Finally ......

I finally remembered to unroll this piece and take a picture of the entire thing.  In doing so, I noticed that all the other non-letter bands have the dark brown in them except the top one.  I think it needs added here and  may alter the pattern a little to include the dark brown.  Maybe in the acorn caps or the veins of the leaves.  It doesn't need much.  I also planned to add beads to the non-letter bands and left some x's out for this reason.  The bottom 3 bands are easy but the top band .... hmmmm, I'm not sure where to put the beads.

This next piece is called Toccata Number Three by the Drawn Thread.  It is a SAL that my EGA chapter is stitching.

The fabric is a 32 count linen that's really rough -- not soft at all. I found the perfect Sulky thread color for the pulled thread areas but after having the thread rip or shread apart repeatedly, I decided it was too weak for the rough fabrics of the linen. So I grabbed some DMC floss out of my stash, put a thick coat of beeswax on it and tried again. This time the thread held up to the pulling and roughness of the fabric threads but I don't think I like the results. I really wanted to use the Sulky thread because it's thinner and nearly invisible -- making the pulled areas the highlight, not the thread. It doesn't look bad, just not what I had planned.

However, I really really don't like the bulk of the floss in 5th square from the left.  The stitch is a triangular one where the floss goes over fabric threads twice, making the floss much to visible.  Something I did not want.  At this point I want to tear it out and use a different stitch here, a less bulky one.  But for now I'm just going to live with it ... maybe it will grow on me .... or maybe not.  

Is that croaking I hear? 

Ripit .... ripit

Knowing what I know now, I would have chosen a different fabric, specifically one that is softer  for this project.   Stitch and Learn.  I won't make the same mistake again.  Have a good one!