The Valentine's Day Hearts Sale (Gay Ann Rogers)

Today is Valentine's Day and it is also the start of Gay Ann Rogers's Valentine Day sale of her kits.  Gay Ann's charted designs are feminine and beautiful and only sold a few times a year. Because it is Valentine's Day, a lot of her designs will be hearts.  The sale starts at 8 a.m. California time today.  Have fun exploring and seeing what treats Gay Ann got us for Valentine's!
http://www.gayannrogers.com

Written by Jane/Chilly Hollow
Blogging at http://chillyhollownp.blogspot.com
and at http://chstitchguides.blogspot.com
© Copyright February 7, 2018 Jane M. Wood. All rights reserved.

Bobbin and Fred Do Valentine's Day

Bobbin and Fred has a fun article up about Valentine Day gifts for stitchers.  There's something for every taste and nothing is too expensive, either. Have fun checking it all out, and perhaps making your own list of perfect Valentines for needlepointers.
https://sewingwithbobbinandfred.blogspot.com/2018/01/valentines-day-gift-guide-for.html

Written by Jane/Chilly Hollow
Blogging at http://chillyhollownp.blogspot.com
and at http://chstitchguides.blogspot.com
© Copyright January 30, 2018 Jane M. Wood. All rights reserved.

When to Compensate and When to Not Compensate

Melissa Prince's Japan Travel Coaster

I'm currently stitching the mountain in the background of the "Japan Travel Coaster" from Melissa Prince Designs.  Working on the mountain brings up an interesting point—how to handle compensation between areas when you are using the same stitch for them all.  I'm stitching the mountain using the same stitch, but changing threads as the colors of the mountain change.  When I finished, I ended up with this—

Mountain Stitched

Take a closer look a the area where the burgundy turns into pink and the pink turns into white.  The stitches in burgundy reach up into the pink area.  I did not compensate the edges of that area.  I think in most cases it is better to continue the stitch rhythm instead of shortening a stitch to stop that color at the edge.  However, I did compensate the white area at the top of the mountain somewhat where it will bleed into the sky since I'm going to use a different stitch for the sky.  I also compensated somewhat at the white-pink edge as the change from a medium dark pink to white is pretty drastic.  I really didn't need to do that, however, as I ended up putting beads on top of the white-pink edge to create clouds and snow on Mt. Fuji.  The beads hide any compensation I did or did not do.

Margins Hidden by Beads

Compensation is an interesting topic.  I usually don't compensate between areas as I think it is more important to continue the stitch rhythm, but there are lots of exceptions to that rule.

Written by Jane/Chilly Hollow
Blogging at http://chillyhollownp.blogspot.com
and at http://chstitchguides.blogspot.com
© Copyright January 15, 2018 Jane M. Wood. All rights reserved.