This is one of those charts that I really wanted to stitch, but was very, very aggravating along the way. It could easily have turned into a UFO (UnFinished Object), except that I was determined to finish it for my friend's birthday. My friend had been through some very rough times on the job front and was watching her mom die on the personal front. I wanted her to know that as her friend, I wanted to be there and be supportive to her.

The trouble all started when I decided to use some DMC variegated floss instead of the fibers the chart called for, either regular DMC floss or Sampler Threads from The Gentle Art. I wanted to try the variegated floss because I had a full set, and had never used them on a big project.

I stitched the flowers and the leaves first. That wasn't too bad. I used one set of greens on the left-hand leaves, and another set of greens on the right-hand leaves. And I used different shades of yellow/oranges and blues for the flowers. But the real trouble began when I tried to do the fence in some brown variegated flosses. I wanted the "striping" of the variegations look like wood grain. So I started stitching the rails with one shade of brown, and the posts with another shade of brown.

OUCH! It hurt my eyes! There was way too much going on with all the variations in color. But I'd already stitch a lot of the bottom rail, and two of the posts.  ::Sigh::   So I put the piece aside for a while where I could look at it and try to figure out how to fix it.

After about a week, I realized that the only way to help the piece was to tone down the fence. So I (figuratively) closed my eyes and put scissors to fiber — I cut out all that I'd already stitched of the fence. Then I re-stitched the fence in muted shades of beige.

I'm very happy with the results. The flowers pop forward, and the fence recedes into the background. I finished it as a banner, with a sleeve sewn into the top, and the bottom fringed. I signed the piece with both my real name and my online name, since my friend always calls me "Cameo" even when we see each other in person.

To learn more about stitching with overdyed and variegated floss, check out my Needlework 101 page called Stitching with Overdyeds.

Pattern name:	A Friend! #20
Designer:	Nessy Lynn's Vanessa Dempsey and Lynn Dempsey
Stitch Count:	124 x 130
Fabric:	25ct. Pewter Lugana
Floss:	DMC cotton, solid and variegated
Original Cost:	Approx. $5.00
Copyright year:	1999

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