Frustration Galore

Metalforms, ANG Project designed by Jeff Kulick

Tah dah!!! Drum roll please!   My local Blue Ribbon Chapter of the American Needlepoint Guild has a chapter project that a number of us are participating in this year.  We are stitching "Metalforms," designed by Jeff Kulick.  The instructions were printed in five parts in issues of the ANG magazine.  People are picking a variety of color ways.  I picked the blue colorway, and initially thought I would stitch on black canvas, though I was sort of dreading that because it is very difficult to stitch on black.  Then, at a chapter meeting, another member, sitting at the other end of the table, made a comment about, "of course, no one would want to stitch blue on green," and I had an "aha" moment.

As to the frustration part, this project was obviously designed for the designer's own stitching and not planned as a teaching project.  The instructions were not only incomplete, but there were a number of errors, and instances in which the instructions didn't match the photograph of the project.  And one of the threads chosen was virtually impossible to work with.  But, I made it!  I'm the second person in our chapter to complete this project.

Unfortunately, this project was not the end of my frustration.  When I finally finished this, I decided I would turn next to cross-stitching a winter garden design, something much simpler, with clear instructions.  Uh oh...

First off, the design was 16" by 16", so I started stitching only to discover that by the time I got to the middle of the right hand side, I was at 9", making the piece 18" so it didn't fit  correctly on the fabric.  So, should I rip out what I had already stitched and start over on this piece of fabric?  Or just start over on a new piece of fabric.  I chose the latter.  Next issue: after I had stitched some pink sections, I decided the shade of pink the designer used didn't work with my new fabric.  So I chose another pink, which I decided, after I'd stitched some, was too light.  On to stitching another pink, which I decided was too bright.  Finally, fourth time was the charm.  Third issue: the design called for bright white floss, which I had on hand and started using.  The design called for three skeins, so I went to Joann's Fabric and Craft Store to pick up some more.  When I came to the end of the skein I had been using and turned to one of the new skeins I had purchased, I discovered that the bright white floss I had on hand had turned a bit yellow in the drawer so did not match the new bright white floss.  So, I had to rip out the white I had stitched.

But after all that, I am finally making good progress on my winter garden.

Update:  I spoke too soon about finally making good progress.  One evening as I surveying how much thread I had used and how much I had left, I realized I  had mistakenly used the wrong color pink in several sections.  So, once more I had to rip out and re-stitch.