This is my take on MLI's Angel of Love, which I have seen done in the original colors, and she is quite lovely done in the golds, colonial blues, bronze and brown. But you see, about the time I decided to stitch her, DMC had come out with this glorious set of turquoise blues, for reference, the color numbers are 3844-3846. They were perfect for her cape, and so I decided to change the color, and hey, the golds, bronzes and browns that went into her skirt were still gorgeous with the cape...But the blouse clashed horribly, so I had to change that color, and some of the skirt was done in the blouse colors...I'm sure you can see where this is going. Anyway, I ended up changing pretty much everything, with the exception of her skin, some browns and avocado greens in her cape and vest, and the white of her wings--um, skirt. Because I did her wings in white, but rayon floss rather than cotton, and changed the shadowing to lilac instead of gray. And the darkest shading on the wings I did in a Madeira blending filament that I got at the :-( sadly now out of business yarn and stitching shop called Wild and Wooly.
Here is a picture of the angel as I did her. The current plan is to "wall-hanging" her. I usually make stitched pieces into things other than framed pictures because I am too cheap (err, some say I should say thrifty) to spring for the cost of framing, although I did make an exception for the Arch-Chancellor's Hat due to the vast number of beads and other decorations on it and because it really can't be washed easily. Good news on the angel is that everything is washable, so wall hanging it is. I got some really pretty batik fabric at Seminole Sampler in Catonsville, unfortunately, they only had one fat quarter of the fabric I really liked left. So I am going to get some deep plain blue like the darkest color on her cape, and do a small border of the batik and a second border of deep blue for the hanging.
This is a closeup of the skirt. I have heard this angel called the "Circuit Board Angel because her skirt looks like a circuit board, but it could also be a crazy quilt. I used sizes 11, 14, and 15 seed beads, mostly from Sundance Beads, with a couple from other sources. The colors of the beads are cobalt AB charlottes in size 15, silver lined light amber AB (Sundance number 634), bronze iris, and green iris in size 14, and in size 11, light blue lined amber AB, silver lined kelly green AB (Sundance number 647), and a matte aqua AB (Sundance number F259B). The rainbow bronze beads were used because they looked so very pretty with the cape blues, and I replaced the original beads used, which were Mill Hill's metallic gold number 557. Oh, and I recently found out that you can get Sundance beads at Bedecked and Bedazzled in Lutherville MD, phone number is 410-296-0405.
For the halo and aura, I changed the original gold beads and gold metallic thread to Rainbow Gallery's Precious metals Mini Garland (number PM5) and also their Tiara (number T108). The beads in her hair are a bunch of assorted blue and bronze beads, including the rainbow bronze from her skirt, and some very small triangle beads by Miyuki. I also changed the ball she is holding to kind of look like the earth, at which my daughter decided that if everything was to scale, the angel was pretty big.
The reason this is my son's angel is because when I started her he was around five years old, and after I had finished the face and hair looked at her in awe and said, "Oh, Mommy! That angel is so pretty! Mommy, if you give me that angel, I will hang her at the head of my bead, and every night I'll look at it and think of you." Um. Could I have said no at that point?
This is a piece by Elizabeth Foster, and, for those who keep track, is done in the colors she called for...I guess you could call it a Christmas Miracle. I did notice that the chart and the cover picture are not the same.
For those who work with the public at this time of year, remember that they are suffering from PTSD--Post Thanksgiving Stress Disorder. Not to make fun of those who do have PTSD, myself included, but sometimes if you can laugh at something it makes it easier to bear. And some of the people who go Christmas shopping--Ai! I mean, if it makes you feel that cranky, stay home and don't buy so much. No one needs more stuff as much as they need the gift of a happy person.
Last, but hardly least, I have no affiliation to any of the above named companies or people, aside from attempting to collect as much of their product as I can safely squirrel away in my stash file drawers, dressers, shelves, big and little boxes, etc...
THE Magpie
