Final travelling book page

Only four of us in the group this time, so this one, stitched for Sandra in keeping with her flowers theme, is my last page of the round. I enjoyed discovering new stitches when I stitched Val’s leaves last month, so I went for the same Sue Spargo inspired idea in turquoise and purple/pink.

First new stitch courtesy of Mary Thomas: Braided Edging Stitch. It looks like blanket stitch from the top, but has a lovely chained effect on the edge. Getting the tension right was interesting initially, but I really like the effect.

Then whipped running stitch ‘petals’, using a very slubby pure silk thread for the whipping.

I filled two of the ‘petals’ with Trellis Stitch…

…the top one with Vandyke Stitch (not too happy with the stitching on that, but I needed to work in a thickish thread – the full 6 strands of stranded cotton – to get the right sort of coverage)…

…and the two bottom ones with Buttonhole Filling and a Woven Spiders Web Wheel to hide a multitude of sins in the middle!

The second flower had Berwick Stitch with its lovely edging knots round the outside and then I couched down a line of fabulously soft, thick, loosely twisted, variegated silk to follow the shape.

I decided to use the same thick, soft silk to work Back-stitched Spiders Webs in each of the petals. Foundation stitches first, using a template to make sure they were all the same.

Then adding this glorious silk.

Lastly I filled in the centre with a chain stitch spiral and they were good to go!

Nobody’s book to complete this month so hopefully I can get stuck into the bluework.

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Odds and Ends

It was good to sit down and play with something different on Saturday night and it didn’t take long to complete my little Vandyke stitch sample piece.

It’s worked on a three inch square piece of gold painted rug canvas…

 

…with lovely thick, soft, wide cotton ribbon threads.

The thicker turquoise one in the middle was a delight to sew with and I love the way the central plait has formed.

The blue was finer and consequently a bit harder to control so I stitched some toning beads into the head of the stitches to stabilise and neaten it.

Finished with a knotted and beaded fringe and a hanging loop.

Instructions for Vandyke stitch are freely available all over the internet and in most embroidery stitch books but it was really interesting to work it on canvas and in such big scale threads. Huge thanks for Jean and Eilleen for developing the activity!

I’ve had just about enough of ribbon roses now and am nearly out of silk ribbon, but I needed a birthday card in a hurry.

I did remember to remove the marker pen before I took it out of the hoop!

Back to the North Cornwall ‘postcards’…

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