I wanted to love this, the "Floral Sampler" by Darlene O'Steen. I still do, the arrangement and the variety of stitches and the general air of it. But I really don't like these colors. I kept telling myself, "She knew what she was doing, Darlene O'Steen, who am I to say otherwise?" but either something has changed drastically with Gentle Art's threads in the ensuing twenty-six years since this was first published, or she kind of stumbled a bit here.
It's entirely possible, of course, that the difference between what I saw in the magazine and online and what I have in my hand is just a matter of reproduction processes, and the original colors were really this vivid, even odd in places -- or that there is an errata notice in the next issue of the magazine, which I don't have, and that twisted vine, say, really is supposed to be green, not brown. The pink in my sampler and the pink in the "Floral" (on the left) are both certainly pink. And O'Steen clearly modified the sampler, enough in her eyes to justify re-naming it "Lady Brittany's Sampler" (on the right) -- the three large flowers are the most noticeable difference, but there she also changed the uppermost dividing band and the numbers line, and it certainly looks as though the small queen-stitch flowers are now Midnight and Dried Thyme, instead of Midnight and Victorian Pink.
Regardless, I wanted to love this and I do not, and my dismay is not lessening but increasing, enough that I think the wisest thing to do is put it away for a while until I decide whether it's best to pick out the bits I don't like or to start it all over again from the beginning.
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