Tuesday, September 25, 2018

Getting Along Swimmingly

I finished "M is for Mermaid"!  And I love how it came out.
This little design is by Heartstring Samplery, and I stitched it on 40-ct. so it would fit this (perfect!) frame I found at JoAnn Fabric.  The frame opening was only 5 inches, and the pattern, if stitched as charted on 32-ct., fit a 6 inch opening.  I also made some floss substitutions, a few DMC - included with the chart, thankfully- and a few other hand-dyed flosses that I thought worked well.  I love it!

I've also made some progress on Marbek's "Seaside Angel" (or Maiden, in this case, since I plan to omit the wings and halo). 

I didn't realize from the picture just how much metallic there was in this one - all around the dark purple flowers there are "leaves" stitched in #4 Kreinik braid, and one of green swirly segments is actually turquoise blending filament (used alone, 2-ply).  And the sleeve cuff - in the second picture - is sky blue blending filament.  When I stitched the cuff, I actually stripped the polyester carrying thread from the blending filament - it made it MUCH more sparkly and (IMHO) easier to stitch with.  Not that stitching with blending filament is every truly easy....  I left the carrier thread in the turquoise section that I stitched, because I discovered that it was a faint green tint and gave the thread a true turquoise color that was visibly different from the sky blue cuffs.
This one is going to be a long-term project, for sure.  And for now I've tucked it away, since I'm feeling like I want to get back to Modern Folk Embroidery's "Secret Sky" for a bit.  Plus, you never know when a small or 2 might sneak in there!

8 comments:

Mary said...

I really love your finish and that frame is perfect.

Kay said...

The mermaid design is very sweet. Good luck with all of those threads, I loathe stitching with the speciality threads but they do give a great finish. x

Kaisievic said...

Love your mermaid finish - I am currently watching Siren on Foxtel, so most appropriate! Good luck with all of your stitching with blending filament, it can be most tricky!

Carol said...

Your finish is darling--you definitely found the perfect frame :)

Beth said...

Perfect frame for your mermaid Erin!

Astrids dragon said...

Oooh, I love the mermaid finish, it's perfect!!!
Your Maiden is coming along nicely, great fabric for it. I know the special thread is a pain, but so worth it.

ricketyjo said...

Lovely stitching, really unusual frame, I like it very much! And good luck with all the metallic thread in your other project! It'll look wonderful, I'm sure.

Robin in Virginia said...

Your mermaid stitch looks great in that frame. Way to go!

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