Thursday, January 02, 2014

New Year's Start

Like many others, I made a fresh start on New Year's Day. For my first project in my “connected” year, I thought Friendship by Brightneedle with its saying, “The Road to the House of a Friend is Never Long*” would be terribly appropriate. I've also bought a lot of Bright Needle charts and never stitched any. I thought it was about time since they haven’t been designing for years. (Please come back. We want you back!)

I picked out some linen from my stash and did a floss toss. Looking good! (I realize you may quibble with a color or two, but trust me, IRL the fabric is darker than all the light beige colors.)

But here’s the thing. Bright needle charts are mostly stitched over one. So I went along and started stitching over one. What happened to my colors? Clearly one little strand of floss does not look true to the color that appears on the bobbin. Which I think I knew once...

Seriously, can you even tell I’ve stitched anything in that picture?

So I started again. I had a choice of a yellowish-ivory linen and a not-quite-white linen. Both will no doubt have colors getting “lost” so I chose the white, I figure if something blends in, I can throw in some backstitching.






My progress, not bad considering the inauspicious start. I apologize for the lousy color in this picture. I took it before I left for work and the sun, not so much.

"Friendship"
Brightneedle
Recommended colors
32-count linen, color unknown 

Thank you for your lovely comments on my old year wrap up and my New Year plans. I hope I live up to it!

12 comments:

Annie said...

Always drives me crazy when it looks like I have chosen colors with good contrast to the fabric, only to be disappointed when I actually do some stitching. Over-one or not, it always seems to happen to me. I often wonder if I actually bought the exact fabric and threads suggested would it be any different.

Brightneedle has done so many pretty designs over the years. You are lucky to have a bunch. Good choice to start the new year and the new colors look good!

Linda said...

Great new start Nikki.

Linda

Anonymous said...

Nice start! And wise to change the fabric...

Robin in Virginia said...

You are off to a good start with your Brightneedle piece.

Robin in Virginia

PS Have a wonderful 2014!

Giovanna said...

Lovely new start - the 2nd fabric is definitely better. I'll join you in the plea to Brightneedle :-)

Susan said...

Nice start! I'm sure you'll have this done in no time.

Anonymous said...

What an excellent choice! Not only because it's such a great design, but the message is also a lovely one on which to begin the New Year. Best wishes! :)

Beth said...

Over one...always a challenge.

Charlene ♥ NC said...

That makes perfect sense, but don't think I've heard that before. Have a great weekend!

Melody said...

It's so hard to pick colors/ change colors because of fabrics. I've done a couple of pieces that I wasn't happy with due to the nearly invisible stitching in some areas.

Andrea said...

A lovely start. You may not think it is a lot but over 1 ...

Margaret said...

I love Brightneedle! I was lucky cause my LNS had them to teach twice. I took the class both times, and also bought more kits while they were there. Of course, I have yet to stitch them. You have reminded me to pull them out sometime. lol about the over one and the thread showing. Funny what a difference it makes!