week ten

I got all sorts of goodies from DMC this week. Apparently finishing up the embroidery hoop I did in February for National Embroidery Month and posting the finished project on their webpage entered me in a contest. Who remembers February... those days of coming and going whenever and wherever we wanted? Anyway they picked the top 5 vote-getters to receive $100 to spend at DMC and I was one of them. How cool! I took this opportunity to get some fun things to try out and some thread for a specific project. 

These pretty blues and greens are intended for an embroidery project following a pattern I picked up in Scottsdale, AZ when we went for Spring Training a few years ago. It seemed intimidating to start until I got through that February project and now I'm ready to try it. It calls for many types of embroidery thread and ribbons, some of them DMC some of them not. I decided this was a good way to get some of the materials - there are a lot. The rub? Ordering colors online. I'm hoping that these shades will match the threads and ribbons I'm planning to get at the local needlework store when they open up again. I know they carry the specific kind of (non-DMC) variegated thread called for in the pattern, so I decided to wait to go in person rather than buy something online. I did however browse online and pick a color, hence knowing what to try to get from DMC for the coordinating stuff. Fingers crossed.

I also got some more hoops so I can try out some more small projects like the girl in the woods. There are also many cute and witty cross stitch patterns floating around that I could do, or design my own. The biggest purchase I made was a tapestry pillow kit. It has some pretty roses and patterning on it that reminded me of some of the work I saw in castles we visited in Scotland. I wouldn't ordinarily have picked this up on my own, but a surprise windfall from DMC seemed like a great reason to branch out and try it. 

The February design called for stitchable cork and magic paper. I ordered magic paper and enjoyed using it, but the stitchable cork I replaced with felt. I remained intrigued by cork stitchery though, so I got a roll to try out as well as some more magic paper. I also got a few thread colors I just really liked and some metallic thread. Some of the metallic will end up in the embroidery project I mentioned above, but the rest will just be fun to play with. Thanks, DMC!