Flaking About: Color, Variety, and Workspace

Whenever I start playing around with a new project that I’m excited about, I tend to jump right into the experimental stage without any rhyme or reason, grabbing this piece of fabric, that skein of thread… just to “play” with the initial idea and see how it works out.

Once I decide that I like the idea, I try to take a more organized approach with things – especially because I usually write about or publish the projects here on the website, which means that the supplies I’m using can’t be too far out there (as in, no longer available or too hard to find).

I also make sure that I document the supplies and stitches I use as I go along.

When it gets to this stage, things slow down a bit – especially if I have to take progress photos. Wow. Progress photos can really slow things down! But worse than slowing down to take them is forgetting to take them altogether – which sometimes happens. That just means I have to stitch the thing over again. Heh heh.

I mentioned week before last that I was doodling about with snowflakes. Well, what started with a concept and some simple doodling has turned into a serious flaking adventure!

You might remember the red snowflake in that previous article – which I have not abandoned!

But I agreed that it deserved a try in blue.

And because my niece was the one who wriggled and hemmed and hawed over the red, I suggested she stitch up a blue sample to illustrate the Worthiness of Blue. So she did.

And it just so happened that I had some perfectly matching tiny blue pearls that worked to dress it up.

In this case, Soie d’Ager was the thread of choice – one single strand was perfect for most of this overly stylized and floofy flake.

I loved the outcome, and Anna did a fab job on the stitching.

Yes, I think she sold me on the blue, too!

Several of you wrote in to ask about the icy blue set of metallics from Au Ver a Soie. This is the set. I don’t know if I’ll use all the colors, but I know I’ll use at least four of the colors from the set.

Aren’t they lovely? When I first opened this box, I wanted to dive into it and splash about!

As I mentioned before, this particular set of metallics is available through French Needle. It’s called “Ice Blues.” They’re sold out now, but I contacted them, and they’ll have more in soon.

Whenever I start exploring a stitching concept in earnest, my work surfaces start collecting a lot of stuff.

I use two six-foot folding tables in the main room of my studio, one of which is on risers to make it easier to cut fabrics and to stand at while working. The other is typical table height, for sitting at.

When real work is in full fling, I find it easier to work at a table, where I can have supplies within reach all around me, where my cameras are close at hand so that I can take photos quickly, and where I can move about between the two tables to find thread colors or cut fabric or what-have-you.

Beads, threads, tools, fabric … incoming mail… it’s all part of the general aura of the work area!

Once I decided that yes, I think snowflakes deserve some focused attention, it was time for some color selections.

If I’m going to develop a series of designs like these, then I want to test them in a number of color schemes and thread types. It’s not enough to just say “blue” or “red,” and have done with it.

So there are several color schemes on the block: frosty blues, bolder blues, golds, silvers, reds, even wintery greens. Lots of scope!

And while I’m really enjoying the outcome of the silks, I know that, to be really accessible to more stitchers, there have to be other thread options as well.

So I’ve got plenty of cotton on the table… and I might even mix in different weights of cotton on the samples. We shall see.

I love projects like this! They’re all about variety – variety in design, in color, in threads, in fabrics, in embellishments, in stitches, in finishing ideas.

So that’s what’s happening over on this side of the computer screen!

I flaked about all weekend. I’m still working on the uncounted flakes, too – they’re a separate project altogether, and I find that the samples I’m stitching up are perfect evening stitching exercises. It’s very satisfying to have something to do with my hands at night, without having to think a whole lot about it.

I hope you had a magnificent weekend and that your week is off to a great start!