Laura Perin Is The Border Queen

I read Laura Perin's blog religiously. She is a counted thread designer of both realistic and geometric pieces and there aren't many charted designers active today. So I like to keep an eye on what she's up to.

Right now she's talking borders. What you see above is the border she created to mimic an expensive triple matted framing job for her version of the Gay Ann Rogers' "Mystery in a Corner" design. It is what I call a KNOCK-OUT idea.

It's not the only one she's had, either. Head over to Laura's blog and back up until you find the 10/6/08 posting about her Halloween House, then start reading forward to discover several cheap and easy ways to put fake mats and lovely borders around your pieces. You may never pay Big Bucks to a frame shop again.

http://two-handedstitcher.blogspot.com/

Laura's website lives here.

http://www.ljperindesigns.com/index.htm

Gay Ann Rogers just has finished her annual e-Merchandise week but in about three weeks you ought to be able to see various stitched Mysteries in a Corner on her website again. But nobody has a mat as beautiful as the one Laura stitched!

http://www.gayannrogers.com/site_2/Home_Page.html

Jane/Chilly Hollow
Main blog at http://blog.360.yahoo.com/chillyhollow

Finishing with Beads

Over on the main Yahoo 360 blog, Madonna mentioned she didn't have much experience with using beads in finishing. I can't say it is hard--I do it all the time, after all!--but it helps to see what is possible.

Let's head over to Summer Truswell's Finishing website and look at some examples of the ornaments she makes from your stitching. Read the descriptions to both see what sorts of finishing you can order from here and see what you can do yourself. Many of the edges have beads incorporated into the trim and they all are lovely.

http://www.needleworkfinishing.com/needleworkfinishing-ornaments.htm

Great job, Summer!

Jane/Chilly Hollow
Main blog at http://blog.360.yahoo.com/chillyhollow

Slow Progress

Last night I attached another 3 inches' worth of Kreinik silver metallic thread around the outside edge of the wizard. It is very slow as I have to blindly push the needle with one hand inside him and grab it with the other on the outside to pull up and through. Takes forever! If I do beads on top this will be much faster as I can simply catch the Kreinik already in place with my needle. But for now, don't expect much progress. By the way, I'm still have significant problems posting to Yahoo 360 and reading comments. Apparently readers are having trouble reading Yahoo 360 and I am not able to close the poll there I did to ask you guys how you liked the feather trim.

[deep sigh]

Jane/Chilly Hollow
Main blog at http://blog.360.yahoo.com/chillyhollow