Slowly but surely...

French Country Kitchen Garden is coming along so slowly.   Part 7 was released earlier this month, but I’m still plugging away at Part 1.  I keep reminding myself that stitching is not a race.  Here is my labor of love.

I’m working on back stitching and beading this weekend.  The flowers on the bottom were all  charted yellow (Dinky Dyes 144), but I needed variety, so I mixed it up a little.  I used DMC 4100 for the spiky flowers and DMC 351 for the smaller Jessica stitches.  The larger Jessica stitches I kept yellow (DMC 3820).  And speaking of those dratted Jessica’s… .

By the time figured out what I was doing wrong, I was thoroughly in hate with them.  The trick is to turn the fabric to get the placement correct.  Eventually, I’ll go back and fix the funny looking ones, but for now, they will stay as stitched.

The weather has been holding and my garden has been calling me.  Sitting outdoors with a magnifier, however, is not feasible.  So my Feather Fairy has gotten a bit of attention.  

I've taken most of those sickly greens out and selected these golden yellows as replacement in her feather skirt.  

The chart calls for Krenik #4 Metallic Braid in colors #014 & #198.  I exchanged Krenik #014 with Rainbow Gallery Petite Treasure Braid #250.  PTB glides through fabric so smoothly; each stitch is like cutting through soft butter.  The Krenik, on the other hand, is rough and snags the fabric.  Threading a needle with it is an exercise in patience (three cheers for Thread Heaven).  But the effect can’t be beat.  It looks a little like crushed opals.  I wish I took better pictures. 

That's all for now. Thanks for looking. 

Have a safe and happy holiday weekend!

January's TUSAL

My TUSAL contribution for January.  

Does anyone else dream about floss and bobbins?  I figured my sub-conscious was telling me to get more organized, so I went and made a list of designs that I want to stitch this year.  These are mostly charts I gathered last year, but never got around to kitting up.  As you can see, my tastes are all over the place. So much to stitch, so little time.  If I can get even half of these finished, I'll be very happy.  

• Cherry Blossom ~ Cross-Stitch & Needlework Magazine
• Scriptures ~ Tempting Tangle Designs
• Sara Cricks Pocket Roll ~ Stacy Nash Primitives
• A Sweet View ~ The Sampler Girl
• Sanctuary Shells ~ Dimensions Gold
• Windswept ~ Heaven and Earth Designs

  I haven't gotten too much further along with the Memory Garden.  

But I have made good progress on the Feather Fairy.  From the picture on the pattern, her dress feathers appear to be bright blue and golden yellow.  Unfortunately, all that yellow I was looking forward to stitching turned out to be hues of pea green and pale green.  Most disappointing!  The thought of all those ugly green patches is taking a lot of the joy out of stitching this piece.  I'm seriously considering making color alterations. 

She's being stitched on 16 count Aida in Moonglow from Picture This Plus. I seem to have misplaced my little camera, so the pics above were taken from my phone.  Hard to get a good shot of the marbled yellow effect of the fabric. 

On another note, I’ve signed up for Chatelaine’s Mystery XVI.  This will be my first Chatelaine and it is quite the undertaking.  After downloading Part 1, I had to ask myself  "Can I do this?????".  The complexity of the piece is daunting, as is the list of supplies, but I'm pretty excited.  Just waiting for my fabric to arrive so I can get started.

That’s all for now.  Happy Stitching!