Monday, August 18, 2014

Winter Village Sneak Peek!

Kelly Clark and Alison Hodgekiss team up once again to bring you

The Winter Village

5 of the 8 Buildings are shown below:
Ye' Old Bike & Clock Shop
 The Tea-Cafe and Village Fish Haus
The Gatekeeper's Cottage
 The Cakery
 Ye'Old Crooked Cottage

The Winter Village

featuring 8 major Building Canvases with 6 small Village Accent Canvases.
The series will be offered in 2 segments.
For more Information, Contact:
A Stitch In Time Needlework Shop
San Marino, CA
(626)793-5217

Sunday, March 23, 2014

Halloween Crazy Quilt is Done!

Hooray!
Here she is in all her Glory:

I finished all of the embellishment stitching late Wednesday night...OK, 
it really was still Wednesday, not quite Midnight!  Perfect timing for 
a Halloween Piece.  
On my last post, I mentioned my 'Zen Place' for doing all of the 
Embellishment stitching.  It is a different state of mind from needlepoint
 stitching.  I was worried about getting there.  
You are looking at a 'finished' needlepoint canvas, 
and instead of being done, 
you look and have to think, 
"OK, now to ADD!  What can I do to jazz up each and every faux 'seam'?" 
On March 9th, when I did the post about having all the background 
work done, 
I really was worried.
It is hard to decide where to start and what to do for the embellishing. 
 It took me a few days of worrying to tackle it.  I'd pick it up, look,
become overwhelmed and put it down.  Well, maybe if I organized all
of the bits and bobs, the panic would subside.
I gathered up beads, and sparkly threads, Swarovski Crystals, funky trims, 
ribbons, charms and buttons. 
Then, I decided that worrying about doing 23 seam treatments was really
overwhelming me.  "Kelly, darn it just pick a place and start!",
 I goaded myself.
   In the center, is the alternating Wheat & Bead sequence that I have used on 
the other 2 CQ pieces.  I knew it would work...so I began.  
Hooray!  The ice was broken!
 Then I decided to do the Stepped Wheat sequence, 
alternating the black & chartreuse silk perle, seen in lower left.  

 From experience, I knew that the Fan needed super skinny
treatments with lots of beads and bling, so I got busy on those!
Isn't it lovely?  Such Harmony!
I was really on a roll!  Once all of the fan is done, plus the first two,
suddenly 12 seams are tackled and the rest is much less daunting!
The fan edge is done with a SUPER COOL new trim & thread
combination from Access Commodities:
Silk Wrapped Purl & Silk Couching Thread.
Amazing Stuff!
A close-up of the Memory Wire Bead Twist.
The upper right corner has some simple twists with unique trims and threads.
And along came a Spider!
The Mish-Mash Ribbon Seam Treatment looks splendid in Halloween Colors!
 
And the Beaded & Be-Ribboned Tassel Trim is quite festive!
And more close-ups of other fun bits:
 Just look at the Sunflower center full of  messy beads and sequins!
 Delightful Tiny Buttons and a Vintage Bakelite bead with 
a plastic Rhinestone center...the epitome of tacky! 
 I just Love it!
 The wonderful cluster of Buttons with a Vintage Rhinestone 
Shank Button...Adorable!
 I was thinking about dangling Halloween Charms the whole
length of the Ribbon seam, but decided to stop after the
Jack-O-Lantern...was worried it might overwhelm!
(But, I can always change my mind!!!  Hum?) 

Now that the piece is done, time to write the Stitch Guide!
ARGH!!! Talk about overwhelming!
Ah well, until next time.
Happy Stitching, All! 




Sunday, March 9, 2014

Background Stitches all completed on Halloween Crazy!

Now it is time for the good stuff!
Seam Treatments and More Embellishing!
I Can't wait!  I have lot's O' Goodies in mind!

And a few close ups of the last sections stitched:
Along came a Spider!

Or Nu Jack-O-Lantern!

Sunflower!  

This is soooo exciting to be so close to finishing another canvas!

Just need to get into my Zen place where I can completely
let all other thought drain away and just allow the
"Out-of-the-needlepoint-box-thinking" to
take over.  Face it, when we stitchers look at the piece
above, it would normally be considered done...every section is stitched...
there is nothing 'Un-done" on the canvas.  

