Yesterday was a little rough, so I put away Fall Fairy and pulled out a new start. I fully intended to finish a page before putting her away but it just didn't happen.
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| Last Update |
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| As of 08/09/2015 |
Last year I started The Fairy Spell on 28 count with two strands over one and I only made it a couple hundred stitches before deciding that 2 x 1 was too dense at 28 count and I couldn't manage it.
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| 2x1 on 28 count - yuk! |
I restarted on 28 count using 1x1 and it came out much nicer, but then I discovered that the "evenweave" wasn't very even and would produced a stretched image at the end, so I scrapped that one too.
After that, I tried a couple different types of linen for various projects with mixed results. I really hated having to grid and attempting to work around the fishing line or metallic thread. I thought it made my stitches skewed and uneven. I also made an attempt at parking, various finishing techniques, and cross country. All in all, a learning experience.
The end of the story is that I finally found a fabric I like, it comes pregridded and the evenweave is actually even. I now use 25 count DMC magic guide for all my HAEDs and I love it. This does unfortunately mean that I scrapped four projects before I figured it out but they were not very far along and I am much happier with a restart than with struggling with fabric I don't like.
At the advice of a blogger that I asked about how she stitches her TW projects so quickly, I set up a poor man's version of the Pako Thread Organizer. A block of styrofoam and a copy of my thread list later, and I have a fully functional thread organizer with interchangeable thread lists.
Before I start stitching, I thread several needles in the colors I need and stick them into the organizer next to the correct symbol. It takes a couple minutes to set up but saves time flipping through my threads later and eliminates wishy-washy-ness about which color to stitch next.
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| The Fairy Spell |
I started in the lower left hand corner this time, so that little blob actually represents a page finish ;)
You still made terrific progress! She's coming along nicely. Wow, what an ordeal! I've had that problem with projects, too; so glad you found a solution you're happy with. Great progress on that, too!
ReplyDeleteLovely new start and nice progress Kaelyn. Glad you finally found fabric that you like.
ReplyDeleteLinda
Hi Kaelyn!
ReplyDeleteWow you are so incredibly knowledgeable about cross stitching. It makes a lot of sense to scrap projects if they are turning out in a way that will not make you happy. And even better that you figured it our before you got too far along. Fall Fairy is looking very beautiful!