Olympic Stitching

Have you been working on special projects while watching the Olympics these last two weeks? I have....

Here's one I started a few weeks ago; it's my ACE OF DIAMONDS done in an entirely different color palette:

[The original design was stitched in blues and purples, and has a wintry feel, as shown below:]

I got the idea to change the colors on this design after spending my days printing lots of patterns that I'm sending to stores in the Philadelphia, PA area for the ANG Seminar later this month.... but I digress...When I was printing the ACE OF DIAMONDS pattern, I wondered how it would look in soft, pastel colors...so in the midst of printing, I quickly pulled this basic thread palette:

I chose Watercolours 053, "Coral Blush" with DMC #5 pearl cottons 3348, 761, 225 and 819. I am also using two metallic ribbons: Ribbon Floss 148-026 (ecru/opal) and Neon Rays+ NP04 (pink).   Frankly, I think these colors are SOOO YUMMY and remind me of petit fours, or maybe a wedding cake!  Again, here's the center of the pink version, where I decided to use more of the ecru ribbon instead of the pink:

Just this morning I put in the fan-stitched middle diamond, using 1 ply of the variegated Watercolours.  Then in the upper right portion I've added some of the pink Ribbon Floss.  I couldn't decide on which ribbon to use - the darker or the lighter - but went with the darker pink.  And I'm planning to work the whole diamond area in pink, instead of using two colors, as shown in the blue & purple version.

As I am stitching this, it occurred to me that this might make a great anniversary or wedding sampler project... and you know how hard it is to find geometric wedding samplers, right?!?  Anyway, I awkwardly sketched this out to give you some idea of the possibilities of where you might add text:

And with these wedding-cakey colors, it's a good fit, don't you think?  Anyway, can you see this done in other colors besides soft pink?  How about pale lavenders?  or soft periwinkle blues?  

And see the light-colored lacy background areas? That was supposed to be a medium-to-dark color, but I wanted to make it look lacier, so I am using 3 ply of DMC floss 819.  That's one of the fun things about this design: it's balanced enough in the stitch patterns, so you can experiment and play around with the colors and still have a really satisfying piece when you're done - not to mention making it uniquely your own.

So that's one of the projects that's keeping me in my seat during the Olympic Games.  I hope it gives you some ideas and inspiration for your own stitching games!