Adding the sizzle

I've done some more basketweave on the ghosts, enough so that I treated myself to filling in the alternating colors in the jacquard pattern of the background. I'd made some progress with the DMC cotton floss #552 (purple), and started adding the black floss every other line of tent stitches outlining the predominant DMC #946 (orange).

If you look back at my first post with the background painted a solid orange, you can definitely see a difference comparing the two photos. In this case, the choice of stitch, as well as the colors used to execute it, creates a design element of its own. The white of the Kreinik metallic braid used for the ghosts appears whiter and brighter; the tri-colored jacquard stitch grounds the ghosts yet creates an electricity of its own. On another canvas, the background would look ridiculous, but for Halloween, a time when grown people do things they'd never do any other time of the year, it's perfectly acceptable!

Starting off on the right foot

When a friend of mine saw the painted canvas of "Dreamgirls," she remarked that the orange background was definitely "different." She undoubtedly knew that orange is my least favorite color. When I painted "A Chorus Line," another Halloween design, I gave it a lime green background because I loved the look of that shade with black and white. Two shop owners asked me to custom paint several with an orange background--a "more traditional Halloween color" was their explanation. So for this canvas, I'm bowing to tradition, but with a twist!

I never planned to stitch a solid orange background for this canvas. It needed a background with an "edge" to make the ghosts pop and a stitch that proportionately would fit the ghostly stars. I decided on a jacquard stitch, with orange as the predominant color, accented by black and purple. (Purple is DH's least favorite color, so I have to sneak it in when I can!)

But I'm also a true painted canvas person, who wants everything in place before I stab the canvas with my needle--I don't want to count as I go along, only to find somewhere down the canvas that I've miscounted and have to rip out. So I drew in the intersecting lines for the jacquard stitch, and now I can sit back and stitch in a relaxed fashion. I've started the basketweave stitching of the ghosts with Kreinik #12 tapestry braid #032--the basketweave will provide the most "twinkle." And I've started filling in the orange with DMC cotton floss #946. When I've made a little more progress, I'll start filling in the tent stitches surrounding the orange sections.

A Halloween housewarming

In June, our neighbors across the street began the arduous task of transforming their erstwhile vacation home into a year-round residence. Every morning at seven o'clock, the contractors begin their concert on hammer and power tools, punctuated by the occasional hum of the building supply delivery truck's diesel engine and the clang of the dumpster exchange. It's certainly a different way for us to start our day, but even more so for our neighbors, who are living in the house during the renovation!

DH and I are old hands at this process, having lived through three remodels while living in the house under siege, so we can feel this couple's pain! In a recent conversation, the wife revealed that Halloween is her most favorite holiday; the husband remarked that, with any luck, construction would be completed by October and they intended to repay the neighbors' hospitality with a Halloween party. Hmmm....I could sense the inpiration for a Halloween design coming on which would make the perfect housewarming gift!

The result shown here is "Dreamgirls," a totally silly take-off on my equally wacko "A Chorus Line" design from a couple of years ago. For my next project, I'll be stitching "Dreamgirls" as a door hanger, adding song as well as dance to my collection of Halloween designs!

All decorated for Christmas!

The stitching is complete, the buttons attached, and Mindy's Country Christmas canvas is ready for the finisher!

I had kept a photo of the canvas taken before I removed the buttons for stitching, and I used this to remind me where each one should be placed. To attach the buttons, I chose four strands of DMC floss in colors which most closely matched the area of the buttons where the holes were located.

I'll try to match the velveteen surrounding the canvas as closely as possible to the camel color of the background, which I think should make the black border really stand out.

This canvas was so much fun to stitch! Not only was it beautifully stitch-painted, it also had enough color changes and pattern variations to keep the stitching moving along. Many thanks to Mindy, for allowing me to blog-stitch this project and for designing it in the first place!

On the home stretch

I'm down to the fourth corner and last two center squares on Mindy's Country Christmas canvas!

In the two center row squares I've just completed, a new color is introduced: Silk & Ivory "Aquamarine." I would have preferred to use Trio, but didn't have any in this color, and the S & I was a perfect match to the painted canvas. I tightened my tension a bit and I really don't see much difference between the S & I and the red Trio next to it.

In the diamond on the left square, I've repeated the diagonal mosaic stitch I'd used in the red diamond in the bottom right corner. The diamond on the center square was filled with a framed Scotch stitch. For the two squares remaining to be stitched, I plan to use a framed Scotch stitch on the left and a regular Scotch stitch in the green square next to it.

When I'm finished stitching the entire canvas, I'll need to work a row of gobelin stitches over two threads around the perimeter to satisfy my finisher's requirement for a seam allowance. Then I can start sewing on buttons!

Rounding another corner

I've been working exclusively on Mindy's Country Christmas, and I think this time you may actually be able to see progress!

I've "hit bottom" and rounded the corner on the right side of the border. I also went on a Peanut Butter binge and stitched most of the tan inner background.

Two more squares were finished and another started. The X on the square at center right was stitched in basketweave. I've also started preliminary stitching on the center square.

The square in the bottom right corner required a little more thinking and counting! I wanted to use a textured stitch in the large red diamond area, but a little different from the mosaic and Scotch stitches I'd used previously --they'll have their chance to shine again in the four remaining squares. Eyeballing the red area, I mentally traced the stitching path and realized that a diagonal mosaic stitch would work perfectly--a complete pattern without any compensating stitches that would have looked awkward. The center triangle of the center left square is exactly the same size, so three guesses what stitch I'll be using there?!

A little here, a little there

I've now finished a little more than half of the matte black border using the Petite Very Velvet and have caught up with stitching the shooting stars. Doesn't the PVV make those stars pop?!

The checkerboard outer border is finished on the top and right sides and about half-way down the left side.

The white outlines of the center row of squares have been stitched with the white Trio, and I added the red corners to the square on the right. These were worked with "Bordeaux" Trio in a framed mosaic stitch: they're five stitches across, and I didn't want to risk a Scotch stitch over five threads on a pillow.

It probably doesn't look like a lot of progress, but it's progress nevertheless! A storm came through here last night and cleared out the humidity, so stitching should be a little more pleasant in the coming days!