Initial Outline
I am working on the second colorway with my original bargello design. I have had some situations arise that give me pause for thought….. Color is what bargello is all about and using values that are so close to each other had presented it’s own challenges. Using the darkest value for the first step was a good choice. It devides the quadrants. Using the lightest value in the middle of the outlines is needed to provide movement. In the green colorway my lightest green really worked….in the turquoise colorway I am struggling with the lightest value. It doesn’t seem to provide the statement that I was looking for. The copper in the turquoise colorway is OK…but I am not sure if OK is enough. Back to stitching and thinking………
First Stitching
I have completed the first stitching of my design. As you can see there are color errors. I did not keep my colors in the right order and the light in my studio wasn’t the greatest so the two dark greens got mixed up.
The one thing that is not an error is the color flow. Top to bottom and left to right are done in the opposite color progression. I wanted to see the difference in stitching light to dark and dark to light. I also wondered if the orange was toooo bright so part of the border is done in a softer orange. It turns out I like the bright orange.
I will now stitch it again. I want to use another colorway. This one will be turquoise and copper. More southwest colors for this area.
I am working with the software that I got for charting and so far I am pleased with the results. It is a great tool for not much money.
Setting Up The Quadrants
My first bargello design is taking form. This is a four way bargello design that I am going to teach to my Tucson ANG Chapter the end of February. Prior to picking up a needle I spent many hours with a pencil and series of pages of graph paper. As I got a start that I liked I would copy the graph paper and go on to several next ideas. I think I have found a very reasonable piece of software that will allow me to create charts for my class. If anyone is interested they can check out www.plasticcanvassoftware.com. I got a lead on this from the ANG discussion list. I never thought to search for plastic canvas information. I don’t use plastic canvas but it makes sense that a chart is a chart. With bargello being only vertical stitches I hope to make it work. I’ll keep you informed on my progress.
Basic Design Line
Five colors of Green
This design (which does not have a title yet) is a very simple four way bargello design that will use to try to explain the importance of color in bargello designs. I have used 5 values of one color family and added one contrasting color for a little “pop”. I know there are many bargello lovers out there and I would like to hear some feedback.
Photo one shows the outline of the quardants. It is important to baste these diagonal lines and my eye doesn’t always follow the true diagonal line. The second photo shows the basic design. This took a lot of time to complete. Trying to invision what the void areas would be was a challenge.
It is hard to see but the voids on the right side are filled with the lightest green. I like the center burst of orange and I think the border needs to repeat the contrasting color. I am anxious to see all four sides completed. This is just a practice piece. I have already made a mistake with two of my greens as they are so close in color. But no ripping just proceed to get an idea of the completed design….
I have never considered myself “adicted” to the internet…..now I am not so sure. We have been off line for a week. The severe storm with 70mph and lots of rain prevented us from setting up the satellite. I felt cut off from the world. The wind was so bad last Thursday that we had to stow the TV satellite. It was like being on a desert island.
I did make progress on Hearts Gone Wild and read two books. I completed Area 6 (which I misidentified as Area 5 in my last post) and Area 15.
Area 6
In Area 15 I made a design change. The portion between the inside purple and the outside purple outline of the heart was suppose to be skip tent. When I completed it I did not lokie th look of it. It was so scatteredd that I thought it looked like stitches were missing. So I ripped it all aout and placed the vertical gobelin in that small area. I like the look of it much better.
Area 15
WordPress has been giving me fits with uploading photos. I don’t know if it is “operator malfunction” or a problem with WordPress.
I have to leave Hearts Gone Wild for a while and work on my 4-Way Bargello design. I have to have it ready for a chapter program on February 25th. My next post will have further details and hopefully a photo of my design.
I was in the middle of a post and there was a power “blip”……..lost everything. Just a reminder to SAVE often.
Area 5
With the “frog” work completed I really enjoyed putting these hearts in the proper place. The reverse mosaic sure adapts beautifully to the heart shape. The background will be pretty simple with the dark pink behind the light pink hearts and visa versa. I hope to finish this Area tonite.
