Filling in the blanks

Now that the cuff is finished, I'm going back to the body of the stocking to work areas I skipped before.  I'd been working from my stash, but a trip to my LNS, Town-Ho Needleworks in Brewster, MA, yielded cards of Petite Very Velvet.

The same blue PVV I'd used for the name on the cuff and the dome of the largest nutcracker's crown was added for his belt and jacket cuff, trimmed with Kreinik #12 tapestry braid 002.

The helmet of the middle nutcracker was stitched in basketweave with white PVV.  Kreinik #12 tapestry braid 102 was worked in a diagonal oblong cross stitch for the knob at the top of the helmet and in tent stitches for the center design.  Kreinik #12 tapestry braid 033 provided the blue accents.

The caps of the ornaments were worked in a satin stitch with Kreinik #12 tapestry braid 3221.  The "chops" of the largest nutcracker were worked in DMC floss in basketweave and satin stitches, in preparation for stitching a lot of hair!

Cuffed again

It took a lot longer than expected to finish the cuff on the Nutcracker/Packages stocking, but here it is finally!

Once again, I turned to Needle Nicely (www.needlenicely.com) in Vero Beach, Florida, for an alphabet for the name.  The shop provided me with a graphed chart that I used to transfer the letters to the canvas with a permanent marker.

The background was worked in a Nobuko stitch with Vineyard Silk Classic Bright White.  The letters were formed with blue Petite Very Velvet, which I also used to stitch the dome of the nutcracker's crown in basketweave.

A completed background!

This past week, the weather here has been pretty dismal, making it difficult to distinguish the colors of the foliage in the background of the Nutcracker/Packages stocking.  But hooray!--the background is finally done, and the rest of the stitching should be fairly easy.

Ornament hooks were added in tent stitches with Kreinik #12 tapestry braid #001.  The largest nutcracker's crown was worked in diagonal oblong cross stitches with Kreinik #12 tapestry braid #002.

There's a three-inch cuff that needs to be stitched, so I'll work on that next in between wrapping up another column for Needlepoint Now.

Reaching the top

I've been away for a week, attending the last and most special September wedding--that of my oldest son.  The darling guy who 15 years ago brought home a puppy one night, asking "Ma, can we keep her?" finally brought me a daughter.  And she is a keeper!

Obviously, I couldn't take Nutcracker/Packages on the plane with me.  In fact, I didn't take any stitching, just a book.  But it sure was good to feel a needle in my hand when we returned home.

The largest nutcracker's tunic is now completed, trimmed with Kreinik #12 tapestry braid 002 in tent stitches and Smyrna crosses.  Sheep's Silk Old Gold was used in satin stitches for the epaulets and diagonal mosaic and reverse diagonal mosaic for the collar.  The red arches and band on his crown were worked in tent and slanted Gobelin stitches with red Petite Very Velvet.

More progress has been made on the background, with the section between the two brown branches at the top left almost finished.  And that lovely white line at the top of the photo marks the outside edge of the painted design!