This is the progress so far for my Roses for St. Nicholas stocking. I am really in love with it so far. As you can see I have the beads placed and stitched in between the cabbage roses on the cuff. That was a tough one. I am such a failure when it comes to color theory and choosing the right colors. I ultimately decided on Mill Hill seed bead #3034 Royal Amethyst. These beads vary between a deep maroon purple and a blue purple depending on the light and the actual beads do vary in shade. I chose the redder of the beads and they are a perfect match in shade to the deep maroon of the roses. I did change the brighter gold bugle bead to a more tarnished gold bugle bead and they look perfect. This is a vintage style stocking and the brighter gold did not fit my vision of what vintage looks like. The bugle beads that I had purchased earlier this year had this more tarnished gold included in the 10 different colors I purchased. SCORE!!!!!!
Here is a closer look at the bead flowers and it really shows the slight varied colors of the seed beads and the more muted appearance of the bugle beads.
Here is an enlarged picture of my bead flower. I love the way it turned out. It was worth the angst and the time of stitching multiple flowers with the different color combinations. Seriously, they look completely different stitched in your piece then rolling around on your table top.
Here is a picture of one of 5 motifs that will vertically run down the stocking. I did make an error which I discovered later, the pink crosses should have been stitched as Mosaic stitches. This looks fine to me and I will just leave it as is. The gold seed beads in the motif are Mill Hill 557. They are more matte in shine, more vintage in appearance. I didn't even look to see if I could find a Mill Hill seed bead in the tarnished gold color like the bugle beads. The dark beads in the motif are the SJ Design's #21 and the color is Green Iris.
I did not stitch much this past week, we had a huge tree limb come down on our roof and pierce it. That was a drama I can live without. Our roof is repaired and we have an inspector coming to see if we need a new roof. The storm that blew through on Monday past had 70 mph winds, torrential rain and hail. So much for a Midwest spring! I wish all of you the gentle blessings of stitching and a strong roof over your head whilst you so so!
