I told a friend that I would stitch something for her & gave her the Hoffman website to look through. The project she's looking at is the Calla Lilly from Merrey Design. The picture is beautiful, but the Merrey Design website doesn't give any contact information other than a "list" for shops that want an update when new designs come out. I'll try sending an email to that address anyway, but was wondering if any rctners have ever stitched one of her designs. There is no information about recommended fabrics, or what kind of threads she uses. Naturally, I know I can do it however I want, but there's not even a stitch count listed so my friend had no clue as to how big or small the design could turn out to be. Thanks. Liz from Humbug
Umm, Liz - did you check the website - when I clicked on the thumbnail pic, it gave a bigger view with the stitch count and ground listed.
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in. x 14.5 in. Stitch count: 308 x 403 DMC floss Worked 1 over 1 on 28-ct Spun Silver Royal Crest
If you need some more direct help - The Scarlet Thread is an LNS for me. I can go in there and see what's up. I'm guessing that the designer (who's a local DC person) is probably a regular there, and that all her charts and info is on hand. I know that for my friends shop - for quite a long time she had all the charts for a sampler designer whos framing we do.
Anyhow, let me know - it's no trouble to stop in there - and I do have to go to the credit union, which is in the same little 'burb.
I tried to send this right after I rechecked the website & Google wouldn't let me reply to my own post. OOPS! ! ! I did find a stitch count when I went to the thumbnail of the actual designs, but would still like to know if anyone else has stitched any of these. It's done OVER ONE on 28 count and is still 11 x 14.5 inches. I'm tempted to try over 2 on 32 count. It would be bigger, but would also be boxier unless I play around with quarter & half stitches. I may have my friend pick out something else. The actual stitch count of the project is 308 x 403. I can do over one, but it's a pain in the rear on such large projects. Thanks again. Liz from Humbug P.S. It's finally cool enough to be "stump work" season. I spend Sunday & Monday splitting and hauling wood that was separated from its "stumps" last spring. :-))))
Yup - it's lovely - but, that would be a really major project. Some of the others, done over 2, look nice on the website photo. I bet there's an awful lot of shading for the calla lily - hence the 1 over 1.
Honestly, I do have to go to the bank today, so I'll probably stop in there. My LKS is also in that neighborhood - which is my usual extra stop... So, I'll take a look at the Merrey design pieces, and see how they look in person - I wouldn't be surprised if there's a sample in the Scarlet Thread.
What fun - you definitely deserve a long soak with bubbles and candles - and a good relaxing stitching session. Hope your hands are okay for stitching (DH never makes fun of me and my many pairs of gloves).
I finally got some bulbs yesterday (Alum, crocuses, some muscari and some weird little tulips). Hoping to get to the nursery for some others today/tomorrow. That's my weekend plan - get the rest of plants in ground, get lawn mowed (have to borrow mower while we wait for a part), and then get the bulbs in.
Liz - It's all your fault. In brief - the Merrey Designs are very, very nice in person. I actually bought the "sweet potato vine" chart - lord only knows when I'll do it. Her original designs are definitely quite painterly. The Calla lily is breathtaking. She has several other interesting designs - especially the jewel bugs - gorgeous. The ones that look different were designed for crewel by her partner, and then Sarah charted them for XS.
My intuition was correct - the designer is actually partners in the ownership of the Scarlet Thread. The shop was elsewhere, the original owner was retiring - she arranged to sell the shop - the shop closed - the new owners eventually re-opened (moving from Fairfax to Vienna) and sadly the original owner passed away. They have a lovely framed photo of her in the new shop.
Shop is chock full of threads - they have a lot of crewel, XS charts, some NP. The other partner - whom I met today - is an artist by training and she does the crewel designs, and has started on canvas. Anyhow - we had a wonderful bonding time. They have quite an assortment of threads - lots of overdyes, the new handpainted Needlepoint Inc silks, and some amazing Japanese painted silk, as well as a whole variety that the Thread Gatherer is doing. So, the good news - I'm really happy to have met the owner, and we might even do some collaboration on some design specialty (Judaica) stuff. The Merrey designs - gorgeous.
Bad news - I bought one of the handpainted Needlepoint Silks, and one of these gorgeous, flat, hand-painted Japanese silks - & the Merrey Designs Sweet Potato Vine. The Jewel Bugs made me thing of Cheryl.
Got to go watch project runway. Oh - the MD charts were $15 or $7. The charts are very clear, printed on heavy white paper - multi-page charts. And there are a lot of threads - I'd say about 25 for the calla lily - haven't counted the one I bought yet.
