A finish!

I was really pleased over the weekend to finish my ‘4 Wishes’ from Just Nan.

I started this piece full of enthusiasm last August, but ran out of steam towards the end of September before I’d even finished the winter section. I picked it up again at the start of January and have been working on it regularly in my lunch hours at work. (Yes, I am sad enough to take stitching to work with me, breaks up a boring, unfulfilling day!)

I made one or two changes to the charted design, firstly by stitching the white border using 3 strands of B5200. Looking back, I think this was due to inexperience on my part as I had not done much stitching on linen prior to August. Looking at the design now, I know that 2 strands would have been enough.

My second change was to alter one of the two squirrels in the autumn section to a more red colour using DMC3826. Red squirrels are native to the UK and now under considerable threat from the American greys. The Forestry Commission has some interesting information on the red squirrel here and includes information on where it is possible to see reds. Most of the sites listed are in Scotland, but I know that the grey squirrels are encroaching further and the reds face serious threat. Hence my wish to include a red squirrel in my 4 Wishes.

In terms of my stitching experience, I found it at times frustrating to be constantly changing thread colours. Any one thread might only be used for a small number of stitches in one of the seasonal bands and each season used a different range of colours - not a cost-effective use of thread. I’m sure this design could be stitched just as constructively and produce an equally lovely result through using fewer colours.

Although I like the umbrella and bee hive charms, I was disappointed in the beads to be added to the design. The beads included in the embellishment pack are tiny and I’m not certain that they really add anything to the overall design. In my view, if embellishments are to be added to a design, they should add to the overall effect and be visible in the finished item. I'm not sure that this is the case with the beads used here - too many of them just disappear into the background and add little to the overall effect.


In the finished design, I'm also slightly disappointed in the effect of the fabric colour. A lot of the threads used are pastel colours and I'm not convinced that they stand out enough on the fabric.


Overall, I enjoyed stitching this design, particularly after I picked it up again in January. I enjoyed the variety of stitches used, although it did take a little while to get used to the linen. However, after finishing spring I did start to get a little bored – once you get that far, there is little new challenge to be faced in completing the design.

Winter/Spring


Summer/Autumn