Edgar Allen Poe Sampler

Ahhh, I remember when I was a one project lady...and now it appears I've become a three-timer! There's just so many lovely stitches how can I possibly limit myself to just one?

I've decided to make a start on the Edgar Allen Poe Sample featured in the Just Cross Stitch Halloween Special 2013. I've also decided to be a little adventurous and make a few changes *eek* As much as the original design caught my eye, I couldn't help feeling that it might look even more awesome if the sky was blue-toned, rather than orange. I think the theme would suit blue a lot more and I kept getting drawn to the word 'midnight'... So, I turned to the internet for some help as I've never substituted colours like this before so I didn't know where to start! A few sites mentioned things such as tones and colour families...so I pulled up a picture of a DMC colour chart and located the colour family that the oranges were in and found the corresponding tones in a blue colour family...they looked all wrong! D: I used this theory anyway and found a really nice set of colours in the grey family. Perfect! Luckily I had most of the colours I needed so I only needed to order the fabric, the brown thread for the tree and some new needles. I felt so smart! *idiot*

Until last Sunday!!! *dramatic music*

My supplies actually came earlier in the week but I'd had a pretty nasty cold so I'd been going straight to bed when I got home from work. Sunday was the first day that I'd felt up to much of anything, so I thought I'd kit everything up for this project. As I was making my thread organiser I knew something wasn't right... the replacement colours I had chosen were far too light... they looked more like a cloudy day than a nice clear night ;___; Back to the colour chart. This time I just looked for a set of blues that I liked...I think I've come up with a nice set :)

I'm using the same fabric as in the magazine - 32 count natural linen from Wichelt. I've never used this brand before. The fabric is a lot stiffer than Zweigart, but it doesn't seem to fray as much and it smells really nice too ^^

~*~*~*~*~*~

I've actually made a start on this since I drafted this post ^^

The fabric is really a dream to stitch on *__* I can't think of any other way to describe it other than 'it holds itself well' :/

After I'd taken this photo this morning I started adding some of the sky. So far, it's looking good :)

♥