Progress report

It's Superbowl Sunday and I think I'll have plenty of time to stitch today if I opt not to linger on the computer, that is.  This week I've been working on Fan on Black by Jinice. A project I've wanted to do for a very long time, I've now discovered I am not as enamored with it as I once was. Make no mistake, the design is wonderful, the stitches have been fun and a good lesson in couching. No, I think it might be the red orange and flesh tone hues in the color palette that are not working for me. I may be rushing to judgment however since there is still quite a bit of work to be done.

     For instance the background is quite busy and should tone down the dominating black canvas with the lattice effect using braid, floss and bugle beads. There is a border that squares off the fan; the beginning can be seen in the picture on the right. There is one row of tent in red braid, then slanted gobelin over three in Forest Fire Watercolors (seen in the center part of the fan) followed by another row of red braid. And finally a large mitered border in a deep blue frames everything.
     In all honesty, this is not my best work. I think I'll end up taking out/fixing some of the couching for starters. The silver braid is couched in Accentuate (my bright idea) and I have clearly tightened down too much on the stitches; notice the scrolly areas on the left, especially around the red braid filled area. There are two rows of braid outline and one practically disappears because of my tight couching distorting the smooth flow of the outlining. I will take this out and couch with light grey floss instead and see if that helps.
     Also, on the right side, the Woven Plaid area is not as perfectly straight as it should be. This section uses braid, Patina, and two colors of Neon Rays tacked down with a fine gold metallic. The ribbon didn't lay as nicely as I would have liked and it seemed that where it was wound on the edges of the card, it split apart a bit. I used my laying tool but I wasn't as meticulous as I could have been on this section. I MAY end up taking it out.

      Even though I've pointed out my own imperfections, it is no reflection on the overall design and appeal of this piece. I especially liked the stitch variety, the use of beads in combination with stitches and the varying textures in the design. I would stitch this again and maybe next time try a pastel color palette.  So while listening to the game I'll finish one row of the red braid border and then work on the beaded background. As always, any comments or tips are most welcome. Hope you're having a great day today and that you're safely tucked inside, preferrably stitching, if you happen to be in the area of that huge east coast storm. It's snowing here in the Denver area today, but nothing like what's falling back east. Thanks for stopping in today.