Friday 20 January 2017

Lacklustre and Shiny

I watched quite a bit of the inauguration today and really didn't sense any excitement or hope for the future. I found the inaugural speech to be confrontational. I found it to be insulting to President Obama and marveled at how he kept a deadpan face throughout Trump's tirade. Inaugural speeches should promote unity, optimism, and hope for the future. The only good thing I can say is it was short.

Feeling like I needed to do something orderly and relaxing, I hauled out an easy hardanger project from the November 2007 issue of Cross Stitch & Needlework magazine. It was the Coral Island piece pictured on the cover.
I happened to have a couple of shades of nice, shiny, #5 Perle cotton in my stash in 4020 and 4025 colourways and the 22 count hardanger canvas.
I would have preferred using DMC floss for some of the elements but I just followed the pattern. There were kloster blocks, satin stitches for the half stars, the buttonhole stitching all around, diamond eyes some cross-stitching, French knots, and some cutting and woven bars. It will be backed by a slightly smaller piece of the hardanger fabric then either cut out around the buttonhole stitching or framed. It measures 4 5/8" across.

I continue to search for a practical hardanger project. That is, something other than doilies. Hopefully with quite a few kloster blocks, a few dove's eyes, wrapped bars, and possibly some other fancy stitches.


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