Surprise!

The purse came back! This is the purse flap that I won by listening to Gone Stitching Blog talk radio a while back. Every week Renee interviews someone new and there is a contest that you can enter, so I did! http://www.blogtalkradio.com/gone-stitching I finished stitching it and sent it back to them and Boots Bailey finished the purse with a black suede on the back, fully lined it with black moire, attached the shoulder strap and a tassel. I am thrilled with this and plan to carry it many times. There is a piece of silver lame behind the canvas to make all of the stitching pop. I had sent it along as I do this on a lot of pieces and everyone liked the idea.

Today I moved on to the Hummingbird itself. All but the red throat is worked in single strands of split stitch. The throat is worked with 2 strands of red and one of green in long French knots to give it a very textured look. I am glad you all like Mr. Spider....he is kinda cute!

And on the right

I started down the right streamer and finished through the first rose and down under the large bottom rose. I also added the silver in that far down, which is where I ran out of the #16 Kreinik. So I will continue on with the rest of the ribbon tomorrow, and then come back later and fill in the silver. I did go and pick up the Caron Impressions that I will be using to stitch the background and maybe I will start some of that tomorrow....who knows?
I did get a nice surprise today however. Boots Bailey called!! She has the purse flap for finishing and needed some information before completing the purse, i.e., drop length, leather or suede. I was so surprised she called and thrilled when she said she loved the stitching! I told her it was such a beautiful canvas that I could not cover it up, and she also added she really liked the center of all the roses! Many thanks, Boots, for providing such a beautiful piece to stitch! I can hardly wait to see the bag!

A Finish and A Start

Today, I finished all of the Skip Tent in Accentuate. It is very hard for you to see, I know. I put a piece of silver Lame' behind it in the hope of getting it to show up better, but don't think it worked real well. This gets mailed to Gone Stitching tomorrow for the finishing. You will recall I won this by listening to Gone Stitching radio! http://www.blogtalkradio.com/gone-stitching
Next up will be the Diane Rishfield Ribbon and Roses piece.This is the piece I took with me to Callaway Gardens in my class with Carole Lake called Painted Canvas Workshop: A Gallery of Ideas for Stitching. You recall each day we took turns putting our canvas on the wall and discussing ideas for how to stitch the pieces. We explained why we bought the canvas--I did because I like roses and tassels. However, everyone felt that the yellow rose became the focal point. My intent was to have the ribbon, pink roses and tassel become the priorities. Therefore, my canvas, my prerogative. I contacted a couple of designers for advice on:


Painting the background and the yellow rose! I have painted out the tiles and dark blue ribbon shading in the background and also put a coat of white over the yellow rose. This certainly brought the focus back to what I was looking for. I was a little apprehensive about doing this, but so far, so good!

For those of you who remember Pierette's beautiful stitching, she created a photo blog only so we can see what she is stitching and that she is completing beautiful pieces to share! I hope you go and look! I have her listed on my blog roll but here is the direct link.
http://mystitchinggallery.blogspot.com/

Accentuating....

Using a single strand of Accentuate, I am doing Skip Tent Stitch in rows from the top right to the bottom left on all the rose petals and leaves. All but the far left petal is done. It is amazing how much you can do when you are snowed in! LOL

Outlined

I finished all the outlining with the Lacquered Jewels. Each petal and leaf is completed with the two strands. My tip for working with Lacquered Jewels comes from previous tangle issues. I take the new bundle, remove the paper tag with the number and set is aside. I then pull out an empty card from a Rainbow Gallery fiber. I snip the tied end, untwist the bundle and set it on two opposing points. I then wind the entire skein on the card. I tuck the color number into the back of the card and can easily pull the desired amounts off the card without tangling the rest of skein.
I actually finished this last night. Just as I was coming up to post the photo the power went out from all the snow! We received 11 .25 inches of snow since 3 p.m. yesterday. We were ready for it, and I read by kerosene lamp for a while and went to bed. The power came back on in the middle of the night. It is still snowing which is better than the sleet from a couple of hours ago.

This one is better

I put white behind the canvas tonight and you should be able to see this a lot better! Did you notice the green dot up at the top right? Good! I took two strands of Lacquered Jewels in color470 and started outlining all around the petals of the roses and the leaves. It is a gray black shiny so hopefully you can see it up next to the black, and it definitely pops on the actual petals. You can also see where I quit.....where the thread is laying on top of the bottom rose and going up to the needle holder. I hope to finish all of this tomorrow. We are supposedly going to get somewhere between 6-12 inches of snow! I will just have to stay in and stitch then!

The Background

The background is finished! I completed all of the Expanded Alternating Continental and it really sparkles. I hope you can see it in this picture! I put black velvet behind this tonight so I hope the stitches show up in the enlargement. Next up, the final touches!

Up to speed

See, I really have been working on this. As a reminder, I took this canvas with me to the Canvas Workshop with Carole Lake at Callaway, and after discussion, we decided that less is more on this piece. Not all canvas areas have to be stitched. The designer painstakingly created a work of art and in order to let those beautiful roses retain the focal point that they are, I will be stitching less. Here, I have finished the pistils that surround the center of each one. I used Kreinik Cord in 001C silver in an outline stitch. I did the French knots using Belle Soie silk by Crescent Colours. It is a 12 stranded spun silk and I used three strands, wrapped three times. The darker color is called Petunia and the lighter is Lara Lilac. I then used two strands of Petunia to attach the SJ Design beads, size 12/0 in color D117. The top left side is the Kreinik #4 005HL black in Expanded Alternating Continental.

Less is More

Here is the photo of what I have done so far. Instead of covering up the beautifully painted flower petals and leaves, I will leave them to show. I am doing French knots with three strands of Belle Soie, wrapped three times in two different shades in the center. A single strand of Kreinik silver cord in the stem stitch is the stamens, and the beads are from SJ Designs. The background is worked in a single strand of Kreinik #4 in black in Exploded Alternating Continental.

The Purse Flap

My roses purse flap by Boots Bailey arrived in the mail a while back and I forgot to show you what it looks like! If you recall, I won the contest on Gone Stitching Blog Radio. Boots Bailey graciously donated the canvas and the finishing for it. I have threads on order to stitch this soon! Neon Rays for the flowers and that is all I am saying for now. Stay tuned!