Saturday, February 14, 2015

Is it Valentine's Already?

I guess it's time again to trot out my neverending redwork project, Sweet Hearts. I did manage some work on it after Valentine's Day last year. I finished up the first of the couples:


...and made a fair bit of progress on the second couple:


You can see there is a lot of fine detail left on the second couple. This year I have accepted that there will have to be a lot of back stitching, and less stem stitch than I would prefer, in order to finish all those details. My issue with the back stitch is that it does shadow through the fabric more. The hearts in the first picture are back stitched, and you can see the white centres of the hearts are a little darker than the surrounding fabric. It is more obvious in real life!

But, this year I've been relaxing a lot more about things than I have in the past. If it can't be helped, then it can't be helped. So, shadowy back stitch it will be!

Here's the over all progress to date:


There are only two now that have no stitching at all. I'm embarrassed to say that a couple of the pieces are starting to yellow! Hopefully a good wash at the end will even things out. The final layout will have sashing, so that should minimize any aging on the fabric as well.

I'm still quite enthused about my final plan for these, so progress may be slow, but it will continue!

6 comments:

  1. Definitely progress! In sure a good wash at the end will remove the yellowing and you are sufficiently advanced to make it worthwhile. It will be interesting to see how far you get this Valentine's Day.

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    1. Thanks Jillian! We'll see how it goes. Every year I think it will be easy to finish them up by next year, and somehow that doesn't happen.

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  2. Regardless of when it gets done, it will still be a very charming redwork piece. And all of the little troubling details that you notice (like backstitches shining through to the top) will go completely unnoticed by the viewer. It will be a beautiful heirloom when finished. Valentines Day is the perfect day to pull it out.

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    1. Thank you! I guess pulling it out once a year is better than never at all! You're right, I know the drama of the final piece will overshadow any small issues with the stitching!

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    2. Hi Monica...your production is amazing both in variety and interest! The flannel quilt idea sounds very tempting!

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    3. Thanks very much, Anna Maria! The flannel is cozy, but you definitely need a sturdy sewing machine. Take care!

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I'm told Blogger has been bouncing some comments, so if it happens to you I'm sorry! But the settings look right so I can't explain it. In any case, thanks for reading!

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