An American in Provence

Just finished this custom crosstitch for a Christmas present for my friend's daughter Léa, who is 11 years old. Léa picked out the colors, and wanted bright electric blue. I was a bit hesitant at first, as I wasn't sure how it would look to have the entire dress in bright blue, and also the threads only came in three shades- dark, medium, light, whereas the design calls for at least five shades of the same color. Finally, I mixed one thread of white with one thread of light blue, one thread of light and one thread of medium, one of medium and one of dark, plus light, medium, and dark for six different "shades" of blue.

I then decided on gold as the complementary color and added the gold threads (three shades) and gold metallic thread. Finally, when we were back in the US, I found some blue beads that matched perfectly the blue threads.  Beading is the most painstaking part, it takes days and days, using an "invisible" thread. The design has hundreds of beads on it, of four different colors.

When I was done with the stitching and beading, I gave it to my mother-in-law, who washed and ironed the fabric and then took it to be framed at the usual place. Kinda expensive, 90€, but the woman always knows exactly what matting colors and frame to use. I think it turned out great. I would love to see Lea's face when she receives it, but won't be able to. Kinda sad to see it go, probably won't ever see it again.