My Palette Cleanser

I had a whole post written to update everyone on what was happening with my Gabriel and Mary project (discussed here and here). Last week, it was looking like a total disaster. I had finished stitching, unpicked all the guide lines, washes and ironed the cloth … and the creases were still there. It was looking pretty dire.

So I had a post written about how I was giving up, and seriously considering starting the whole thing over again (which everyone thinks is crazy and, frankly, IS crazy). I was just about to put the post up when I was reading the CrossStitch Forums, where I’ve been talking about this project a lot. A lot of people offered suggestions for my problems, which I am very, very grateful for, but one in particular, Sadpingu, linked an article on another forum which exactly described my problem, and how to fix it. In short, by weaving some thread through the back of the stitches where the creases are, I could fix the tension problems which were causing the creases.

And it seems to be working.

So I would like to take this opportunity to send out a big THANK YOU to Sadpingu, whoever you are, especially given that you registered for the forums specifically to pass on that advice to me. As I said on the forums, if I knew you in real life, I would give you a big, fat, sloppy kiss right now.

Meanwhile, I found myself a lovely little project to take my mind off my other cross stitch dilemmas. Another poster on the CrossStitch Forum, Offe, has a link to her website with some very pretty little designs for free, and I just loved this one.

I’ve been calling it my Palette Cleanser. And it has been very nice to have something quick and fun to do while I’m in denial about my gigantic cross stitch problems. So thank you also to Offe!

 I’ll put up another post once I’m completely done with Gabriel and Mary. But it’s looking good!