The Process

Designing this simple sampler has been a work in progress, literally. Yesterday, my desk was covered in fibers, fabric, graph paper and the occasional cat. In addition to iTunes loaded up with a customized play list, the air was littered with the dulcet tones of ripping out of threads and the use of not so lady-like words. o.o I have no idea of how designers do this all the time. It's been rewarding to do this, but at times, I've questioned my sanity as to why I was even doing this. Getting out of one's comfort zone is all well and good, but I have a tendency to jump in with both feet and not bother with pesky details such as actually planning things out. That is my darling Hubmeister's area, and he is very good at it. I'm more of your "Ooooo...... SHINY!!!" type. This does mean, however, that the Hubmeister and I complement each other quite thoroughly. :)


At any rate, here is the photographic evidence of the journey I have taken with this sampler. It's been interesting and a bit frustrating here and there, but it was oh, so worth it in the end!


My desk area. Jake, my iMac (Yes, I name my computers. No, there is nothing wrong with me! :P) was taken off my desk to provide me with more room. The desk I have is not really all that large or comfortable, but then again, 25 bucks of particle board from Wal-Mart does not five star accommodations make, eh? :)








Then, I notice something. I had originally wanted the container that the tomato trellis to be a half whiskey barrel type of affair. My mother had these when I was growing up and I plan to eventually put Frank into one. Right now, Frank's current digs are a LOVELY black plastic bucket, which, while black may be slimming, it really isn't the sort of affair that I want my him to continue growing and thriving in, yea?


At any rate, I had chosen colors in the 640 range to emulate the colors that are in an aged half whiskey barrel. I had even contemplated tweeding some of the colors for an even greater effect, however, this was short lived when I realized that the colors just COMPLETELY disappeared into the fabric, thusly:





Okie doke. Back to the drawing board, then. Ah! Terracotta! That's it! Into the DMC bin I went and came up with 3328:






Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand I got all of not a complete row of half stitches in before I decided that it wasn't terracotta-y (yes, that is a word, at least it is now! :P) enough for my taste.







Okie doke... time for another DMC bin dive. Decided on DMC 3830. Ah, that's better! :)


And whilst I was changing colors, I had to change the DMC list that was used. Now this wouldn't be an issue, except that the eraser that I have on the pencil I'm using quite frankly sucks, so I have to use White-Out in order to correct anything. After a while, I look down and noticed that I was getting into my work:








The Hubmeister then noticed that I had some on my elbow as well. According to said Hubmeister, I am not so much into my work as I am covered in it. :P


Ushi, on the other hand, had her own reaction to the proceedings:






So, after much fiddling and ripping and figuring out where things were gonna go, I present to you, the finished product. Stitchy notes first as always!


Design: First Harvest

Designer: ME! :D


Fabric: 28 count natural raw linen

Fibers: DMC 347, 372, 676, 937, 938, 3830, and 3865.


I decided to stitch the tomatoes on the trellis with a mix of cross stitches and the dreaded French knots, with long stitches, whole and half cross stitches for the vines and leaves.





My friend Shannon suggested that the bee and the lone tomato be swapped, but I kinda like the way it looks like the tomato sort of just went off on its own :). I designed this sampler so you could move things around, change colors, fabrics and basically just make it your own. I need to work on cleaning up the chart again. Kelly over at Thoughts From A Stitcher has graciously offered to assist me with that and I think I am probably going to take her up on the offer. While I am comfortable flying by the seat of my pants, age and experience (read: getting into trouble a lot! :P) has taught me to take help when it's offered and be thankful and grateful you got it.


Well, I am off for now. I need to get the chart re-done and in some form of cohesive format. My friend Shannon asked me if I have any idea for my next chart and I didn't even hesitate. I said YES! Then was shocked that I actually said that, LOL!


I am off to do my designing chores. Hope everyone is having a wonderful day! :)


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Respectfully submitted,


C.