The Joy of the Unpainted Canvas

I could call this "The Coloring Book," as I'm filling in color with thread instead of crayons or paint, and the outlines are dark (navy in this case, Kreinik 018HL #12 braid)

As I have said many times, I prefer not painting my own canvases when I intend to stitch them - and am especially grateful these days for the colored Sanford pens - the "permanent marker" kind - not the paint pens. I don't use them to "paint" areas, but rather to delineate irregular shapes, as in a flower petal which includes two colors - or for placing color on the diaper pattern area so as not to be confusing in the stitching..

I'm working simultaneously on several of these - which is easy because the DMC floss colors as well as the Kreinik braid and blending filament are the same for all of them.

The second photo is one of the original series I painted over a period of about two months - all about 6" high, so they work quickly. Very cheerful, they are!! (Most of these show now on my web page, Elegant Whimsies)

On this one, I used the orange Vintage Kreinik blending filament on the upper flower, and really am pleased with the way it works, as it doesn't sparkle, but there is a definite random "gleam" going on. The yellow area has yellow DMC floss and dark yellow blending filament. This is when it starts to get interesting, as I enjoy watching the white areas fill up with color.

The next one is another of the original nine designs. I chose to use Kreinik blending filament for the pattern only, designating the orange, white, and navy floss as "background" - so it stays in the back where it belongs.

However, at the bottom of the flowers on the shaft, I inserted the orange Vintage blending filament to make it part of the design - and I am very pleased with the effect. The last close-up shows how different the yellow floss looks on the scroll in basketweave with blending filament - and then on the diaper pattern in Scotch stitch - long, smooth, and flat without the metallic. A great effect with only one kind of thread!

I used perle cotton on the red flower, as the ropy twist gives it some extra texture to make it stand out above the rest of the pattern - and the bump stitches on the diaper pattern are the same red, but in floss with blending filament added - great effects with simple materials!!