Mouline Rouge -- or 4 times a charm??

Ok, so I thought I'd tell you about my Mouline Rouge problem. You know Mouline Rouge, that lovely design by Julia Line of Long Dog Designs?



Well, back when I started my second stitching life in around 2005 or 2006, -- I'll explain that one another time -- I fell in love with this and ran out to kit it up with my good friend (and next door neighbor) Kathy. Started working on it, loved it. Then I started doubting my color choice.



See, back then I didn't like red samplers. Didn't like red, couldn't stand red, hated to wear red, didn't want anything to do with red. What was my favorite color? Can you guess? Yup, green! (But only certain kinds of green.) So I went with a 36ct mystery R&R fabric (can't remember what it was) since this was before I fell in love with 40ct, and GAST Shutter Green. But I just wasn't sure about all those eerie sort of light places in the green that were coming out. Soooo, it got put aside and I picked something else up to stitch.

But I still wanted to do Mouline Rouge! So eventually I decided to try again. By this time, I'd discovered 40ct fabric. And I'd also started to think that despite not liking red, since the piece is called Mouline Rouge, it was silly not to stitch it in red. It's called Mouline ROUGE after all! So I came up with this.




This is what I think is 40ct Antique White and a Vikki Clayton silk, I think it's Garnet. But no, I wasn't satisfied. The Garnet was just too dark for me. I just wasn't into it. I could only deal with certain reds and this most definitely wasn't it. So once again, it fell by the wayside.

Now we're getting to more recent times. Another online friend finished her Mouline Rouge and kindly sold me her leftover skein of NPI 148 -- we're talking the 45 meter skein here. Now you have to realize that by now, I'm loving red -- can't get enough of it, have to do lots of red samplers, red just keeps me going! (If you want evidence of this, note the background wallpaper I chose and the sampler pic in the title.) With the proviso that it's that perfect red -- I still don't like certain reds, you know. So anyway, I pick out a 40ct Palomino to go with that NPI 148. And this is what I came up with.




Unfortunately, it's hard to tell from the picture that the fabric is quite dark. I loved the way the color of the red skein looked on the fabric, but once it was stitched, I just wasn't sure. So how many times was this? Three? And I wasn't satisfied with any of them!

So even more recently I tried one more time. I was stitching another project that uses NPI 636 on 40ct Meadow Rue -- and oh, that combination just hit the "this is the perfect red" button for me! So I ordered a big skein of the NPI 636 during a sale and a piece of 40ct Antique White. I decided I really want the conservative look -- red on a nice, crisp white -- despite having fallen in love with this particular red on a piece of Meadow Rue. So here is what it looks like.





Nope, I haven't started it yet. But I'm hoping against hope that this is the one, the magic red, the red I've always wanted -- and that I won't go back to the drawing board for a 5th time! Of course, I also don't know when I'm going to restart Mouline Rouge. I have way too much going on right now to pick it up. Oh well.

Here's the sick thing. Now that I've dug all of my Mouline Rouge starts out? I think I like the first one best..........

My first blog post!

Ok, so I've been waffling about this for ages. After all, my DH has a blog. So many of my online friends have blogs. Why shouldn't I have one too? A final push and here I am! I really don't know if I'll even have anything to say, but here goes! lol!

I know for me, pictures are an important attraction of blogs. So here, hopefully, is my first picture.

I'm taking an online class by Amy Mitten called Not for Us Alone. I've wanted to stitch this piece for ages, and now I finally am! This is just a part of what I've stitched, but it's the most interesting part. I love the ladies and the gentleman and dogs, don't you? Unfortunately, I've put aside another project to work on this one, but hopefully it will get picked up again -- I have enough UFOs as it is! Oh, and apologies for the wrinkles. I have never figured out how to get those creases out of a piece of linen, and as for ironing before taking a picture, -- well that just doesn't happen! I'm afraid with me wrinkles are a part of life!

I feel like all of a sudden I'm on a big stage with all eyes on me! Talk about stage fright! lol! One of the things I pondered a lot with a blog was what I would feel comfortable blogging about. It remains to be seen what I decide, whether I'll stick to just cross stitch or delve into other realms of my life. I hope this blog ends up being interesting. I'll do my best to make it so!

Anyway, I will be arranging my blog in the next few days and adding various things to the sidebar. Thanks to Siobhan for pushing me into the blog world!