After a reasonably good night's sleep, I woke up determined to finish the thing. If I don't like it, that's ok. I can give it to someone as a Christmas present and never have to see it again.
Anyway, here it is:
I plan on stitching on it all this week, hoping that I can get lots done on it this month. Sigh .... I have no idea what to do with the snowman. Here's hoping something comes to me. I don't think I'm a painted-canvas-type-of -stitcher. It's probably because the painted areas are distracting.
Whether you like it or not I think you are doing a really good job on it. I was thinking about this today after getting your more recent picture....how about getting some of that new "fuzzy" yarn and just doing a simple basket weave stitch (basically just the first half of a cross stitch) using the fuzzy stuff? That would really make the snowman kinda cute I think. Keep going, it is really pretty even though I bet you're not thinking that right at the moment.
ReplyDeleteLooks fine to me too, Marcy, Check out Possibilies' blog; she's a very experienced needlepointer, and I am sure would give you some hints.
ReplyDeleteOops I spelled it wrong. Here's the link: http://fairy-crafts.blogspot.com/
ReplyDeleteHi, I saw on YoYo's Christmas SAL that your having problems with your painted canvas. Wish I had some helpful tips. All I can say is it's looking really good! And as I say if you give it to someone they never know what its really suppose to look like anyways. ;)
ReplyDeleteThank you for the encouragement! I really appreciate it. I plan to finish the top and toe this month and leave the middle part until next month to give it more thought. My major stumbling block with the borders was all the holly. Once I decided to just cover it up with the stripes -- the problem went away ;) The recipient will never even know they were there -- as they saw Kittycat -- great minds think alike.
ReplyDeleteI like your idea Yoyo about fuzzy thread and may go with ultra suede. I've only used it once before and liked it.
Thanks Judy for the link to Possibilities' blog. It's wonderful.
Hi Marcy,
ReplyDeleteI just saw from Yoyo's blog that you are having problems with your painted canvas.
Please let me know if you need help as I'm an experienced needlepointer and would love to provide some help.
Let's stitch the body of the snowman first as we want to later bring out the details in and around the snowman.
I'm not sure what threads you have access to but have you see the new Silk Lame braid by Rainbow Gallery? This is a joy to stitch with and would really add some sparkle to the snowman. Another option would of course be Kreinik #12 braid in either 032, pearl or 100 white. If you want to go a little lower key to match the more vintage look of the design how about DMC floss in either white or B5200? I would keep the stitch very simple in this area and would probably just do Basketweave. Depending on which white you select for the body of the snowman, I would add a more matte white for the gray accents, or use a creamy white to show a difference/shadow.
I'd then do a Smyrna Cross for the buttons using a dark gold.
http://www.needlepoint.org/StitchOfTheMonth/1999/99-02.php
I'd then do his scarf using a green and a red thread, how about Impressions? I'd stitch these using simple continental but possibly change the direction of the red stitches from the green. It looks like the red and the green are painted in a diagonal direction. I'd mix it up so they alternate red/green/red and the next row directly above would be green/red/green.
Then on to the pipe. The stem would just be a simple continental stitch. I'd definitely do the bowl in a padded satin stitch. I wouldn't worry about stitching the darker color in the bowl as I'd pick a rougher fiber such as one of the linen fibers in an overdye.
The mouth would be cross stitches using Black 310 DMC floss.
I'd do the eyes in Smyrna stitch using Black 310 DMC floss or a bead, non-sparkly.
Now the orange nose. What I see here is a padded satin stitch using either a bright strong orange silk or DMC floss. Whichever is easiest for you to find.
You can reach me at cyn _ stitches at yahoo dot com if you would like more help or ideas. :-)
Please don't worry if I don't get back to you right away as I work full-time, and have a very active family with two teenagers.
Cynthia
Windy Meadow