Not for Crazy Quilting!  No-no-no.  
Not done!

SOON!








Monday, March 3, 2014

Stumpwork Sampler FINISHED!!!!!



As I mentioned on Facebook this January, my operating rule for 2014 is that I have to complete a
WIP
(Work In Progress)
for every new canvas I start.  A Daunting task, 
but none-the-less, try I must!
Two weeks ago I realized that it is time for me to start stitching on 
a new Retailers Club that I plan to
 reveal in April/May...
so that meant I had to finish something!  Yikes!  What would it be?
Well I pulled out my Stumpwork Sampler to have a look.
It was close.  Only the outer borders and beading and trim
around the Nosegay left to stitch!  I could do it! 
Here are a few close-up pics:
















The Sampler is composed of some of my favorite things.
Each and every item stitched has a special meaning for me.  I can't wait
to have it framed and place it where I can cherish it always!

And just a tiny sneak peek at my Upcoming Retailers Club:



Until next time,
Happy Stitching all!










Friday, February 14, 2014

Webs I have Woven

I know that may seem like a strange choice for a Blog Topic.  

Here is the back story:

As you all know, I am working on my 3rd Crazy Quilt piece: Crazy About Halloween.
As I stitched, the wedge with the spider web kept eluding me.  Hum?  "Why do I not know what I want to do with that Web?" This web is troublesome because for the web wedge, (don't even try to say that three times fast!) the background needed to become an integral part of the image
...because a web has translucense!
  Unlike some of the imagery on the first two Crazy Quilt pieces where the image nicely sits on-top of the background in the wedge it is occupying.

Let us take a close-up look at what I am talking about.
On Christmas Crazy Quilt:
The lovely basket of paper whites sits majestically on-top of the 
scrumptious deep scarlet background.
 While our branch with the proud
 partridge and plump pear may indeed cross over and occupy area in five different wedges, nonetheless, this imagery sits staunchly on-top of the numerous backgrounds.

On Springtime Crazy Quilt:
Our adorable Bunny Rabbit is timidly crouched   
in a field of Silk Ribbon Blossoms.  All of which sit lightly on-top of the celery green background.
The charming basket of daffodils and snowdrops sits grandly on-top
 of the dark ebony checkerboard background.

BUT A Spiders Web is TRANSLUCENT!  What to do.  It seems like I have stitched
many spider webs, Perhaps a history lesson is in order to help launch an idea for the 
web wedge on Halloween Crazy! 

This is Mister Scarecrow KCN 92.  
This piece was my very first foray into Fancy Stitches!
There is a layer of white organza over the background to provide
 the illusion of transparency.  The web itself is stitched with two different 
weights of Silk Pearl in a classic Spider Stitch.  
Credit to Janet Perry with the technique and stitch selection.


Next up is Elvira Spidah KCN 9138 from The Halloweenies.

 First I completely over-stitched the painted webs with my background.
Then the webs were woven over the top of the background
 with Spider Stitch.  Perhaps this technique would work?  Hum?

 Next web is on Scaredy Crow KCN 9148, one of the Creepy Characters.


Same technique as Elvira.  
Just different threads, different background stitch.
I mean, this choice is a natural, right?  It just does not
grab me for Halloween Crazy Quilt.
"What to do?"

 First I applied long stitches in between the major web spokes.  They are
rather eyelet'ish in that each long stitch goes into one hole at the top
of it's individual pie-shaped segment of the web.
The thread is Highlights from Rainbow.  It creates a very
playful, shimmery, translucent covering for the background which
integrates nicely with the web!
 Then I started the background stitch.  Criss Cross Hungarian
in Gloriana Silk.  I LOVE the variegation in this shade!
It reminds me of dancing & swirling Autumnal leaves!
"Hum?  That gives me an idea for added bead-work!"
 Next step, Long Stitches in Treasure Braid 12 Strand
 for the main spokes of the web.
From this distance view and angle, it is easy to see how the initial 
long stitches shimmer!  It works perfectly to create the effect I had in mind!    
The next step will be to couch on the minor
half-round segment stitches.  I still have not decided if I will use
the Treasure Braid, or a different thread?

Oh well, the Great Web Reveal will be in my next post!

Happy Stitching and Happy Valentines!