Thursday, April 5, 2012

Let's Go to CandyLand!

Let's go visit the Christmas Tree Farm in CandyLand, shall we? Back in December and January, Ruth Schmuff's Mystery Class featured one of my canvases and what an amazing, wonderful and over-the-top stitching job she did! A little about Mystery Classes: Ruth picks a canvas and stitches it section by section, only revealing what she has done on the day of each class. You literally get to see your canvas come alive a bit at a time, with plenty of surprises along the way. The class is taught live at her shop but many more of us stitch along at home and online via Ruth's blog as well as on Stitcherie. I signed up for this one myself, as I had seen what Ruth had done in previous classes and since she seems to somehow keep topping herself with every class, I knew this one would be exceptional! I got off to a pretty good start, but by the third of the five classes I had fallen behind. So I am quite jealous of those finished or nearly finished with theirs as I still try to find time to make progress on my own. However, at least I do get the benefit of getting some finishing ideas for when mine is done! Ruth's came back from the finishers recently as this gorgeous bolster pillow. I love it, it looks like a big Christmas cracker!Unfortunately, I don't have the name of this very speedy mystery "Mystery" stitcher, but whomever they are, they must be happy with their decadent, crystal fringe trimmed pillow. Look at that fabric, what a perfect match! Great job, West Coast Finishing and congrats to the stitcher, I am officially envious!
Here is Ruth's stitched canvas pre-finishing. Yes, those are sequins covering the whole background! Can you say sparkle-tastic?
Some more details of the stitching-- note all the dimensional details of the textured threads paired with beads, crystals and even more sequins!
Look at the raised edges of this candy cane! Ruth came up with a new way of adding a dimensional effect to your stitching that doesn't involve Turkeywork or Stumpwork. Hint-- it involves DMC's Memory Thread:
There are even more photos of this canvas in an album on my Facebook page if you would like to see more. If you would like to stitch this design, you haven't missed out, Ruth makes her classes available as stitch guides after the class is over so you can contact her store, Bedecked & Beadazzled if you are interested. And, if you are one of the class members who has this one out at the finisher or will have soon, please treat me to a picture when it comes back. I love to see what individual spin you might have given the design, plus I am interested in some finishing ideas for my own when I finally get it done! Thanks in advance, I will be happy to give you credit and add your photo to my website's Finishing Gallery. In the meantime, happy stitching!

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