Practicing the stitching of the burning bush is a good thing...but does not make one really prefect

Let's just say it is a good thing that I am stitching a practice piece before I actually stitch my Burning Bush onto my Torah Portion panel. This pseudo-designing thing is really difficult! Kudos to all those stitching designers out there, I don't know how you do it. To take something that you have in your mind, a piece of clipart or design ideas and then translate it onto graph paper and finally in colorful X's. Definitely not going to be a career for me :)

So here is my mess...

Things I love -

• I love the design
• I love the outline in moss (DMC #731) - for you know that the burning bush was on fire, but the fire didn't consume it. So it seems appropriate that the trunk of the tree, it's branches and some foliage that shows is still a greenish color 
• I love the top part in gold (DMC #729)
• I love how the reddish (DMC #816) mixes well with the moss and the moss stands out. 

Things I do not like -

• The middle section, this is where I am stuck. 
• I was thinking about using the rose (DMC #223) color for the middle area, it was suppose to act like the orange-ish color you see in a flame between the yellow and the red...rose just wasn't going to act that way
• A stitching friend of mine suggested maybe I should blend rose with red and/or gold for that area...I appreciate her input, but it is just not working either.

So, I am thinking that I will just keep it simple - use moss for the outline/branches/trunk of the tree, use gold for the outer/top portion of the flame and red for the bottom/lower portion of the flame. And kind of make it look like a watercolor painting of the burning bush, where the outline is vivid and strong, but the yellow and reddish part of the flame bleeds a little past the outline and fills in the drawing.

This morning I went back to the drawing board and manually manipulated the graph of this design to simplify it. I have been using the StitchSketch program on my iPad to help create the graph for this illustration. Anyone out there ever use this? It is pretty simple, yet I am definitely not a pro at it.

Now there are only 3 colors represented on this. I think that I graphed the design how I would like to stitch it. So, I might be ready just to stitch it on the official panel. Just need to take a deep breath and make that first X on the panel. Need some courage!

On another note...the first few days of Autumn brought us some wet weather, at least in the morning hours. Might have gotten about 1/2 inch of rain over those 2 days. We will take anything!

But today, the sky is clear without a cloud in sight. Come on raining season, lets get a start...California needs it!

Time to get a start to the day as I seem to be dragging. Hope you have a good Friday. Until next time, take care and remember...

Live, Love, Laugh and Stitch often!

Lisa