Hand embroidery threads

I'm back to hand embroidery again, and just discovered this web page in which there is a link, down the left hand side, look under "Resources" and you will see DMC Colour Chart listed, where you can access the full colour range of DMC threads, in glorious colour.  8 pages of them.  It also has stitch instructions - I had been looking up Vandyke Stitch, which was referred to in Jan Messent's book "Celtic, Viking and Anglo-Saxon Embroidery" - a wonderful lavish book with textiles you feast on with your eyes.

I have been working on an embroidered panel "Cootamundra Wattle" for the Port Community Art Centre SALA exhibition, at the Black Diamond Gallery in Port Adelaide, starting 24th August - can't show here until after the exhibition, and that is a contemporary, freeform type of embroidery.  Impressionistic.  I haven't done anything else like that by hand and really enjoyed the freedom - though machine-embroidered plenty of freeform - my hand embroidery previously has always been traditional like this:

Fletcher the 2nd