DMC Patterns, Aida Fabric and of Courtship

I love buying cross stitch materials, specially patterns and fabrics. So when I was at the DMC Store, I bought the last 2 rolls of 18 count Aida fabric and some patterns. I was sad because the 5-meters roll is out of stock and the salesperson said that she cannot promise if they will have 18 count soon, since there are very few who buys it. The two that I bought were 2-meters and 3/4 meter. Oh, if only people will realize the beauty of the design if they will do their cross stitch in 18 count. Because with it, you will hardly see any fabric showing through behind the stitches.

Maybe some will ask, what's with these counts? Aren't all cross stitch fabrics the same? For those who are not familiar yet with these cross stitch fabrics, here is a simple explanation:

The number of count represents all the squares per inch in the fabric, so if it is a 14 count fabric, it simply means that there are 14 squares in an inch . Here is a photo of a 14 count Aida. I marked with pencil all the squares in an inch for clarity:

And here's a photo of a 16 count Aida with all the squares marked in blue:

And what difference will it make if I use a 14, 16 or 18 count Aida?

The lower the count of squares, the bigger the cross stitch design will come out. And the higher the count, the less fabric you will see behind the stitches. There are even stitchers who use 22 count or even higher. But I don't want to strain my eyes too much so I will just stay with my beloved 18 count.

Here's the two rolls of fabric that I bought:

And now for the patterns. DMC Philippines recently released some new patterns and I bought two of them, Harana ("Serenade") and Jazz Music. I didn't get the Daylight since I have so many landscape/nature patterns already, but who knows, when I go back to their store, I might buy it. I am an addict, remember :-D

Here is Harana:

Here's DMC's explanation of Harana at the back of the pattern (and why there is Courtship in my title):

"Harana is an old Filipino tradition of courtship. The man, usually accompanied by a guitar, goes to the house of the woman he is courting as a sign of respect to the woman and her parents. He tries to woo her by playing music with his instrument while singing romantic songs to her. In a variation called 'tapat' (answer?), practiced in small towns of Ilocos, the lady answers with a song that might hint that the man has to court her for a long time. The man counters with an even more passionate song, and the exchange continues until the pair come to an understanding. . ."

The finished design size of Harana if done in 14 count is 17 inches by 13.5 inches. Recommended fabric to use is black Aida.

And here is Jazz Music:


The finished design size of Jazz Music if done in 14 count is 12 inches by 15 inches. Recommended fabric to use is Ecru Aida.

Here is a photo of Daylight that I might eventually buy:




Until next time and thank you for reading!