Sharing Time

A few weeks ago I sent off several pieces that I had stitched to one of my favorite finishers, The Spinning Wheel. Today a box was delivered with the finished pieces inside. Opening the box and pulling out each piece is as much fun as Christmas. I wanted t share two of the items with you since you watched the stitching. The first is a Christmas piece, Skating Santa. I had him finished as a simple box. I think I will find some Christmas ribbon to wrap around the outside edge of the box and then it will be perfect. The second piece is Saint Claire. St. Claire is the patron saint of needleworkers. She is joined by 2 other saints, St. Francis and the recently added St. Jude. Saint Jude is the patron saint of lost causes and hopeless cases. I show him seated, surrounded by a basket of unfinished needlepoint canvases. If you are like me, it will take a miracle to get through all my unfinished projects. He's on my "to stitch" list.

Christmas Wreath

This is the second piece that was just recently finished by Summer Truswell. This is #163, Winter Wreath. It's finished so that it can be hung on the wall, the back is flat and there is a cord that is hidden. This could also be used as a centerpiece with a candle and greenery set in the center. Of course, I'd put that candle inside a large hurricane glass. I wouldn't want wax dripping on my needlepoint. I have two other wreaths in my line, one for spring #121 and #122 is the summer one. I'm still working on the spring wreath, it has bunnies and daylillies around it. The summer wreath features hibiscus and hummingbirds.

Mermaid Eyeglass Case

In case you don't remember this is a piece I stitched on the way to the January TNNA show. I just got the finished piece back this weekend from Summer Truswell of Truswell Needlework Design & Finishing. Summer is a new finisher (to me) who came highly recommended by another blogger. I sent three pieces up to Summer and they all look stunning. She is wonderful to work with and did a super job on all three pieces. I'll share pictures of the other two in the next few days. The one you are looking at above is #84, Neptune's Daughter. This is one design in a group of nine door tassels. I've had stitchers finish these out as hanging ornaments and even as a piece to slip a wedding bouquet inside (bouquet holder I guess). I'm always misplacing my glasses and decided I needed something pretty to place them in. I may have to stitch several cases because as my eyes have aged (you notice it's only my eyes and not me) I find I need to leave a pair of glasses in numerous places around the house where they are within easy reach.

I'll try to get a picture of the Christmas Wreath and the Bunny Pillow up tomorrow.

Santa Progress

It hasn't all been baking cakes here, I have done some stitching on my Skating Santa. I finished the red tunic and moved on to his pants. I used a black Burmilana (#3892) and a Mosaic stitch. Next I filled in the white part of his skates with Petite Sparkle Rays (#PS21). I have a silver thread for the metal blades but I haven't stitched it yet. After the skates I moved up to his face.

I like the Kreinik Silk Mori #3042 for his skin and #3045A for his cheeks, a simple Basketweave stitch is used. His eyes are stitched with the same black Burmilana as the pants and each is a Smyrna Cross. His nose got the same treatment using Kreinik Silk Mori #1057 but I wanted it to be a larger (higher) bump so I added a few more stitches to build it up. I just made a few stitches of the same thread for his mouth. The hat is stitched in Double Baby Brick using Neon Rays #N118, and I'm thinking of using a small white pom-pom for the white ball at the tip of his hat. I wanted the mittens to look warm and fuzzy so naturally I used...Fuzzy Stuff, what else! I've stitched half of his right mitten. The green color is #FZ17. There isn't much left to stitch so I should be finished by the time I take another picture. Let's hope anyway.

Progress

I got a bit worked on my Skating Santa last night as I sat in front of the TV and enjoyed my favorite drivel. We have Netflicks so I can rent all kinds of great shows from the BBC. They have so much better stuff over there I don't know why we can't have better quality shows here.

Anyway back to my stitching. Last night I worked on his red tunic. Since all the parts are red I picked out two shades of Splendor, #S911, the lighter bright Christmas red and #S820, a darker crimson red. The sleeves are worked in Nobuko with the slant running from lower left up to the right and the larger area is also in Nobuko but I rotated the canvas so that the slant is going the opposite direction. Not clever or original but effective. Hopefully I'll finish the red tonight and perhaps his black pants. Can't have Santa running around without his pants finished! I'm still considering how I will work his beard, ponder, ponder, ponder.

