Stitching Disaster

Hey Blog Buddies,

How's your weekend going?  Swimmingly, I hope.  Mine--not so much.

This past week I had a couple of finishes (more on those later) and decided to start a new project.  It's nothing new, I've been stitching from stash recently, and this project is on my 2013 to-do list.  It's Harper in Stitches - Cool Cardinal.  Charley Harper was an American Modernist artist best known for his highly stylized wildlife prints, posters and book illustrations.  Many of his designs have been adapted to cross stitch.

 

As you can see, it's a rather plump cardinal

sitting out a blizzard, while snow piles up on his head.

When I saw the stitched model at

a local needlework shop a couple of years ago,

I loved the cardinal and I was hooked.

 

I like this design despite the fact

that it depicts a snowstorm

(I hate snow).

But I'm really not too fond of

stitching the scores of "snowflakes."

They are 12 stitches each and are

spaced far enough apart

that I have to start and end a thread

for each one.

Tedious, to say the least.

 

Here is my progress so far:

 

Can you believe that I didn't notice

the difference in color until

I went outside to take the photo?

It's so obvious.

I couldn't either, until I took the piece

back inside and started to "unstitch."

I use a 21-bulb LED light with magnifier

that I absolutely love.

It really illuminates my work.

But this is how the piece looks under that light...

 

Believe it or not, I actually felt better

when I saw this (not as dumb).

The light absolutely does not differentiate

between the two whites.

 

So I have come up with an explanation for the goof.

I was using (or thought I was using) DMC blanc.

I believe that I inadvertently put a strand or two

of B5200 in with the blanc.

I do know that B5200 is a much brighter white

and I always keep it separate from the blanc.

Or so I thought.

I will dig out my B5200 and make sure

that it matches the bottom five rows

before I rip out the top 4 rows

plus one snowflake.

And once I start to restitch the snowflakes,

I'll make frequent trips outside

to check that the white is still

all the same shade.

Because now I'm paranoid.

 

Let's move on to happier topics.

Here is a design from Prairie Schooler's Nordic Holiday:

 

Stitched 1 over 1 on

25-count white Lugana

with DMC 815 and 500.

These are darker colors than the model photos.

I like so many of the designs in this leaflet

that I'm planning to stitch several more.

 

Last but not least,

I'm still keeping up with the

2013 Halloween Ornament SAL.

 

The theme this month is Candy Corn.

I adapted a design from

BBD's 'Tis Halloween booklet.

It was a stocking covered with candy corn,

and I didn't want to "finish" another stocking,

so I used BBD's chart for the candy corn

and made the ornament in the shape of a candy corn, too.

Some may see a Christmas tree.

 

That's it from here.

May all your stitching go without a hitch.

Thanks for visiting!