Showing posts with label Brillante Weblog Award. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Brillante Weblog Award. Show all posts

Monday, August 11, 2008

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.
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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?
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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.
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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.
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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?
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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.
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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.


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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 :-)
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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 .
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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.
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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.
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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?
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Better go back to my stitching now. See you all soon :-)
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Pierrette =^..^=

Thursday, July 31, 2008

The Morning After, an Anne Stradal design & the Brillante Weblog Award

Now that I have completed Gay Ann's Mystery in a Corner, which was so much fun to stitch, I will start working on a pair of Christmas designs from ABS Designs. Why Christmas designs, again in July? Simply because the temperature is close to 100°F outside and I need something to cool me down in addition to the air conditioning which on some days just can't keep up with the demand.
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I love the Christmas season, but I have found lately that I don't always have the time and/or energy to get all my Christmas decorations from the attic down two floors below and spend approximately two days, on and off, putting them all up and then of course taking another two days to take them off after the holidays and bringing them back up to the attic, but I still want to have Christmas decorations in my house, otherwise it just does not feel like Christmas, does it?
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My solution to this little problem is that I now want to stitch more and more Christmas projects that I can either frame myself like with the flat-fold method or a stand-up, or ...... and just get them out during the Christmas season whenever I don't feel like spending days decorating, spread them all around my house and voilà, the Christmas ambiance without having to spend all that time decorating. With these two designs in particular, I am thinking about framing them like if they were some family portraits that you display on any surface in your home. Well, Santa is a dear old friend, isn't he? He sure has spoiled me during all these past Christmasses :-)
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I selected these two designs, The Morning After and The Night Before, because I have always wondered what these two did on Christmas day and now I know, thanks to Anne (grinning). Santa is having a well deserved rest and his dear wife is knitting. Why is she not embroidering, I wonder..................... Might be a cold weather thing, Santa must need a good warm scarf, probably more than one, actually, but I disgress.
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This photo below has been stitched by Anne Stradal and was borrowed to put on my blog today with her permission as I have not yet started working on mine, but will slowly start today. I have got most of my threads, enough anyway to get started.


[The Morning After: Photo stitched by Anne Stradal]

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On another note, I had the honor of receiving the Brillante Award, twice actually in the last few days. The first time was from Rengin who lives in Turkey, for which I have already thanked her and this morning from Laura for which I am very grateful.



I will need a few days to get my ducks in a row and come up with my own list of blogs I enjoy visiting.
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Pierrette =^..^=