Another Pair of Cirques

It's always fun at the circus!  Here are two more Cirque finishes, and what I love best is that I could show you new finishes of these same pieces every day and they would look totally unique because of the wonderful floss and fabric combinations.

We have Cirque des Triangles here by Nicole from Northern Expressions Needlework.  I don't know how she finds time, given her own gallery of beautiful, original designs but I am totally honored that she does!  (Check her blog to see what's coming up next - a lovely band sampler on red.) Nicole used several shades of silk for her triangles, mostly of Gloriana.  She stitched it 1 over 1 on 28 count black Jobelan.  Believe it or not, she says it is even brighter in real life!! Those colors just sing out on that black fabric. I can imagine it looks like a chest of jewels IRL.

Claudia shared with me this finish of Cirque des Cercles during the online show last fall. My computer died mid-show, and her email was one that was imprisoned in the silicon jail for six months while I sorted things out and recovered.  Since I hadn't shared it yet, I thought I would post it now, as these pieces will never go out of style.  Claudia is self-proclaimed HDF (Vikki Clayton's silk line) junkie.  I haven't met too many folks that have tried HDF and haven't become junkies (although I don't think this is the kind of needle, junkie, or damage that Neil Young was singing about.) 

Edited to change out the photo -as time passed, Claudia had framed this and it looks superb!

This is actually the second time Claudia's stitched CdC. The first piece was left in the frame shop and a worker mistook it for trash and tragically threw it away. Edited to explain - it was accidentally dropped somewhere in Michael's when Claudia got an emergency phone call. Whoever found it put it under the counter with the other unclaimed dropped items (you know: Slurpee cups and pacifiers...)- apparently every few days they trash these things. She didn't realize it had been lost for a few days.  Sadly nobody unwrapped it enough to see what a treasure it was.  It was another one of these stories that just leave you shaking and gasping as you know the amount of time, energy, and money that we stitchers put into our work. Fortunately the solution is MORE CROSS STITCH - it's a stress-relieving therapy, you know!

Thanks go out to Nicole and Claudia for sharing their eye candy with us. Lovely job, Ladies.