Making Progress

I am really enjoying this canvas.  The cat is cute and the rat is cute too. Please follow the chart when stitching the rat.  His little face is different than painted.  Having done the Cat's coffin, the rat and the grass, I moved on to the other single line border.  I'll give the little guy his face tonight.
Have a great weekend!

Cat Coffin.

I finally had some time to work on the Dr. today.  I stitched the cat and his coffin before I will stitch the top of the big coffin.  I thought it might be easier to compensate around the cat's head.  Of course the cat still needs his face fixed!  I think I will work the pumpkin before the big coffin lid as well.  

I have very much enjoyed Robin's adventures with little Bailey.  Robin, keep sending reports.  He is such a lucky little guy.  We know you will spoil him!

Knobs for the coffin, and more.

I will admit that I traveled from one knob to the next with each thread. However, I did a securing L stitch after each knob to keep the second thread tight.  If you do the same, make the L stitch in the gold area where the handles will be.  I didn't figure out that was the best place to do it till I had completed two knobs.   Another case of "live and learn".

The coffin knobs were a three step process.

I stitched the Jessicas loosely to better see the holes, then pressed the treads toward the center when done.  This is a clever three step procedure.  Looks very formal.

I turned the canvas, (and the chart) 1/4 turn for ease of stitching.

Be careful to end the stitching of the side of the coffin in a manner that gives you an "over two" compensation.  See where my laying tool is pointing.  It is a nice clean edge leading into the front area.  Otherwise you will end up with an "over one" compensation on both ends of the area.   That would not be a tragedy, but I think it would be cluttered.

Started with small stitch in Diagram 11.  Then took it out.

I started the next area with the shorter of the two stitches in diagram 11.  Bad move.  See how cluttered it looks?   You guys know that I often leave small errors in and just learn a lesson from it.  But I had to take this out.  See the correction below.

Now doesn't that look better?  It was worth taking out.  

I love how the stitches give the coffin dimension.

So here is the finished front of the coffin, as well as the finished background.  Several different over-dyed cottons were a great choice for the coffin.  The cat's coffin will use yet another 

over-dyed cotton.

Have a great weekend!

Background for Dr.A

Start in the upper right corner.

I started on the background.  I am stitching it in basketweave.  It seems to be more substantial than horizontal tent stitches.  I've got a counting thing going on with it...two, one, two, one, two, one, eight, seven, eight, one, two, one, two, one, two.  That's all it takes to complete one cross.  It will make sense to you when you look at the chart.   (I hope!)

I am tying off my thread after each cross.  I had a mantra going on that went like this,  "should I tie it off or travel, should I tie it off or travel, should I tie it off or travel?".  Then it went like this, " if I travel...which way should I go, if I travel...which way should I go?".  AGH!!!  Just tie it off every time.

Just a little time to do a little bit of stitching

Now that I have finished the two bottom borders, I can lay in and couch the single line border.  Once you have laid the threads on top of the canvas, you cannot see the canvas threads to count for the couching spots.  Count below the green border and it's no problem!

Count the threads below the green border to find the couching locations.

Dr. A's bottom green border

This is the best example of "Ignore the painted canvas" that I have seen in an Amy's stitch guide.  The stitch has absolutely nothing to do with the way the canvas is painted.  But Amy has created a great little three step stitch where anyone else would go with a mosaic or scotch stitch.  It is a fun stitch to do and works up fast.

Here is the green border below the rat. He finally has a body.  He is waiting for some feet and a tail.

I hope you all have a safe and happy Labor Day.  I plan to stitch all day!

Dr. A's spider webs.

I got my spider webs in on the lower border.  Amy's diagram is just great. Sometimes I would go under a spoke, and other times over.  And I sometimes pierced the thread.  It was fun.    I cut a very long piece of braid...enough to do two webs.  But please tie off between each one.  You may want to go back and stitch one web again and end up redoing two or more.  Use a sharp needle for this.  I used the Chenille size 24.

Funny how I think these little spiders are cute, yet when I see a real one I scream for my husband to come get it.  He always catches them and takes them outside.  He even had a pet spider as a child, till his grandmother stepped on it.  He recalls being a tad upset.  Glad I wasn't there for that one!

Spiders and more!

My spiders are funky, but at least they don't bite.

Use a sharp needle for the legs and the web, (but not for the spider).  That will let you stitch through the canvas thread, if necessary, to get the placement right.  Not that mine are even or anything!   I used a 24 chenille. It really makes a difference.

I am so amazed at how much better these spiders are than the ones I put on Stirha Cal-Dron.  I don't know about you, but each time I sit down to stitch a raised spider, or any of the spiders, I have to re-learn it.  I whipped out DVD #8, "Spiders and More!".   It really helped me out.

I worked on the lower blue border yesterday.  Be sure to make a color copy of this canvas.  We will be putting lots of spider things over the base stitch in this area.  Don't forget to stitch over the rat's tail and feet.  Poor thing...I will give him a body tonight.

Here we go.

Here is a nice picture of Dr. Acula to use as a reference this month.  

I always keep the picture that comes on the front of the guide handy too.

Isn't he grand.  I especially like his face.  

These guys are ready to go home with you!

A little Pumpkin.

The Count wanted to be shipped out via FedEx because most of their flights are at night.  He could take advantage of the darkness to do some sight seeing before he was delivered to your homes.  He was not, however, willing to cover the extra freight charges.  So he will be delivered from a brown van. He is bringing his own pumpkin.

Hello from Rhett J. Reveins.

Yet another peek.

The Doctor is in.

Another peek.

I just finished reading the stitch guide for Dr. Acula.  It is fabulous!  Lots of great tips.

Here's another peek.

Here kitty kitty.

Love this ribbon work.

Here's another wee peek from Dr. Acula!

Sneak peek!

From now till the end of August I will be giving you wee little peeks at our next Halloweenies character, Dr. Acula.  I won't tell you much about the big picture.  But I will share small pictures of the wonderful stitching Amy has produced yet again.  So here is a peek.

Road Trip

Amy, Robin and Jill are heading to market.  Robin will teach and Jill will shop.  Amy reports on the Halloweenies characters who are joining them on their trip.  

“Stirha, Frank, and Dr. Acula are all packed for their trip to California in first class...they are so excited.  Although Stirha is still grumbling about having to ride in the back of the plane on the way home.  Frank, bless his heart, doesn’t care, he’s just so excited to “be there” and the Dr. says that he will sleep the whole way so it matters not which end of the plane he’s in.”  

I think they are going to audition some new threads that Amy will look for at TNNA market.  


Check out their full name on Amy’s website:  http://www.amybunger.com/halloweenies.html 


Kelly Clark and Amy have come up with some new twists on old scary names. This will be a fun journey for everyone.