Cloudy Sky Over the Poppy Field

March 11, 2011, 9:59 pm
Filed under: Needlework in Progress, Poppy Field

I’m really happy with my sky even though Monet’s palette had more yellow in the clouds than these. When I selected the overdyed thread, Crescent Colours Frosty (120485), it really looked blue & yellow. But, when it separated to fewer threads, the colors diffused.

I had used thread blending and thread shading techniques before but after seeing how Lois Kershner combined thread blending with thread shading (as described in ‘Landscapes: Design & Stitching Techniques’) for her ‘Pajaro Dunes’, I knew I’d found my sky. I removed the few rows of Irregular Running as Giant Parisian variation in favor of the Horizontal Brick Stitch. The technique for thread shading works with most stitches but not with the running type of stitch.

I subdivided the portions of the sky into 6 levels of color in the sky. One skein had slightly darker blue portions (skein #1) than the other (skein #2). So, I cut out the portions that were dark blue from skein #1, light blue from skein #2, and light yellow from either skein.

Section 1 – 3 threads of dark blue

Section 2 – 2 threads of dark blue, 1 thread of light blue

Section 3 – 1 thread of dark blue, 2 threads of light blue

Section 4 – 3 threads of light yellow

Section 5 – 2 threads of light yellow, 1 thread of light blue

Section 6 – 2 threads of light blue, 1 thread of light yellow

I had bought 2 skeins of the floss (each 5 yards) – plenty – so I thought! Well, I ended up with just five 6-inch yellow pieces and one 6-inch light blue piece. That was close!!