As requested, here are some variations on opacity of stitches, for comparison. Also I threw in a few gradients just for fun. My goal is to make pretty, readable charts :)

Swatch with 50% opacity:

Swatch with 60% opacity:

Swatch with70% opacity:






Swatch with 80% opacity:

Swatch with 90% opacity:






Swatch with side gradient at 90% opacity:

Swatch with radial gradient at 80% opacity:

Swatch with radial gradient at 90% opacity

New pattern template

Kathy has inspired me to make a nice pattern template for publishing the charts. I spent some time fiddling with Inkscape (a free software package similar to Illustrator) and came up with this. Here is a reprint of of the new, improved, pretty Pattern #1. I'm still tweaking it a little, so feedback is welcome.

Heavy...

Look what I did last night :) I had some complications delivering my son in July, so I am just now recovered enough getting back into armor. I am still a newbie, but I had a lot of fun last night. It did make me miss the folks in South Downs, but I am making friends in the new group. I'm in the crazy loaner gear on the left side of the picture.

Organizing the blog

I took the plunge and added labels to the posts so that it would be easier to find things. Now you can click on the label "charts" to get all of the charts, without having to thumb through things. It occurred to me that I was accumulating posts and needed to organize them a little for both myself and my readers. I was impressed with how easy Blogspot's software made it. Way to go on user functionality :)

Knotwork progress

Some more progress on my knotwork:

Source-tastic!

I have found another source (in English!) from Digital Archive of Documents Related to Embroideryfor further information on brick work:
Mediaeval Embroidery from the Collection of Mrs. Murray Crane The Bulletin of the Needle and Bobbin Club, Vol. 16, No. 2 (1932)

My bibliography grows stronger!

Knotwork distractions

I've found a stitching distraction while I'm planning my next brickwork project. I saw some split stitch Celtic knotwork on one of my embroidery lists and it was so pretty that it really inspired me. It was the perfect excuse to use this weird Indian silk I got on a late night ebay bid. I got the design from "Early Medieval Designs From Britain" by Eva Wilson which is a nice little Dover book. The design is from #36-37 "Interlaced dogs and birds from the Lindisfarne Gospels, British Library". I think its turning out really nice. Here's my progress so far:

Finished sampler

I finished piecing together my sampler and here it is:




















I went to Candlemas this weekend and had a great time! I entered the piece into the A&S competition. The chat that I had with the judges was really great and very enlightening. In general I got very positive, constructive feedback and feel that I am armed with the information I need to take the next step. It was good to finally meet more people from my local group too. I made a point to introduce myself to lots of people and, in general, it paid off.

The hard part will be putting all the advice together and prioritizing the next step. I had some Or Nue work cued up, but my research on it has come up fairly light. In order to do a larger pictoral piece with the brickwork I'll need to buy some linen and I've been trying to do projects from the stash. I've put a good dent in my stash though, so maybe that justifies buying some more linen.

Also, I was introduced to "largess" - what a neat concept! Folks wander by A&S displays and if they like them, they leave a little present. I received all sorts of neat little do-dads and I've started a little treasure chest. I'm mulling over what I can put together to bring to the next event.