Well, as I suspected yesterday, I didn’t quite meet my goal of finishing my fairy before returning to work today. I got pretty damned close though! All I have left now is the swirly bit backstitching and the beading. As a point of comparison, here is the design as originally charted followed by my modified version. As always, you can click to biggify if you want.
Original:
My version:
Letters from Nora – Madeline Melissa
Designer: Nora Corbett
Fabric: 32-count Waterlily
Fibers: Crescent Colors, Treasure Braid
Stitched 2 over 2 except braid which is 1 over 2
Progress as of May 25, 2009
As you can see, I definitely made a few modifications. I changed her from a brunette to a red head. I also lightened the skin tone. The original chart called for Cobbled Peach (CC), but it just seemed so orange to me, especially after making the decision to made her a red head. It looks far more orange in person that it looks in the original model photo. I used Creamy Peach (CC) instead.
Another modification I made was making her wings sparkly. When I think of fairies, I just think their wings to to sparkle. 
I tried to get a close-up shot to show off her wings a bit better. The wings themselves are a bit out of focus in this shot, but that was the best way I found to capture the sparkle.
For the white part of the wings, instead of using Cloud (CC) as is called for in the chart, I substituted some Rainbow Gallery Petite Treasure Braid (PB10). For the purple part, I still used the Vintage Violet (CC) called for, but only used 1 strand of it and then 1 strand of Kreinik 032 blending filament.
In retrospect, if I were to do this again, I might stick with the Cloud and just use the blending filament with it as well. It would definitely make the wings a bit more prominent. Although, I do kind of like the transparency feel they have with the Treasure Braid.
I also wanted to take a minute to show off my latest ort collection. I’m doing this as part of the Totally Useless SAL. The SAL consists of starting a new ort collection beginning from the time you sign up to participate. Each month thereafter around the time of the new moon, you post a picture of your current ort collection. Since I only signed up for the SAL on April 29, this month’s installment is not quite a full month’s worth. These are my orts from April 29 through May 24 (date of the new moon).
In closing, I also wanted to point out a new feature on my blog. I’ve added a new rating system. So, for those times when you might not feel like leaving a comment, you now have the option of just adding a rating to a particular post. The rating scale is 1 to 5 stars with 5 being the highest. All you have to do to rate the post is just click on the desired star. You will find the stars immediately below the title on each post.
Well, that’s it for now. I hope everyone had a lovely weekend. Until next time …
I found some Sundance beads that I thought matched the color of her dress quite nicely. I used size 11 beads which would be the size of Mill Hill petite seed beads.
