Peace Tree: Dodecagon Ornament Series by Jim Wurth

Peace Tree is the 11th of the Dodecagon Ornament Series designed by Jim Wurth that I have received so far. The 12th and last one should arrive sometimes in November, ending that lovely series.
.
Jim said that he wanted to make at least one ornament that would have a Christmas theme to it and this one is it. The design took me a little by surprise when I saw it first and did not know what to think of it really, but now that I have started working on it, I am slowly changing my mind about it.
.
All Jim's ornaments look much better from upclose as he uses a lot of metallic threads, which is so difficult to make all that sparkle stand out when taking photos, at least when I am taking them.
.
I was supposed to be working on some other projects, but ever since I got so behind in stitching that series at the beginning and finally managed to catch up after stitching one after another, I promised myself that I would work on each one of them as soon as I would receive them, so temporarily put aside the main project I was working on in order to start working on it, though I have done it at a very slow pace.
.
I have added a photo showing a close-up of that first section. Oups, just realized that I have forgotten to add the beads inside the small jessicas :-(

I have started working on Angelina, my latest blackwork project, but I feel that I have not done enough to take a photo. Will do as soon as I have a little more done to make it interesting for you all :-)

.

Better go back to my forgotten beads before I continue working on the rest of it.

.

Pierrette =^..^=

Angelina, An Ilse Altherr design

As I mentioned in my last post, after doing a lot of needlepoint projects, I needed to work on something else for a little while before returning to it. I did not know exactly what kind of technique it would be as I have so many to choose from.
.
I have been thinking of doing a bit of blackwork for a while now so I chose this lovely blackwork project. The lovely stitcher in the photo is called ANGELINA and she has been designed by Ilse Altherr. I am including the picture that came with the instructions as I have just put her on stretcher bars and have not yet started working on her, but that will change after I finish writing this post.
.
Blackwork is a technique that I really enjoy working on and both Marion Scoular and Ilse Altherr have such lovely designs. There are other blackwork designers out there, but I am most familiar with them.

(Photograph that came with the instructions)

I am itching to start so will go for now and come back when I have something to show for myself (grinning).
.
Pierrette =^..^=

Santa has his sweater and socks on

Well, the suspense is over, for better or for worse, Anne Stradal's design called "The Morning After" is all stitched.
.
After struggling with my decision as to what to stitch for Santa's sweater/shirt/underwear, I decided to use some Kreinik Tapestry #12 braid #032 (pearl color) doing a simple basketweave stitch. It solved my problem with the "white thread" issue to some extent. I also wanted a lighter sweater under his coat. Sure hope Santa did not catch a bad cold because of it :-(
.
After that came the suspenders in braided knitting using a dark green thread, followed closely by his socks using green for the toes and heels and white for the soles. I decided to keep his socks rather simple since I had given him a more sophisticated sweater by using that metallic thread.
.
I had forgotten to add some gold metallic thread around the number 25, so corrected that little oversight.
.
I also stitched the rug in horizontal diagonal cashmere and then completed the floor in front of the carpet.




In future projects, I will need to give a lot more consideration to the fact that if I want to change some color(s) like I did with the pure white for winter white, it will have some impact along the way, mostly as in this case, I wanted to make sure that Santa did not look like he had a dirty beard by using some pure white next to it, so I need to take this into consideration from the get go, which I did not really do and boxed myself in because of it. My initial goal was to put some color in his sweater which would have taken care of that little detail, but could not see very well how I could do that taking into consideration Santa's surrounding. The metallic thread I used was the best compromise I could think of. It is hard to tell by looking at the photo but when you look at the finished project in person, you can see more what I mean.
.
I now feel like taking a little break from all the needlepoint I have been doing recently and do a little embroidery and then will return to it with Santa's wife. Hopefully I will have learned something with Santa and not box myself in again, but sometimes the learning curve is slow, so will see :-)
.
Pierrette =^..^=

Mystery in a Corner: Framed

I have received back from the framer a couple days ago my Mystery in a Corner, a Gay Ann Rogers' design and I could not take any photos because it was too dark and now today it was too sunny and ended up taking the photo inside anyway. I can't seem to be able to win no matter what I do when taking photos. If there are some kind of Awards out there for the person who has the most problems taking good photo of her projects, I should receive it.
.
When taking the first photo (below) I felt that if someone had not seen the project before, they would have no idea what I had stitched, so took another one, a close-up this time around (above).
.
When I picked my colors, I chose colors which normally would not have been my first choice. I like fall colors the best, though I have done plenty of projects along the years with other colors. I can't help but wonder what would have happened if I had chosen the colors I like best. Would it have been better or worst? I guess I will never know as I never stitch the same project twice as there are just too many projects I want to do and not enough time to do them all.



