A bluebonnet finish

I managed to have some uninterrupted stitching time on Saturday afternoon with an Annie-free lap, so I finished "Bluebonnet Blooms" by Redbird Designs.  It is stitched on 32 count raw natural linen with DMC.  I'll probably make it into a little pillow.

"Bluebonnet Blooms" by Redbird Designs

I've started stitching on another Halloween design, one from the 2013 JCS Halloween issue. Unfortunately, I haven't had an Annie-free lap much since Saturday, so I haven't made much progress on it.

The design (on page 64 of the magazine) uses Sullivans floss which I've never used.  I decided to stitch the project with Sullivans to give it a try instead of converting it to DMC.  My local Hobby Lobby has started carrying some of it and I was able to buy about half of the colors I needed there, the rest I ordered from 123Stitch.com.  The floss seems to have less of a sheen to it than DMC, but what of it I have used has been fine to stitch with - no excessive knotting or tangling.  The colors are bright and crisp. 

I wind my floss on bobbins and while doing so I noticed that a few of the labels were stuck to the floss as the glue used on them had leaked.  Not a huge problem, but I did have to take the time to get the glue off the floss.  Also, some of the labels were glued sloppily and the color numbers were partially covered.  Again, not a huge problem, but it shows a lack of attention to production detail.

I will stitch this project with the Sullivans, but I have no plans to acquire and collect the whole set of colors at this point.

LoneStar