Stitching Update...

 

Golden Threads... 

Some of the Threads I had ordered, Dear Readers, arrived promptly and I was lucky in that I could use two of the colors for my Astrological Lion cushion! You might recall that the design as it is charted in the Book calls for five thread colors for the Lion's body, a dark brown, a medium brown, a dark gold a medium gold and a pale gold, and I had only a pale gold and a bright gold and a dark-ish brown. I was hoping to find a lighter brown that was in the ocher range, and/or a darker gold in the butterscotch/ocher range. What I got was a darker brown.... which makes my first brown the medium one... and a wheat-gold that has to fall between the two golds I already had. 

 Here you can see the threads. I already had the palest gold on the left, the bright gold in the middle and the lighter brown beside that. As you can see, the colors are not as "different" from each other as I would have liked. Both the browns are fairly dark, and the golds are only subtly different from each other. But sometimes you just have to use what you have! So I got to work...

 

Here you can see the two different brown colors have been stitched... 

I know, they don't read as "different" here... it is really subtle!

 And I have started with the darker yellow, or gold, thread...

 

Here you can see the chart... 

the yellow thread I am stitching is the dark butterscotch color in the chart.

 It is quite challenging to discern exactly which color some of the squares are!

 

I have to pay very close attention to where I am in the chart....

 

Here I have completed the "butterscotch" stitches...

 

Next I am stitching the lightest gold color... 

because on the chart it stands out and is easy to place!

 

Here the lightest gold is almost all stitched.

 And at this point you can really see the "texture" 

of the coloring for the lion's mane,

 because the threads had good contrast.

 

Here the lightest gold has all been stitched. 

This is photographed in good morning light

 so you can pick up on the color differences.

But alas, Dear Readers, it is time to stitch

 the confusing mid-range gold... 

and suddenly all is not quite so clear...

 

Because it is so close in hue to the other golds... 

they begin to just blend together.

 

And here the mid-range gold is all stitched.

Some of that strong texture is gone...

 but I comfort myself with thinking that

 it actually looks pretty good for a Lion!

 

 The landscape stitching and the sky

 are still to come Dear Readers,

 but that will be a whole other adventure

 in new and Different Thread colors!