Christmas Sampler in Red

After finishing Peppermint Bark, I had planned to get back to Love is the Key but the Margaret Doyle 1850 SAL starts through Kitten Stitcher on 10/20. I didn’t really want to get myself immersed in Love is the Key, only to work on it for 4 days and put it back away so I decided to start Christmas Sampler in Red.

Denise has finished this and I remember when she was stitching it that she used a DMC long color changing variegated red. I couldn’t find a post on her blog showing the finished piece but I did find this post where she had lots of stitching done. Her’s is so pretty!

I wanted to use 46 count or 56 count linen because stitching something with one color would be a great way to get some practice on the higher count linen. Stitched on 46 count, this piece would be 4-7/8″ x 4-7/8″. On 56 count, it would be 4″ x 4″. The only 56 count pieces I have are very tan and I wanted to use something more white. I have a piece of Antique White in 46 count so I used that.

I had called The Attic a while back to get floss for the higher count linens – mainly the 56 count and I had asked for reds because I figured I would use red on redwork pieces. They sent me Tudor Silks dyed dyed by Gloriana and the color is Poinsettia. It’s a gorgeous red so I used that one. I stitched the top border and the right side border and it was looking beautiful. Then I started stitching the bird on the right side and about four stitches into that bird, and I knew the thread was too thin to provide decent coverage on 46 count. The bird looked like he was molting!

The other floss The Attic had sent was Soie Surfine and looking at that, I figured it was too fine also.

I grabbed my box of Victoria Clayton reds. They’re also silks but a bit thicker, though not as thick as several other silks. I’m using OMG 1143, which is a deep red but not burgundy at all. I think it’s a good Christmas Red.

This time, instead of stitching the entire border, I only stitched 11 stitches from the right side so I could get the placement of the bird right. Now that I know this floss is going to give me good coverage, I can continue.

I plan to stitch on this til the 20th, which is Thursday, and then I’ll put this away for a while and get to stitching on Margaret Doyle.