Tomorrow we pull in the slides ont this RV and head to Quartzsite, AZ just 75 miles north of Yuma. We will be “boondocking” in the desert for a week. (Boondocking means no power, no water, no sewer) We have plenty of water in the RV, a big generator for power and large holding tanks. Probably more than any of you wanted to know. I usually try to keep only to stitching.
Area 5
I am now in Yuma where the temperature is in the mid 70’s but the wind is blowing a gale. Good weather to sit and stitch.
I completed Area 5 yesterday, except for the beads. They will go on last. They will be placed in the heart where you can see a white cross section of the canvas. Stitch direction is sure evident in this photo. I guess the angle of my camera caused only the LR to look like it is stitched in a different thread…..it isn’t.
I went on to Area 6. It is located on the left side of the canvas. The photo in my previous post shows a completed pink heart and one heart partially completed. This is what I completed in class. I continued on with the bottom heart and was almost done with it when I sat back and looked at the square……….uh oh. The hearts were not centered top to bottom. I had 4 threads on the top and 6 threads on the bottom. The chart CLEARLY showed 5 on top and bottom. The Area 6 square is now empty….I had to rip it all out and plan to start on it again tonite. Just when we think we KNOW how to count we get reminded: count twice or more and stitch once. 
This week at the Indio FMCA rally has eaten into my stitching time but I have managed to make some progress.
Area 9, The square with the heart and a white background has given me some problems. The solid border, which is only a quarter done, is proving a challenge. It is the stitch placement that creates the heart patterns. What shows is what I did in class. When I tried to continue on my stitch holes did not look clean. I frog stitched it out and wrote my teacher Nancy Cucci. She promptly replied at length and gave me several helpful hints. As I was not in the mood to be challenged I went on to another area and will come back to area 9 at a future time.
I went on to Area 5. I had completed the heart in class so I began on the background. It is an interesting pattern and fairly easy to stitch. Nancy’s charts are great to work from. I plan to finish this background and perhaps go back to Area 9.
Tomorrow I head to Yuma, AZ for a week with friends during which I hope to get a new stovetop installed in the rig and some cabinet work done so as to accomidate a 32″ TV. Again it will be a busy week but I will make progress.
Happy New Year To All…..
This photo shows where I was on New Years Day. Today we are parked, along with approx 900 other motorhomes at the Riverside Fairgrounds in Indio, CA. We departed Sierra Vista New Years Day. Traveled to Quartzsire for one night and then on to the Elks club in Indio to meet up with 6 other couples. We spent one night at the Elks and then came on to the fairgrounds. This gathering is the FMCA (Family Motor Coach Association) Western Area rally. We will be here until Sunday.
I have my stitching all set up and am ready to make good progress. More updates soon.
I passed 60,000 hits on this blog this past week. Thanks to all of you who follow my work.
Nancy Cucci's Hearts Gone Wild
I am rewarding myself with a fun project called Hearts Gone Wild. This was the other class I took at ANG seminar in Milwaukee this past summer. Nancy Cucci was the teacher and her class was a delight. Any teacher who puts dark chocolate hearts in the thread kit get my kudos ! The instructions are very clear and I spent yesterday stitching on 18ct canvas which seemed huge after four months on 22ct congress.
The above photo is one I took in class of the completed project. The two below show where I was after class and where I am after yesterday. I am going to make more progress today. This project is perfect for stitching while football is on.
After My 2-Day Class
After Yesterday's Stitching
A Merry Christmas to all.
At 9:05pm Last night I put the last stitch in Double Up. WOW done before Christmas. What a sense of accomplishment I feel. My Christmas present to myself. Four months on this project. I wasn’t sure I was going to make it because last Friday it was obvious to me that I was going to run out of thread for the triangle background stitch…… I e-mailed Ro Pace (the teacher) and to my surprise she put a spool of thread in the mail to me priority mail. It arrived just as I was using up the last length from my spool. I put in some long hours but it is all worth it. Now I will go to the framers and see what magic he can work. This one HAS to have a place in the wall !
