A quick bit of needle tatting

Nothing terribly spectacular, just a little something I made up as I went along. 

^_^

Ohh have mercy....

Here's something to know about me: when I really like something, I start swearing. 

To be more clear, I say things like: 

"Oh d***!"

and "Son of a *****!"

and of course: "sh**!"

I think my computer was electronically wincing when I found this: 

THE SILK MILL

Now, like many textile enthusiasts, I'm an admitted threadophile, and since my introduction to Chinese silk embroidery, I have been searching high and low for a filament silk thread supplier with a wide variety. 

Previously, I had landed on Needlepoint Inc., because they produced their own Chinese silk <-- emphasis on the Chinese.

But DAMN! The Silk Mill has 600 colors!

Six hundred!

Granted they're in France, so shipping might be a little interesting... but I'm not above digging around seat cushions for loose change ^_^

Here's a screenshot of their website.

O_O

p.s., thanks to Mary Corbet for letting me know about this!

Doodleplex: Part 2

A while back, I got a hold of sketch pad and went nuts for about three or four days. 

All of the designs I made are pure doodles--that I plan on using for Doodleplex.

This is one of them:

I'm not sure how or what I'm going to do--but my brain's going nuts over the possibilities, which I'd wager bodes well.

I do know that I want to practice some of the techniques in the Art of Chinese Embroidery by Margaret Lee.

O_O

Here's a close up:

^_^

New background?

So, today I felt like taking my doodling up a notch.

Enter Inkscape.

Inkscape is a program that utilizes vectors vs. pixels and a bunch of other techy stuff that I can't really think of right now because I have a slight cold and I'm just happy that I could think of a word like "utilizes" >_< 

Anywho, I came up with this:

Lately, considering that it's essentially spring and all (though you can't really tell here since instead of getting warmer, it only gets hotter), the blog's color scheme might be due for a change.
After flipping through a bunch of color possibilities, this one was one of the more acceptable versions and I figured: hey, it works.

And, despite the pink, I'm seriously considering it as the new background for Lace (making) Adventures!
-Fanfare-
Still not sure yet... I might come up with some more possibilities.

Hmm.
-_-

P.S. I just might add these to the patterns page ^_^

Doodles for future?

I've recently noticed that, as of late, I've been watching a lot of those doodle videos on YouTube.

A whole lot, actually. 

Which, in turn, led me to start a little doodleing of my own. I figured it could help with ideas for embroidery/tatting/lace patterns... 

We'll see ^_^

Testin' Time!

So I've FINALLY finished the charts for the first three rounds of Evelyn's Doily and typed everything up.

Now that I can start to test the pattern, the real question arises:

What color should I use? 

Here's my test subject (old picture):

I dumped my entire thread stash out onto my bed and took a good long while (a whole five minutes O_O) picking out the honored candidates.

I particularly wanted to give my little-used self-dyed threads a chance.

Ultimately, after some serious internal debating, I came up with these: 

(Before I say anything else, I'd like to mention that the red thread wrecked havoc on the contrast and made a very lovely peridot green look semi-barfish. And, the peach is actually a variegated peach-to-white thread)

All of the above are hand-dyed except the dark blue thread in the middle. 

Now... what to choose? 

>_<

Potential? I think: yes.

The other day, a little lonely Lotusness caught my eye. 

So, I sat down and gave it a thought...

...and I think it could work.

^_^