Shanghai in Pink and Orange!

Decided to continue using Father B's Oriental stitches. This time I used the Shanghai Stitch for the kitty kimono on the right. The body of the kimono is stitched in Amy's Burmilana, 2 strands; an overdyed silk, 4 strands, to outline the flowers; for the kimono edges I wanted something fairly shiny so I used J.L Walsh Silk and Wool; the cumber bun was padded and stitched in Frosty Rays .

I also used Kreinik #16 in Pink and Orangy Gold to fill in between the flower petals. Didn't plan on doing any more basketweave or tent but filling in a small outlined design doesn't leave too many options.

Started stitching on the background, using 1 strand of yellow Burmilana with Father B's background stitch should make this go fairly quickly. I have a little clean up to do, missed a stitch here and there (nothing like the camera to show that) but I wanted to get a picture posted. This canvas continues to be a lot of fun to stitch and, therefore, is keeping me from working on my other projects. Thanks so much for visiting today, hope you're stitching something you love!

As promised

I'm including a photo of my progress on my gossiping geisha. I never know if I should put an "s" on the end of geisha to indicate more than one. Sidebar: Think it's a carry over from my days living in the South where most, if not all would typically omit the "s" as in your change is 35 cent! Drove me crazy. Put the "s" on there already.
Anyway I've decided to use various Oriental Diaper Patterns for the kitties kimonos. I felt it was a lost opportunity not to utilize these wonderful stitches on my previous two Asian pieces and hope to make up for it here. Beginning with The Ming Stitch taken from "Father B's Book of Stitches," first I outlined with DMC Perle Coton and then filled with 4 strands of overdyed floss. Deciding against basketweave and instead using continental or tent stitch to fill in each individual "medallion." It seems to work better that way allowing more pattern control of the overydye. Dr. Bob recommends the fill be either one color and texture or if more than one color is desired, to use 4 different colors to fill in a contrasting outline. I chose the overdye with a contrasting outline.

In a previous post I mentioned that the canvas was painted on interlock instead of mono. I was warned that interlock can be a little rough on threads. So far the overdye is working beautifully, but the Perle Coton needs to be a shorter length as it seems to easily fray. So shorter strands is the key here. In addition, I did think the interlock was more difficult to put on stretchers as it has no give whatsoever. I am using Evertite's so once the canvas was attached it was easy enough to tighten to satisfactory taughtness. Other than that I haven't come across any other issues using the interlock, but will keep you posted. Thanks for stopping by today.