Santa by Melissa Shirley

After posting this project on Needlepoint Think Tank with Facebook I was advised that this could be a Melissa Shirley canvas. So pleased to have one of hers in my collection.

I am really enjoying stitching on this. When I first started it I had great ideas for changing the green Santa bag to something brownish with some stitch or thread looking like burlap…. As I stitched I realized that this was a project that I just wanted to stitch. I didn’t want to make it a “thinking” project. Any one ever just wanted to stitch and not really think?

Melissa Shirley Canvas

The bottom of the coat and the cuff on the sleeves is done with Fuzzy Stuff. I just did random verticals stitches to fill the area. I do think I will go back and add some more filling stitches.

A simple tent stitch with four ply of Soie Cristalle and four ply of Needle Necessities (now Thread Worx) was used for the Santa bag.

Using Burmilana, a wool/acrylic blend, I made hundreds of French knots using a single strand with three wraps for the hat trim and ball on the hat.

I then used two strands of the same Burmilana for the mustache and beard. I used a random long and short stitch with a few stem stitches to accomplish the curve.

Now I’m ready to tackle the tree and begin thinking about the stars and background.