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Friday, January 3, 2014

Margret Gatis - Day 4

Today was not an easy one.... I had a feeling that the charting and the picture were different on Day 2 but didn't take the time to study things too carefully then...

The dividing lines of cross stitch and backstitch were becoming a bit boring and I wondered why I had not encountered this variation too often in other samplers I had stitched before.  So I decided to take a break from the discrepancies I was encountering in the previous band and just stitch the dark blue dividing line.  This time I chose to use a variation of  long-armed cross stitch instead, alternating double back stitch to be exact to stitch the dark blue dividing lines on the top and top and bottom of Band 7 - went faster and I liked the effect better.  This is the stitch used in many other samplers...

Then just to avoid going back to figuring things out because I was a bit tired and it was getting late I decided I would place the undulating green area into the next band - the instructions indicated to start it on the left side and stitch this over two threads ( so far all the other were over 3 threads) - the positioning seemed suspect, the reasons didn't make sense but I decided to just stitch things as charted.  This was the result :

Margret Gatis - stitched as charted... not centered etc.
The Song of my Needle 
 So out everything came and I had to figure out how to make this band work out according to the picture where things seemed fairly centered.  The only thing to do was to stitch the  central diamond over three threads first.  Then I decided to abandon the idea of reversibility and settle on just a neat back instead and stitch the green undulating area over two as instructed ,,, I decided not to start on the left side as indicated in the instructions but to start on the right side instead... I couldn't start in the center and go to either side because it is not clear from the chart if the graph is over two or three threads etc. and this band has both over two and over three in it.


Margret Gatis - starting the band again!
The Song of my Needle
 After some adjusting and thinking things through, the pattern seemed to fall into place although I am still not quite sure yet about some of the other elements, so I will finish the cross stitches at the end. 
Progress has been slow tonight.  I had planned to set up other projects this evening but did not get to it.
Margret Gatis -  Slow Progress & still tentative about the chart
The Song of my Needle


  We are in the middle of a snow storm tonight into tomorrow so I should get some 'extra' time to do all the other things tomorrow during the day... most likely we will all be snowed in.

And it proves to me again that when I have a 'gut feeling' that something is amiss I should listen to it and not barrel through instructions just to enjoy the 'rhythm of stitching'!

2 comments:

Heritage Hall said...

A basted center stitch is what I use to guide placement when doing
an intricate sampler....I usually can "catch" a flawed instruction and
"center out" has always held me in good stead... Have never done
an over two and over three piece and can see how "centering" might
have been just as confusing....It will be beautiful when you get back
on track...You are correct; trust your instincts....

Nupur said...

I usually do mark the center and right & left margins - it makes things much easier - however this chart is quite different to most - parts of the sides seem to be missing (perhaps photocopy placement?), this band is charted in two different places and there is not indication as to how many rows are between bands or how many threads are on either side. There is also no mention in the instructions as to if the chart represents 2 threads or 3. I am just glad that I added plenty of fabric on all sides after having to count the sampler - no stich count was given - I always prefer to have more fabric on all sides just in case ...

Glad to note that you have not encountered over 2 and 3 threads either.