Sunday, January 27, 2008

Colour Challenge for January complete

After stitching all day yesterday and a little readjustment this morning I am finished. Wonderful, as there are still some days left in January!

I feel very virtuous as I managed to remain within the colour parameters set by Sharon with only one small deviation - the addition of a little gold !

About midJanuary I purchased the DMC colours. However when I got them home and spread out in front of me I could not for the life of me design anything in which to use them, and them alone. So I proceeded with the theme challenge and tried a couple of options on paper and with stitch samples - the trees mentioned in a previous post - but nothing wanted to work. I tried an arrangement of paisley shapes and waited for some inspiration. It was some time before I realised that the linen I wanted to use was the same shade as DMC 822! Of course, pulled thread with a little extra stitching to make sure I did introduce all the colours (I had bought them especially, after all!). I did not allow for the fact that stitching pulled thread is dreadfully hard on softly spun floss - nonetheless I persevered instead of looking for a replacement (machine sewing thread in the same colour would have made much more sense and probably have done a better job) and am not too unhappy with the result.

All went well until it came time to use the other colours - they were still difficult. Suddenly I realised it was a "palette" of colours after all and why didn't I make use of a benefit of floss strands and mix my colours like paint? The only unmixed colours in the finished piece are the pulled thread and the outlines of the main shapes.

This was another good learning experience for me - I did use new (to me) pulled thread stitches. My stitching is still far from perfect but I feel I can see small improvement with each piece. I look forward to next month's challenge.

9 comments:

Unknown said...

You have got lovely depth of colour by mixing them. I like the contrast between the calm order of the pulled thread shapes and the sprays of flowers - they look delicate and exuberant at the same time!

Jacqui said...

Beautiful arrangement of shapes and colours. Do you have plan for this piece? or do you plan to journal your monthly challenges into a fabric book at the end of the 12 months.

verobirdie said...

I like the idea of the pulled threads, they are gorgeous.

Juli said...

Pulled thread and surface embroidery are two of my favorite types of embroidery and this is such a nice mix of the two! I love your blended colors. What a nice piece!

Jude said...

This is lovely.
I noticed in an earlier post that you commented on time flying. I couldn't agree more. January is a difficult month to get things done!
My TIF piece is really suffering!

Vivian said...

very creative!

Kim said...

Lovely design. I really like the pulled thread work.

. said...

I really like the idea of using a chain stitch or a braid or something similar to hide the edge of the area with the pulled threads.

Mary Corbet said...

This is really gorgeous! I love the combination of the pulled thread work and the surface embroidery. Your flowers are really exquisite - combining the colors was a fabulous idea!