OhSewCrafty Blog

• Pattern: by Mirabilia
• Materials: 32 count opalescent “Sparking Forest” belfast linen by Silkweaver (old), DMC, Kreinik, Mill Hill as charted
• Size: 12.75″ x 18″ (she’s big!)
• Time to stitch: Almost six years (started December 26, 2007), mostly in UFO status

 My third Mirabilia finish, and a long time coming.  I would definitely be happy dancing if I wasn’t laid low with a nasty cold.  Oh well, rest = naps + stitching, so I can’t complain too much.

The fabric is a semisolid dark evergreen with opalescent thread woven throughout.  I love the the design on this fabric; I think she pops; but it was rather challenging counting threads on the dark, sparkly fabric, especially without natural light. And then there is the copious stitching with fuzzy Wisper thread, which further obscurred things. The finished effect is rather awesome if I do say so myself, but I am in no hurry to work on another project with similar parameters.  Honestly, the Wisper thread felt like the bane of my existence at times.  It became really annoying working with short (12″) lengths when there are such extensive areas of it.  

I only made one little change to the pattern, backstitched the candle flame with 677 rather than 3031 since one ply of dark brown 3031 was invisible on the fabric. Looking at these pics, it appears I forgot to backstitch her lips.  Though I have almost a fulll collection of DMC, there area few holes and 3802 is one.  Oh well, it is such a minor detail, I’ll still count her as a HD.  My favorite details of this design are her proud expression, ruby crown, and all the gold sparkly trim.  She is one regal lady!  I am considering framing options for her… thinking a fairly ornate gold frame and probably skipping the mat as she is so big already and there is plenty of color with the dark green fabric background.