Decorating the Topiary (with Kreinik)

Looking back on the blog posts here, I see that I've been playing with this thing since December 24! I'm still playing, but it's beginning to be interesting now.

An experiment, it is - but I'm learning the variables of working with the Kreinik on it as I embellish. Be sure to go to Freebies, etc. to see the new metallic "Hot Wire" that Kreinik now has - a new thing. I found it just when I needed it for embellishment trials here.

Anyway - back to the decorating. For the lower swag, I used #12 Holographic 002, and it's quite showy in the "heavy chain" I found at PINTANGLE in Sharon B's stitch dictionary.

Incidentally, I don't remember if I've shown this picture before or not - the arrows are pointing to my mistakes in not stitch counting symmetrically on these two swags. They are supposed to look horizontal when the tree is made into a cone, but they should have been perfectly centered - like the bottom. So far, I've hidden this effect with a generic sillk ribbon flower.

Also, I was able, since stitch drawing that bottom swag symmetrically, I was able to do the chain stitch without tent stitching the line first - much easier, and of course less time consuming.

I realize I seem to be jumping around a bit here, but this is how I've developed it so far - just a little at a time to try out special effects.

The Feather Stitch put down first makes a great background - pretty but understated - for whatever decides to come next. This, too, is on Pintangle in the Stitch Dictionary.
















I made this bottom shot with a bit of sunlight on it, as it was suppose to show the Holographic heavy chain - it's beautiful in person. The Feather Stitches Kreinik 002 #4 braid) were deliberately made to be irregular, but basically as perpindicular as possible to the chain so that they will be positioned correctly when the tree is made into a cone.

Recently, I saw somewhere a charming little ornament frame made with twisted DMC Memory Thread - so had to try it with the Kreinik metallic. It was more difficult to twist, due to the texture of the metallic covering, but I did find a splendid use for it - little candly canes! Here is a picture of a short length of it twisted as cording - you can see this on the other blog, as well as a candy cane (peppermint) made of three cords.
This is how it looks at the top now - I'll let it rest for a day or two.

Painting Monet - More Buried Treasure

I found more photographs while dumping out ancient files - these were dated 1996, so were taken long before I had either a digital camera or a computer. There are even shadows at the top right of this one, as I had taken it outdoors for good light.

I painted this for myself (copyright thing, etc. so I never marketed it), just to see if I could do it. It isn't the prettiest canvas I ever painted, but I will say it was the greatest challenge, the most difficult, and I thoroughly enjoyed it - and achieved what I wanted to do.

Being always mindful of painting to make the stitching easy and relaxing, I wanted to anchor the lily pads as they float on the water, but yet give the water depth and show the reflection of the trees.
The lilies and their pads appear very colorful, but if you look at the close-up, you can see that there are actually very few colors, and those are painted simply for easy stitching.

The colors used are just "generic" enough that one could choose any of several ranges of the hues used. One would not have to stick absolutely to the color on the canvas.

The second detail shows the reflected trees with the lily pads floating on the surface of the water. This was the most difficult effect I've ever worked out. The trees had to be easy to stitch - but still kind of fuzzy like a reflection.

The water is smeared looking only because I was going to do it myself, and just wanted to cover the canvas. If it were a commercial canvas, I would have smoothed out the paint so it would look nicer in a shop. There was a second canvas - a pink one - that disappeared.

Monet painted these water lily pieces in several different colors - even green. This flower pot was inspired by one of the green paintings.

When I was first back in Austin, I still wasn't painting needlepoint canvases again yet, but started doing decorative accessories for Breed and Co. here and also the National Wildflower Research Center (Now Lady Bird's Research Center).

For Breed's I did a series of French Impressionist pots, including the saucers, which could be lids for enclosing a gift or candies or something of that nature. I used those little cheap bottles of acrylic paint - the Folk Art or Apple, made by Plaid Enterprises - great paint. It doesn't require a sealer, and I have pots that I painted many years ago that have been outside with plants in them - and they still look fresh.


These were really fun, and very fast to produce, as they were done almost totally with natural sponges, and just smeared onto the pot. The little lilies were put there quickly with a worn out paint brush - just brush strokes.

The next pot is from the painting of "Monet's Roses." It was extremely simple - done all with a wet sponge except for the little roses. Those are just dabbed on with an old soft brush.



















