From: Beth Friedman
Date: Wed, 16 Sep 1998

I'm looking for a bit of help in completing the kit The Finery of Nature. (Four squares, each bordered with plants and with something live in the center.) I don't usually buy kits because they generally have aida and I prefer stitching over two, but I had a coupon for 1/3 off at Michael's, and that's what I bought.

The main stitching is fairly straightforward, but there's a lot of over-stitching to finish, and I'm a bit confused by some of the directions.

1. A lot of the finishing work is corded thread that's kept in place by couching. In one part of the instructions, it says to use (for example) two gold metallic threads and one brown thread for the cording. In another place, it says to make the cord by twisting the threads, then placing a needle in the middle and let the thread twist around it. That means that the cord is actually double the number of threads called for. Is that what I should use? I thought of halving it at first, but the cording isn't called for in even numbers, so that won't work.

2. There's a fair amount of straight stitching, with very long stitches. In a number of places there's nothing to catch the stitches in to hold them in place in the back of the fabric. Should I knot the thread? I hate doing that, but I can't think of any better idea in a few places.

3. Just a comment: I think it's interesting that whoever did the model for the picture didn't follow the kit's instructions. A couple of colors are supposed to be done with three strands instead of two, and this wasn't done. Also, there was one section that was supposed to be done in half stitch and was done with full crosses. I know I have leeway, but I'm a little nervous about doing the half crosses (I'm just getting to that bit) without having any idea how it'll look. I wish people doing the examples would follow the instructions so I can diverge from it if I choose.

Thanks for any help or advice!