Frosty, the snowman

Well, I just typed a paragraph, touched a wrong key and the paragraph disappeared.  Humph!  I managed to send the 1st Needle Nicely Newsletter on Sunday.  If you would like to be put on the mailing list, send me your email address (mine is nnicely @ gate.net--omit the spaces) or include it in the comments.  Eventually I will figure out how to put a link here on the blog that will connect to the newsletter archives.  Another technological mountain to climb! 

This canvas from Lee's Needle Arts shows 9 snowmen.  It is so delightful and was such fun to stitch.  The background was stitched in the mosaic in silk 'n ivory.  All of the hats are stitched in the encroaching gobelin using silk'n ivory.  Also, all of the heads are stitched in the mosaic using white Fyrewerks and the noses are all done in the satin stitch with orange sparkle rays.  The first Snowman on the left wears a scarf stitched in the cross stitch using fuzzy stuff.  It was too tough to fit a patterned stitch into the way the scarf was originally painted, so I made the scarf a solid color.  The body is the patio cashmere, again using the white fyrewerks.

Photograph #3: This little fella's body is stitched in Byzantine #2 from Stitches to Go by Howren & Robertson, a wonderful stitch book.  The scarf is done in the cross stitch using fuzzy stuff.

I have re-typed that last paragraph multiple times.  Blogger does not want it to be beside the photograph so I added the clarifier that it is the 3rd photograph.  There's more than one way to skin a cat or outsmart a recalcitrant Blogger.

The snowman in the bottom photograph has the nobuko stitch for his body and smyrna crosses in silk lame braid.

Standing nutcracker, 4

Today was definitely a non-needlepoint day.  First thing I stopped at the post office to mail several packages, one to my main belt finisher and the others to customers.  Then I went to Verizon where I bit the bullet and purchased an I-phone 4S.  I'm going to a class tomorrow morning to learn about it.  I was surprised that it didn't come with a manual, but then I wasn't a star pupil at deciphering my flip-phone's manual.  My afternoon was spent at the movie theater where I saw Donizetti's L'elisir d'Amore from the Metropolitan Opera's HD transmission.  It was full of beautiful music and marvelous acting.  Great way to spend a few hours.

I stitched the hat brim in the nobuko stitch using three green shades of silk 'n ivory.  It was easy to maintain the pattern with the color changes.

 I couldn't wait any longer to stitch the "emerald".  It's done in the slanted gobelin over 2 threads.  It looks very real in person.  I used one of Kreinik's new lacquer metallics.  I added another couple of strands to the plume's long-short split stitch.  To me, while effective, long-short is like a fine wine--a little goes a long way!

I usually make myself work a canvas from the top right-hand corner to the bottom.  However, after I did the two-tone metallic braid on the hat, I didn't want to keep track of the partial strands of metallic so I skipped down on the canvas and started one of the epaulets.  It was so satisfying that I couldn't stop before I finished!  It is alternating rows of slanted gobelin vatican metallic divided by gold 3270 single rows.  The blue stones are blue Kreinik lacquer done in the Scotch stitch. 

Palm frond slides, reshaped IV

I'm whipped!  I spent today looking at photographs of needlepoint canvases and deciding which ones to order for delivery February 1, 2013, in time for the "season".  This gives the artists some lead time in which to accomplish the painting of the canvases.  And also gives me time to worry about whether I have over- or under-ordered.  

In addition to being a top-notch needlepoint sales rep, Rondo is my font of knowledge concerning all things electronic--especially i-phones and i-pads.  He has done such a good job of utilizing both in the daily routines of order taking and placing.  Also, we got to catch up on the whereabouts of longtime friends--Ron has been my sales rep in Florida since the very early spring of 1982.  We've witnessed a lot of business ups and downs in that time.  

On the stitching front, I'm making progress on my palm fronds canvas.  After staring at the water for weeks, inspiration finally struck.  I settled on Byzantine #2 from Stitches to Go and am happy with the way it looks in the small space available. 

I also completed the diagonal mosaic on the palm fronds.  While I like the way the finished fronds look, I must confess that I would recommend that most stitches stick to the basketweave.  It proved quite challenging trying to maintain the rhythm of the diagonal mosaic.  

What a pretty bow! Finished.

This central bow motif is stitched primarily in the satin stitch.  The direction of the stitch is usually determined by what will produce the shortest length of stitch.  That will prevent its snagging after the pillow is finished.

The actual center is a ridged spider web. 

The pillow was finished as a knife-edge with a double ruffle with inner cording out of off-white moire.

Palm frond slides, reshaped III

I'm making progress in several areas of my professional and stitching lives.  This morning I had a long-distance conference with a representative of Constant Contact, a bulk email company.  The Needle Nicely Newsletter now has a basic template and a logo header.  I finally feel like I'm getting a grip on the process.  He gave me my homework assignment of what I should try to accomplish before our next conference this coming Wednesday.  

I turned the canvas upside down to stitch the woven (or t-) stitch for the sand.  It is infinitely easier to start stitching any pattern in a straight line, rather than the jagged shore line as shown here.

It has been a challenge to do the diagonal mosaic in the palm fronds.  Sometimes continental stitch is the only option.  You can see that I also did the basketweave for the sky that shows between the palm fronds.  Life is definitely too short for me to try to continue the byzantine mosaic through those breaks in pattern.  Not that I think anyone could discern the pattern if I had tried! 

standing nutcracker, 3

This has been a satisfying week in terms of stitching.  Adele and I completed stitching Christopher's stocking with the black background and also the cuff area of Hadley's stocking.  I mailed them to the finisher this morning.  Hooray!

Now I can devote more time to my nutcracker.  I must think of a name for him.  I've almost completed the braid on his hat in Balger metallic--alternating vatican (102) with one of the newer golds (of course I can't remember the number.) 

Vero Beach is fortunate to have a wonderful independent book store, the Vero Beach Book Center.  It is a family-owned business that has been in Vero for about 35 years (it was here when we arrived in 1981).  It has a children's store, a large second-hand area and of course the separate building devoted to new books.  They are on the circuit of authors so several times a month they have book signing parties.  Another of their features is a rental library where you pay about 6.95 to rent a best seller for a week.  This is a great option when I'm impatient to read some of my favorite authors.  This past week it was Lee Child's Wanted Man, his latest Jack Reacher novel.  When I returned it last Saturday, I remembered to inquire about Kaffe Fassett's Dreaming in Color autobiography.  What a gorgeous example of bookmaking.  I had to treat myself to it.  The paper is weighty (I think clay-based for better reproduction) and the colors are magnificent.  It is just great eye candy.  I'm letting myself savor the story, reading about 15 pages a day so I can really enjoy his designs.  My only carp is and always has been that when he designs needlepoint, he uses too coarse a canvas mesh.  He's such a versatile designer.

What a pretty bow! Part II

The lavender square is stitched in the Scotch stitch variation.  The pale green is the Hungarian stitch while the light blue is the chain stitch.  The yellow circle is the satin stitch with a continental stitch center plus as is the large pink circle.  The smaller yellow circle and the dark purple circle are done in the octagonal Rhodes stitch.  The darker pink circle is a ribber spider web stitch.

Both the medium blue oval and the round green are stitched in the chain stitch.  The dark yellow circle, the medium green circle, and the bright blue circle are stitched in the octagonal Rhodes.  The blue rectangle is the Hungarian stitch as is the pink square.  The medium lavender circle is the satin stitch with a continental plus.