Friday, March 6, 2009

Farmyard Embroidery Sampler


Lately I've been obsessed with cross-stitch embroidery. I think I have ten projects going at once. I think it's because I'm inherently sloppy and cross-stitch is so precise and organized. It goes in the total opposite direction of my personality. It's challenging, it's frustrating, it's tedius, and it's way so satisfying when something comes out right. My favorite piece right now is a sampler with farm animals, letters, and flowers. I just added a deep red heart to it. I like that I don't have a predetermined outcome. I'm not sure what I will put where next. That keeps the project exciting for me. Like a murder mystery! What will I do next, and where will I do it? What color will I use? I'm using various reference materials, but I'm very proud of the pink piggy because I made that up as I went along right out of my head. I love working on tan aida cloth. The light colors look so good against it. I always thought mid-range backgrounds were the best, because then you can add shadows and highlights. I'm using 2 strangs of DMC embroidery floss on each 'x'. I got some new colors at the store on Wed. so now I can finish some of the animals I already started.