Getting the needle

One good thing about being ill and off work all last week, I got loads of stitching done.

I’ve made tons of progress on Celestial Dragon for the New Years SAL with the ladies of the TWBB. I’ve taken before and after pics to put in my album. I’ve actually done some more since the after pic was taken but I don’t have another pic yet.

I’ve also spent time stitching up colour samples of Celtic Autumn. Although I like the design, the colours don’t really say autumn to me, so I decided to change them. I have a lot more respect for designers now; it’s not easy. After an evening spent with a DMC shade chart and my boxes of flossies I finally came up with a scheme that looked about right. Autumn browns/reds to replace the purples of the dress, greens to replace the yellows of the shawl and yellows to replace the beige of the shawl. Since the new dress colours are tweeds I felt I had to stitch a sample piece before starting the piece proper.

I’m so glad I did. The tweeds look just as good as I’d hoped but the greens I’d picked out for the scarf/shawl looked too green and springlike and the yellows blended too well with the russets so you couldn’t see where dress ended and shawl began. Out with the shade chart and flossies again.

More floss flinging later and I’d blended the greens with golden yellows to get that green-turning-to-brown shade that is peculiar to autumn leaves, then I switched the yellows for some different yellows and tried again. In my opinion it came out much better, when I’ve finished messing around with it I’ll post some pictures for comment.

Now I’m busy stitching a section of the dress hem so I can try out a few metallics since the one in the design doesn’t go with the new thread colours. Then I get to play with the beads. I may not need to change them but I can’t find all my beads at the moment and I’m reluctant to buy them only to decide to change them.

Finally, I’m still on the lookout for a green ribbon for the birth sampler I’m doing. I’ve ordered two of the YLI ribbons that may suit. I have a feeling that the lighter of the two is going to be the wrong shade, but the darker one may be right. I just hope it’s not too dark. At this rate I may have to resort to dying my own to match. I need a 4mm silk ribbon the same colour as DMC 524, it doesn’t matter if it’s a bit darker it just needs to be that shade of green, so if you have any suggestions fire away, I’d like to get this finished before the recipient’s 1st birthday.