Project 2 Segment 2

I can, will and do gush on about the fabric of Project 2, but have not seriously advised my fellow stitchers of the sad side of the fabric.  It is a darker fabric which tends to make the stitching a little more difficult due to not being able to see the "holes".

If you have a nice chair facing a window and a suitable light from behind, you can use natural light to shine through your fabric and still have light shining down on your working side as well.  Essentially you need to light both sides to work it with any kind of sane mind.

I had forgotten about that until I sat down to figure out if I wanted to pin every ten stitches or just sew in markers.  Natural daylight light bulbs cast down a lovely light onto the working side, but I had no idea how to count because I couldn't see the holes.  

As you can see here by the extreme close up, it really does appear that I have magically placed perfectly formed stitches onto sparkly fabric like I'm the best and most perfect stitcher in the world.

Not so.  I do remember asking myself if I should use some waste canvas and decided against it because, difficult or not, I wanted this piece done right.

It is a dense, soft linen type fabric but it is NOT unusable.  Quite the opposite.

Here we have light underneath the fabric.  This really does help you to see where to count and put your needle.

When I started this project I had a large bay window in the living room I would hold the stitching up to which was one of those AHA! moments.  

Once I could see the holes, I became very excited....which is when the "coffee incident" occurred.

I really wanted to do this project, not just because it is to assist Angela with her business, but because it really is a beautiful work of art!  I'm always curious to see how someone's art converts to cross stitch and am honored when I am allowed to do just that very thing.

The Hearts O'Plunder side project b is coming along nicely, it is almost finished, just need to put the heart in and the lettering and a pinch of back stitch.

It really is cute!  Even with the pink.  The color key wanted 211 in the pink bee, but after trying a row of that it didn't really match up so I changed it with 605.  The 211 is more of a lavender and not pink at all, whereas the 605 is most decidedly pink and went very nicely.

Doing two projects with these kinds of fabrics can be a bit taxing, but the end result is always so LOVELY!

I'm considering the next side projects to be on easy to use fabrics, but I can never really resist a challenge.  Also, if the fabric I want to use is perfect for the project, it doesn't matter to me if it's a little tougher to stitch with, I'll do it anyway.  Yes, I know, I ALWAYS HAVE TO CHANGE something on a pattern.  It's almost becoming a problem ha, ha!

I should have some glorious updates on both Project 2 and a finished side project b in the next few days, so stay tuned for those.

Until next time.....