I mostly followed the stitch guide, though I did make a few exceptions. The first was with the green package. The stitch guide called for the diamond ray stitch with Sprinkles thread. I had never used Sprinkles and had no idea what I was getting myself into. It was like stitching with dental floss. Actually, I think dental floss would have been worse. I guess the color and effect were nice, but honestly, I can't see what the benefit of this thread is. And I have no idea how the P&M ladies were able to do diamond ray, whcih calls for five threads to come out of the same hole, with this thread, which IMHO, was much too thick for 18 mesh. I thought of changing the thread, but it was late at night and I didn't have anything in my stash that was a similar color. Instead I stitched to the Parisian stitch, which I knew would work with this thick thread, since it's an upright stitch.
The second thing I changed was the stitch for the red package. The guide called for the triple slanted Parisian, but I just couldn't get the hang of it. I switched to byzantine #2 from the Stitches to Go book and think it looks just as good since the diagonals are in the same direction.
The third stitch I changed was in the border. The guide called for the white to be the Rhodes stitch but again, I was having trouble doing this in such a tiny area (over four canvas threads). I ended up doing both the red and white squares in Scotch.
I really enjoyed doing this canvas, and have since bought four more P&M ornaments! I'll show you the next one on Monday.
