4th of July Fireworks Pt. 2

4th of July WIP part 2

READ PT 1

Metallic thread, a stich-and-stich pattern, and very high humidity.
What could go wrong?

This is an alternative version of how this pattern can be stitched.
If you like this design it's available for free.

FIREWORKS DESIGN

When I decided it was finally time to start my online journal, I promised myself I would include everything: the good, the bad, and the ugly. I think I captured all three aspects with this embroiery piece.

Let’s begin with the good. Sometimes, when I have a vision for a piece, it stays with me until I bring it to life, even if I have a hundred other pressing tasks. This piece was one of those. So the good aspect is that this piece is now finished and out of my head. That's probably the nicest thing I can say about it. (Well, the sparkly thread might be kinda pretty too.)

Sometimes, I am my own worst enemy. I was really excited to start this project, and I didn't do the proper prep work.

First, I should never have used a stitch-and-stitch pattern on such a humid weekend. It was a sticky situation. (You can read more about that in part 1.)
Second, I should have chosen my colors more carefully. The blue gets lost against the black, especially compared to the gold. (But, I used what I had on hand.)
Third, I should have tossed it into the WIP (work in progress) box for a while. After I got frustrated with it, I just rushed it along, and my stitches are very sloppy as a result.

The goal was to finish this project for the 4th of July, with pretty fireworks on the fabric to match the beautiful fireworks in the sky. Unfortunately, that didn’t happen. (Though I must say, the fireworks in the sky were amazing, two thumbs up!)

After washing away the stabilizer, I was still unsure about my feelings regarding this piece. Initially, I placed it in a 5-inch faux woodgrain hoop. Then I started to think it might look better if the hoop blended with the fabric, making the stitching the main focus. I didn't have any 5-inch pine hoops in my stash, so I decided to paint a 6-inch hoop black. Since I wasn't planning to display the piece in a 6-inch hoop, I had cut the fabric too small, and it barely fits into the hoop. I'm not convinced that the black hoop looks better. Perhaps it needs some stars in the sky? In person, it does appear a little better than in photos, but only slightly.

For now, I’m putting this one in a box. I’ll revisit it in a couple of weeks with a fresh perspective to decide if I want to make any changes. Ultimately, it doesn’t matter. It was simply an idea I wanted to explore, and you can't learn if you don't experiment.