Day 6, an important lesson

Size does matter. Or rather, it counts.

I've had to abandon my start on the Redwork Cat Sampler. The 28 count fabric I was using just wasn't right for the project. Several of the stitches just wouldn't work, and the floss looked too heavy. Gay Ann actually posted some information about this very subject on her website today and it really helped me to make the decision to abandon this attempt.

I'll have to start over, which requires making a trip to the local needlepoint store to get the proper size stretcher bars and some canvas cloth. And since I'm starting over, I might as well order silk floss and silk perle from Vikki Clayton.

My problem is the congress cloth. I really like the color scheme I was using, but the local store is only going to have congress cloth in white or black. As I see it I've got 3 choices here:

1. change the color scheme
2. learn to paint the canvas myself to change the background color
3. find a good on-line source for colored congress cloth

Any suggestions?

This is an important issue for me, as I not only want a mushroom color canvas ground for the Redwork Cat Sampler (which I am stitching in black) but I also want a moss/sage green canvas ground for the Redwork House Mystery (which I want to stitch in blue) and a yellow canvas ground for the Redwork Friendship Sampler (which I want to stitch in green).

I've decided that this year I'm going to concentrate on my Gay Ann ornaments and hearts. So far I own 10 patterns in this category, many of which are already kitted up. Tonight I dug out my 8x8 bars, an 8x8 square of congress cloth, and the plans and thread pack for Merry Kitty Christmas Heart. I've got to get some masking tape to tape the edges of the canvas and then I'll be ready to start. Maybe I can finish all 10 of these projects this year since none of them are large (or even medium-sized) projects. And still have time for some of my other stitching.

At least, that's the plan (and the goal) right now!