Thursday, January 27, 2011

It Pays to Read Ahead

Okay, I know, you look at this picture and think: "She hasn't blogged in a week and this is all she's manged to get done!" 

I stitched absolutely nothing while visiting my mom last weekend. And frankly, I'm happy to be this far! You know how I love to stitch on 36 and 40 count. So I changed the fabric on this piece to 40 count Pear from Lakeside Linens. (See, I finally remembered.) However, I should have studied the pattern a little before making this change.

You see that pink dividing band that looks like a zigzag? Well, that is French stitch. Not a particularly common stitch and not really difficult either. It's kinda like a Queen stitch in that each vertical leg over 4 threads is tacked down horizontally in the middle. But the stitches are done in pairs and are verically offset by 2 threads, hence the zigzag look. I love Queen stitches, even on 40 count, but somehow this little band took three nights for me to complete!!! And I had to use the magnifier for the whole thing. Very easy to misplace the couching stitches. Plus, since it's a hand dyed it's already been wet and dryed so shrinkage has already occurred. So the weave is tighter and harder to see. Again, not usually a problem for me, but this was a bugger! I love the effect and since Tuesday night, I've completed the alphabet and almost finished the next dividing band of Bosnia stitch (the dark green one). What a difference. Bosnia is so quick and easy that you're done almost before you start!

I'd love to be able to stitch more during the day, but I'm staying busy make fobs and counting pins and stitch markers, etc. for several new needlework shops. And here's my shameless plug, feel free to tell your LNS about my needlework bling and direct them to my Etsy shop or they can contact me about having some in their shops!