I love the jewel colors in this piece as well as the quotation:

     Years ago a baby cried,
     His voice can still be heard.

For a small piece, the stitching is intensive! The whole sky is stitched, much with a blended needle with two shades of navy blue. There is quite a lot of backstitching, too.

I love the look of the Damask aida I used on this piece. It's very soft and has a pretty sheen. But I did not enjoy stitching on it because the loose weave in the 18ct. made it difficult to seat the needle properly in the holes. It was very easy to create a hole in the fabric where there was not supposed to be a hole!

I am pleased with the result, though. The star is stitched in a silver metallic. And I added some blending filament in the doorway light to make it glimmer a bit. I signed and dated this piece in the margin so as not to distract the eye from the focal point.

Pattern name:	Bethlehem KEK 102C
Designer:	K. Elaine Kramer Designs
Stitch Count:	93 x 64
Fabric:	18ct Damask Aida 45% cotton, 55% viscose
Floss:	DMC stranded cotton Star in silver DMC stranded metallic Light in doorway overstitched with Kreinik blending filament
Original Cost:	$6.00
Copyright year:	1999

K. Elaine Kramer Designs
2654 Henville Rd.
Xenia, OH  45385
g_e_kramer@earthlink.net

18ct light blue Damask Aida
Made in Europe

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