Summertime, and the stitchin' is easy

A few weeks ago, a needlepoint shop contacted me with a request: could I design a Cape Cod doorway for a customer who was fond of my Doorways to the Past series? I already had one Cape doorway--Nantucket--but the customer was looking for one with more of a cottage feel, complete with hydrangeas and a picket fence. I finally came up with this design, called "Cape Cod Summer," which incorporates all the elements that make my part of the world so charming at this time of year!

I shared this photo with a friend, who responded that she wouldn't know where to begin to stitch the canvas. A strange comment, I thought, from someone who is a phenomenal stitcher! It's a fairly straight-forward design and stitch-painted, which takes the guess-work out of where one color ends and the next begins.

Some designers rarely stitch their own canvases, but I always stitch my models as a "test-drive" before painting a master: if there's any "tweaking" to be done, I want the kinks ironed out before the canvas reaches the customer's hands. As I blog-stitch this canvas, I'll be breaking down the individual elements into manageable "bites" of stitching--the easiest way I know to avoid "choking" on a painted canvas, be it an architectural design or an entirely different design theme.

Looking for an armchair vacation to Cape Cod? Join me as I develop a virtual stitch guide for this canvas!