My first evenweave project (cross stitch)

This is the first pattern that I bought for myself.  The colours appealed to me and the relaxed feeling.  I started in the middle an worked my way up to the right at first.  That meant the full pink sleeves were under-way before the figures head.  I don't know how many of you will recall the sit com 'Allo 'Allo! or the story line with the indelicately named portrait ?

I have previously mentioned that something other than the planned design can be seen during sewing, in this case the large round pink sleeves were interpreted by more than one person as being the indelicate area of anatomy in that portrait.  I never saw it myself.

Nantucket Rose

I made some  intentional small changes to the original design to both make it mine and to suit my own preference.  The edge of the lace on the original where it went over the skirt and the background has missed stitches to let the material colour show through however, I added in the colour of the area they were crossing instead.  Oh and there was some back stitching on the cottage that I left off.

You will note I said I made some intentional deviations from the pattern.  Well I also made some unintentional ones as well, fortunately from me they were small and not so  noticeable so that I could live with them. 

This design contains lots of lessons learned, some indirectly. Whilst I was doing this my friends wife was also doing a design with a flowing draped skirt. She started at the top of a drape and followed the one colour all the way down to the bottom then went back to the top for the next section of the drape only to find part way down she had a miss count at the top of the first section and it all had to come back out. 

She shared her story of dismay with me before I was seduced by the one colour bug in the same way on the skirt here.  So I moved the skirt down four or five rows in any shade then brought the next section down so I could make sure they matched and the count was right.

Visiting a cross stitch shop with the same friend and her mother I spotted a finished Nantucket Rose on display.  I examined it closely, spotted a mistake or two (only because they were in an area I was working at that time and knew it very well), I was delighted to do so.  I am not sure that my companions understood my glee, perhaps they thought I was being a bit picky or mean.  That was not the reason, I was having an epiphany, the item on display looked great, not perfect but great, I did not have to follow the pattern perfectly to have something of worth.  Small deviations were not just OK they made it personal, they made it unique.

I originally framed it myself , in a very simple frame echoing the framing on the pattern.  Later my framing friend re-stapled the back as that kept popping off.

It takes turns on the wall with the first kit I finished (started before this and finished after and yet to make its appearance in the blog) and a much later finish made for my mother.  Rose tends to make her appearance in summer and comes down in the Autumn.