Happy 4th!

Have a safe and Happy Fourth of July!  I designed this piece several years ago for my sister!

Happy 4th of July!

Celebrate and enjoy!  This is a piece I designed and stitched for my sister!  Have a safe and happy holiday!

Fireworks stitch guide--UPDATED

I have finished the stitch guide for Fireworks!  

On to the next one!

The Fireworks stitch guide is available now. Email me at ndleartnut@aol.com if you are interested!

Happy 4th of July!

In celebration of the 4th of July and all the fireworks, I am reposting a picture of the Fireworks piece I designed for my sister.  Hope you all have a wonderful holiday!  And we are off to watch them over the
river!

A different angle

I shot this again trying to get the true color of the mat. This is actually a lot closer to what it is. You will notice I put silver lame behind the fireworks canvas. As you walk by this, it actually has movement to it. When I am in Michigan next week, I am going to shoot another piece I did a long time ago and show you yet another one that has movement.

Ready to travel

I picked this up from the framer today! It is ready for the road trip to Michigan! The mat is a dark metallic blue which makes the inner blue ring on the top burst really pop. I did a plain brushed silver frame. All I have left to do is sign and date the back.

A Drift of Smoke

I thought they needed just a drift of smoke.......just like on the fourth of July! I stitched a single strand of Flair in the vertical wave stitch.......Mark this one done!

Final Sprays

I finished the outside burst using Kreinik #4 in silver. You may note that I used the heaviest fibers in the centers and then worked outward using lighter weights as I went. The DMC Color Infusion Memory Wire is the heaviest, followed by the stranded Silky, moved to the Silver Lame, and then Gold Rush. The last two were the DMC Sparklers and finally the Kreinik #4. All of the spokes of the bursts are couched down, which may explain why it took a little longer to get all of those in. I have one more thing to add to this, so the fini will be tomorrow night!

Another burst

I finished putting in the DMC Sparklers in the blue and then the rest of the silver Gold Rush around this section in the burst. There is still one more row to work on the top spray, which I will do on Sunday. I should have it finished then.

Some blue in the mix

Tonight, I first laid in two strands of the new DMC Sparklers in the Blue used in the bottom right burst. You can see it on the left side of the top spray. I then came back and filled in more of the middle spray with the silver Gold Rush. I did it this way as I want the blue to be very faint and not on top of the silver. Since my drawing lines are very close, I figured this would be the best way to work and I will continue to work this way all around the spray.

Two down......

Yes, it is true! The blue one is done! Another card of Gold Rush in silver and I called it! The top silver one is the final spray of explosions which I will resume stitching tomorrow. I bet I get this done this weekend! The little silver dot at the bottom is my earth magnet....somehow it snuck in the picture.......

Round n Round

Still working with the Silver Gold Rush, and will be on both the red and blue, I did the final outer circle for the red burst! Seeing the photo, I see a couple of places I will add an additional leg, but overall, I am very pleased with how this looks. This will be done in a few more days!

Rings of Silver

Tonight I put in the silver Gold Rush around the top burst. They now all have this ring around them. Both the red and the blue will each get one more ring of silver while the top/silver one will not only get more silver but a little bit of color. This is moving very quickly and each day, it looks more like fireworks!

Woohoo, I won!

This has been a wonderful day! First of all, I was listening to http://www.blogtalkradio.com/Gone-Stitching today as Renee Seidman, owner of the Gone Stitching shop was interviewing Tony Minieri. It was a great interview and you should check it out. It is episode 7. Jane in Chilly Hollow mentioned that these shows are available on line, and I listened to them all and caught up last week. I also went ahead and entered the contest. Today, they drew my name!! I don't win contests as a rule, but I am thrilled as I will be winning a Boots Bailey evening bag and the finishing for it! www.bootsbailey.com Thank you both! This is wonderful! I do hope that more of you will be listening to the show and if you can't catch it live, you can do like I did last week and listened to them all! Enjoy!

Then, I got a call from the framer and The Diamond Iris is finished! So I stopped on the way home and picked it up. Here it is:
Tonite I finished the Silver Gold Rush on the Blue explosion as well as the Red one!

A very productive day, don't cha think?! LOL

Enlarging

All of these need to continue the explosions so I began. First I used the Silver Lame Braid and did several spokes. I did not like them. It is a great fiber, but since they are in the center round, I did not like how they looked. So, I took them all back out. This is the Gold Rush 18 in Silver. I am still deciding if I like this or not. Comments would be appreciated today!!

Shiny Silvers

I worked the top spray tonight. The DMC Color Infusions Silky and Sparklers do not come in white or silver right now. So, I switched to DMC Marlitt in white--2 strands--and Kreinik #4 in silver--one strand. The long spokes are worked once again in the Silver Lame Braid. Tomorrow I will start working further out on the sprays.

Adding the blue

Getting right to business, I used two strands of the Royal blue Silky Color Infusion and two of the Dark Blue Sparklers Color infusions and started around the right explosion. I then came back with a single strand of the Silver Silk Lame braid.

These are the fibers on the great new dispenser DMC has created for them. When the threads arrived, they are held down on the back with the label. You will notice there are two slots on the top to catch the thread in. It is then wound around plastic tabs. There is also a hole in the top so that they can be hung. Nice!

Can you hear them?

Judy in Texas says she can hear them already! I think after tonight's progress she may even start seeing these! I finished all the way around in the red Silky and Blue Black Sparklers. I then added the Silver Lame Braid around it as well. Before finishing the final sprays on this explosion, I will move over to the right and complete the inner burst in another color--but that is for tomorrow night!

Third Center

First I put in the top center of the largest spray using the Silver Color Infusions Memory Wire. Again tonite I worked these as a modified eyelet, eliminating the need to couch each spoke. In order to keep the center hole from becoming huge, I worked in the four center holes, instead of just one.
Then on the left side, I started with two strands of the red Silky and two strands of the Black Blend sparklers. I laid these four strands in first, working around the center spokes. Next I used a single strand of the Silk Lame Braid to lay in additional spokes as I extend the display.

Another explosion

I know I said I was going to get back into the rotation stitching.......but this is just so much fun! I finished couching the rest of the first center down with the Kreinik silver cord. Then I started and got the second center all stitched in. I did this a little differently and only had to couch two legs of this center. This , as a reminder, is all being done so far, in the new DMC Color Infusions Memory thread in silver. It is very easy to work with. As I take it off the plastic, I run it over one of my thread straighteners to get rid of the kinks. It lays in place very easily and I do use my laying tool to keep them in line at the center hole.