Section 2, 3 and 4......I stitched section 2 with a diagonal row of eyelet stitches, not my favorite. I found that if I use a trolley needle to stretch the center hole the stitch works better.  Section 3 is a diagonal cashmere stitch and section 4 is squares and triangles.  Tomorrow I will work on sections 5, 6 and 7 hopefully.

Tangerine Twist has begun.......I am stitching Tangerine Twist by Kathy Rees of Needle Delights.  Ok, so this is a name you see me write over and over and that is because she is one of my favorite designers and I love her designs.

 

Tangerine Twist is stitched on 12 X 12 canvas using 11 Caron Watercolours and 2 Kreinik Braids.  The Watercolours are Buttercup, Burnt Toast, African Sunset, Pomegranate, Creamsicle, Peach Clobber, Saffron, Tangerine, Bittersweet, Ethiopia and African Violet. This photo shows the Watercolours sorted with Twitchetts.

 

Twitchetts, what are those?  I found them on Terry Dryden's website, here is a link to a stitching must have  http://www.terrydryden.com/-accessories/.  The Twitchetts have a large hole for the entire skein of thread, a small hole for the leftover piece of thread and a medium hole for threading onto a binder ring.  These are absolutely a must have for any stitcher.

 

 

 

I began stitching the center of the design, I always start in the center unless the design does not allow for this.  Tangerine Twist is cut into 4 identical quadrants, you get the design for 1 quadrant and then you rotate it to fill in the other 3 quadrants.  I stitched the first part of each quadrant as a reference point.  The design can be drawn on the canvas for ease of stitching, each section has a number and you stitch them in order.  I however don't draw the sections on the canvas, right or wrong, I just don't do it.

 

 

 

This is the center of the design and the complete section 1.

 

 

A close up of the Amadeus stitches.  I've used Amadeus stitches in other pieces that I have designed but this is the first time I have encountered them in one of Kathy's designs.  When I stitch a Rhodes stitch I usually start in the left lower corner however this design calls for them to start just left of the center.  You always have to read the instructions and look at the diagram to ensure you start where the design indicates.

 Next up is section two, a long diagonal strip.

Finished!!!.....The stitching is all done, the canvas cut apart and mounted in the shadowbox.  The design I took all the inspiration and designs from is Earth from the Elements series.  The Elements series is designed by Kathy Rees of Needle Delights for Tomorrow's Heirlooms counted canvas club.

Here are all the design elements I stitched. 

 

Here I have remove the canvas from the stretcher bar and cut the canvas apart.

 

 

I have cut mat board for each design element and getting ready for the hot glue.  Ok the hot glue is absolutely no fun and my fingers are raw from that experience. 

 

Once all the design elements were mounted on mat board I arranged them and adhered them in place. 

 

This photo shows the pieces mounted and adhered and I was trying to show the different depths of the pieces.  Not sure I really captured it successfully.

 

 

This photo has the background attached to the shadowbox, the glare from the glass is a real problem when trying to get a decent photo. 

 

 

 

The end result it really about what I wanted it is just difficult to show in a photo all the different heights of the individual pieces.

 

 

What's next?  How about Tangerine Twist from my favorite designer Kathy Rees.  I went to my local needlepoint shop, Needle Nook of La Jolla, and pulled all the threads for the design.

 

Almost done stitching.......Or I should say hopefully I am almost done stitching the design elements for the shadowbox design.  I think the green rectangle is the last piece before cutting the canvas apart and mounting the individual design elements on board.  My plan is to overlap some of them and have some raised more off the background than others to give a 3-D effect.  Nothing ventured, nothing gained so if this does not come out as I see it in my mind at least I tried.

More Shadowbox progress.......I have included a photo of a portion the finished Earth design of the Elements Series by Kathy Rees of Needle Delights.  The photo shows the area I am stitching now which is a zig-zag in Gloriana silk and cotton floss.  The photo is just to show what the area will look like when finished.  I have finished the gold bar with Petite Very Velvet.  The bottom photo shows how long the bar are compared to the original design.  When I put all the pieces together the long bars are a more appropriate size for the shadowbox.  More updates tomorrow.

Not much progress today on the shadowbox stitching so I thought I would share something else with you.  We have friends in Omaha that we were planning to meet in Northern California for vacation a couple of years ago.  I decided to create a special needlepoint piece for Andy and Diane.  Unfortunately, the vacation got cancelled so I mailed the framed design to them.  The next time we were in Omaha they had my piece proudly displayed, sideways.  I turned it right side up and left it that way.

I had a stash of Caron Impressions on hand so I wanted to use those and I thought of an abstract landscape.  I took stretched canvas and with a pencil draw the sections as I thought they should be and then stitched them.  Each section is a different Impressions color and each are border by black wool.  Here is how it came out.

 

 

More progress......I have finished stitching a green silk and gold bar and begun a gold and brown bar.  The original design below shows both bars to be shorter but for my shadowbox design they need to be longer.  I also found that the height of the green bar needed to be taller to be proportionate to the space.  I included a photo of the original design showing the green and gold bars.  More stitching tomorrow.