LOL - do I know you or what? LMK - since I have to get those other charts for you. No shipping charge, and that's one of the shops that gives a guild member discount. I loved the luna moth - was very close to getting it - but decided on the vine. Once I get that underway - I'll probably splurge on the moth - because I can see them both in the great room/family room (the tapestry on the armchairs is huge leaves - like coleous and others - eggplant colors, deep greens, some rusty, some dark cranberry - on a taupe backgraound - some of the sofa back cushions are an oriental in the crandberry color with goldish chrysnathemums as the pattern) so those patterns would look really nice with all that foliage kind of upholstery. It's not ugly - really.
Thanks for checking on it for me. I'll probably end up ordering the chart so I can actually see it for myself before I decide whether to do it as charted or make it bigger by doing it over two. I could also do it over two and keep it the same size by using one stitch for every four charted and then using quarter and half stitches when needed. The number of threads doesn't bother me, since it's all DMC anyway. I'm pretty sure that if I don't end up doing it, someone else in the EGA chapter would snap it up and do it her/himself. At least my friend has good taste & it would be a beautiful project to work on. :-)) Now I'll have to go look at all of the other pictures to see what I might need to do for myself. :-)))) Liz from Humbug
Anna said that their website is almost done. I expect that when it is she'll have some pix up. Next time I speak with her, I'll ask if there are any pix available - I might be able to take a couple and then load them on my .mac site.
In person - it looks a very nice size - kind of big, not huge. I think that if you tried to cut out half the stitches you'd lose some of the gorgeous shading. This, and the one I bought didn't strike me as charts where you could replace a couple of colors with one overdye. Just my opinion. But, the Lily is on 28 ct - you could switch to over 2 on 32 or 36 count - it would be bigger, but not at least not double.
The Sweet Potato Vine, which I bought, takes 54 colors (plus some are multiple skeins). Much fewer colors in the Calla Lily. If you're a lily person - it's stunning. I don't do much that's just XS these days, but these pieces, and the Luna Moth certainly got me. The hydrangeas are very nice (I'm a big hydrangea buff, have lots of them) but I've been working on my own set of NP designs, and thinking about doing some charts, so....
Anyhow - I'm sure that someone would snap them up. IIRC, the Sweet Potato Vine, and the Calla Lily were the $15 charts, most of the others were $7. Might be a couple of the others that are pricey.
I had coffee, and lots of gab with Donna this morning. We both agreed that these are not charts for the novice. Not because the stitches are difficult
- but there is quite a lot of color changing, and so I'd not recommend these as an "early" in the stitching career project. Lots of color changing. The charts are clear - except the center isn't marked - which isn't a big deal - easy enough to find if you don't get flustered with multi-pages. And she didn't specify on the chart what the fabric count is on the Sweet Potato Vine. I'm going to scan the pic and send to Cheryl (who asked) - if you'd like I'll send it to you as well.
Ah, well - I'm off to "designing original patterns based on your sloper" - garment sewing design class tonight.
I'm putting it up now since we did a .mac account it's very easy. And, with living in the ultra high tech world of Brambletonia, we get a little web space. So, I'm working on putting up 2 web sites. I took down the Red Hare Pond one while the business was on hiatus - and have to redo the agreement with my server host and get new stuff up (hoping to have that all up before the end of the year).
Public records - it's all out there for all of us! Hence a reason I don't use the last name on public forums...FWIW On our street, and in this area, the real estate transactions are listed in the newspaper. On our block - I do not lie - all the neighbors - well, at least most of them - were avidly watching those. Our 3 doors down friends (our block is very international) were hysterical - she was copying everyone's info into a spreadsheet because she could not understand the names of our many foreign born streetmates. Plus it's kind of interesting - you can see the market trend in the price variations - along with who has a bare bones house vs what they built in. But, that's a whole 'nother ball of wax (you wouldn't believe the big houses with literally no furniture - except some huge freakin' TV, and kids sleeping on air mattresses).
So, we're planning a house warming for Dec 9.. Coming???? I'm hopeful - willing it to happen - that the floors will be fixed, the interior painted, the blinds up, the house unpacked, etc.....And then you can gloat about how far money doesn't go in the DC area real estate market.
Sweet Potato Vine - it's nice to see someone doing something not as traditional as roses. Kind of a like a chart for the botany minded.
Blew my mind to get in the car and see what time it was after chatting with Ellice. Oh my. I can't believe we sat there that long. That the lunch crowd came and went. I did my Wegman's grocery shopping and was home in 45 minutes. And I've been cleaning house ever since as in-laws arrive tomorrow. Everytime I think I'm finished, I think of something else. I'm beat. Would love to watch ER, but don't know if I can stay awake.
Traditional - not a word often used in the same sentence with my name ;^) Honestly - the design which I liked the least of the Merrey Designs - The Roses one - they seemed kind of insipid - especially compared to the vibrance of the other designs.
LOL - and somewhat embarassed. I had the same reaction - oh, my gosh! Glad that the shopping got done.
Poor baby - I'm sure the house is sparkling! Have fun with the in-laws.
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