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Often you’ll come upon canvases like this whale from Kate Dickenson. They are so fun to stitch and they make great choices for beginning needlepointers. Painted Stitch canvases have painted areas that will fit perfectly with particular stitches. often when you look at them, you’ll know immediately what stitch you’ll want to use, you can see a few of these here.
The patch with green diagonal stripes (bottom center) would be great stitched in Skip Tent using two colors. One thing that’s neat about this stitch is that if you make the Tent Stitches as if they were Basketweave, i.e. on the diagonal, you’ll get solid lines that slant in the opposite direction of the diagonal rows you stitched. This patch would be a perfect place to do this.
The patch next to this, with the windowpane checks always look to me as if they should be stitched in Framed Scotch. Because the blocks are four threads square, you could use Scotch, Mosaic, Alternating Mosaic, or a combination of these to fill them.
The lighter pink patch with the green dots is a pattern I see often. It’s one where you have some choices. The easiest way to stitch it is in Dotted Swiss, making the green intersections in small Cross Stitches. A more complex stitch that fits into the painted pattern is Criss-cross Hungarian with Crosses. The green intersections will be open after the Hungarians are stitched. They are then filled with small Cross Stitches.
The gingham patch at the center top is perfect for making Gingham Scotch. It’s Scotch Stitch that is made in three colors to create the distinctive pattern of gingham.
The remaining four patches are not as clearly calling for specific stitches. Because the stripes on the tail are all single-thread stripes, they migh be great done in threads of different textures. The patch under the tail and the patch with the large hearts could be done making the motifs in beads or in Cross Stitches in a contrasting texture. The patch above the with the smal squares could look good if the squares are treated like jewels and stitched in Smyrna Cross.
Look for a stitch guide for this by February 15 in my Etsy shop.
About Janet M Perry
Janet Perry is the Internet's leading authority on needlepoint. She designs, teaches and writes, getting raves from her fans for her innovative techniques, extensive knowledge and generous teaching style. A leading writer of stitch guides, she blogs here and lives on an island in the northeast corner of the SF Bay with her family
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