Halloween: My Contribution

I don't usually design anything for Halloween, except the little napkin rings (or bracelets) I did last year - I really enjoyed doing those, and the patterns are all on the Freebies page (my other blog), in case you missed it.

Also, on this blog, look under "napkin rings" on the labels list to see some of them finished.

This pumpkin has been shown before, and I intended it to be a little pillow inset, but now have lost the black Petite Frosty Rays I was using on the background - buried somewhere in the "sparkly threads" stash drawer, probably. It's set up as a 4-way bargello thing.

The pumpkin itself is petite Very Velvet, and the black background around it is YLI Black Shimmer Blend Ribbon Floss in basketweave. The little white dots you see are sparkles, not dandruff of canvas showing through. The face lit up by a candle is worked with DMC floss and Kreinik blending filament.

While we take for granted what the holidays and celebrations are about, I think we really know little of some of the symbolism and customs involved - and I have found it fascinating to research and study some of these. Also, it makes needlepoint renditions more meaningful and fun.

The carved pumpkin with a candle inside had its origin in the custom of medieval holy days in the practice of commemorating the souls in purgatory with candle lanterns carved from turnips. In the Celtic Halloween festivals, large turnips with carved faces and candles were placed in windows to ward off evil spirits.

In North America, pumpkins are more readily available, and much larger than turnips. However, this practice was originally associated with harvest time, and the American tradition preceded the Irish immigration during the great famine. The carved pumpkin was not associated with Halloween until the mid-to-late 19th century. I couldn't resist showing this picture from Nenah's Halloween Collection, as she is adding to it often, apparently. Do go see it HERE.

As for the origin of Halloween, I have known since childhood that it was the evening before All Saint's Day, which is the celebration of all souls, at which time we always went to church. I never really thought about why we celebrated the way we did all dressed up like ghoulies and ghosties, soliciting from door to door good things to eat. (treats) - it was lots of fun!

This custom originated in the medieval practice of poor folk going from door to door on Hallowmas (Nov. 1), receiving food in return for prayers for the dead on All Saints Day. The custom of wearing costumes and masks originated in Ireland as a Celtic tradition of attempting to copy and placate the evil sprits. The term Halloween is from the "All Hallow's Eve" - the night before.


The Mexican Day of the Dead and Halloween have some things in common, and occur in the same time period. They both are from cultural beliefs about death that later blended with Christian beliefs. They are both based on a belief that spirits return at that time of year.

However, in the Christian practice, the sprits were believed to be malevolent, and children were dressed to scare them away.


In Day of the Deal celebrations, the spirits are joyfully welcomed as family members that haven't been seen for a year. I remember, living in Texas, seeing down in the country cemetaries the children's graves covered with toys.


When we were living in Mexico City when my children were very young, it was a time that we allowed our domestics the several days off to celebrate, as it was a joyous occassion, and much feasting and visiting went on while awaiting the spirits of their loved ones. This was an example of the mestizo/campesino melding of ancient spiritual beliefs with Christianity. We had no trick or treating or Halloween celebration, but fortunately, my children were too young to remember doing that before we went to Mexico (a glorious experience).


I think now, having an insight into the meaning of these things, I will enjoy maybe stitching a few little Halloween pillow insets for myself.

Kreinik Metallic Threads: The Many Faces!! (a tutorial)

While going through my rather enormous stash of Kreinik metallics this morning - looking for something I can't find, of course - I was once again amazed at the variety of sizes, colors, finishes, and uses of this miraculous and wonderful thread. As I've said before, I refused to do anything "'Christmas" for many years, due to the fact that there was nothing to stitch with that would make them sparkle and glitter.

These days, almost everything I do has some kind of Kreinik metallic on it, as it is so very very versatile for embellishments and special effects.

