5 Geisha Standing in a Red Lacquer Tray!

I was very lucky to find this canvas painted by the late Anne Jerlow, finding it about a year ago up on a wall in a small out of the way shop. Painted more like a line drawing than a fully decorated canvas, left much to the imagination when contemplating thread and stitch choices.

Brain storm! I know, I'll try to locate a stitch guide and I did just that. So proud was I when I came across the guide on Susan Portra's website, http://www.bringyourcanvastolife.com/ and wasted no time in ordering it. You might say I was all over it like a spider monkey!

Sent promptly, I was thrilled to get started. Which unfortunately didn't happen. Other priorities taking over, the guide was kept in it's express mail envelope and later discarded as empty. What?!? What!?! Felt like forgetting to buy a lottery ticket and your numbers came in. Despondency immediately setting in, I thought of re-ordering it, but that would have been what any normal thinking person would have done. I, on the hand, decided it was a lesson better learned if I just figured out the stitches on my own. Well this always holds up my progress and it took working about 6 months off and on to complete the project.

I knew I wanted to put it in a large Sudberry tray I had purchased earlier because they were on sale. At that time I didn't have anything particular in mind for the trays, yes, I said trayssss. Two separate mats were then cut and purchased, a black and red, and it turned out that the black was the best choice. The red perfectly matched the tray, but it was just too much red.

The wall background was stitched in #5 perle coton, the geisha's hair was all done in either Medici wool or #3 perle, all bodices used Sparkle Rays and all hair decoration was done in Flair. The "floor" was stitched in Silk and Ivory.

The green/black figure was stitched using, NN Floss Overdye, Neon Rays+, and Medici for the star shapes; Petite Very Velvet, Krenik braid, Razzle Dazzle, Mandarin Floss, and Soy Lustre Shadows for the 2nd geisha; the center figure was stitched using mostly perle coton, some Pebbly Perle, Sparkle Rays, and a little Treasure Braid. For geisha #4 I wanted to use Gloriana's 9 strand wool because I had it in my "signature color" which is turquoise. May not have been the best choice or else I could have used a different stitch where coverage would have been successful. Also used on the 4th geisha was Razzle Dazzle, Flair and Petite Very Velvet for the obi and red accents in Sparkle Rays. The purple geisha has Mandarin Floss, Sparkle Rays, couched Krenik Fine Braid Overdye and Treasure Ribbon.

These were really a blast to do, I was held up mostly because I wanted to find tiny little hair things (look like chopsticks but aren't). I scoured around all the scrapbooking supplies where there are always miniatures of real things but had no luck. So I used a variety of metalics and velvets instead. The geisha's final resting place will be on a black chest located in my daughter's upstairs guest bedroom; happily entertaining her overnight guests. Hmmm.

I am so excited this is done and I will have Rio Rincon up when it returns from the framers and as posted earlier, my pesky kimono should be constructed over the weekend. Wooooooooo Hoooooooooooooo. I am sooooooooo looking forward to playing in my 2009 queue! If you made it down this far to what must have seemed like an unending blog entry, I thank you very much for stopping by today.

Finished/Framed/Finally

I've been waiting for the mat to be cut so I could frame and finish this piece. I took this as a class by Suzy Murphy from her "Suzy's Lite Stitches" book. The canvas was beautifully painted by Liz at Tapestry Tent Designs, making it difficult to mess up on this project. (You may refer to my post of 5/28/08 for more information on the class).

A variety of threads were used including, Impressions, Flair, Balger Braid, Petite Very Velvet , NN Overdye Floss, Rainbow Gallery HiLights, and Anchor Floss. Stitches used are Tent, Random Long and Short, Encroaching Gobelin, Double Twill, Hungarian Bargello, Double Hungarian and Horizontal Parisian. With the exception of the Elk, the stitches and threads were chosen to let the painted design show through.I have never used a bunka brush before and I can see that I could have used a little heavier hand on the body of the Elk. I am overall pleased with how it turned out and will present to my husband for his home office. I had planned on putting this in a box top but the finished size of the design is 5.5" x 6" making if difficult to fit into a standard box top so I decided it would have to go into a frame. I could have extended the stitching except for the painted part of the design. I do wish designers might consider standard sizes when determining their designs' size; however, I understand that the creation takes priority, finishing second and I am sure this is a consideration when possible. Thanks for visiting today.

EMPEROR'S GARDEN

designed by Josephine Payne. Do you remember her? She hosted a series on public television out of the University of Georgia back in the mid 90's. I was very impressed with her style and invested in her books, video, and pamphlets. Her specialty at the time was bargello, but not your everyday bargello.

Emperor's Garden is considered a 4-way pattern and is one of the most involved designs I've seen including the 12-sided center medallion. I must have been better at counting back then because I don't know that I would tackle this project today.

It was done with Persian yarn on 12 mesh bargello canvas (at least that's what they called it back then and I think it's still available today). I remember it was brown and very rough. Two strands of wool were required for adequate coverage. This particular pattern called for using 5 shades of one color family which was restrictive as not many wools have a dark, medium dark, medium, medium light, and light range in many colors. Obviously green was one of the Paternayan wools with the necessary variation.

What is so fascinating to me about bargello is that, in the case of 4-way, your chart shows only one quadrant of the whole pattern which is repeated four times making it much simpler to execute than the finished piece looks.

