Friday, March 21, 2014

Weekly Update

Cross Stitch:
I did some more work on Joy of Computer Work which is based on artwork by Randal Spangler and adapted to cross stitch by Michele Sayetta of Heaven and Earth Designs.
 


I'm not happy with this pattern. In fact, I'm feeling a bit cheated. As you can see, it's difficult to read the text, which is one of the most important aspects of the design. It's not quite as bad in person (my camera washed out the colors somewhat), but parts of it are all but illegible. It looks like 3 things have gone wrong here. First, the cover of the pattern package shows this which appears to be the original artwork before it was adapted to cross stitch, which makes the customer think they're getting something different from what they're actually getting. Second, the computer mockup on HAED's website shows that Ms. Sayetta didn't do a very good job on the text when she adapted the artwork to cross stitch. Third, I suspect that Ms. Sayetta stopped after finishing the mockup and didn't test the pattern. Even the best design programs don't render colors accurately, so it's vital to test the pattern by actually stitching it, especially with a highly detailed design like this where a slight difference in color can make a huge difference in the finished result. I have 2 other patterns by Ms. Sayetta that I plan to stitch (fortunately they don't have any text), but based on my experiences with this item I will not be buying any more patterns by Heaven and Earth Designs.

Now, how to salvage this project? The stitching is so dense that frogging is a non-starter, so I'm going to try stitching over some of the stitches with a single strand of floss to see if I can't make the lettering legible. Wish me luck.

Swedish Weaving:

I finished the first half of Mountain Pines from Learn to Make Monk’s Cloth Afghans by Marilyn T. Magly and started the second.


Quilting:

On the potholders, I finished quilting another block.

 


I also did some more work on the 4th binding strip on the Tree Frog Trio (designer unknown) based on No Evil Frogs by Royce B. McClure.
 


Crochet:

Finally, I did some more work on the step afghan (pattern here).
 

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