Rooster back in the Roost

I am so glad this rooster is completely finished and ready for hanging. It's been a long road. Five to seven years ago I was overwhelmed by the size and detail of this CanvasWorks painted canvas. DH purchased it at a LNS and asked me to stitch it. He asked the LNS to pick out threads too. He brought home a huge bag of Silk and Ivory mostly, Krenik braid, some beautiful silks - the threads were as costly as the canvas.

So now that we have hundreds invested, I contemplated the canvas for about a year. I didn't think I could do it, it's waaay to involved and I'll never finish it. I didn't really think I needed a stitch guide because there would be so much tent used. Without a doubt I should have had a stitch guide.

It has taken me a very long time but it's the only project DH ever chose for me and I wasn't about to give up on it. It's a beautifully painted design and was not much trouble to stitch at all, other than it's size (15x15") and the heavily painted design. I have learned that unless I'm totally in love with the subject matter, I'll drag my feet. He's learned to let me do the choosing when it comes to painted canvaswork.  SHHH! I recently spied its companion piece.

I am very pleased with how unique the framing is. It's sort of country French, at least the color is right, and it's distressed. I'm very satisfied.

Le Coq est fini!

Merci le Dieu. I mentioned in an earlier posting that the Rooster was finally stitched. I waited to post a photo until it had been displayed at a recent local stitchy meeting. Thank the Lord and pass the band-aids. Honestly, this was one heavily painted canvas and all the basketweave made it very difficult and painful to stitch having to force the needle through. But it's done and I am happy with it.

The borders were all fun albeit time comsuming but I kept ticking off one side then the other and little by little the final stitched was laid. Using a combination of braid, beads, silk, wool, perle, ribbon, linen and fabulous fiber feathers it was a challenge. The debate at my house now is whether to frame or pillow it. I'm leaning toward pillow. I'm thinking down filled and heavily laden with tassels, cord and ball fringe. Something fairly substantial because of it's size. I want to send this one off for finishing instead of doing it myself. While at the finisher I think I should protect the tail feathers in some way as they are 3-dimensional, delicate and easily disturbed. The canvas by CanvasWorks was excellently painted, it's just that I had chosen to do so much of it in basketweave to show off the intricity of the pattern and I kept losing interest in stitching this; therefore maintaining UFO status for approximately 5 years! Have I no shame? No.  I even took it to Studio Time with Caela Tyler who made some of the stitch suggestions on the rooster. And David McCaskill also showed me how to do the coppery outside border.

Well thank you for staying with me through this one, now on to my year's end final WIP's. See you soon!

I'm closing in on the Rooster

MY MY I've been plugging away on this rooster canvas from CanvasWorks for many a moon now. The canvas is handsomely stitched painted, so I can't blame the years of slow progress on a poorly painted canvas. It's just darned big. And primarily stitched in basketweave. Not to mention I've had a few other stitching interruptions along the way. But I am determined to get this done THIS YEAR. I'd like to say this month, but we're already 3/4 the way through September.

The canvas is 16x16" on 14 count canvas. I've used a lot of Silk 'n Ivory (the cream background, the dark navy border, the light navy border) and the copper border is a done by laying long lengths of Silk'n Ivory all across the canvas border, taking care to mitre the corners and then couching with #16 copper Kreinik Braid. The chicken wire is also done in the Braid. The tail feathers have really been calling my name, stitch me stitch me next, and I've been trying to maintain control whilst stitching the tedious borders. Maybe I'll indulge in the tail once I've completed 2 of the 4 borders. I have a 3-D technique in mind for the tail. I love this beautiful canvas, but I will be glad when I've finished it so I can move on to something new.

For some reason, Blogger, isn't allowing readers to enlarge the photo. I am not sure why, I wanted you to see things a little more clearly (not too close, just a little closer). I'll figure out what I've done wrong uploading the photo and try to get a few close-up shots too. Thanks for visiting today, wish me luck that I don't run out of steam on this labor intensive project. See you soon.

STUDIO TIME

with Caela! Okay, I am really excited. Next week at this time I will have the good fortune to be in the company of many fabulous needleartists. I'm attending the EGA Rocky Mountain Regional Seminar held in Denver. The class choices this year are fabulous and it is such a treat to have the Seminar held in my own back yard, so to speak.

As a member of the hosting Chapter I will have certain volunteer duties but the rest of my day will be spent with national needlestar Caela Tyler. I've opted to sign up for her Studio Time and plan on taking full advantage of her expertise and wisdom. Studio time is where you bring any stitching issues you may be having or canvas problems, etc. to an expert to help you work out solutions. I will be seeking her help in how to go about making either of these major canvas/thread investments the best they can be. The rooster is 14"x14" by CanvasWorks. It is a handsome canvas that my husband bought for me several years ago. I have been perplexed as to how to stitch it and have tried a few things here and there, just to give DH the impression that I am actively working on it. He is thrilled that I will soon have help and is imagining a light at the end of the tunnel.

This is the other canvas and I've been saving it for over 20 years! It's by Elsa Williams and originally came with her tapestry wool. Well I am so glad I held off doing this, can you imagine all the different thread and stitches that can be used now? It's fairly large but so light and airy I think it will work up fairly quickly. Don't you? I want an open back ground but will defer to Caela before making a final decision.

For those of you that know Caela's work you understand why I jumped at the chance to sign up for her Studio. Having viewed many of her finished works in person, all superlative adjectives worthy of a fine artist come to mind, but there is one thing that stands out to me. I am talking about what I refer to as her light handed touch.

When I first began stitching I believed that heavier thread and stitch usage would be more dramatic and, quite honestly, I was never really happy with the end results but didn't know why. After seeing Caela's exquisite work, so intricate, light, showing fine detail, I learned right away that this is a far more effective way to enhance the design. Unfortunately this style does not come naturally to me, but I'm learning and hoping for a little osmosis action to take place at Seminar. I'll keep you posted.