The Dog Lives.....Barely!

Yesterday I finished working on my Skating Santa. As I put in the final stitches I realized it was time for me to pick my daughter up from her work. When I returned 20 minutes later I found the chewed up remains of my pen that I had use to make stitch guide notes in the bedroom. Not a good sign.... I had left the door to my studio open. I dashed into my studio and glanced around, everything looked alright but then the dog was acting rather guilty. When I inspected my just finished needlepoint I saw that the dog, bad thing that she will forever more be, had indeed enhansed my work. It was my own fault so I couldn't really yell at the dog. Word to the wise, never leave needlepoint on the floor with a sign on it that says "Eat Me".

Fortunately Santa only required minor surgery to be good as new.

You can see that I worked his beard and moustach in a couching stitch. I used one strand of Matte 18 #MO19. Couching goes really fast (I use two needles) and is one of my favorite ways to stitch beards or long hair.

The trim on his hat is done with Fancy Fur #FN62. I just made a series of straight stitches and then went back and fuzzed the thread up a bit.

All that is left now is to order the music box for his insides and then have it finished as a small stand up.

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.