A Finished Living Room

I know - I've been a delinquent blogger, but Window 1 is done! Gay Ann was able to capture an amazing amount of detail with just a few simple stitches in a really small space. I look forward to receiving the next window. This weekend I'll continue working on this piece, preparing the borders around the next section.This evening I spent some time pulling my threads for the project I'm starting in my EGA meeting on Monday. One of our chapter members will be showing us how to mount silk gauze on muslin so it can be stitched using Q-Snaps, a hoop, stretcher bars, etc. I've stitched on silk gauze before, but I've always had it taped to mat board to stretch it, but the fabric becomes loose easily this way. I hope this new method allows me to keep it taut.

So, what's the new project? It's chart G-230, Blackberries, from Gitta's Charted Petit Point. I picked up the chart and the 40ct gauze this week at my LNS. I'll be stitching this using Eterna stranded silk, which has almost no twist to it. It is almost a flat silk, which means it has great shine, since there are few twists to distort the light. It is also somewhat difficult to work with, since any little dry spot on your hands will snag the silk fibers. Despite this, I like to use this thread on silk gauze because it somewhat spreads out to fill the space available, so little inconsistencies in tension aren't as apparent.

Besides, when this thread first came out, they offered a set of full skeins of the entire color range (then 400+ colors) for only $100, including shipping! So I have plenty to choose from, and just have to comb through them a bit to find the right colors. The color conversion chart from DMC is not perfect, so it takes some time to get the right combination of colors. I think it's close right now, but need to check it again tomorrow in the daylight.