I finished this into a pillow complete with mustache fringe. I am proud to show it off on my blog as it has loyally adorned a wing chair in the guest bedroom for all these years.

Upcoming Chapter Project

This geometric design, Golden Reminiscence, is from the ANG Project Book. It was designed by Carolyn Mitchell. I will be leading this program at our local ANG chapter meeting in Jan/Feb 2009. The idea of the project is to feature a piece of vintage jewelry or other adornment on a canvas. It was fun going through the back of my old jewelry box and finding that vintage pin. In the case of the pillow, the colorway was suggested by the designer. The piece on the left was stitched using materials from my stash. I chose threads that were of compatible weight and characteristic as those recommended by the designer. The pillow is from a group of self finishing products called, "Plumpers" from Trail Creek Farm http://www.trailcreekfarm.com/. It's one of the finishing pieces I got from my spree at PFOS.

I didn't use jewelry on the framed piece; I used beach glass collected by a dear friend long since passed. In case you cannot tell, the green stuff in the lower right corner is a stylized angel made from the beach glass.

The framed piece was done first just as a "dry run" to get familiar with stitches, etc. before trying to lead others in a teaching program. I took notes and made observations about various stitch and thread nuances. Was quite fun and worked up very quickly at only 5.5" x 6". I had been wanting to get it up on the blog, but needed to wait until it was first displayed at our Chapter meeting.

I didn't have much trouble except when using the Antica, a Caron metallic, that is used to stitch the Van Dyke around the perimeter of and across the design. It easily unravels and you really have to use your fingers when dealing with this particular thread. The pillow was embellished with an old sentimental pin that I've had for many years. In each case I chose to embellish with something that has personal significance for me.

Next up: I have completed the stitching and expect to have the Lite Stitches Elk framed and up by next week. I am also anxious to show you what I've done with my Halloween Fairy canvas, and the kimono is at my sewing machine as I write. Tomorrow I will volunteer in the morning and hope to make some progress in the afternoon. Keep coming back.

Say Hi to Lucy, Desi, Laverne, Shirley, Sonny and Cher

This year's Cozy Toe intentions are coming to a close. Close of the toes. I am not sure how their names were chosen, but they are all identified by first name. Five are complete and off the bars, one last sock to whip up! I loved these tiny projects, they work up in a couple of days, a mere weekend and that is for a slow stitcher like yours truly.

I know I thought I'd get all 12 done this year, but I have a clear conscience and can only afford to have 6 finished anyway. Perfect. Excuse me a moment while I add the next 6 to my 2009 queue. Hmmm, getting crowded in there.

These have been a joy to stitch for a number of reasons, first of which is that they were expertly hand painted, the stitches were all tested in advance and appropriate for the space, likewise, the fibers were also well chosen to accommodate the space and design. They all came taped up, individually packaged with threads, instructions, photo of finished piece and stitch diagrams. No wonder they work up in just days. All that arriving monthly from PFOS in Lubbock, TX. They sure know how to do things in Texas and in a big way too. Since the yearly series has closed you can buy them individually.

Now marching off to the finisher, well as soon as I get the last one off the stretchers.

PFOS and Home

First, the date on this post should read September 4. Like most people when they've been away from home for a few weeks, they have a little anxiety about returning to reality. On the road trip traveling back to Colorado, this very thing hit me too. Oh, I wasn't worried about the house, the mail piling up, or even being invaded by squirrels or mice (a very real possibility here on the high prairie). My mind was on my stash closet. Where would I put everything I found on my trip? Will I have room without crowding? Do I need to expand into the linen closet in the nearby hallway? Maybe take over part of my husband's home office? I just wasn't sure. Would there be resistance if an expansion was necessary? And then as one thought led to another it dawned on me that I may have to re-arrange the projects in my stitching queue; something I hadn't anticipated as I was perfectly happy with the content of my queue drawers, before my trip. That was then, this is now.I never said discipline was my middle name, new stuff comes out all the time, it's not my fault. I knew you'd understand. Well it turns out it wasn't THAT dire. Just a little juggling and layering and voila, all in! I do know how to have a good time.

The two MSD canvases are painted on 14 ct, something I've not worked on in a while. Seems I've been doing a lot on 18 or congress. I have books about beards, fur and feathers for consulting but I'm always open and begging for stitch and thread suggestions. The design size is approximately 8x8" and should work up quickly once they weedle their way into the queue. On my travels I found and will try a few threads that are new to me: Gloriana, a French silk and Walsh, Ltd. silk perle should also be interesting. Got a boxed set, Happiness (Pink) from Krenik, irresistible when all together. Was happy to find a few packages of BOHIN tapestry needles from France. I read recently these were the best and wanted to try them. Also going to add to my stash black and white with with silver glitter canvas for fun. Of course my new "straddle paddle" is pictured and I do love it. Really. How do you like the customer appreciation gift from Pocket Full of Stitches? It's the pink and brown tote, very well made and aptly name, Stitchers Anonymous! Thank you PFOS, you didn't have to do that. There are a few finishing items not shown but will be later once I have something to go with them. Oh, I also added Evertites and beads to the mix too.

I'm also proud to say that my DH was with me the whole time, he was hungry too, but didn't utter a peep throughout the whole time at the shop. We'll be celebrating 39 years married in December, do you think he might be used to this? He is, plus I let him win at cards.