Friday, July 12, 2013

Something New?

Well, I 'discovered' something the other night. Not sure if ya'll know this or not. Maybe I'm the last to know and didn't know it. What is the it?

Well...

I hope you can see this and follow my reference points. This is Rainy Day from the SamSarah calendar and I was attempting to make the green and blue strips very stripey and make it look like rain. As you can see the blue has very little variegation and the green looks much more stripey. But, when looking at the green floss it too was a pretty solid floss color with very little color change.

At the top of the left green stripe above the rain drop you can see four columns of green that are all pretty much the same color and then the 5th column is darker and the rest of the columns to the rain drop are darker. I used two strands of floss for the first 4 columns and another 2 strands for the darker columns. But, on the second green stripe it is wildly striped. What I did was stitch column (for lack of a better way to describe it) column A, then C, E, and G - at the half way point of the strand of floss I started to go back and stitch columns F, D, and B. This tended to spread the lighter color out into more columns and then as the floss got darker I went back and filled in the missing columns I hadn't done on the first trip.

I know we've taught ourselves to stitch with variegated floss either in columns or rows one stitch at a time to get the most of the color shading available. Sometimes we echo a motif spreading the color out and we try to rid ourselves of the linear issues in variegated floss. But, this is the first time I have been able to take a lightly variegated floss and use it in a way to mimic a more heavy variegated color.

I ask - is this something different or did you all know this and I missed that day in bloggerville stitching school? It kind of made me a little excited to stitch something stripey again to see if it always works. btw - I was not stitching those columns one full stitch at a time - I was stitching the length of the column in half stitches and then doing all the second crosses back to the top.

Also, the Fourth is finished too -


This is the one where I was amazed how well the red and purple meshed. More subtle than expected.

This week has found us without electric on two separate occasions and that means no a/c, tv, or internet. Oh the horrors! The second storm through the area caused two of our trees to tumble into the power lines and cause snap, crackle, boom, fire, and then BOOM. No lights for nearly 24 hours. Thank goodness for generators! Told my sister (who is moving into the neighborhood again) to start a generator fund now - she's going to need one.

Compared to some we got off lucky. Courtney lost some siding on her rental, an old co-worker who is on vacation has a tree through the middle of his house, and a local fire station was lost due to a small tornado.

This morning found me cleaning out the fridge and I ended up making taco meat, grinding some pork roast for Wedding soup, grilling chicken, and pre-making some Salisbury steak which is now in the oven. And doing all those dishes that I didn't do due to the power outage. The laundry and lawn mowing is fini too. Busy day, hoping for some stitching time later this evening.

Hope today finds you smiling!
Denise

10 comments:

CalamityJr said...

The red and purple makes me think of Red Hat Ladies - shall we plan a luncheon? :). Thanks for letting us know what to do with those variegated flossed that don't seem to have much difference. I knew to work in a circle on things like flower petals. I've also seen it jumped around like confetti stitches in a solid block to avoid stripes, but the "Denise method" will be much simpler!

Glad you have ac again and no damage to your home. And all those dishes ready for meal starters? You've got a great head start. I don't even have an idea what we're having in, ummm, 45 minutes! Oh, well. It's Friday and work pickled my brain this week, if I'm looking for excuses, haha.

Maggee said...

Sorry to hear about the weather related activities that were NOT scheduled. Sure sounds like your sister is going to need that generator! We have one but have not had to use it since 2003. Phew! Variegated threads differ so much, so it is good you figured how THAT particular strand would work for you! Hugs!

stitchersanon said...

Lovely stitching; the variagateds differ according to who makes them etc. I would say you have this one just perfect. I honestly dont think I would live anywhere that had tornados! We get bad gales here that pull trees down and that is bad enough: I sit up in bed telling myself that my house has stood for over 200 years; it wont blow away tonight rofl. I think you all cope with them amazingly!

Vickie said...

Well Denise, I am glad you survived the storm!
What a relief to have the kitchen all cleaned up and meals prepared too!

Dawn said...

Wow, you've been busy, with and without needle. That storm that rolled through here knocked the tree down at my immediate neighbors but it landed safely between the two houses without damage.
Glad you are safe and sound!

Samplers, Silks and Linens said...

thanks for sharing - i will try your method out next time i need it, ive never known what to do til now :)
we just had a very bad typhoon hit us here in taiwan last night, my poor garden! no power this morning so the kids couldnt watch tv and i couldnt have my morning coffee - lukily stitching dosnt require electricity :P

Catherine said...

So glad you survived the storms! I am done with the heat, humidity and storms! Love your stitches ~ I have played around with a few different ways to stitch with the variegated threads. I am never one to stick to strictly the way "they" say it must be done. Who are they anyway!?!

Marnie said...

Denise, I think you've stumbled onto something! Thanks for sharing!!! Can't wait to try it. Hope we are all thru with these monster storms. I've have my fill of rain and power outages too.

Unknown said...

You are forever sharing new things to experiment with. I love how you always make each design your own way.

Sharon said...

I don't think I have ever tried that. Yours looks awesome!