What a difference a color makes

Wow, what a difference. This summer a group of us stitched Melissa Shirley's Mellow Yellow canvas as the very first Mystery Class at Bedecked and Beadazzled.

It was so much fun, and I love my finished purse.



But wow, what a difference a color change can make! A friend of mine stitched the background of hers in black. That was the only color change. We did a different stitch in the background to cover the pink paint more thoroughly, but that's it. Everything else is exactly the same. It is stunning!

She's seeing it here first as she was gracious enough to let me photograph and post before she picks it up. Thanks Sue!



It's simply appliqued to an LL Bean tote bag. Finishing is simple and affordable but with really big gorgeous results. Of course the stitching is lovely too.

Thanks for letting me share this.

What a class

Today was the first day of our Melissa Shirley Mystery Class. I think I surprised a few people with the choices I made for how to stitch this canvas.

Here's the canvas before we began embellishing it.



And here it is after lesson #1's stitching is complete.



I hope you can see the subtle details, because it is really cool. Ultimately, I want this heart to be rich and dramatic —— a sparkling jewel of golds and roses.

We began by attaching sequins in the background of the design area. The only challenge here is that we are using invisible thread and invisible thread really is invisible.

Now for the fun part. Thanks to taking a class with Caela Conn Tyler last October I have been introduced to the magic of tulle. Tulle is bridal veiling and comes in multitudes of colors. Lay the tulle on top of your canvas and you can oh so subtly change the color of the design. I wanted to warm up the canvas colors on this piece.

You need to tack the tulle in place. We learned that the tulle stretches in one direction more than the other so tacking the tulle loosely on all 4 sides is a must.

Once the tulle is in place we worked an open stitch over the entire background using Sparkle Braid in the gold/pink/green/blue mix. This gives everything an elegant richness that is way too cool.

Here's a closeup of one corner of the background with stitching and tulle in place.



Working through tulle has pluses and minuses.
A. It is really, really pretty.
B. You can not use a laying tool when stitching on tulle, you will snag it so choose your threads and stitches accordingly.
C. If you make a mistake while stitching, you can not back your stitches out. You have to unthread the needle and one by one take your stitches out.
D. The color tulle you choose to put on top of your canvas is not always the color you expect. We tried pinks, and creams and light yellow but the color that worked its magic on this piece is dark gold!

Everyone now has choices to make. Add the tulle or don't add the tulle. We'll see who chooses what next time.

New Year New Project

Woo Hoo I get to start a new project! You know that elation of the first stitches on a brand new canvas. Well, we have a new Mystery Class Starting at Bedecked and Beadazzled at the end of January and I finally get to start stitching on it. I've had to leave it in the shop untouched for months waiting until I could bring it home to play.

I have so many fun ideas that I'm just itching to try. Stay tuned, hopefully you will enjoy watching what I come up with.

Here's my latest muse. Handpainted on 13ct canvas by Melissa Shirley.



For those who are following we have our last Mystery Class with Raymond Crawford's Merry Christmas on Sunday. I'll post the final stitched piece that evening. Then it's off to the finisher!

Now where are those Spring Flowers???

Woo Hoo! Mellow Yellow is back from the finisher and they did a great job. It's gorgeous! Don't you just love the handles? Hot pink leather, an orange lining and beautious beaded handles.



Now where are my Spring Flowers so that I can carry it?

Guess I'm going to have to wait a few months, but until then it certainly is pretty.

Mellow Yellow now complete!

It's finished and I love it! I'm really quite pleased with how this Melissa Shirley canvas turned out. I've been stitching this canvas and teaching it at the shop as a Mystery Class. With each lesson, a new section of the canvas is revealed stitched.



Each section was a challenge to make the flowers and butterflies move forward and back in space as they should. In the end the flowers have the charm and whimsy that I wanted.

Since I last posted 2 weeks ago I completed the yellow flower on the right. The cool thing about this flower is that it uses one of those overdyes that has many different colors in it. The kind of overdye we all buy because it is pretty but we never really know what to do with it. This one had yellow and pink and green and orange all in the same thread. It's called Miami Deco and it's by Gloriana Threads. It became the perfect outline around the flower petals. How cute is that?

