Sunday, December 7, 2014

Santa of the Forest and the Tassel

Santa of the Forest is finished.
 
After stitching on this piece off and on for 15 years, I was able to finally get it finished and framed. It is stitched on 36 count natural linen with 2 strands of DMC cotton thread. I did have a few problems with the colors. Since I started years ago, at least 1999, the colors of at least one of the threads has changed a bit. When I began the 489 red was a medium dark but true red. Now it has quite a bit of pink in it. Usually that would not matter a lot but since I stitched about half of the piece with the old color then ran out-- that was a big problem. I finally found an Anchor color that almost but not quite matched. It is close enough that I am the only one who will know where the different threads are used.  I am pleased with the embroidery and know that we will enjoy it for many years. I usually  do not stitch pictures like this. In fact I have only stitched three large ones from Lavender and Lace. Turns out that all three of them are Christmas pieces. I do have a couple of smaller ones that I want to do. I put one called Emma's Garden on stretcher bars so that I can stitch on it between other projects.
 
This time of year, when I can, I usually try to finish some things and relax without the pressure of new designs. I have wanted to assemble the tassel that I bought when we visited the Declerq shop  in Paris. Finally I got busy and did it. It took parts of 3 days but I am pleased with the finished tassel. I learned a lot but mostly that you need to be generous with the threads. A fat tassel looks much better.
 
Tassel finished

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