, watercolors, and sparkle rays.  I started out with perle cotton, rather than the splendor, but it didn't cover well for the upright stitch. 

I want my finished design to be about 10x10 on 13m.  So far, I've got a 4x4, so I'll be spending some time flipping through stitch books for ideas.  More on this at a later date.

Mini-mystery #2

This Monday, Laura J. Perin posted the beginning of another mini-mystery (two-handed stitcher.blogspot).

Having nothing else to stitch (snort, chuckle, teehee), I gathered the fibers and produced this:

This scan is so washed out, the computer said "do not print from this image".  Can't wait for the camera to return home.  Enough whining.  My colors are:  watercolors 003 Meadow; DMC perle 5 3814 and 993; silk lame braid  SL26; and petite sparkle rays PS58. 

Now to wait patiently for next Monday when Laura will post the next set of instructions.

On another topic, I managed to blog every day in November as part of NaBloPoMo 2011.  Whew!  Made more difficult by not having a camera at my beck and call.  It was a challenge that I'll try again next year, but twice a week is enough for me as a regular thing. 

Mini mystery from Laura Perin, III

Ta da!

What fun!  I finished stitching this today while I was watching Roger Federer win the year-end tennis tournament in London.  That makes for double delight. 

Laura mentioned that this variation of her design used a lot of metallic.  Well, I started having heart palpitations from more than exciting tennis when I realized that I was close to the end of my silk lame braid.  I finished with a mere 9" of that fiber left.  Whew! I know I have more of that color at the shop, but I wanted to finish this today. 

In the past few days I also discovered that other bloggers were stitching this mini-mystery.  Go see their color selections at:  http://www.lizartblog.blogspot.com/; http://www.pinsneedles.wordpress.com/; and http://www.nuts-about-needlepoint.com/  It's great to be able to see how different designs look with different color combinations.

And tomorrow Laura says she's going to begin another mini-mystery. 

Mini mystery from Laura Perin

On Monday, November 7, 2011, Laura J. Perin on her blog http://www.two-handedstitcher.blogspot.com/
started a mini-mystery charted design.  She asked that the stitcher select one color of watercolors, one metallic and two perle 5 in colors that picked up shades in the watercolors.  I selected Watercolors 144 Pomegranate, silk lame braid SL52, and perle 5 352 and 3801. 

You'lll have to pardon how askew this image is.  My camera is in for repairs and I had to scan the canvas.  Whoopee!  I suppose I will improve with attempts, but time is short (and it's almost time to start preparing dinner!).  This is the stitching as Laura suggested for Monday #1.  I don't like all the canvas showing around the central motif so I added another stitch.

I like this better, my apologies to Laura.  In the next day or so, I'll show the stitches from Monday #2.  I'm glad I finally remembered my flatbed scanner, since I had put off stitching this because of my camera problems.  As everyone will understand, these were "burning a hole in my pocket".  I wanted to stitch them NOW!