Sample Stitching

I've been a bit of a tart when it comes to thread, mixing and matching to suit myself.  A bit like a child in a sweetshop, I've bought a bit of this lovely lemon, a bit of that tantalising turquoise... ignoring the brand, except where I've had problems; one problem means no more thread from that manufacturer.  It isn't very forgiving, perhaps, but I don't want the hassle of complaining, too much time and effort.  I'd rather buy from manufacturers who won't give me problems.  But there's been so much fanfare about Aurifil over the last wee while, that I thought I ought to try it when I saw it for sale on Sunday at Chilford.  There wasn't a huge selection, as we were at show end, rather than show beginning, so none of my beloved variegated threads, but I did buy three spools...the three spools in the picture above, to be precise...  I couldn't resist the purple, and the other two seemed interesting, so that was that.  It was only when I got them home that I realised they don't really go with anything I'm working on at the moment...right colours, wrong shades.  An object lesson in thread buying, really. 

So I looked out a piece of very vintage linen which I had dyed, and started trying out the threads on that.  I had bought the heaviest of the threads available; I'm not a traditional quilter by any means (actually, I'm not a quilter at all, except in that I have a tendency to work in layers...more of that in another post, maybe).  I draw with my threads, and I like them to contrast well with what's on the cloth, and to be distinctive.  The thicker the better, really.  And here's what I made of them. 

Really, all I wanted to do was a bit of mark making, but as I made some circles to start with, echoing the circles on the cloth, I found myself looking at a cairn.  I was really impressed by the thread; no problems whatsoever with machine embroidery, even where things started getting denser.  In fact, there are four layers of stitch on the cairn area, as I tried to make up for only having three colours.  I wanted a shadow effect, but the purple by itself was too strong, so layers of the other colours were added to break it up.  It's not the best piece I've ever made in my life (it'll probably end up in the bin...), but it really did serve its purpose.  Now, of course, all that remains is to get more Aurifil...  watch this space.  I think it'll be ideal for the stitched photographs, just the right weight.