All the Hoo Hah on AotH

January

For anyone who wants to know, here is a full and complete list of the substitutions and/or color changes I made on my Anniversaries of the Heart series.  I have a collection of Weeks flosses that I am trying to use up; that's the only reason that most of my substitutions were to Weeks colors.  My favorite overdyed threads are those made by Gentle Art.  I have nothing against Crescent Colours threads, but I do find them a little more expensive.  I was simply trying to be a little more frugal.  Please note that when I determined my substitutions, it was based on the DMC colors that were given on the charts.  Sometimes, like in the May and second Bonus blocks, I didn't like the way the substitution worked out and eyeballed a better replacement based on the color photo on the chart.  What I'm trying to say is that this is not an exact science (see August) and I offer these substitutions to you as a guide.

CC= Crescent Colors; GA = Gentle Art and WDW = Weeks Dye Works

Pattern 1: Snow Garden (January) - changed the left and top border flowers (carnations) to alternating WDW Garnet and WDW Lancaster Red.

Pattern 2: Valentine Rose (February) - replaced CC Onion Skin for DMC 612 and CC Used Brick for DMC 5859

March

Pattern 3: A Wish for You (March) - replaced CC Onion Skin for DMC 612 and CC Peanut Butter for DMC 437 and CC Used Brick for DMC 3859.

Pattern 4: Pink Hill Manor (April) - replaced CC Cinnamon Toast with WDW Hibiscus; CC Gingersnap for WDW Honeysuckle; CC Jakey Brown with WDW Cinnabar; CC Sunkissed with WDW Cherub.  Replaced CC Onion Skin with DMC 612 and CC Peanut Brittle with DMC 437.

May

Pattern 5: Farm House (May) - replaced CC Cinnamon Toast with WDW Hibiscus; CC Avacado with WDW Scuppernong; CC Fool's Gold with WDW Olive; CC Mulled Berries with WDW Purple Majesty.  Changed GA Cidermill Brown to WDW Olive.  Replaced GA Lexington Green with WDW Sea Foam (to better match color on chart picture).  Instructions called for birds to be stitched in GA Old Purple Paint - I combined 1 strand of Old Purple Paint and one strand of GA Tin Bucket to stitch all the birds.

Pattern 6: Happy Birthday (June) - replaced CC Cinnamon Toast with WDW Hibiscus; when I ran out of that, I substituted GA Sweet Petunia.  Replaced CC Jakey Brown with WDW Cinnabar.

June

Pattern 7: Swan Lake (July) - replaced CC Camoflage with GA Aged Pewter and CC Magnolia Blossom with GA Oatmeal.

Bonus 1: replaced CC Cinnamon Toast with WDW Hibiscus; CC Jakey Brown with CC Cinnabar and CC Queen Bee with WDW Gold.

August

Pattern 8: Clara Ellen (August) - made substitutions which I do not recommend - this is my least favorite block.

Pattern 9: Moonlight Visitor (September) - replaced CC Almost Auburn with WDW Nutmeg; CC Cappucino with WDW Mother's Day; CC Onion Skin with DMC 612; CC Tufted Yellow with WDW Light Khaki; CC Ye Olde Gold with WDW Olive.

Pattern 10: Pumpkin Farm (October)- replaced CC Gingersnap with WDW Honeysuckle and CC Peanut Brittle with DMC 437.

Low Contrast

Pattern 11: Evergreen Lane (November) - replaced CC Barn Door with WDW Red Rocks; CC Calico Kitty with WDW Terra Cotta; CC Camoflage with GA Aged Pewter.  Note that the color designated to surround the windows did not contrast very well with the pane color.  I did backstitching around the windows using the door color to give them some contrast.  If I had to do it over, I'd use the door color to surround the windows instead of the called for color.

Pattern 12: Elizabeth Jane (December) - replaced CC Avacado with GA Mustard Seed; CC Antique Lace with GA Antique Lace (frankly, I'm not sure that this wasn't an error on the chart and they meant to put Gentle Art as the manufacturer); CC Camoflage with GA Aged Pewter; CC Little House Brown with WDW Adobe and GA Flax (which I'd run out of) with WDW Angelhair.  Also, this chart called for CC Country Lane, but I never could actually find it used in the chart so don't go out and buy it.  Some of the snowflakes were to be stitched in GA Lexington Green and I said "No Way!" to that; I just alternated between WDW Angelhair and GA Antique Lace.  Note that I added more snowflakes and changed the blackbirds to male and female cardinals; I omitted the blackbird on the chimney holding the heart.  The male cardinal was stitched using WDW Baked Apple and the female cardinal was stitched with GA Mustard Seed with her breast done in WDW Adobe.

December

Bonus 2: For Those Recorded Here - replaced CC Avacado with GA Mustard Seed; CC Calico Kitty with WDW Terra Cotta; CC Jakey Brown with WDW Cinnabar; CC Onion Skin with DMC 371; CC Peanut Brittle with DMC 437; and CC Sunkissed with WDW Cherub.  Note that the Cherub did not show up well against the linen color I was stitching this particular block on so I actually only stitched one motif with Cherub.  The rest of them, that called for Sunkissed, I just used the next lightest of the pinky reds and it ended up working out to my satisfaction.  Instructions given were that the house would be done in GA Aged Pewter.  I changed that to GA Banker's Gray so that it would be a blue-gray as shown in the picture.

Hope you enjoyed.