Then another water lilies design adapted to a terra cotta flower pot. These are just the simple clay pots you can get at your garden center. Incidentally, if you want to try this yourself, do NOT use the tube acrylics, as they dry with a plastic finish, and water will seep through the walls of the pot and cause blisters and paint peeling off. The bottled paint seems to breathe with the clay, so gives no trouble. Enough is enough for tonight. It's time for tea and a good movie.

This last pot, I'm ashamed to say, is a mystery, as I cannot remember who the painter was. I'm inclined to say it's from Cezanne, as his style with the outlined fruit says so. However, Van Gogh's style also shows in the blue pitcher and flowers. Oh well. The arrow is pointing to a place that is a white paint mark - not something shiny.

Oops! One more. This last one is one of my very favorites of the Van Gogh paintings - his "Flowering Almond Branch."

Learning/Practicing/Creating Needlepoint on Simple Shapes

I'm still working on the conical topiary trees, and also on the Bavarian lace - but as a lot of background is required, and both pieces are green, I have to take a break.

This subject is a result of two things: First, I have been cruising around on the internet looking at painted canvases, and cannot believe some of the things I see. There are pieces that are so simple that anyone could put them onto canvas, and at rather outrageous prices, I think.

As a designer of painted canvas for so many years, I do know why fine HP Canvases are very expensive - but people need to know that they can do their own simpler small pieces if they are shown how. I used to love teaching this. Actually, most of them don't even need to be painted!




















The houndstooth check piece is one I did while experimenting with effects with mosaic stitch - and making my own houndstooth larger from the simple little count I developed for it. No paint required here, but just the symmetric outline of the heart drawn onto the canvas. I usually don't paint my ornaments of this sort- it's just not necessary.

Naturally, getting out these patterns (showing on the side bar as e-patterns to buy and download yourself) sent me spinning off in yet another direction: I thought of painting a bare canvas drawn in a shape- probably a circle or a heart - and doing some "scant coverage" things on it, after painting/smearing with a natural sponge in an abstract pattern..

I had to go dig out my collection of sponges from my pottery making for this, so the rest of the story waits (for success or failure). Liz Morrow is who told me about this technique.

If it emerges as I "see" it in my head, it will be great. If not, Oh Well. I normally do not like scant coverage, but in this case it has some possibilies. Now I'm off to find a movie to watch and more green stitching on the tree, and then some lace drawing.

I'm showing here several of my "cookie cutter" ornaments - something I developed a number of years ago when I was experimenting with different fibers, stitches, and techniques, and tired of wasting time and canvas with just scraps. At least this way, I had something I could finish and use later - and they are small, bright, and entertaining, and they don't take long to stitch. A great relief in among larger projects.

Art in Stitchery

When I first started this post this morning (Wednesday in Austin) it was still Wednesday "downunder," and Sharon B. (PINTANGLE) had made a wonderful second edition post to her original one for "Work in Progress Wednesday," showing her progress on this beautiful thing.

I just checked on it, and now it's Thursday there, and she has posted yet another one of interest - lots of links to great things we all enjoy.

Anyway, the picture is showing the progress on the piece she showed last Wednesday, which gave also the inspiration and how she adapted it to a lovely piece of surface embellishment type embroidery. This is worth studying, and it even makes me want to give it a try.!

Beautiful Surface Embellishment

This is a blog cruise to really enjoy, as Allison Aller (whose beautiful first book is ready to be "out" in February) just returned from the Houston Quilt Show with pictures of the art quilting represented there. (not all crazy quilt - lots of what I call "art quilts")

Allie's blog is one of the very first I found after I was given a computer and shown how to turn it on and off by two of my sons, (one of whom, my James, installed my internet and showed me how to do e-mail) and has been the mainstay of inspiration for my adaptations of art crazy quilt to needlepoint.

She also guided me, after we became fast friends on the internet, on how to "do" a blog, and made a gorgeous block for me to use in my very first article in Needlepoint Now - which was May/June three years ago.

The second picture is of a quilt named "Legendary Ladies and Fabulous Fans" by Barbara Warner. There is some genuinely beautiful art in this show, and Allie has several posts, and I think more to come.

