A door monster from via Brera to scare away the bad spirits for 2013

Whew! That was quite a stretch of intense, but intensely satisfying, work, wasn't it?

Here's a scary door Gorgon monster from...More...... ...via Brera in Milan to frighten away the bad spirits from your Happy, Healthy and Prosperous New Year.

It would make a great rectangular pillow, or--if you're ambitious and ready to confront it in all its unaltered glory--a chair back, or fire screen. (As usual, if you find the design too complex, print it, use a felt-tipped pen to outline the main areas, and use only 3 or 4 hues to achieve a great effect. It's easy, and will help you realize how you, too, can do your own designs...it's so much more fun!)

I uploaded the image, which I snapped only a few days ago, into Stitchpainter. A bit of fussing with the positioning and size, and voila'!

Happy Holidays and Happy New Year to you all! Enjoy!

Pavian Tribute

Had to go to Pavia on Wednesday for some bittersweet moments, and so wanted to record the day...More......


with, what else?, photographs.

This large rosette on the door of the Duomo would make a marvelous pillow.

I've created the diagram large enough for an 18" pillow on 18-count canvas, if the whole image is used. That means the center part should be about right for a 16" pillow, if you use just the circular area and the rosette.

I've imported the image into my StitchPainter program, then turned it into a BMP image for you.

Milan Monday (07): a lion's headed door knocker

Antique doors and door knockers are fun. I always keep my peepers open for just such an occasion: a beautiful lion-headed knocker....More......

I pasted the image into StitchPainter, and gridded it for you. It's so big, it would make a great cushion, I think. If you want to know more about the photo and where the knocker is in Milan, you can go to my blog on Milan: http://mymilanitaly.blogspot.com/2010/09/lions-and-tigers-and-bears-oh-my.html

The gridded full-size image was too big for Blogger, so I've uploaded a simple photo into this blog to give you a preview.

The full-size gridded image, in the form of a BMP file, is available on my Google site created just for such a purpose. Here's the (unfortunately long) address (copy and paste into your browser): https://8364221704685161048-a-1802744773732722657-s-sites.googlegroups.com/site/starsthisandthat/home/ars-acupicturae-stellae---star-s-needlepoint-art-1/my-designs/liondoorknockerviarovellofullsize-BMP.bmp?attachauth=ANoY7coBE8Ge1JmAXshFrdnE2QAaHU7WvtLknA3aKOoBoCqFrYyYMmQDHjgAOK_Da8STT2QOJVyl4HnUQKlpAHVMzi4O1FLx8nbk5hypBA3ShGX-HmmFm8-DymOatZm5K_qi6u7hfBONg9Bt4aCvFlAhVIqzvrycKGLEanwCPkvhCmnlntOaQLIpM3j3luhevOOy2_8OKdIyfIC4xAMExu1wmgpL7s93G9xFXcBc8apFPn2rRAHPGMgVfn4wVUpwcaDLEwbTYMQL_wTMXYLuzMPQ0HvfwgfDd2sTzR5i4HsgTMln4VmRx-5OlpMFJOYaYHGGdQS6kGh3yNA_LBawYigXQBTw2J-IPA%3D%3D&attredirects=0

or go to http://sites.google.com/site/starsthisandthat

and click on the Ars acupicturae stellae folder.