That pesky Windmill keeps throwing up problems! Remember I decided to have a black centre with white surround to represent the bit that fastens the windmill to its stick? Well, I still think that on the whole that was a Good Idea. To do the whole thing in Bradley’s Balloon throughout is a bit of an assault on the eyeballs, and it gives a bit of focus to the design. However, when I’d stitched the white central bit and the four Kloster block “sails” of the large windmill it didn’t look right. It made the bottom end of the sails look chopped off – I needed more of a diagonal line through to the centre. So I’ve been doing a bit of re-charting (again!) to do the circle (well, square really) around the central black filling stitches partly in white and partly in colour; it’ll mean some unpicking, but I hope the effect will be better. It’s a bit difficult to show here without giving too much of the chart away, but I hope the two small pictures below will give you an idea of what I’ve been doing. (And if you feel that the left-hand one is actually better, do let me know – I might very well change my mind again …)
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The bottom sail on the left hand picture does look shorter than the others so the design on the right is better, I think, the diagonal
makes a lot of difference.
The one on the left I can imagine in orangey yellows and without the small motifs – then it looks like a starfish.
As a Yorkshire lass born and bred the post’s title made me laugh.
I like your starfish idea – I have some lovely orangy-yellow hand-dyed threads which might be just the thing! Although I’d always feel I was shortchanging the poor creature, giving him only 4 legs 🙂
Of course – five legs – I should have remembered that as I recently cross stitched a very modern wedding sampler with two starfish on it. Maybe you could develop a ‘seaside’ theme with sandcastles and I can imagine beachhuts stitched with Bradleys Balloons.
I think your designer’s eye is getting better all the time, Mabel. The RH adaptation swings more like a child’s windmill. And I can’t think of a better thread than Bradley’s Balloons to be using this summer.
One note, however. The black nut fastening the sails is very… black… especially in contrast to all that exuberant colour. Might a navy blue work? I’ve seen red nuts, too.
I did consider a very dark brown or grey, Serinde — one “problem” being that I didn’t have those in my stash. Dark blue wasn’t on my radar, but might tone rather well with the fabric; I will definitely have a look at a navy blue I’ve got lying around!
You know, I think this would make a super card for a new baby!