Purse progress--Side Two

On a trip to my LNS last weekend, I hit the jackpot:  every thread I needed to finish this project was in stock!

All of the colors are now in play.  Vineyard Silk Classic Ocean Wave has been added to the center of the royal blue octagons, while VSC Reef Waters is at the center of the jade octagons.

The top six horizontal rows represent one side of the purse.  Slowly but surely, I'm making my way to the bottom of the canvas!

More purse progress

Still working from my stash, I finished off the last of the Kreinik #12 tapestry braid #033 (royal blue) inserting the "spokes" inside the jade octagons.  I then moved to the royal blue octagons, stitching the spokes in these with Kreinik #12 tapestry braid #014, a watery blue.

My stash yielded enough of this thread to finish off the entire canvas--front and back of the purse.  I also finished stitching the small intersections between the octagons with Vineyard Silk Classic Spray.  Two less threads that I need to buy!

I'll work on the centers of the octagons to gauge how much thread I'll need before my shopping trip.

Purse progress - 1

This past week was a busy one, with a Needlepoint Now deadline to meet, some canvases to paint, and more than one project to stitch.  But a good start has been made on the purse project!

It's being stitched in basketweave in sea glass colors with Vineyard Silk Classic and Kreinik #12 tapestry braid #033 so far.  The larger octagons were worked in VSC Celestial (royal blue) and Cascade (light jade) with the smaller intersections in Spray.  The top of the canvas to the bottom line of completed octagons represents one side of the purse.

Working from my stash, the  Celestial and Cascade threads  have been exhausted, but I at least know how much more I'll need to buy on my next trip to my LNS.  There are more sea glass colors in my stash that will be added later

While I'm still waiting....

I know--this doesn't look like much--but it's the beginning of an evening purse I'm stitching for a wedding in the fall.  When it's finished, it will be folded in half to form a soft purse approximately six inches square.

The pattern is a variation on one I found in Chinese Rugs Designed for Needlepoint by Maggie Lane, one of my all-time favorite designers.  I've lost count of the number of pillows I've stitched using center medallions and corner motifs from the rug designs in some of her books.

I'm pretty handy at counting--after all, I'm a stitch painter--but I prefer to have the piece I'm going to work on already painted on the canvas so I can sit back and leisurely stitch.  It's a lot easier to paint over a mistake made in transferring the design to canvas than it is to rip out a bunch of stitches!

I'll be back from time to time to show my progress on this piece!

A downtime project

Wouldn't you know it?--the canvas I've been waiting for is back-ordered.  Nuts!  So I pulled out the last angel canvas gifted to me by a now-retired stitcher.  It's an "angel bulb" designed by Joan Thomasson, originally painted with a red dress, white background behind the halo, and blonde hair.

As you can see, I've changed the colors to customize it for the recipient.  The overdress was worked in purple Petite Very Velvet in basketweave.  The dress itself was stitched in basketweave using three strands of DMC floss to accomodate a blackwork pattern using Kreinik #4 very fine braid #023.

To make the angel stand out a little more, I needle-blended the background, starting with DMC floss #3325 at the top and ending at the top of the wings with DMC floss #3841.

The cap of the ornament was worked in a diagonal oblong cross stitch with Kreinik #12 tapestry braid #102, while the same thread provided the halo in a woven stitch.  The angel's hair was worked in a satin stitch with two strands of "vintage" DMC Medici wool, with one strand used over three canvas threads for eyebrows.

Finally--a finish!

My Amanda Lawford Santa is finally finished, after working on it for more than a year.  It's by no means my first finish of 2015, but the other completed projects were for my Needlepoint Now column.  This Santa is my very own, so he had to take a back seat from time to time  so I could make a magazine deadline working someone else's canvas!

One small detail needs to be attended to before I can send him to a finisher:  he needs a real bell dangling from the end of his cap.  It's probably easier to find a jingle bell in November than it is in March, but I'll do a little hunting and hopefully find one soon.  Then I need to decide on a finisher, one who knows the meaning of the word "simple" and resists the temptation to slap a bunch of bows on him and hide all my stitching.

I'm waiting for a canvas that I've ordered to arrive--another project that will take some time but one I'm really looking forward to.  So stay tuned!

Getting ready for St. Patrick's Day

It's hard to believe I actually stitched this piece more than four years ago.  Designer Judy Harper had created an Irish Angel for me, since I'm 100% Irish, and then repainted it without wings to produce "Maureen."  I stitched her for Judy's last Possibilities column in the March/April 2011 issue of Needlepoint Now.

Some of my favorite threads were incorporated in this piece:  Petite Very Velvet for her green dress, Sheep's Silk by The Thread Gatherer in a diagonal oblong cross stitch for her shawl, and Kreinik #12 tapestry braid #002V for the Celtic cross.

Just remember:  everyone's a little bit Irish on St. Patrick's Day, so have a happy one!