After much thought, I have concluded that my friend’s band (The Dale Von Minaker Band) deserve their own page on my blog. Because my blog is
primarily intended to be a stitching-themed blog, it just didn’t seem right to
have posts relating to the band appearing on the same page as stitching-themed
posts.
Unfortunately, I have nothing to report stitching-wise. For the
past few months, Delphiniums (by Derwentwater Designs) has been gathering
dust. I really do need to pull my finger out, but just cannot seem to get
myself into the right frame of mind to stitch. Because it’s for my gran, I had
initially thought that would be enough to motivate me and spur me on. The crux
of problem is that the design just doesn’t appeal to me. In addition, the chart
has been printed on four sheets of A5-sized paper, which I find somewhat
overwhelming.
On a positive note, a close friend of mine is getting married
next year. As soon as I found out, I was on the internet looking at wedding
samplers, but couldn’t really find anything that seemed quite right. What I’d
wanted was a wedding sampler with space for the bride and groom’s names, the
date, and the name of the church. In addition, I wanted there to be an image of
a church, along with a bride and groom. My friend and her fiancé are fun-loving
people, so I wanted a design that reflected this, as opposed to sickly-sweet. I
don’t ask for much, do I?
Trying to find the perfect wedding sampler, which ticked all the boxes, was impossible. Eventually,
I didn’t purchase one wedding sampler, but two
– a spur-of-the-moment decision. I
happened to be out one day, and saw a wedding sampler kit by Design Works called Wedding Couple. It wasn’t the design itself that grabbed my
attention, but the font (as bizarre as this may seem).
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| Wedding Couple by Design Works |
The second kit was more along the lines of what I had been
looking for; Wedding Arch by Bothy Threads. The kit includes glitter
thread and beads, and the option to personalise the hair and eye colour of the
bride and groom.
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| Wedding Arch by Bothy Threads |
Initially,
I had thought of stitching the smaller kit as a large greeting card, but have
since dismissed that idea. When the time comes, my friend can choose if she
wishes to display both samplers in different rooms, or just display one of
them, and replace it with the other when she fancies a change.
2 comments:
Well, first off, I think it's a wonderful idea to add a new page for your friend's blog. But that being said, it's *your* blog, and you should feel free to write about whatever you want, whenever you like, and I for one will always be very happy to read about whatever takes your fancy! :)
Sorry Delphiniums had stalled, but that's partly my fault, lol! I didn't realize it was such a large chart though - isn't A5 paper the extra long 11 by 14 inch legal stuff?! I hope at least the symbols are easy to read!
Congratulations on your friend's engagement, and I totally don't think you're asking too much of a sampler at all! I went through something similiar last year when I wanted to do an anniversary stitch for my Grandparent's. Everything was either too plain or too schmaltzy, or I liked parts of one project and not another. There were a few I could have settled for, but I decided to wait and am hoping to find something to do for their big 60th next year (this year was a wash).
I totally get what you mean about the font - fonts are really what makes or breaks a design sometimes! Both designs are very cool and funky, but I think the first one is lovely. Maybe if you converted the hearts to pinks there would be some more colour variety? And you might change the ribbon on the bouquet for a yellow or other complimentary colour (I'm thinking yellow because it goes so well with purple, like in pansies) to brighten it up. Just an idea!
And since I'm brainstorming all over your pattern, LOL, if you wanted to add some sparkle, perhaps you could backstitch the veil in silver and backstitch the bouquet ribbon in silver, or in gold if you change it to yellow? And you may be able to add some seed beads, either where the dots are in the background, or in the center of the flowers, even if just the three on her tiara.
That's all assuming, of course, that it's the lack of bright colours, sparkly threads and beads that's bothering you! You may just like the look of the other more! And the mutlicoloured hearts in that background are really cute. It would be neat if you could stitch the balloons in your friend's wedding party colours. Here they usually choose two main ones for the decorating, don't know if it's the same where you are. Which is all to say, they both have lovely features, and I can understand why you're torn! :)
Thank you (as always) for the comment you left.
I'm pleased you approve of my decision to include a page on my blog about my friend's band. They're great guys, and I really like their music, so I don't mind doing my bit to support them. I'm hoping that people visiting my blog will be curious enough to listen to their music, will like what they hear, visit their website via the links on the page, and buy their album.
Goodness me! It's not partly your fault that Delphiniums has stalled, so please don't apologise. I got the paper size wrong - Oops! In the UK, we have A4, which measures 11.7 x 8.3 inches. A5 is like a sheet of A4 folded in half, and measures 8.3 x 5.8 inches. After familiarising myself with paper sizes (thanks to www.papersizes.org), the size I actually meant is A3, which measures a whopping 16.5 x 11.7 inches! The chart requires a considerable amount of concentration to follow. The squares measure 3mm x 3mm, which is fine when following a chart printed on A4-sized paper, but a nightmare when it's been printed on four sheets of A3.
Thank you for the feedback about the wedding samplers. The hearts in the first sampler are actually pink (blame the quality of the picture I used), as are the flowers. I know my friend likes the colour pink, and also likes silver, so I may well take you up on your suggestion of using silver to backstitch the veil. As for the addition of seed beads, they have been included in the kit.
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