However, watching blog stitchers from time to time, and talking to local stitchers, there seems to be confusion about what weight braid to use on which size canvas. Just the braid itself ranges in size from 4 to 32. (increases in increments of four ) Once again - COMMON SENSE!! If it doesn't fit the canvas properly, try another size. Normally, #16 braid fits 13 mesh canvas beautifully for tent stitches - but is skimpy for upright. #12 braid is for 18 mesh canvas in tent stitches and long, slanted stitches, but won't cover well for upright stitches - so one must simply use #16 braid. (Now that "ribbon" has been invented, I love it for the long, slanted stitches, and also for upright stitches, as it lies so flat on the canvas.)

Upright stitches are like bargello - and remember that we always increase the size of the thread for this, as we used 2 plies of Persian wool long ago on 14 mesh, but increased to all three plies for bargello and other upright stitches.

When I stitched the ornament, the ribbon was a new product, and it gave us a whole new dimension for stitching with metallics - I initially thought the 1/16" would work for 18, and the 1/8" for 13 - but actually, the 1/16" works quite well for both upright and tent stitches on 18 mesh canvas, which gives it a great versatility, as the same spool may be used within one piece instead of having to switch to the braid in same color. It's quite flexible in texture.

Here, the gold is ribbon, but I didn't have it yet in the teal, so used braid - #16, of course - and you can see how much flatter the ribbon lies - Also on the leaves around the center flower. The ribbon also eliminates a lot of the "dandruff" that is a problem (canvas showing through) with upright stitches.

The leaves on the Henry mini-sock were also stitched with #16 braid - pre ribbon - and you can see that they don't lie smoothly. However, at that time, there was no metallic ribbon, so I didn't know the difference!
The diagonal piece was designed and stitched after I started using ribbon, and the leaves - although the braid would have worked on the slanted stitches, are beautiful and flat with the metallic ribbon. This is my favorite green - #015 Chartreuse. Notice also how nice and flat the little mosaic stitches are as leaves for the red flowers - the mosaic stitches are outlined in tent stitches with a darker green #12 braid.

The gold, which works so beautifully with Petite Very Velvet and beads, is the 002V. I used #12 braid for this, as the Smyrna crosses and the tent stitches around the bead strand didn't really require ribbon - nor did the long armed cross stitch border. However, ribbon would have worked if that had been all at hand! More on this later.

The Kreink metallics aren't just about braid - they begin with blending filament and go through many many sizes of braid and ribbon, and also "cord," cable, and Japan thread, which have different looks and uses.

Stay tuned - we also have the new one - the "Holographics," which should be great fun.



ADDENDUM: I swore today that after a long week painting, and another yet to come, I would rest a bit and not think about work or new projects - but couldn't leave this one alone, as it's too fine not to think about! Sooo I got out the box and took pictures and played a bit.

The first photo is the new Kreinik Holographic blending filament - some wild and fun looking stuff!The second one is a few of the colors, illustrating the variety of "finishes" and looks just within one grouping of metallic threads - rather incredible. The arrows are pointing to the braid, and the really shiny stuff is the BF, and the other is 1/16" ribbon.

Normally I only use the #8 braid for surface embellishment, as it's too fine for tent stitching and outlining on 18 mesh canvas. However, I've had some "special effects" and embellishments in the back of my mind for quite some time, and this is what I need to accomplish it. Now I'll have to paint really fast this week and reward myself with some play time. Oh joy!!

Moving along with Color!

The stitching on the Talavera cross is showing progress now, as the colors make it come alive.

I've been working with yellow mostly for today's session (while watching old 50's Westerns, which I love).

The close-up shows the amazing difference just the stitches make while using the same thread. The sunflower petals and the little square things on the diaper pattern are both DMC cotton floss #3821.

The difference is that I also used Kreinik Blending Filament #028 on the sunflower. The squares in the pattern are simply floss in Scotch stitch - and they look lighter and brighter than the basketweave of the flower petals, as they lie flat and reflect more light.