The other challenge on this canvas was the final butterfly. This butterfly needed to be the item that comes forward in the design. It needed to project in front of the zinnias and the other flowers. WOW, what to do? I decided on wired ribbon. 1.5" in width, folded and pleated to make wings. They are fluffy and cute and create just the effect I wanted.

Next step is finishing so off to the finisher it goes. I'll post pictures when it returns. Until then, I'll be stitching and teaching our next Mystery Class - Merry Christmas by Raymond Crawford!

Zinnias!

The zinnias are just amazing. The moment I saw this canvas I knew how I wanted to stitch the zinnias. I had to do my background first and a few other flowers but now the zinnias are in bloom!!!! Six colors of River Silks 7mm ribbon and a handful of swarovski crystals and we have the most beautiful flowers. They are quick to stitch so no complaints there.

The butterfly was another challenge. It had to look light and airy but yet sit in front of the zinnias. Thanks to the magic of Basketweave Twill, one of my favorite stitches, and beads I was able to make that happen.



One more flower and one more butterfly and this gorgeous canvas will be complete. Hmmmm, how shall we stitch them? More beads? More ribbons? Must go play.

The flowers are blooming

OOOH! I'm really pleased with how our flowers are blooming.

This week we added 2 flowers, the one on the right side of the canvas is the furthest in the distance. It needed a subtle pattern that wouldn't compete with the background or the rest of the flowers. It also needed the pretty shading to show through. Laid Filling Stitch to the rescue!



The daffodil on the left provided quite a challenge. I wanted it to be soft so that the center of the flower would be the star but I wanted the petals to separate from one another. Lots of experimenting later and I found the perfect combination of stitches. Both are very similar starting with a diamond grid but then are embellished differently. The addition of metallics and beads create the allusion that some petals come slightly forward while others recede.

The center of the flower is just too cute if I say so myself. I found wonderful mini trim at the last tradeshow that I am in love with! That combined with a field of folded ribbon roses gives the center of the flower the punch that it needs. Of course the addition of a Swarovski Margarita doesn't hurt :-)

I'm off to create more blooms and blossoms; we're almost there!

Mellow Yellow Class #1

This was the weekend — the first Mellow Yellow Class! Melissa Shirley designed this great purse canvas that we unveiled at our trunkshow in April.

I am designing a stitch guide for it and teaching it sort of as a mystery class. Every few weeks we meet and I unveil the next section stitched.

First we tackled the background.



It's unconventional to stitch the background first in needlepoint, but there are times it is a great solution. Our background pattern is a fun repeat of octagons. It's a lot easier to count octagons throughout the background when you don't have to work around previous stitches. We just stitched, counted across open areas and viola, the background began to come to life.

The pattern uses 3 threads to complete the stitch. First a metallic and then vineyard silk in beautiful Scotch Stitches followed by little accents of an overdye silk. All combined it makes for an elegant background reminiscent of a quilted Chanel bag — perfect for a girlie pink handbag and just what I wanted.

A fun time was had by all. Stayed tuned and in a few weeks there will be more to see!

New, New, New — How Cool is this?

Last year as I was planning our second anniversary celebrations I asked Melissa Shirley what we could do that would be really special. She was to be one of our 3 featured trunkshows this month so what would it be?

Melissa agreed to premiere a special piece at our shop. How cool is that? We are to be the first shop ever to see this canvas.

Toward the beginning of the year we emailed and discussed what should it be. I don't know, I love all of Melissa's canvases. Each is prettier than the next. I did think it should be whimsical and fun. That's why we needlepoint, after all, to have fun. And I like girlie but not too girlie. So armed with less than no direction Melissa goes off to create.

A few weeks ago she sent me a photo and what fun it was. Friday we received the real thing. It's wonderful!



So now that it's here, I have to get busy selecting just the right stitches and threads to bring it to life. I think we need beads and ribbons. What should the background be?

Let's make it a class. Do you want to join me this fall as we create a mellow yellow blossom purse or pillow? You know where to find me.

Happy Stitching.

Ruth