SAL RULES

This will be a very loosely organized SAL.
--Participants may work at their own pace and choose charts in any order that suits their fancy.
--Participants may post photos at any stage in the process: WIP, Cross Stitch finish, Final finish.
--Since only retailers who attended the 2006 Indy market are authorized to distribute or kit these charts, all participants are asked to refrain from copying and/or sharing the charts with others. Those wishing to acquire the charts should inquire at their favorite LNS. I do know they are available [with an additonal purchase] as a CD-rom of all 41 charts from The Silver Needle in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
--Let's all have fun with this very generous gift from the participating designers.

Monday, November 5, 2012

Two more Stitching Finishes.

 Mosey and Me's contribution to the 2006 Indy Town Square series, The Book Shop This piece called for Anchor floss of which I have very little in my stash.  So I decided to go upscale and stitch it entirely in Belle Soie on 28ct Meditation linen, a pale blue overdyed fabric.  My substitutions are as follows: Icing for #2, Old Crow for #403, Wheatgrass for #831, Cabbage Patch for #875, Collard Greens for #876, Creme de Menthe for 878, Wheatgrass for 886, Ocean Tide for #1035, Chocolat for #1050, Bahama Breeze for #9159 and Cranberry for GAST Rhubarb.  I realize my version makes for a somewhat darker shop than was charted but I always think of bookshops and libraries as having the colors of an old English gentleman's club: rich, elegant deep tones.  At least, if I owned a bookshop, that's the way I would paint it.  I particularly like the roof, made to look like an open book laid down in a spine destroying manner of which I would never be guilty ... but a clever conceit nonetheless.

JAB Co Button Shop.  I didn't order the button pack as charted since I have a fairly extensive collection of buttons, having inherited both my mother's and my grandmother's button jars.  I found replacements that suited my purposes.  And as to the fibers, I did have more than half of the recommended WDW colors in my stash and substituted near-matches from my stash of WDW and GAST for the remainder.  I changed the colors around a bit though.  The WDW Whitewash storefront is now WDW Collards to match the roof and provide better contrast for my  mother-of-pearl buttons.  The WDW Raspberry door and gutter trim are now WDW Whitewash to compensate for removing the white from the storefront.

Wednesday, October 17, 2012

The Primitive's Shop

I think this is my favorite so far.  The over-one display window is a fabulous touch.  Though I will admit that it was something of a mystery stitch since I'd never seen a model photo.  The doll, candlestick and stars were perfectly obvious on the chart.  The rectangle in the center was a bit more difficult but I eventually realized it was going to be a painting of a house.  But the little red hen in the lower corner only revealed itself when fully stitched.  Seen only as black symbols on a white page, there was no way I could figure out  what was coming.

Monday, October 1, 2012

Finished one more

Sorry for the dark indoor photo but if I wait for sunshine it could take weeks.  The sun is playing games with me, shining brilliantly until I pick up a camera and then  ... well, by the time I have got the shot set up, it is miserably overcast again.  

I did a bit of changing here, eliminating the Est. 1990 sign which I thought broke up the brick wall in a particularly unattractive fashion, pretty much splitting the building in two separate visual halves.  I also switched out some of the greys for WDW greys I had on hand rather than the ones called for which would have required a purchase.  And finally, instead of doing the glass in the called for Taupe like the roof, I stitched it in Hydrangea: a blue to white colorway that gave the kinds of shadowy look you really see when looking at windows.