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Sunday, April 03, 2011

Pictures...as promised

Here are the pictures that I promised. I am annoyed at the color, it's so off.  Even trying to mess with the contrast and the brightness didn't help.  Today was the perfect day to take pictures too, the light was flat so I thought that the colors would be more true.  But the color is off.  Nuts.

First is Alphabets:

Alphabets
Merrily Beams
32ct Cream Belfast
946 AVAS

 I've got 2 more birds and then the personalization.  I hope that the personalization doesn't make me shove the sampler down into the depths of the WIP basket.  I'll have to get out the graph paper and figure this out.  And this sampler is not going to Michaels for framing. It deserves special handling. I'm going to take it to the the framer that my LNS recommends and  I hope that when they stretch it, the wrinkles will get stretched out.  I did iron this piece before I took it's picture but there's still a lot of wrinkles. Because it's stitched in red AVAS, it's certainly not colorfast so a warm bath is out of the question.

Next is a piece from With Thy Needle and Thread:

Needle and Pins Heart Pinkeep
With Thy Needle and Thread
DMC
35ct Flax linen

I bought an antique copper oil can to mount it on.  I'm hoping it comes out nice.

And there's In the Bee Man's Garden and I Sigh Not For Beauty:
 
The Goode Huswife
In the Bee Man's Garden
DMC
32ct Vintage Country Mocha


I Sigh Not For Beauty
C Street Samplings
DMC
36ct Dirty Linen

I'm not really far along on either of these samplers but I thought I 'd post them just to document their progress.  I'm enjoying I Sigh Not For Beauty.  I thought I'd hate that arcaded border but it's moving very fast and isn't tedious.  The Bee Man is a fun stitch.  It's my "go to" piece for the times I want to stitch something that's not going to require a lot of mindful stitching. 

And one other thing that I've noticed.  I'm stitching a lot with DMC again.  For the longest time, I'd stitch only with overdyes.  And of course, I LOVE silk but I'm finding myself reaching for those little baggies of DMC more and more. I'm liking how conveniently accessible they are (a quick trip to Michaels, ACMoore or JoAnn Fabrics and I love the colorfastness cause I'm not exactly the cleanest stitcher with 3 cats and a dog to deal with.  Things certainly go around full circle.  What about you? What's your "go to" fiber?

So tomorrow starts another week.  I always wonder what happened to the weekend.  They just go by so fast.  But the new week stretches out before us and I wish all of you a great one!  Take care and thanks for coming by my little corner of the world.  Have a great week, everyone!

16 comments:

Nancy said...

Love all the samplers! Right now I am enjoying the overdyed flosses but do worry a lot about keeping my work clean as I have a dog and cats too.

samplerlover said...

Lovely collection of samplers Joanie. I am a DMC girl. 99% of my samplers are done using it. - Sandra.

valerie said...

Great projects! I love your Merrily Beams piece and and the bluebird heart is lovely!

Poppypatchwork said...

I'm with you on DMC, I started using them as a child, our villiage wool shop sold them, I love to keep loads in drawers neatly filed by number. Your samplers are looking good.

Chocolates4Breakfast (Terri Malinovich) said...

You've got some great projects going! I love the red sampler and can't wait to see it all framed.

I have a lot of overdyed floos and quite a bit of silk too (I bought it all for Houses and Village of HRH and then never did the projects....) but I too am stitching with a lot of dmc. I like the classic look of the color not changing color every few stitches (although sometimes I do want that) and I don't think you can beat DMC for value. The craft is expensive enough - I can't see spending a fortune on silks, especially when I put glass on a finished piece, I'd be hard pressed to tell whether it was done with DMC or silk.

Giovanna said...

Lovely projects! That heart is just so beautiful. Well done!

Deb said...

You really have some wonderful projects going on. You can't beat a sampler that is all red - they're just so wonderful.

I don't think that there is anything wrong with DMC. I use it for almost everything now except for one that I just started only because I thought it would look better. But for the price of DMC you can't beat it and no one knows if it's cotton or silk anyway.

staci said...

Stunning stitching Joanie!

I love my DMC! I do use overdyeds too, but I haven't gotten into silks~~I've got too many hobbies and I just can't justify the cost if you really can't tell the difference in the finished project.

Carol said...

Gorgeous pieces, Joanie! I especially love the red sampler...

I'm a DMC girl with an occasional overdyed thrown in. Have never tried silks... Not living near a local needlework shop really limits my options. There is such variation amongst the overdyeds that I hesitate to buy online.

Katrina said...

All your samplers are so, so pretty!!! Love them.

I like overdyed cottons, but I also use NPI and AVAS.

woolwoman said...

your projects on the go look wonderful - love that bluebird heart and can't wait to see it on the copper oil can - how cool ! I'm a silk snob I'm afraid - I stitch almost everything in silk - I realize when framed up on a wall - you probably can't tell the difference but I enjoy the look and feel of silk and I love overdyes too when appropriate or when they enhance the look of the design. I do use DMC and I do love DMC and like you said - instant gratification of being able to walk into JoAnn's or Michaels and actually buy thread is appealing for sure. Melody

Shelleen said...

Your progresses look great. I use mostly DMC as it is easier to get and much cheaper. I do love the overdyed though and have been working more with silks.

Vonna Pfeiffer said...

Every project Nancy is wonderful!!! I love the Merrily Beams, I adore the With my Needle heart, the Sigh not for Beauty...gorgeous and you know I gotta love Bee Man cause I have him already hanging in my house!
DMC all the way here :)

Pam said...

All of your stitching is beautiful, but I especially love the red sampler. It's going to be just gorgeous when it's done.

Siobhán said...

Wonderful progress, Joanie! I love your Merrily Beams.

I love love love silk but have been using DMC more and more, too. I will use silk if I have it in my stash but if it calls for AVAS or something that I don't have, I just go with DMC. I love overdyed cottons, too, but am getting disheartened by the fact that I have a BIG stash of them yet it seems like every new chart I get requires overdyeds that aren't in my stash. Those $2 skeins add up!

Aussie Stitcher said...

Your projects all look wonderful, I love the Bees one, looking forward to more progress pictures.