The Quilt show has quite a variety of styles!! It's worth a look - and do give yourself plenty of time! I have found a tremendous amount of visual inspiration and methods for embellishing the surface of needlepoint in these CQ blogs.

I am not a quilter, although I have loved over the years putting traditional patchwork onto canvas for needlepoint, and now am mesmerized by the embellished CQ. I'm eagerly awaiting February and Allie's book - it's total Eye Candy as well as fine instruction! See her at Allie's in Stitches.

Bead Sprinkles for the Cookie

At this point, these Shamrocks look rather flat and uninteresting and I wonder what I'm doing. I think the idea of doing cookies began when I was looking for "Shamrocks," and images of plates of cookies with icing decoration popped up on my screen.

There was one that was a kind of medium dark green, and completely covered with what looked like solid sugar sprinkles with an outline of a lighter green line of icing. The best way, I decided, would be to do it with beads in my little "beaded solid but really isn't" technique.

This came about totally by accident about five years ago when I was doing plaids, and one day was weary of stitching weft. I decided to try doing the weft bands in beads, and to my astonishment, it looked like solid beading. The warp stripes had already been stitched - where I stitch vertical bands of color in basketweave, but using only the warp stitches, and leaving the weft stitches bare for horizontals. (You can see this "warp only" basketweave effect on the shamrock in the first photo).

The gingham heart is the piece I was working on when I found this new technique that has served me well for a long time and for many projects.

Another project in which I used this was the bracelet and earring phase. I have shown these before a long time ago, but dug them out to make a point.

I think I'm going on and on about what amounts to a designer's evolution of discovering methods and technique and useful "special effects" accidentally. Happy accidents!!

Back to the cookie! The next thing to consider was the kind of beads needed to do the "sprinkles." The first time I "saw" sprinkles was when I was designing four-way-bargello eggs a while back - a year or two back, and had embellished with beads. They suddenly looked like sugar sprinkles!

For this Shamrock, I knew that colored beads wouldn't look quite right, so resorted to my very favorite effect - the clear beads (Sundance #250 size 14) applied with the same color DMC floss as the background.

I used the plain ones rather than the hexagonal, as I wanted shine but not sparkle. There is a definite difference. The sparkle of the hex beads is more like ice.


The detail of the March Birthday CQ shows the plain clear beads attached with yellow floss and looking like water drops. "Ice" was on December. The bit of aquamarine jewelry you can see was made with aqua beads worked with basketweave as usual - it even works in very small spaces!

Now - back to the Shamrock, and the amazing change with just adding the beads! There is a strange looking diagonal effect which is due to the angle and the light I used - haste is the enemy of perfection. It doesn't look this way in real life, but just appears to be a solid coating of clear sugar sprinkles with green showing through. Amazing!!















In the detail, you can see clearly the effect of the diagonal tent stitch (basketweave) worked on every other row- which means it lands only on the warp stitches (the "bumps.")
Then the beads are inserted on the weft stitches, which are little dips. This way, the beads don't clump and wobble and look crowded and messy.

Also, in the case of using clear beads with colored floss on a painted canvas, by doing the warp stitches in color instead of beads, you get stronger color for the whole piece, whereas it would be too light and frosty looking (washed out) if no colored stitches were showing.

That's all for this evening. It's now time to go steal candy out of the basket by the front door in between rings of the doorbell. Little spooks and goblins are beginning to arrive!!

Moving Along with Shamrocks

Designers of painted needlepoint canvas have the year all turned around, as we have to plan ahead - waaaay ahead of the actual season. I think in the case of the Shamrocks, some of us are just tired of seeing pumpkins and witches over and over and over.

I don't do Halloween anyway except for a spot of candy corn now and then. I have no idea why I decided cookies would be a good idea - but here it is.

While I was working on two of these today, and my mind going faster and faster, I thought about the cookie cutter shapes I started using years ago to make ornaments instead of wasting time and materials as I worked out new techniques and stitches, and tried out new threads.

I had actual cookie cutters to trace around, and finally put them all into a booklet, which has now become an E-Book. I'm offering it at half price (on the side bar) as long as I'm on this shamrock cookie binge, as I thought some of you might enjoy trying these out for yourselves. It has a few additional shapes, like a mini-stocking, included also. ( I also have my "Paint Your Own Canvas" at half price on the Freebies Etc. blog this week.)