New Project

I was expecting the weather this weekend to be less than wonderful. With that in mind I selected another project to stitch. I picked one of the four simple Christmas designs I had. All four are in the 5 x 7 inch size which makes them a quick stitch. They all have a central figure with plenty of background space to try out a great darning pattern. I've stitched up #99, Santa With Star and even have a stitch guide available. The one I'm working on now is #101, Skating Santa. Our weekend weather turned out to be beautiful so I didn't get much done. I did make a run into Houston to visit one of my favorite shops, The Needle House, owned by Nancy Laux. They have a wonderful selection of threads, books and canvases and all the staff are incredibly helpful.

As you can see from the photo above all I got stitched was the background. The thread I used was a green Gold Rush 18, #GD33C. I worked the background in a darning pattern of Christmas trees. I should get a bit more done today as the promised rains have arrived. I plan on finishing this piece as a small stand up although all four would look nice finished as styro boxes or pillows. One shop in Austin, The Needle Works, finished #102, Rudolf as a stand up but added a music box inside, and of course the song was Rudolf the Red Nosed Reindeer. I love the idea and if anyone knows where I can order a music box for my piece I'd love to hear.

The last of the four designs is #100, Penguin with Tree. You can see larger pictures and get design details on my website: http://happyheartdesigns.com/

One Day Spring, The Next Day Christmas

Although we had another beautiful spring day, I found Christmas in my mailbox. At long last my Christmas Wreath was home. For a before view see #164 Winter Wreath on my website.

Janet Perry of Napa Needlepoint stitched this piece for me. We went back and forth several times trying to find just the right shades of red, green and gold threads to use. After seeing the stitched piece I can say that it all turned out perfectly. A big thanks to Janet for all the hours she spent stitching. The next step is to have it finished. Just this afternoon I was talking with Summer Truswell about my ideas for finishing. I wish I could say that I've been as industrious with the wreath I'm stitching. I'm working, and have been for a while, on the wreath that is featured on the first page of my websites new flip book. That wreath, #121, Spring Wreath features two white bunnies with pink daylillies and other greenery. It will be beautiful whenever I get it finished, all I need is a clone.

Season Greetings

I know, I know.....no one really wants to see pictures of my puppy, but she's sooooo cute!

This is Holly, our 9 month old sheltie.

Christmas is Fast Approaching

Turkey Day is over and I've eaten my fill, well mine and probably yours too!

Our neighborhood really goes all out with the lights and yard decorations. It's so beautiful at night, it's like Santa's workshop at every house. I got my yard lights out and now my tree is up too. Our weather turned really cold and wet for most of the holiday so it was a perfect time to set up the tree, hang the lights and put the decoration on. My youngest is now nearing 16 and is way too cool to help with the decorating. Since I'm the one doing all the work I decorate the tree just the way I want. I like to call my tree a "Memory Tree". It has several of my needlepoint ornaments on it as well as the construction paper angels my daughter made in grade school. But the main focus is all the pictures of loved ones. I've framed all the school pictures of my kids and I have pictures of other family members ,friends and family pets. It's really quite perfect. On the top, instead of a star I've put one of my needlepoint tree toppers. This one is a beautiful angel with outstretched wings and a golden halo. The design is #133, Rejoice Tree Topper.

I have another one that's just as beautiful, I just haven't had time to stitch it up. #134, Poinsetti Tree Topper.

GETTING READY

There is so much to do in getting ready for the show. Of course we have to carefully pack everything so that it arrives undamaged and before that it's making up our new catalog. But even before all of those things, I have to come up with lots of new designs. This year I will have a new series to show off called In My Garden. It can be used as a monthly series or each of the 12 designs can be sold individually. When my stitched models come back from the finishers I'll share them with you. I also have lot of other new designs. Today I finished working on two pieces, #200 Gingerbread Boy and #201 Gingerbread Girl. They're both 3.5 x 4.5 inches and hand painted on 18ct. mono canvas. I've recently reworked all my existing ornament designs making them better and easier to stitch. These two new ones will join the others.