Two hundredth post!

This is my two hundredth post. I am a bit of an erratic blogger, but I do try to be honest in my posts even if they just say 'I am not doing anything'.

So I talked about the Halloween Sampler cross stitch earlier and working with variegated thread. They suggested working every 'x' individually. I couldn't do that; it would have caused a very messy back. I went with two stiches at a time. I did / / like normal and then went back \ \ going lower right to upper left and then upper left to lower right. Hope that makes sense. I can't do little arrows to make it clearer. It worked out really well and the gradation showed up nicely. I pull each thread from the skein and then put them back together. I had to remember to put the same ends together so that the two threads were the same gradation pattern. The thread itself is nice to work with. I did have to do a fair amount of unpicking because I made a mistake and then my square didn't come together. The sparkle held up pretty well. The fabric is very stiff and the holes are now clogged (for lack of a better word). I don't mind the stiff fabric, but when you make a mistake it is very obvious what areas have been unpicked. I tried taking pictures that show up the sparkle, but I don't think it shows up well. In person it is pretty.

It has been beastly hot here the last couple days, but my roses are doing really well because of it. I do have to spray every couple days because of Japanese beetles. Those things are evil!