Usually when I pick a cross stitch, I go for something with cats (I'm nothing if not a crazy cat lady at heart), fairies, or something along those lines. My grandmother, however, loves the style of art used in "Birdcage Elegance," so I just had to stitch it up for her. This beautiful design was a nice break from my normal stitching rotation, even if I found a couple issues with it. The kit comes with 14 Count Aida, floss, beads, and two needles. The Aida cloth is standard enough. It's white, so it's easy to work with (in comparison to, say, black, which makes you strain your eyes to see the holes). My singular complaint with the cloth was how easily it frayed around the edges, but that was quickly rectified by whip-stitching the edges with some extra floss. The floss comes pre-sorted, which is always awesome because not having to sort it saves me valuable stitching time. There are approximately 15 colours used (mostly various shades of red and pink, plus black, grey, white, and peach), so it isn't overwhelming and the colours are easy enough to tell apart. The only colour I ran out of was black, which was odd since I didn't make any big mistakes that would cause me to use an abnormal amount. Thankfully, I had some black leftover from other kits laying around, so it ended up not being a big deal. "Birdcage Elegance" also makes use of metallic thread and beads. Metallic thread was a new experience for me, and while I didn't particularly enjoy stitching with it, it does add a nice shimmer to the design. I'd also never worked with beads before. This is where one of my criticisms of the kit comes into play. It includes some very bare-bones instructions on how to accomplish the different sorts of stitches and accents, but it doesn't really tell you how to secure the beads, especially in places that aren't over other stitches. I figured out something that worked, but I'd recommend either looking it up elsewhere or not tackling this until you've worked with beads before. The beading is also why they include a second (slimmer, sharper) needle - use it...it makes attaching the beading a lot easier. Despite my difficulties with the beads, they do add a lovely three-dimensional element to the design that really makes it "pop." Otherwise, the stitching it pretty much what you'd expect from a kit: full stitches, back stitching, and one French knot - par for the course. The design itself is beautiful. It's one of the larger ones I've done to date (16" x 17"), but the size feels necessary to capture the full effect. It's quite colourful and makes a bold statement on any wall. I also really love the composition of the piece: the glittery star shaped beads pull your gaze from the birdcage across to the woman. I've never stitched a design that incorporated such a flow, and I found myself staring at it after it was done, admiring how lovely it was. I'm almost sad that I'll be giving it away (though I'm sure it will look better on my grandmother's wall than mine - it doesn't really go with all my cat pictures!). My other issue is that the end result doesn't have quite the same colouring as the photo on the packaging. My packaging had the woman wearing a more maroon coloured dress, which caused the pink and white roses and the metallic thread to stand out in contrast. My finished piece had the dress as a more pinkish-red colour, which doesn't emphasize the flowers quite as well. It's an admittedly small compliant, but I couldn't help but feel a little disappointed that it wasn't coloured quite as well as the display picture. Even though "Birdcage Elegance" is a little outside my normal choice of designs, I enjoyed stitching it and loved the end result. It's certainly an eye-catching piece, and I can't wait to see how it looks framed and hung up. I'd give it four stars: I do wish it had come with better instructions for the beads and that the colours had been closer to the packaging, but it's a beautiful, well-thought-out design that really draws the eye.