I have enjoyed this project tremendously and have learned a lot in the process. There is an end-of-term examination ornament which I will do a little bit later, a good way of testing myself and see if I have learned anything out of this whole experience (grinning).
.
These last couple days I have been working hard at finishing my stitch notebook called "The Sky is the Limit" by Beth Robertson & Suzanne Howren, which are also the authors of a series of books called Stitches for Effects and so on.
.
I will be continuing my stitching on Anne Stradal's Santa tomorrow as in the meantime I have received the threads I had been waiting for. I imagine that it will take me a couple days to finish that project, if all goes according to plans :-)
.
Pierrette =^..^=

The Morning After: Wallpapering all done

Since my last post, I have completed all the different sections of the wallpaper behind Santa's big chair. A big calendar has been stitched with the background in gold using Kreinik with DEC stitched in red using DMC floss the same colour as used in the wallpaper. The number 25 has been stitched using some black DMC floss.

.

Now all that remains to do is the carpet under Santa's chair and then completing the flooring in front of the carpet, which will not take long. After that Santa's socks, his shirts or top underwear or sweater as I am still debating this and then his suspenders and it will be all done. I got some really good advice from Jane, Pat, Terry and Cyn for Santa's shirt (see comments on previous post) so will see what looks the best once the carpet has been stitched. I should hopefully receive this afternoon some new threads that may make my decisions easier.

.

I am hoping to be able to post the next and final photo of this project in a couple days and then I will be moving to Mrs Santa :-)

.

Pierrette =^..^=

The Morning After & another Brillante Award

I have managed to do a little more stitching on "The Morning After" since my first post . I have to say that I have not been stitching all that much recently. I guess we all have times like that when things are just not quite right, just not feeling all that hot, but that always goes away, eventually.
.
Since my last post, I have done a few sections of the wallpaper, enough I think to make it possible for you to see the two different motifs. The red and green vertical lines are slanted gobelin stitches using simply DMC floss threads. Between those vertical lines, you have a red design on a white background, using DMC threads again and stitched with continental and/or basketweave. In the section of the wallpaper that is all white, a Nobuko stitch has been used. In that section, I still have to stitch the calendar and of course the rest of the wallpaper. Oh, almost forgot, done the baseboard in slanted gobelin, using again the same winter white floss. Anne had used a DMC Perle #5 instead on hers. You can see it on Anne's website. I had two reasons for doing so. Since I changed my white for a winter white, then I would have needed some winter white DMC perle #5, which I did not have and did not want to bother ordering some as I order everything online and I also just prefer the look that the floss gives me over the Perle #5 for something like a baseboard, so why bother ordering any? Stitching is really all about our own preferences, isn't it?
.
I stitched the legs of the chair using slanted gobelin with a brown DMC Perle #5. I then proceeded to work on the footstool, using 3 different colors, winter white, red and green, using the continental for the stripes and a mosaic stitch for the white areas.
.
I then worked the boots, using a black Petite Very Velvet doing a simple continental stitch and to separate the two boots there is a line of continental stitches using a dark grey DMC floss.
.
Some of you might be wondering why I have not done Santa's socks nor his sweater so far and also let's not forget his suspenders. Two reasons for that. I am waiting for the threads for the socks. For Santa's sweater I just did not know if I wanted to use a different color or not, but I am finding it very difficult to do so as I have that green chair on which he is sitting, so a green sweater is kind of out of the question and then I have his red pants, which would make it difficult to distinguish between the top and the bottom if I were to use red. I also do not want to use white white as it would make his beard appear kind of dirty (and that is the last thing I want, a dirty looking Santa) because I used some winter white instead of the white that Anne used on hers. I more or less trapped myself into that one, haven't I? Any ideas, anyone?
.
Oh yes, I have done the flooring, most of it anyway using a light tan DMC Perle #5 with a slanted Gobelin stripe. I am waiting for some threads to stitch the carpet. Have a few options here that I am now contemplating so when the threads come in, will see which one looks the best and will proceed. I will then finish the flooring that still remains to be stitched in front of the carpet.
.
Sometimes when you make just a minor change in color or design, you find that you have to make lots of little adjustments along the way.


