Ripping out Needle Work

I absolutely hate ripping out needlework! Especially after spending so much time getting it right. In this case, I had only stitched in one color, so maybe 20 minutes was all that I spent, but still, I don't like it. In the first of the Chinese Birds and Flowers Project, the little bud you see being dismembered was to be stitched in Anchor 2, 6, and 9. I outlined the bud in split stitch using 6, a light pink, then proceeded to stitch the tip of the bud in the same color. After all, it was already in the needle, right? Wrong! It's supposed to be 2, white, for the tip and 6 and 9 for the lower parts.

So out came the trusty seam ripper to remove the offending color.

Now the bud has the right colors, and I'm much happier with it. Now that I thing about it, I could have stayed with the 6 on the tip and just made the whole bud a bit darker, using 9 and 10 for the bottom instead of the original 6 and 9. Oh well, it's done and I'm pleased with it.  I'm now on the next section, the partially finished leaf on the right. This has an interesting blue-green color it it that I'll show to you once I get a bit more of the stitching in.

Notice the drawing of the embroidery is now blue instead of the barely visible pink from the previous post?  Some time ago I purchased a four pen set of Martha Stewart Crafts writing pens. These are 0.1 mm thick and are archival quality pens. The four colors are indigo, charcoal, sepia and moonstone, with indigo being used here. The ink flows very smoothly and the pens are a delight to use. You can get these at Michaels, and probably Hobby Lobby or Joanns (the Superstore, at least), and are always available with a 40% off coupon. The MS line does tend to be a bit expensive, but this is a case in which you get what you pay for. They are really nice pens.