Friday, March 20, 2009

New Start and Book Find

Thanks for all the feedback about my needlebook fabric. By a landslide it's the darker material. Now all I have to do is make it. We've been in Florida visiting my mother-in-law so I haven't had a chance to tackle it. Maybe this weekend I'll get up the nerve.

I'm almost done with Moon and Stars, but I started LHN's Always and Forever while I was away. Stitching with silk is so nice - it just glides through the linen. I was relieved to find that this floss (Mer Blue) doesn't stain the fabric when I've had to frog. At first I thought the chart had a mistake in the border - I counted the left and right top stitches and it looked like there were 11 stitches on one side and only 10 on the other. I wrote to Diane Williams who told me there were 10 on each side, and I realized I'd been counting using the grids, not the actual x's. The grid on the right side only had 9 columns, not 10 like is usual. That'll teach me to make assumptions! At first I wasn't sure the floss was variegated enough but I'm happy with the way it's turning out. Here's what I've gotten done so far:
I am now the delighted owner of a book I'd been coveting. I don't usually find designs I want to stitch in books, but I found America's Best Cross Stitch at the library, and it has some lovely pieces. While I was in Florida I visited an amazing used book store called Haslam's, and lo and behold they had the book! They had two copies, and quite a few other cross stitch books. If you are ever in St. Petersburg Haslams's is well worth checking out.
I hope everyone has a lovely weekend. I'm looking forward to catching up on all the blog posts I've missed.

8 comments:

Kim B said...

I love the blue you chose!!!! And congrats on the book find! Lucky you!!!

Anonymous said...

I have that book too! I want to stitch the front cover!

Kathy A. said...

Lovely shade of blue. And what a great book find. Good for you

Carol R said...

Pretty shade of blue - is Mer Blue the colour or the make of silk?
Great book - amazing what you can find in used book stores!

Teri said...

Your new start is so pretty, and I love the blue color! Sounds like stitching with silk is a real pleasure!

Sally said...

Lovely new start. Love the blue you've chosen.

Michele said...

lovely start! that blue is sooo pretty :) enjoy your new book!

staci said...

Very pretty new start! Enjoy your book too :)