Various stitching sorts of things

Hello from wet and windy South Yorkshire.  Nothing like as terribly wet and windy as those poor souls in the south of the country, Wales and western coastal areas who are flooded out of their homes and/or assessing damage from the strong gales that were battering their homes and businesses the other day.  In that, we count ourselves lucky.

Anyway, I promised a little while ago to share the completed Lizzie*Kate 'Autumn' piece and so here it is.  For any newcomers, late last year I completed the 'Button Up' four seasons series (I'd done 'Winter' and 'Spring' a few years before), but didn't use the novelty buttons that came with the charts.  Two of them I didn't really like and so I decided to find another way to add a special touch to this series.  I'll be adding in some stitched elements in a different style from cross stitch to create a special part.  I'll do this one when Needlequest covers autumn, the 'Spring' one in April and fit the other two in as an when, sometime in between.

Last time I posted this piece, it was almost done, but I wasn't sure about the yellow and orange lettering at the bottom.  As you can see from the comparison with the rest of the series below, it doesn't stand out as well as the others do, but I don't think it's too bad, so I'll keep it as it is and won't be adding anything to it.  Some suggested outlining it (I also thought of this one myself), but none of the others are outlined and I wanted to make sure that the series matched well too.  The contrast isn't as great as those with darker shades, but it could also be a great deal worse, so it goes forward as is.=)  Many thanks to those who gave opinions and made suggestions a few months ago.=)

When i was up in Leeds the other week I grabbed the chance to visit my old favourite shop there and bought most of the bits and pieces that you can see here.  I finally found somewhere that wasn't out of stock of Anchor #1 stranded cotton - bright white (=DMC shade B5200), although they didn't have #2, antique white, I noticed.  I have a spare of that one though, so I was content with my find.

I also bought these three lengths of ribbon, which will become piping for cushion covers.  I have two planned for this year - the Japanese kimono piece is to be made up into one and a butterfly piece that I'll be doing in the autumn is the other.  I got the third length of ribbon as they were '50p each or 3 for £1'.  Silly not to!!

The fabric they're resting on is a 30cm strip of white organza, which I got to have a go at Rowandean style 'see through' work (like Rachel showcased after her trip to the Knitting and Stitching Show in Harrogate last November), which will be another part of my spring themed work in April.  I also have Gary Clarke's 'Embroidery Illusions' on my wishlist and wanted to have some useful fabric in to try something like that.

The last four skeins of thread are the missing DMC Linen shades I was looking out for and which Cynthia very kindly sent to me from her own stash.  They came with a note expressing the hope that she'd soon see them featured in a pretty project, so I must get my thinking cap on.  Can't let such a generous soul down.  Don't forget, Cynthia, if there's anything fairly light in weight that I can send you from the UK, you've only to ask!=)

Wish there were more greens that these two wishy-washy ones, but at least that's another thread collection completed (even if it is discontinued now).  Not that I have a vast array of complete collections - just Anchor stranded cottons, Anchor Marlitt, possibly Madeira Stranded Silk - unless they've added any new shades and almost all Anchor's Coton à Broder #16 - minus one or two shades that I'd never use, and now these linen threads.  At one point I had all the Anchor Pearl Cotton #12 balls, but then they re-vamped the range and extended it enormously.  I've got some of the new ones, but don't need all.   OK, I suppose that, whilst that might not be a vast number of collections, it does constitute a rather vast amount of thread!!LOL

What about you?  Do you have any complete collections?  What would you like to have the whole set of?  I'd like the new Anchor Coton à Broder #25 set, but the colours are little limited at only 40.  Mary Corbet was understandably bewailing how limited the DMC collection was recently and there are about 175 shades there, so this one is really small!  Still, I think they could have use, although, as usual, they haven't really brought out colours that say 'buy and use me' to me.  Some, yes.  Many, sadly not.  I'll probably get the greens, yellows and red-shades (including pinks, lilac and peach). It's a new venture for Anchor, releasing colours in this range, which used to be white and black only, so I hope they'll expand it in time.  Hardly anyone's stocking it yet and the only on-line retailer I've found has, unhelpfully, omitted the colour numbers.=(  I may have to get it from Hobbycraft.

I fancy treating myself to the four Kreinik Sacks O'Silk, and, as they go up in price every time I look at them, so it seems, I'd best be quick, although I don't have £70 to spare just now.  I'd also like the DMC Satin range, I think.  I wonder how very different they are from Anchor Marlitt.  Anyone know?  Could they be used together without very obvious discrepancies?  They only have 60 shades to Marlitt's 90, but I think there's a lot that can be done, even with a limited palette.  I'm willing to try, anyway!!

Text and images © Elizabeth Braun 2014