San Antonio Painted Canvas Updated 4/22/15

April 22, 2015--San Antonio is now framed and I love how the dark blue mat draws your attention to the needlepoint.

March 28, 2015--Done stitching and ready for the framer.  This will look great in my craft/sewing room and will be a delightful reminder of the wonderful trips I've made to San Antonio.  BTW, this is the second of the three ANG chapter challenges to have done by December, 2015.

San Antonio Completed

March 21, 2015--Rounding the corner to the finish line.  The tree and yellow roses are done and am currently stitching the lacy sky.

San Antonio Tree and Roses

February 24, 2015--River is done.  It was stitched with two strands of DMC Satin Floss made of 100% rayon fibers using long and short random stitches.  Because it is such a slippery thread, I cut longer strands and doubled it once it was passed through the needle.  This made it very manageable. I like the results.  The canvas had various colors reflecting the gondola and tree painted in the river. This now shows a little through the stitching.  I like it.

San Antonio - River Done

February 18, 2015--Accomplished a bit more stitching on this project--completed the tower and gondola.  I like how the "life ring" came out.  As suggested by Sundance Designs who wrote the stitch guide, I found a perfectly sized stainless steel washer to cover with perle (or I should say my DH found it for me).  Now to stitch the river, tree and large yellow silk ribbon flowers.  The beautiful lacy pattern for the sky will be done last.

San Antonio--Gondola and Tower Completed

February 1, 2015--More progress.  The Alamo and umbrellas and table are stitched.  The tower looks like it'll be fun to work on.

Alamo and Umbrellas

San Antonio through Alamo and Umbrellas

January 21, 2015--Moving along nicely on this project.  The grassy areas and the large lone star heart flag are now stitched.  Next posting--the Alamo.

Flag and Grass Done Closeup

Closeup of Flag and Grass

January 4, 2015--This is the second of three projects I'm stitching as part of my ANG chapter's 2015 challenge to complete three WIPs by December, 2015.

I'm making a little bit of progress beyond what I wrote about in 2013 (old blog is below), having stitched the papal picado-paper banners (will do the black outlining later) and stitched the grass using the Medieval Mosaic stitch.  I found it very difficult to maintain the pattern of this stitch around the umbrellas so I did something desperate--I basted the full pattern in place, through the umbrellas, to where the pattern would be continued (see picture below).  Now I can see where I need to place the needle without any counting whatsoever.  Wanting to get the design perfect on a canvas like this may be a bit annal, but that's how I roll (insert smiley face here).

Basted Medieval Mosaic Stitch

Papal Picado-Paper Banners Done

July 25, 2013--Completed stitching the sign and love how the beads look like little light bulbs.  The instructions called for stitching the beads using the "brick" method, but due to the narrow width of the spaces upon which to place the beads, the results have a more random effect.  The lattice work was stitched with an overdyed navy blue causing the sign to look a little weather beaten--like it.

These beads and many others were given to me by my mother's housemate.  She crafts beaded jewelry and her son is always on the lookout for bead sources at flea markets, etc.  On one of those shopping expeditions, he purchased a box of generic glass beads, all in vials, of many different colors. However, the beads were too small for jewelry making purposes, so I was the happy recipient of this box. The beads come in multiple sizes in each vial, so I must sort them prior to stitching to find the size I want.  But I'm not complaining, and the variety of sizes can look good on the same project.  The beads I used for the San Antonio sign were red with a yellow glaze.

July 18, 2013--While at the 2011 ANG Seminar in San Antonio, TX, I purchased the below canvas as a souvenir of my visit.  Actually, I've visited San Antonio many times and thought this piece would make a nice momento.  So far I've stitched the bridge and a portion of the blue over the sign.  I only pull this out when I need to relax and take a break from all of the counted stitch projects I do.   This canvas and its accompanying stitch guide is an exclusive design created for the Yarn Barn in San Antonio by Sundance Designs, Tucson, AZ.