Anyway - back to the subject: The first photo shows getting started, and shows the beginning of the cookie dough border - the proper method of basketweave to keep it neat. The arrow points to where I stopped in order to continue the weft stitches in a straight line - and at the top as well.
This is shown as tutorials on both blogs with more detail.

The second picture shows the weft row completed, short one stitch. These two are actually moving along rapidly. Remember that green is a soothing and therapeutic color!!

I used diagonal cashmere on the first one, as I'm going to "decorate" it with icing.

It doesn't really have to look like icing, as it's just a cookie replica in needlepoint, after all, and I would rather have the time to play with embellishments - as I would a pastry tube if doing it in the kitchen for real.

Notice that I have outlined the icing shape first, as always, to confine the textured stitch, and to prevent ragged, unattractive edges.

The second one is really prettier than it looks here, as the light was bad at this time. I used a gorgeous "Holly" green Vineyard silk in Nobuko stitch, and the Petite Very Velvet dough is a cooler tan than I used on the light, yellowish green of the first one.

This is a small, kind of mindless piece, that is a relief from anything big and complicated, and I will enjoy playing with several, I think, to experiment with different effects. I put a pattern on Freebies that you can print out and trace onto canvas if you wish to try a few yourself.

What Color is Green??

This is a question I used to ask my students back when I was teaching hobbyists to paint and to mix colors. "Green is green" was the usual answer until I sent them outside to look - then it was difficult to get them to do anything but mix green paint.


Fascinating! A bit of color theory was thrown in , of course, to help them understand the "why" of what they were doing in the mixtures. It's really great to have control when mixing paint!

Anyway, I was inspired and motivated by my friend (internet type co-conspirator/fellow designer/collaborator up on Cape Cod) to do something regarding shamrocks, as that's what she is doing right now.

My only thought was a cookie. I mean ONE cookie. Then I decided to research "shamrock cookies" and couldn't believe the images I found - which may lead to a whole basketful of them. I had thought in the beginning with just one to make pale green icing with some dark green and crystal beads on top for "sprinkles."

However, now this idea has grown and grown to include a lot of different threads and "colors" of green and other wonderful things. It seemed only right to use Petite Very Velvet for the cookie dough, and then different textures for the icing itself. This is only a fraction of what I have buried in the drawers of my stash.

The Memory Thread will also make great icing as it would be if extruded from a pastry tube!! This will be lots of fun, and remembering that it's just a needlepoint replication, it doesn't have to be EXACTLY like a cookie, but can be used to practice many new stitches and techniques for decoration. as long as it "reads" as icing.


The first photo is as far as I went today, and is the first sketch that's done for a new piece - getting the size right, etc. The arrow points to a place that isn't quite correct and will need to be redrawn - tomorrow! I do hope to start stitching one soon.


When I get the drawing to suit me, I will probably put it up on Freebies, etc. so you can print it out and play along.

Choosing Threads for a Small Project (quick cure for PPD)

When I finished the big Celadon canvas, I was really tired of it, even though it wasn't a boring piece. I always have a letdown (Post Project Depression) after finishing any big endeavor - either stitching or painting, and need something fast to divert and entertain me.

I was digging around in a drawer of things I had painted a while back for the blogs, and found the "jeweled" napin rings (which can also be bracelets if elongated). For some reason, I had always been fond of this one - with "pearls." This is one of those things I wonder about now - what was the inspiration, and what was going on in my mind? I'm not nearly this clever this week.

Anyway, although the paint is a bit brighter than the Petite Very Velvet I chose, I like the soft, velvety background. If I had used anything else, basketweave would have shown as texture, whereas stitches with PVV hardly show at all.. Besides, the gleam of the Kreinik 002V braid is gorgeous against it!

Normally, the little picot edge would have beads inserted for a little extra sparkle and shine, but in this case, I didn't want that, as it wouldn't look right with the surface of the pearls. it would just have been a lot of white dots to fight with the "string of pearls." The pearls are just a "bump" stitch over 3 x 3 stitches with Renaissance Shimmer.

The edge is done, as usual, with long-armed cross stitch, and with the 002V Kreinik, it is rather Baroque looking - a great effect! I like using this stitch on bracelets, belts, and napkin rings, as it folds over nicely and makes the finishing neater.

