Pineapple Welcome

So why is a pineapple welcome?
As I wrote in my Artist's Statement for the 2019 Seminar Exhibit;

In 2018 I took Sandi Cormaci-Boles "Passionate Pineapple" class at Seminar. I enjoyed the class immensely and by the time I had finished the "Petite Pineapple" practice piece and the "Passionate Pineapple" I was so enthused by eyelets that I wanted to design my own version.

Pineapples are a traditional sign of welcome dating back to time immemorial (or at least the 17th Century). I wanted to do something with Sandi's Petite Pineapple and it was only a short step to the idea of WELCOME, but replacing the O with a pineapple. I also wanted to use colour. By lucky chance, Welcome has the same number of letters as the rainbow has colours; Violet, Indigo, Blue, Green, Orange, Yellow and Red. Initially I considered working the letters in eyelets, but while working on the designs it struck me that creating a block of eyelets with the letters unstitched in the centre of each block would give a much more interesting effect and a more striking finish.
I liked that, but decided that the single word lacked visual balance and needed something at the ends, so I added two more pineapples and border.

The ground is 28 count linen. The letters are all worked in eyelets over 4 threads using DMC #8 Perle. The pineapples at either end were worked with a variegated Anchor #8 Perle which reminded me of the piles of well ripened pineapples I occasionally saw at the side of the road in my childhood. The border is a variation on Smyrna Cross, with the X worked over 4 threads and the + over 2 threads. AND all the materials used in this piece came from my Stash!
I am indebted to Sandi for allowing me to incorporate her "Petite Pineapple" into my design and encouraging me to create "Pineapple Welcome".

Framed, Pineapple Welcome is 24" x 14" and took 85 hours to complete. I laced it onto the back-board and it was mounted and framed by Renaissance Framing of Edinburgh.

And a ribbon! Second place. I was surprised and immensely pleased. As one lady said of it, "It deserves a prize for bravery if nothing else! A whole piece in eyelets!" Then she looked at me as though she considered that I might be slightly nuts.
I was asked why pineapples were a sign of hospitality. I have to admit that I have no idea, I think it was the exotic nature of the plant, suggesting wealth and comfort; and the earliest I have heard of it being used as a sign of welcome and hospitality is in the UK and the American Colonies in the mid 17th Century.

Bunny Christmas Stocking

Why would you have a Bunny on a Christmas Stocking?
I'm not sure either, but Jane-Beth picked this canvas up at the Silent Auction at the ANG Seminar in Lexington. I think she put in a bid because no one else had and she felt sorry for the Bunny.

Was she ever going to stitch this?
Probably not, so I did.

The Bunny is a painted canvas on 14 count. It came with no stitch guide, and no indication of the designer. If you recognise the designer please feel free to leave a comment so that I can give them the credit.

I had to make my own decisions about stitches and threads. First off, I didn't want to lose the fine shading on the canvas, so it called for lots of different threads. Looking back, I think I used nearly twenty different threads and braids. Because I didn't want to lose detail I used tent stitch on the carrots and the Bunny, except on his tie, weskit and hat band.
I used Fluffy Stuff and Appletons Crewel for the ears face and paws. The rest of the stocking was worked in Appletons and Silk'n'Ivory which I had purchased in Lexington for the good reason that I liked the feel of it and thought I'd like to try it. It's mere co-incidence that it worked with the stocking. There is also Kreinik gold braid and a bit of DMC perle.
For the egg in the Bunny's paw, I wanted just a slight sheen, so I used 2 strands of Appletons, lightly twisted with two strands of Décor.

The name band is tent stitch and satin stitch, the long stitches are held down by a grid of Kreinik gold braid, couched at the intersections with a blue Kreinik braid to match the letters.
The name is not is some strange Pictish script, it's the name of a Bear (Grumpy) who, being a bear, does not feel restricted to common conventions on the direction of letters or spelling.  His stocking, so of course I had to do it the way he signs his name.