Well, I thought over all y’all’s comments on my earlier post, Leaves for the Bluebird Floral. Here is the photo of the three sample leafs from before, just to remind you.
I concluded that the lower leaf really was too dark. I didn’t like the left leaf much, but I could have set up a better variation of it using those types of grey-green colors. I could also have tried out some olive green and brown leaves. However, I still liked the upper leaf best. It was inspired by the color scheme used in my Plas Teg Bellpull project.
In the end, I made my decision by thinking about what adjectives I would like people to use for my project. The emerald greens and blues in the top leaf are exuberant. I think with grey-greens or olive-greens I might be closer to elegant. That’s not a bad place to be at all! But I want this particular project to be exuberant. In fact, I think I will rename my version Bluebird Joy. How does that sound?
I liked the suggestion in the comments to vary the leaf colors, so they are not all identical. To this end, I selected three shades of emerald green and two shades of blue (the lightest green isn’t represented here). You can see that the leaf on the left swapped a blue for a green. With five colors available, I can create a range of interesting leaves while still maintaining continuity in design.
I also added another flower and started work on the stems. The knotty effect is the Portuguese stem stitch, which seemed perfect for working branches.
One last question – I have some faint dirty hoop marks to the side of the embroidery. I switched to my Q-snap frame now, but what do I do about the marks? Should I just try rinsing the edge of the fabric out before I go further? What does one do about a little bit of dirt?
embroidery for ducks 
Exuberant is certainly worth aiming for, and I think you’ve made a good step towards achieving it!
Unless the mark is very close to the fabric edge and far from the stitching, I would leave dealing with it until the end. If you try to wash it, the water will still wick through the fabric and you risk losing some of the design lines you’ve not covered yet!
Good point.
comme c’est joli
ton blog est une merveille
bonne soirée
Merci beaucoup
I haven’t tried it yet myself. But I have heard of a white pencil eraser being used to remove marks from fabric. A clean new one of course. But I was wondering about a Mr. Clean dry eraser.
Well, I will let y’all know what happens when I finally decide to try something.
I think that the emerald green leaves certainly look exuberant and I like the slight variation in colour on each leaf.
Me too!
I actually really liked the dark lower leaf, bt yes – the re-colored 3 go together better overall.
I don’t think it’s on Linen bt twill, isn’t it, bt maybe this wold be helpful : http://www.ulsterlinen.com – extensive information about removing stains.
Oh that’s a great resource!
So did you get the marks out?? And how? Tell us in your next post?
Ha, you will have to wait a little – this week i am swamped.
I like both colourways.=)
I love it when there’s no wrong answer to a question.
Don’t wash it until you have finished the project because threads have been known to bleed and design lines disappear, especially red threads and believe it or not green threads. So don’t make your final decision until all your work is done and soak in cold water until all dye is washed away and use that Grandma’s stain remover. I understand that it works well for fine needlework.
Absolutely love the colors in the leaves.
I appreciate the advice.
Hannah, your l&s stitching on the leaves really brings out the colorway you have chosen for the leaves. Enjoyed your thought process on how you worked through to which colors you chose; a very thoughtful approach. As far as trying to clean the marks, I would wait until the end for the reasons others have mentioned. The product you use would depend on what kind of stains these are – pencil? dirt smudges? grease? and what type of fabric you’re using.
Oh I think it’s just dirt smudges – nothing special.
I really like the new colors for the lower leaf. I’m having the same problem with dirt stains from around the hoop on some crewel pieces I’m working. I will wait until all are finished, then wash them carefully with some mild detergent and a dye catcher cloth. Actually, I think I’ll rub the detergent into the dirty areas and avoid the embroidery as much as possible, then rinse in cold water. We’ll see.
Yes, I may have to be a little bit more careful in the future.
Actually I quite liked the middle leaf – the ‘elegant’ one, but as they say ‘chaq’un a son gout’ (sorry about the lack of accent marks, my keyboard doesn’t have them. However the leaves look pretty stunning now.
You can buy fabric erasers, specially made for removing marks from fabric obviously. I can’t recall where I got mine, but a google search should help. I would try that first as it is the least invasive and unlikely to do any damage to the rest of the work.
I will look for fabric erasers. Perhaps you will have to do your own embroidery with the middle leaf color scheme 🙂 I’d love to see that.
I think you’ve made the right decision re the leaves. The jewel blues and greens warm up the cool pinks you’ve used in the flowers. If you used the “elegant” version the overall effect would be very muted and perhaps a little dull.
I’m really enjoying the overall effect. I’ve done some more work since these photos, and it’s a lovely combination.
I like the way it turned out. It looks rich and exuberant.
thank you!