The left end of the napkin ring, not quite finished, shows where I decided to extend it one thread, as the pearl meets the one on the other end, and in finishing, they would run together with no separation.

It's such a mathematical process putting these on canvas - very simple, really - that it didn't occur to me to separate them. Probably nobody sitting at a table and using it would notice, but I would.

Since long-armed cross stitch works from left to right, I turned the canvas upside down so I could see what it would look like sooner. I believe these are on my Freebies, etc. blog where you could download the pattern - also check the label on this blog for it - it's been a while, and I don't remember where I put it.

A Fabulous Stitch Dictionary!!

A wonderful thing today on PINTANGLE!! Sharon B. has put in PDF form a great stitch dictionary, as a result of her TAST (Take A Stitch Tuesday) exercises this year - and other things. She has an extensive dictionary of embroidery stitches that includes many variations of each - but this downloadable dictionary, as well as her TAST challenge also show many ways to use the stitches to create patterns of their own.


I have enjoyed for several years using embroidery stitches on TOP of my stitched needlepoint to further enhance it and create special effects, and have found a lot of inspiration and ideas on this site, as Sharon goes way beyond just showing in fine detail not only how to make the stitches, but how to combine and to use the variations to create special effects.



The second photo is showing the format of the new dictionary/journal. This thing is incredible, and I've already printed out the first installment, each of which is three stitches.
In my enthusiasm for this project, I am wanting to show too much of it, but will confine myself to a few comments.


The first stitch shown by itself (my own choice from Sharon B's dictionary) is "zig-zag chain stitch," and it looks like something that could be used as an edging on a sleeve or neckline or something of that sort to resemble a "trim." I have planned a series of little "ethnic" stylel dolls, and will use a lot of these things for added effect in surface embroidery.
Next is a "swatch" of simple herringbone, but applied like this, it looks like netting!

I used many of these stitches on my little coral reef series - for coral and seaweed both. Different effects with different threads, from DMC Memory Thread to Threadgatherer "sea grass." I also enjoy preparing ahead of time some ornament shapes already background stitched, usually with needle blending - so can practice creating effects with different threads and stitch combos.


But enough of this - go to PINTANGLE and check it out for yourself, and print out the first installment. It's a freebie, offered by Sharon's great generosity - and we thank her profusely!!

It's Ornament Time!

It's time to think of new ornaments, and also time to learn and practice new stitches and techniques! For this reason, I've reached into my own e-booklets of ornament shapes to get ready.

I had already made two with backgrounds of needle blending (a red one and a pink one) so I'd have something to practice Sharon Boggon's Tuesday stitches on, plus a few things I'd like to do with DMC Memory Thread. I stitch these backgrounds while watching something interesting on TV or watching a movie, as I like to keep my hands busy, and want something that requires no thought.

I started drawing the basic ornament shapes several years ago so as not to waste time, canvas, and threads on just scraps - but ending the experiment activity with something useful and (hopefully) pretty.

The first picture is an ornament I showed here not too long ago, as I was working with Memory thread, and also the new Kreinik Holographic metallics. Sharon B. had posted that wonderful "cloud filling" on her TAST thing on PINTANGLE, so all I had to do was copy one of my own shapes to decorate. (This one was taken from my booklet of "Traditional Ornament Shapes.")

The second picture is also a re-run, and shows some basic shapes I drew long ago for learning and playing with new stitches and techniques. These have all been put to use, which is much better than wasting effort on scraps.

Now - a commercial for me. While I do have these on my web page as e-books, I've also put them now in an Etsy shop, with which I've entertained myself setting up for the last two days. I am an idiot with these things, so it's a major triumph to get it done. You can see them HERE.

I've also been working for the last few days, after thinking about it for a few weeks, on tutorials for beginners at painted canvas stitching. The first consideration, of course, is choosing an appropriate canvas - a simple and well painted one. I'll hopefully be ready to start this by tomorrow or the next day. Don't give up on me yet - I've been slow due to hot weather being disagreeable and a lot a chaos going on. This too shall pass.

Calla Lilies and Earrings - the Angel Progresses

The angel with calla lilies has been very enjoyable, due to the bright colors - she's so cheerful!

