Mabel's WIPs -- thread now retired

[~threadbear~]

Love that tulip Mabel. So pretty.
The bookmarks are very bright and appealing as well.

[Nachstenliebe]

I love the covering on the Madonna..and I like the coverage on this.. gives it an ethereal look
Faith

[Cecilia]

Lovely work Mabel.

[SusanF]

The silks look fabulous on that latest tulip. It's very effective

[Mabel Figworthy]

I'm using the Madonnas to experiment with different fabric/thread combinations, and it's proving to be an education!

I set up four different combinations, one of which I had to abandon almost immediately and substitute a different thread. I tried to use one strand of Caron Watercolours on the 24ct Congress Cloth, and it was just impossible to work with -- not only was it far too bulky to look at, I found it hard to pull the needle and thread through the fabric! So after only four stitches I gave up on that, frogged, and found another thread.

The four combinations I'm now trying are (all in half cross stitch):
1 strand of Caron Watercolours on 20ct aida
1 strand of Caron Watercolours on 18ct aida
Caron Wildflowers on Congress Cloth
Caron Impressions on Congress Cloth

I finished the first and have done some stitches on the other three, and so far I think the Watercolours are the least successful. On 20ct aida it's still quite bulky -- I needed to use a size 24 needle just to widen the holes a bit for the thread to pass through -- and almost impossible to get nice regular stitches, especially where (on the faces) I didn't go in straight lines. Having said that, I do like the way the colours turned out, even if it did take a bit of planning to make sure the faces weren't green ! The sparkle is DMC pearl blending filament.

[kazzi29]

very pretty!
what count are you using for the bookmark?

[Mabel Figworthy]

28ct raw linen over 1 -- it needed to be small stitches to make it bookmark-sized, as it was really meant for a framed picture.

[pamelam]

Beautiful!

[Cecilia]

Lovely.

[XandraS]

Another beautiful Madonna, that Caron thread is lovely.

[Rose]

I like the color combo but not particularly with this design. I am not sure why but I don't like this one nearly as much as the others.

[dollystitcher]

Very pretty Mabel.

[maggs]

I pressume that last mother & child is done in varigated thread, it does appear to be very blocky, not at all like the other variated thread.

[Nachstenliebe]

Very pretty! The colors are very earthy in this one
Faith

[CountryAtHeart]

I Love The Kitty Coasters- Would love to do something like that!

[Mabel Figworthy]

The thread is variegated, but not as subtle as some of the others -- I'm afraid this is my least favourite so far, although the banding on her head-dress is an interesting effect. Never mind, on to the next !

Number 8 is stitched on 24ct black Congress Cloth using Caron Wildflowers shade 126 (Faded Linen). They don't come much subtler , it's practically white with very faint shades of pink, green, blue and yellow. Coverage is OK, though not as good as Caron Impressions. I don't think Wildflowers would work on the 20ct aida. The silver is DMC blending filament.

[agi]

Love your experiments, Mabel

[Nachstenliebe]

I can very faintly see the varigation.. but put with the dark fabric is has a nice effect
Faith

[pamelam]

Another beautiful version

[Mabel Figworthy]

Bert, here's what i wrote some time ago:

"it's based on a freebie that Charmagne found for us, I think the link is in her thread, but I did make changes to it, so when you download it you'll have to play around with it to see what your version is going to be like!"

I'll see if I can find the link anywhere -- I think i deleted it once I'd made the changes to the chart.

Edited:
Found the link! You have to scroll right down.