A touch of velvet

I began stitching the red and gold ornament with Petite Very Velvet V632 from my stash. PVV is high on my list of favorite threads--it's so easy to work with and gives great texture to a simple ornament like this one. Since I plan to work the rest of the design in DMC floss, the PVV will add a little dimension to the top, bottom and center sections of the finished piece.

The filigree at top and bottom and the diamonds in the center band were worked in Kreinik #12 tapestry braid #002. Smyrna crosses accentuate the inside and the outside points of the diamonds.

So far, so good--now to begin filling in the ovals!

Seeing red

I've been working on a monochromatic canvas under the radar screen lately, and the lack of color was really getting to me! So I'm starting a small project to fix that situation and help out a worthy cause at the same time.

Every other year, the Cape Cod Hospital Auxiliary sponsors a "Holly Berry Bazaar" as a fund-raiser. A friend of mine is in charge of decorating two full-size trees, which are raffled off at the end of the bazaar. One tree has a Cape Cod theme, the other is decked in red and gold ornaments. I already have three ornaments to decorate the Cape tree set to go, and decided to do some work for the other tree.

I've come up with a different colorway for my "Berries in Snow" ornament in the Eggs for All Seasons series. Hopefully this will help decorate the red and gold tree as well as relieve my color deprivation!

Filling in some blanks

I guess I'm basically a monogamous stitcher after all--when a major project captures my attention, I tend to let the less important pieces fall by the wayside. But I picked up my little square again yesterday, to try out another stitch new to me.

At top left is the diagonal triple Parisian stitch, worked with DMC #5 perle cotton #211. The length of the name makes the stitch sound complicated, but it really isn't--just three slanted stitches four canvas threads high, alternating with three slanted stitches two threads high. The scale of the stitch is larger than the others I've tried out so far, and I think I may actually have a use for it in the types of painted canvases I tend to stitch.

I started filling in the double cross framework in the center section of the canvas. As diagrammed, the center of this stitch calls for an upright cross stitch. Using four plies of DMC floss #208, the upright cross didn't cover the area sufficiently, and "dandruff," or little white specks showing through, was the last thing I wanted to see! So I switched to Smyrna crosses as the filler stitch.

The filler for the Ashley stitch in the right panel calls for eight individual tent stitches, which I personally thought too fussy and time-consuming. So I took a tip from a blog reader's comment and used more Smyrna crosses to fill the centers.

What have I learned so far? I've tried out the mechanics of two new stitches--double cross and Ashley. I doubt I'll have occasion to use the latter stitch, as it's quite delicate. But I can see a future for the double cross stitch: working the framework on top of a previously-stitched area for a little surface embellishment. I have a rather large angel canvas in my stash, which might work up quite nicely with Petite Very Velvet as the background of the angel's dress and Kreinik #4 very fine braid used to stitch the framework of the double stitch on top.

Batting 500

I've added another stitch to my compendium: the Ashley stitch, seen at top right and lower left in the first photo. I've done the groundwork for it with four plies of DMC floss #776.

This stitch is basically a cashmere stitch with the first and last short stitches eliminated. Every other vertical row is worked at a 90 degree angle to the row next to it. The gaps between "bricks," shown in the close-up photo, are supposed to be filled in with eight individual tent stitches that are either upright, sideways or angled. Hmmm....I'm not sure why the stitch is completed this way, except perhaps to give the impression of a little flower in the gaps.

Getting eight little stitches inside those gaps seems like an awful lot of trouble to me--I'll think about that later, when I've decided what color to use in finishing the stitch. I still have more canvas to cover!

The Fenway finale

Those of you who've read the March/April 2012 issue of Needlepoint Now may recognize the canvas in this photo. It's by Cape Cod designer Melinda McAra, who created a commemorative version of the original design which I stitched to celebrate the 100th birthday of Fenway Park in Boston.

Over the weekend, Melinda sent me a photo of the finished piece, which was made into a pillow by Marcia Smith Brown, owner of The Binding Stitch, also on Cape Cod. The navy fabric is a nubby corduroy, with little baseballs appliqued at two corners.

This pillow will be auctioned during a radio telethon at Fenway Park in August to benefit the Jimmy Fund, which provides research and care for pediatric cancer patients at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. I hope it fetches a hefty price for a good cause!

Continuing education, Part 2

With the top and bottom bands finished, it's time for a word about the quodlibet border. As a stitch for surface embellishment, I think it's quite pretty--a great way to perk up the hem on a piece of clothing, for instance, that otherwise is a solid color. A series of this border in pastel colors would also be a great way to decorate an Easter egg. Because it's worked over eight threads, it definitely isn't something to use on a piece where the stitches might get snagged.

In the center section, I've stitched the grid for another stitch that's new to me: the double cross. With one strand of DMC #5 perle cotton #335, the same color trimming the top and bottom bands, I worked cross stitches over four canvas threads square. For a complete repeat of this stitch, a canvas thread count evenly divisible by four is required, so I filled in the extra row at top and bottom with tent stitches. No sense in sweating the small stuff when I'm just practicing! I'll go back later and fill in the tiny crosses within the larger crosses when I've figured out what colors to use.

On to the vertical stripes flanking the center section, where I filled in with basketweave using four plies of DMC floss #946. Remember the surface embellishment on the border of the little fish? I wanted to try the same diamond ray stitch I used there, this time in a vertical orientation. With three plies of DMC floss #917, a color best described as magenta/purple, I worked diamond rays on top of the background. I found it interesting that the magenta/purple actually toned down the vibrancy of the tangerine floss. The diamond ray stitch looks okay here, but I think in the long run, the horizontal orientation of this stitch is more effective.

I'll finish off the stripe on the left and move to one of the outside sections to try out another stitch!

Continuing education

Last weekend, I wrapped up another column for Needlepoint Now and decided I needed a break before jumping into the project for the next one. I'd been scouring my stitch books recently, and came across a few stitches that intrigued me. They were totally different from ones I use a lot for stitching models, but also totally cool!

It occurred to me: why not practice some of these stitches in a more formatted way than the typical stitch notebook? After a lot of counting on graph paper, I came up with a grid within a six-inch square to accommodate three of these stitches. I dumped out a bunch of perle cotton and floss from my stash--wild and crazy colors that I definitely wouldn't be using any time soon to stitch a lighthouse!

I've started stitching on top and bottom borders, using DMC #5 perle cotton #335 (hot pink) in a slanted gobelin stitch over three threads. I added DMC #5 perle cotton #208 in two bands of slanted gobelin stitches over two threads, and filled in the area between them with DMC floss #776. I'd already painted the lighter pink bands to insure coverage, since I used only two plies of floss here. On top of the pink I added my first new stitch--a quodlibet border, stitched with three plies of DMC floss #3340.

I've already added stripes of slanted gobelin stitches over two threads, which divide the center section into three areas for the next new stitches, using DMC #5 perle cotton #210. I'll finish the bottom border, just like the top, before moving inside.