to cut a long story short (or, revised colour palette # 52)

Of course that number 52 above is just a random figure that came to my mind... But the truth is that during the last few weeks of not very good health I tried many different purples, oranges and greys in different combinations, and all of them had the same effect: a sorry sight that looked dull, sad and sallow. They looked elegant and cool when laid over the cloth, but once I tried out stitching it was a different story. The scrolls on the centre of my sampler were actually embroidered 3 times (!), and only by the third I found I had achieved what I had  foreseen with my mind's eye: a joyful match of purples and oranges offset by the neutral grey.

'Electric', 'neon-like', 'synthetic', 'artificial', 'man-made'... In my personal vocabulary all of these words have connotations that are not exactly positive, and all of these adjective apply to the colours I finally settled on. Yes, I only use chemically died floss, but never before had I used such bright shades! I'm curious to see what the effect will be once I introduce the purples on the sampler...

Choosing colours is still a very intuitive affair for me. But I wish it were otherwise so that I wouldn't waste so much time. But maybe in the future I should try out using the chosen colours on a small piece of the chosen fabric first. I wonder if this would work as a short-cut...