realise that stitching on dark fabric isn't as straightforward as I had imagined. The first band of the sampler portrays the eponymous Northern Lights - beautiful beautiful shimmery and sparkly overdyed Needle Necessities Kreinik #8 braid stitched in a series of satin stitches. Although I'm finding that it's also kind of hard to stitch with. Fiddly and knotty. But I think worth the effort. I'm quite pleased with how it's looking, and I'm more than halfway done this band, so with a little more concentration and stitching directly in the glare of our 110W halogen light, I will be finished, and on to (hopefully) more straightforward bands. I'm really looking forward to progressing through this sampler as, being kinda new to stitching, there are lots of really gorgeous threads which are all new to me - GAST, fuzzy Wisper threads, Thread Gatherer Silk 'n' Colours, and Needle Necessities overdyed floss.
I've signed up for the Blackbird Designs Loose Feathers Club for 2007 through Thread Bear - where the lovely lovely Kate has been no end of help and kindness. I'm really looking forward to getting the new chart, and I've gone for the R&R fabric option as well. I am just finding it so difficult to locate a LNS where I can get anything more than DMC threads or twee cartoon character kits. And ONS's are great, don't get me wrong, but sometimes I just want to browse and inspire myself (okay, and admittedly go a little crazy on the credit card). I'm hoping to pop into Thread Bear next time I am around the Croydon area - although probably not until June. I'm definitely looking forward to visiting the Button and Needlework Shop in Victoria on my trip to Canada - I may well come back with a few more goodies than I should, strictly speaking...
I woke up in the middle of the night last night with a sudden inspiration for putting together the Folk Art sampler - I had been playing about with how to arrange the various elements/motifs but it still bugged me that I hadn't quite got it, and I just woke up and it was there. So I crept out of bed and stumbled downstairs to my stash of graph paper and quickly got it from brain to page. Now I'll need to work out borders and putting in an alphabet and getting every element positioned exactly in the right space so that it doesn't look all skew-whiff (although I may have to play the 'it's a bit more charming that way' card if I don't quite get it right!). Planning this all on pieces of A4 graph paper is time-consuming and painstaking, especially as the finished 'chart' will be wider than a single page, but I shall persevere...
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