I decided the flower centers in the blue ones needed to be lighter and without sparkle, so used DMC Satin floss there with no blending filament. The photo of the threads shows the versatility of this BF, as you can see that the yellow is dark, and blends beautifully with the floss. There is also a light BF, which I've enjoyed using with the next shade lighter in the floss on other things.

The green (Kreinik BF #009) looks rather dark to blend with #987 green, and I was afraid it wouldn't work for this - but it blends very very well, and exhibits a light, bright random sparkle which livens it up a lot. This shows that one needs to experiment, even if it doesn't look quite right lying on the table!!

The next photo shows the #018 Kreinik metallic - two are blending filament, and two are #12 braid. The one on the far left is just plain 018. ( I didn't have BF to show) The dark navy on the fat spool next to it is HL, and the small spool to the right of that is blending filament HL. The light one is Vintage BF. The floss is #336. (the background on this piece.) The Vintage BF is what I used with the navy floss on the square "bump" stitches in the diaper pattern.

The arrow in the close-up picture is pointing to the only one I could get the light to hit correctly to show one little sparkle. In person, it's an interesting effect, and it looks much better than it would with the darker HL version.

Beads on the Un-Painted Canvas

First, I want to share the Holiday card I received from the staff of Needlepoint Now - I'm sure all subscribers have one by now.

I was ROFL at the message, as I know there are very few who don't know exactly what the sentiment is saying - without having to consult color cards. Clever girl, our Elizabeth, (new owner and editor-in-chief of the magazine), whose name is signed in what looks more like 002HL than 202HL.

So now to the business at hand. I haven't been diligent about posting lately, as I was busy with other things, and working on three canvases simultaneously. The Sunflower Cross in Talavera is the first of these on which I have been able to use beads.

These designs are so suitable for my enjoyment of using simple stitches (almost entirely basketweave) with simple materials - mainly DMC floss and Kreinik metallics. However, I felt that the sunflower center definitely needed something extra, so I placed ink dots on the weft threads in a lattice pattern based on a count of 3. Then, DMC floss in brown is worked around the dots in basketweave, and then beads placed. (Sundance, of course, in brown - not sparkling, but simply shiny.)

The next photo shows how the cross looks now, with some color added. I have been watching a most delightful BBC mini-series on DVD's, (The Duchess of Duke Street) and decided to just do outlining, which doesn't require much concentration - just relaxing.

You can see how the simple color markings with the Sharpie permanent pen are guides to shading the flat flower petals. There was no need to paint them, but I did need guidelines.

The burgundy colored diagonal band is worked with DMC cotton floss and Kreinik metallic blending filament in a Vintage color almost the same.

I really like this Vintage, as it doesn't sparkle, but emits a subtle gleam in the orange and the burgundy on this piece.

The last two pictures are of one of the "mini-crosses," first with just some color added, and the last one with background - this shows so well how the pattern really pops out against the matte floss in navy 018.

Now - back to an evening with the Duchess and more stitching. Tomorrow I paint!! At this time, I am planning great entertainment with old Tyrone Power swashbuckling movies from the 50's - which I loved when I was an impressionable child.

If I had had the chuzpah of the Duchess of Duke Street, my children wouldn't be running my life now.

Blending Filament for Special Effects

Blending filament again, and what a great find for a former dilemma! These Talavera pieces couldn't take decorative stitches, but definitely needed something to jazz them up a bit for use as tree ornaments - especially with the bright and lively colors.

This little cross is a smaller version of one I'm showing on Freebies, as an example of how to make the change in size for a simpler project. The description of how I use blending filament for the most effect is on this blog in an earlier post.

Anyway, I have really liked this one, but didn't want to undertake the big one right now, so had to "small it down" to stitch for myself.
I enjoy working on a bare canvas with only the outlines drawn - both because it's like painting with needle and thread, and because I'm too lazy to paint one for myself. It keeps me going to watch the pattern emerge in color!