The lilies are conventionalized, as they are in Mexican art, and rather flat looking, so I jazzed them up a bit by using Kreinik #032 blending filament with #3865 white in basketweave. I like this white better than the "blanc," which is great for many things, but would be too glaring for this piece.

I also felt that due to the lilies' being flat, the background should be textured a bit. Normally I don't do this, but in this case it worked! Nobuko was used, and I'm pleased with the way it fills the area - which was, of course, first bordered by outlining with the burgundy to keep the edges neat.


For the headband, neck trim, and earrings, I used Kreinik metallic 1/16" ribbon in 001Vintage silver. I chose using the ribbon instead of braid, as, due to the construction, the ribbon lies flatter and has a beautiful sheen - especially on the "bump" stitch that makes the earrings.

The hair is worked with satin stitches and DMC floss in 4 plies. The turquoise insets are RG Frosty Rays YO34. I would have preferred using the petite FR, but this is what was in my stash already, and the color is perfect.

Next, showing another idea that popped into my head yesterday. I had to make a quick sketch on crumpled tracing ipaper - but it serves. I decided to do one with a fat braid on top of her head, and a flower on the side.

The next step was to put the tracing under a piece of scrap canvas and play with stitch drawing it so that it works and will stitch properly. I have no idea at this point what she'll be wearing. The colored Sharpie drawing pens are great at this point! This is a project for another day - hopefully by Monday! Meanwhile, several people have asked what I'll do with these angels.

I have mentioned "stand-ups" several times, and by this, I mean a flat, padded, shaped piece with an easel on the back. I want people to see that angels in needlepoint have other uses besides just hanging on a Christmas tree, and as they are guardians, after all, they need to be visible all year..

This is the back of a Celtic cross I did a number of years ago. Vikki Pinson did the finishing, and, as always, did a remarkable job.


It is flat, lightly padded, and backed with moire'. There is also a cord attached for eventual hanging on a wall, if desired. Vikki only needs about two threads of background stitched around these shapes, as she does all of the stitching by hand - no glue at all - so is able to curve it neatly and well where necessary.





















On this cross, I didn't yet know about using fewer rows of background, so added too much. Oh well.

Evolutions in Stitches!

This evening bag is an old one - at least 7 or 8 years old. I was in my "jeweled bug" phase, and was determined to put this one onto black.

Drawing it was easy, as I used a white paint pen, but I knew I didn't want to stitch a solid background on that black canvas. Hard on the eyes at any age, especially mine!

My wonderful finisher and good friend Vikki Pinson here in Austin made this evening bag - I simply gave her the little 5" x 7" canvas, and told her to do whatever she wished with it - and this was the result. I love those sassy looking beads at the bottom.

Anyway, the background I settled on doing was the result of just playing around, some time before, on scrap canvas to see what I could come up with. Quite an evolution!

Next is a composite scan of the evolution of the stitch I used on the background. The pink heart was the first, as I was making backgrounds to use when working on learning to make silk ribbon embroidery flowers. Plain color was boring, so I marked off a grid on this one that left 4 stitches square in between. Leaving the intersections of the horizontal and verticals bare, I then put a darker pink (doesn't show up well on this scan, but I couldn't find the actual stitched piece) single tent stitch in the blank - but made one on top of that going to opposite direction (an X) to make a little bump.

That, of course, gave me the idea of using a bead there instead - thus the orange and yellow grid. On this one, you can see the progression of stitching, etc.

It uses three stitches square inside the lines, and Scotch stitch used to fill them in. Then one day I was looking at the canvas with the dots placed on it, and "saw" something else. The arrow points to the lines I drew to illustrate the placement of the long stitches made with Ribbon Floss - and the dot left in the middle for later inserting a bead there as well as in the intersections of the Ribbon Floss.

The background could, of course, be worked first in basketweave (leaving the dot bare) and then putting the Ribbon Floss into place. Very simple!!

I used black YLI Ribbon Floss Shimmer Blend on the black evening bag, with Sundance black hexagonal beads. It really sparkles and glitters!! Since I don't sparkle and glitter any more, I let Vikki keep it to illustrate her expertise in creating fabulous things with a simple needlepoint canvas.

The little green piece with beads is another story - it was on the scan, but it doesn't belong with this particular explanation/evolution, as it's worked with the dots in a different format. It led to several other patterns in a different phase. Later.