Oak Leaf Postcard Progress

I should know by now that whatever my first choice of thread color is, it will not show up like I think it will. Blendy blendy seems to be my curse when merely subtle is all I might be going for. After the first yellow I'd chosen failed to stand out from the background fabric, I grabbed a brighter spool and found the effect I was looking for. Was a surprise that it did not pop off the fabric more  - which was why it had not made the first cut in the selection process. Note how the combination of thread and paint has changed how the background fabric reads - no long so white and bright.

And so after trying various combinations of thread color, this in my mind was the winning combination: from left to right, YLI 40 wt machine quilting cotton variegated called Sunset to outline the leaf; Superior King Tut 40 wt cotton variegated thread called Chariot of Fire (#929) to stitch the veins, another King Tut variegated called Shekels (#985) for the background, and Connecting Threads Essentials 50 wt cotton thread solid called Turkey Red to satin stitch around the outside. Did I not predict one of the newly purchased Essentials would make it into these postcards?

Of course, not all of my prints were the same darkness. This one printed quite a bit fainter so I'm not sure the "winning" threads would have been right for it. However, it is the one with the more muted yellow thread that while ok, did not give the glow I was looking for. The outlining thread had much variegation in it and to help the leaf stand out more, I inked next to the stitched line with a brown Micron pen.

Here the winning combination is shown with my second favorite. It uses the YLI Sunset in the veins as well as the outline. Sorry that the stitching does not show up better in the photos - both the camera and the scans seemed utterly confused by the paint of the stamped image.

Due to time constraints, I only finished these three right now but I'll be working up the rest of the 8 soon - maybe trying some additional colors for the background. Before writing info on the back, I spun one around in all orientations, finding it difficult to decide which I liked best. So then I laid the three out together, each in a different orientation for comparison. And suddenly I saw a different way I could use my multiple prints - do you see it too? Yes, together arranged on a background to form a larger quilt for the wall. Exciting! Why did this not occur to me sooner? I've actually done it before with multiple prints from a commercial stamp, but that feels like another lifetime ago - when I was still in Wisconsin. I think I could do a better job now with all these additional years of experience. Well, one can hope...