I've started the outline on this one in Kreinik navy 018HL, size 12 braid (for 18 mesh canvas). It gives a bit of sparkle and shine along with the DMC cotton floss I've chosen.

The floss colors are exactly the colors on the cross, and the blending filament fits right in. I'm calling the navy, white, and orange the "background" on this piece, so won't use any sparkle with it - but the pattern elements definitely need the zing of some random sparkle and shine - hence the blending filament that won't overwhelm it as a shinier thread would.


By not making the background sparklle, the design will show up better. I'm off now to stitch a bit, as the weather turned cooler, and I can enjoy some fine, hot tea. (a new package has arrived from Tea Embassy - one I've gotten rather addicted to is the Rooibos, and my favorite has just a hint of chocolate and mint. It's yummy, and has no caffeine.)

Footnote: These Talavera crosses are available for sale at my Web Store, ELEGANT WHIMSIES - the link is on the side bar.

Using Blending Filament: A Pumpkin and a Cross

I first saw blending filament in a shop that was mostly counted X-Stitch in about 1986. At that time, it was known as "Balger Blending Filament" and was used by the cross stitchers to add a bit of sparkle to their work.

I had refused, in the past, to design Christmas ornaments, as Persian wool and cotton floss were all we had for needlepoint, and tree ornaments need glitter and sparkle and shine - or at least one of the above.

Anyway, I had an "aha!" moment, and decided it might do as well for needlepoint with cotton floss - so I used a X-stitch chart of a peach, and since needlepoint on 18 mesh canvas requires 4 plies, and X-stitch this size only 2, it seemed only reasonable to go ahead and double the strand of blending filament along with the floss - and it worked! I had a peach in needlepoint with sparkles!!!

For anyone who hasn't seen my little method of using cotton floss so that the plies stay put and don't go anywhere, I simply open out the entire skein, then put the two ends together and fold it over three times, cutting the loops on the ends. This leaves a rather long thread - even doubled, it seems long, (19") but it doesn't fray, and is sooooo easy to use this way. I simply take off two plies and double them, and thread the loop through the eye of the needle - and then make a slip knot against the eye. Very easy stitching, as everything stays put.

The illustrations are showing the floss including the blending filament, which I cut to the 38" length before doubling the entire strand for threading. Stitching with the needle threaded this way, the plies all stay put and give me no trouble at all!!

I use exclusively the Kreinik filament, as I really like the color range and the look of it, and also the fact that it comes, like the braid, in several different "finishes" - including the Vintage and High Luster. I've never had a problem with it breaking or fraying when I use it this way.

I think some are misunderstanding the purpose of "blending filament," as I hear complaints that it gets lost in the thread plies - but this could possibly be the result of only using the one ply. Also, this filament is not intended to look like a solid metallic, or to show with every stitch, but to BLEND with a fiber, and give the lovely effect of random, occassional sparkle. You can see it here, I think, on the features of the pumpkin.

Pat Miller (Needleartnut) suggested, when I couldn't decide whether to make the features yellow or black, to do a yellow metallic - which made sense, as I wanted to do a black background, and there is supposed to be a candle inside the pumpkin anyway. However, I felt that a solid metallic yellow might be too much, so I dug out a yellow blending filament, and am very pleased with the result. Glowing, subtly sparkly features against the matte Petite Very Velvet of the pumpkin is a great contrast!

On the Talavera cross, the filament also solved the problem of my not wanting a lot of glitter - as I am using the Kreinik navy HL braid for the outlines (and the 032 on the blue at the top), and didn't want a lot more on it. However, it did need something, so the blending filament is on the yellow-green leaves, and will be used also on the flowers at the bottom. It's also in the yellow center of the red flower - so by just using this little bit, the eye travels downward from the top, drawn by the subtle bit of sparkle, and doesn't get distracted by too much in the body of the design.

The pumpkin is a Freebie design on my other blog - so I'll deal with stitching it there.