Jane in Chillow Hollow, Master or Queen Enabler, (I can't remember which!) contacted me a while back to see if I would be interested in stitching some of Kandace Merric's Guardian Angels of Household Pets! Of course I would! Above is a photo of the magazine, July of 1997, Needle Pointers, that has the Georgian Rabbit Angel that I will stitch first! With Jane's permission, I stole the following from her blog which gives the information regarding this project, it's destination, and information if you would care to join us!
"Through the kind offices of the designer Kandace Merric and the permission of Needlepointers magazine, I am able to share the instructions and line drawings for the Household Pet Guardian angels with folks who wish to stitch one or more angels for the ANG Auction in Milwaukee in the fall of 2009. Please note that the copyright of these designs belongs to Ms. Merric and the American Needlepoint Guild, so do not share your instructions with folks not working these for the Auction.
There are six Pet Guardian Angels: the Renaissance rat, Medieval cat, Tudor dog, Victorian parakeet, Baroque fish and Georgian rabbit. All the animals are dressed in period costume using colors appropriate to their period. The dog has three head shapes to choose from--the Westie which you see in the model--Ms.Merric raises West Highland White Terriers--a Dalmation and a Golden Retreiver . You don't have to stick to the colors and threads used in 1996-1997 when these were originally published in the magazine. Kandy Merric explains thatshe used cotton perle, Paternayan wool, Medici wool and Kreink metallics in her original instructions because these were easily obtainable at that time. If you have these threads, go ahead and use them if you like, but feel free to play around with other threads and colors. Ms. Merric loves it when a stitcher is bold enough to change colors!
However, I am asking everyone to stitch their angel with the same background color (ecru) using tent stitches. Use either DMC's color Ecru in cotton floss or cotton perle, or Splendor silk in color #961. If you want to use another thread brand, match the color to DMC Ecru or Splendor 961. I think it will be best if everyone trims their angel with Kreinik #32 braid in either gold or silver, as well. These are your constraints--use 18 count canvas, the background must be in tent stitches in ecru, and trim your ornament in either silver or gold #32 Kreinik braid. No matter what colors you dress your Pet Guardian Angel in, the same background color in tent stitch and Kreinik braid trim will make them all look like a set of folk art angels.
Pat Miller and I are working out easy finishing instructions for everyone to follow so that we can all make up our own angel in a similar, but easy manner. Feel free to have yours professionally finished if you like--just remember to trim with Kreinik #32 braid in either silver or gold. Also remember that we all will have to mail our angels to the ANG Auction chair the end of June 2009. That's the deadline and there is no wiggle room for it. I will keep track of everyone who is stitching an angel and let everyone know the address to mail their angel to in a reminder email later on.
I will stitch all six designs myself publicly on Blog. Feel free to follow along when I get to your angel. I'm stitching them in random order as one takes my fancy, and hope to do one a month from now until early June.
The Pet Guardian Angels vary a bit in size (they are roughly 6+ inches long and 4+inches high) but they all fit on an 8 X 10 inch size of 18 count needlepoint canvas with margins of roughly 2 inches of unstitched canvas all the way around. The instructions are in PDF form if you don't have the necessary back issues of Needlepointers (see list below). You need to email me at chilly hollow athot maildot com which angel you are interested in and wait patiently for me to get the instructions to you. It won't be right away as I'll wait a week to see how many emails I have to send and organize things so that all the cats go out one day, all the fish the next, etc. I'll post my progress in sending instructions on Blog so you will know roughly when your PDFs should be in your email box. If you have the back issues of the magazine and will work from it, please email me which animal you are stitching and I'll remind you of the deadline for the Auction and where to send your animal as well.
Here are the original dates of the six Needlepointers where you can find the instructions if you have the back issues:
Medieval Cat - October/November 1996
Renaissance Rat - December 1996-January 1997
Tudor Dog - February/March 1997
Baroque Fish - May 1997
Georgian Rabbit - July 1997
Victorian Parakeet - September 1997
Ask any questions you can think of by emailing me at chillyhollow athot mail dotcom or posting a question in Comments. If you just can't see yourself stitching one of the Pet Guardian Angels, never fear--ANG has many styles of canvases that need stitching. Look at the 2009 Auction List (link below) and see if anything catches your eye, then email the ANG Auction chair to make sure it's available."
I hope you enjoy this project!
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