Celebration Santa

A few weeks ago, I told the story of winning the opportunity basket at the holiday party of my EGA chapter. Shortly thereafter, I felt like getting into the spirit of the holidays by stitching something seasonal, and realized that despite my pile of (close to 40) WIPs, I didn't have a single Christmas/winter project! What's a girl to do?

Yup. I did it. I started something from my basket. Specifically, I started the Celebration Santa by Joan Thomasson. This canvas came with the stitch guide and the threads, so I didn't have to do any prep work. I started the face on December 4th, at the LNS "open stitch". Santa stayed home while I was in the hospital (though I did have a small project there, of course). Since I've been home, I've been celebrating the holidays the only way I can - by working on Santa while watching Christmas movies on TV.

I've long admired Joan's Santa and angel designs. Her stitch selections are wonderful! I've never done one before, though, because I really don't like the way her characters' eyes are depicted. I decided that my Santa needed a bit more personality in his eyes than just the slash of black.

I started by filling the entire face with tent stitch in pink (for the cheeks) and flesh tones (for everything else), stitching right over the black eyes and the eyebrows. I went back with a single ply of floss, and with a sharp needle, satin stitched the eyes with white. A french knot in blue-gray silk made up the irises. The white blended in a bit too much, so I outlined the top of the eyes with a single strand of brown floss. I used the same brown to sketch a nose. Bullion stitches in white floss worked well for eyebrows.

After the face, I moved on to the sleeves, following the suggestions in the stitch guide. I still need to go back and add fold lines, but I really like the richness of the sleeves.

I've since been working on the toys, but those will be featured in tomorrow's post!

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Pregnancy Ticker: 28 weeks, 2 days.
Regarding bedrest: In my case, "bedrest" only means staying off of my feet as much as possible. With medical permission, I am able to shower each morning before heading downstairs, where I occasionally move (slowly) between my stitching nest and the sofa. Fortunately, I don't actually have to prop myself up in bed to stitch!