Little Snowy Blue Church...

Don finished this gorgeous Mirabillia design, and we matted it to look like a snow globe...It is stitched in fun fibers and uses lots of beads and even a few specialty stitches.

Good job Don!

Don was kind enough to write up some information about this design and working with the fibers and beads. He e-mailed me his thoughts and I will post them here for you to read:

Jamie and I talked a while back about doing two or three paragraph reviews on newly released designs. She thought it was a great idea and here is the first. If you think this was of some value please tell Jamie

I recently finished the "Little Snowy Blue Church" by Nora Corbett. j This is the first in the "snow globe" series that she has just released. While I'm not a huge fan of her flower fairies and other releases this immediately appealed to me. I was attracted by the photo on the front but when I saw the colors of thread and beads she used I was hooked. A word of caution is in order though. It you don't like stitching with Kreinik threads and glass beads don't even start this one. While the pattern only uses three colors of DMC thread, it has four colors of Kreinik #4 braid and seven colors of beads including some size six and size eight. It also calls for Rainbow Gallery's Artic Rays. This was a bit more challenging to work with. Before attempting I recommend lots of patience, a large needle, short lengths, a stiff drink and for non drinkers reconsider your tea total ism! Another consideration is the fabric color. When we first thought about this, Betsy and I picked out a fairly light blue fabric that looked beautiful until I started to stitch. The Kreinik and most of the DMC looked fine but the DMC white didn't show up on the light blue fabric. I got a piece of the fabric Nora recommends (ocean Kiss), started again and it was a whole different story. When you pick out fabric consider the contrast between the threads and cloth especially the DMC white. Ocean Kiss is a medium blue to turquoise color.

A few quick reminders about using Kreinik braids, use short lengths, don't use good scissors (check out the less expensive brands that the Craft Center carries), and go slowly, let the braid move as it wants. As you pull, just guide it into place. Next, some thought about stitching with beads. I usually do all my beads last. The reason being is that the thread has a tendency to tangle and wrap itself around anything, and beads just make thinks worse. In this case, I did them as I went. There are so many and in some cases rows of beads separate rows of stitches and I was afraid of getting the piece all done and forgetting a row of something. So I would do a section and go back and do the beads. The instruction suggest using a matching thread color to the bead-I prefer using the YLI filament. In the case of this design it works really well because when using the YLI, changing threads with different bead colors isn't necessary just change beads and stitch away. Whatever your preference give careful thought to stitching the beads as you go.

Some last thoughts. The completed piece is beautiful and I'm really excited about the rest of the series. It was so much fun that I'm considering doing it again. Weird I know but that's me. If i were to do it again I would probably change the colors of the DMC 413 to 924 floss. These are used as "windows and doors" of the church. Instead of leaving them in dark blues I would change the colors to red, blues and other bright colors simulating stained glass windows and doors. The Kreinik and beads make it sparkle and was just fun to stitch. The stitching goes fast enough that it would make a nice gift for someone, including yourself.

Don