===============================



I had the honor to receive a third Brillante Weblog award from Pat at the end of July, the two previous ones from Rengin and Laura and to my great shame I have not yet given it back to anyone, but will remedy this situation right away :-)
.
As everyone who has ever received some Awards, it is extremely difficult to choose a few out of many wonderful blogs that are out there and we all know that we tend to gravitate around blocks that means the most to us, whether it is because the bloggers are talking about similar projects to our own, or techniques that we are really interested in or are simply giving us lots of wonderful information. Having said that here goes my list of seven. Before I do so, please refer to Pat's wonderful blog for the rules of this Award .
.
My first two selections out of seven have to go to two blogs that I follow very closely because they give me such wonderful information about our needlepoint world:
Janet's blog called Nuts about Needlepoint and Jane's blog called Chilly Holly Needlepoint Adventure. I checked them both out on a regular basis in order to find out what is happening and also what they are both up to.
.
Then it really gets difficult and I am sorry for those that I can't add to my list here as I visit many many blogs as many times each week as I possibly can. Here it goes without any consideration to order they are listed:
Pat's blog called Needleartnut, Laura's blog called Two-Handed Stitcher, Carol's blog called Threads across the web, Judy's blog called Possibilities, etc. and the final one Cyn's blog called Cyn Stitches. I could easily have gone on as I also enjoy reading so many other blogs.
.
Again, a big thank you to everyone who has given me an Award as it makes anyone's day a little more special, doesn't it?
.
Better go back to my stitching now. See you all soon :-)
.
Pierrette =^..^=

The Morning After: Let's meet Santa

I wanted to stitch a little more before adding my first photo, but decided to post now because so many of you wanted to get a progress report, so here it is (grinning).

.

Ok, what have I done so far?

.

The first thing was to work on Santa's face as it is always important to have a feel for what he looks like. On this section, I have pretty much done as Anne did on hers, meaning stitching a bunch of French knots for the bear using in my case Trio T02 which is white in color, but not the white white, but rather more a winter white. It is a bit less traditional than what we always see, but I find that I rather enjoy that winter white, just feels warmer to me. I did some slanted gobelin for the sideburns and changed the eyebrows, which Anne did in French knots, for an outline look, always using the same thread.

.

I am afraid I got ahead of myself here as I worked Santa's face before doing the hair and beard, using different shades of flesh colors in simple DMC floss using the continental stitch. I gave Santa a pinker nose and cheeks using a scotch stitch, just like Anne did with hers. It has been an especially cold night delivering all the wonderful gifts to children around the world, so his cheeks and nose are quite rosy by the time he settles down in his chair for a well deserved rest.

.

After that, I rushed to stitch Santa's pants as I could not let you see him without them as Mrs Santa Claus would have been quite upset with me if I had done so. Remember, she is sitting knitting in the other room (will stitch her after I finish with Santa). I stitched the pants in staggered cross, a stitch I had never used before, and I really love the effect. Again, I used Trio of two different shades of red. I had never used Trio either before and I just love that thread. It has a velour kind of feel to it. Absolutely lovely.

.

Next, I did his hat, using one of the shade of red from Trio, using a diagonal mosaic. I changed the trim by doing only straight vertical stitches and made only one French knot instead of the four that Anne made, but used the complete 6 threads of Trio to make a big French knots.

I also stitched his hands with a simple DMC floss thread.

.

After that, I got busy working on the chair, using two different shades of Petite Very Velvet Green and doing the basketweave. So many stitchers have said that doing basketweave is quite relaxing and I truly agree with this. Using that thread also makes the chair looks so comfy.

.

I have also started working on the wallpaper, using regular DMC floss, one in green and one in red. Still have more to do there.

.

Still lots more to stitch, so will be back with another post when I have a bit more done.

.

Pierrette =^..^=