Around the World in 80 Stitches SAL - Part 5 of 24

The latest part of this SAL has a lot of interesting stitches. Most of them were very simple to stitch, but have a very intricate appearance.

The center section has two versions of the Plaited Slav stitch, a straight version and a diagonal version. The green stitches coming out of the Diagonal Plaited Slave stitches are Croatian stitches. The pattern also called for Montenegrin stitches in the same area, but I felt that they were too chunky and did not look right, so I did all of them in Croatian stitches.

These are surrounded by Star Eyelet stitches.

Surrounding the center section are Asymmetric Eyelet stitches, which look like blooms, and flower stitches, made up of cross stitches, long stitches, and lazy daisy stitches. I really love the look of the Asymmetric Eyelet stitches, I will definitely keep them in mind for other projects. 

Chatelaine Christmas Mandala

I've just finished the Chatelaine Christmas Mandala, which is a free pattern available on the Chatelaine website. This one was very fun to stitch, and quite detailed for a freebie! I stitched this on 32 count Antique White linen, using DMC threads, Kreinik metallics, and beads from my stash. I changed the color of some of the beads, and added some additional beads where the pattern called for french knots (I was not about to do french knots with metallic thread!!) so my finished piece looks a little different than the model, but I like the way it turned out. I am planning on finishing it into a flat-fold ornament, but I have some supplies to buy before I can do that.

Around the World in 80 Stitches - Part 4 of 24

Well, I just finished part 4 of this Stitch-a-Long. This section was small, with stitches that weren't too complex, so I was able to finish it relatively quickly. Here is the whole section:

The center section is comprised of Romanian Leaf stitch, surrounding a Hungarian Stitch Diamond. There are also some Hungarian Stitch hearts, as well as some stray cross stitches and backstitching.

The remainder of this half of the section is comprised of Hungarian Stitch Hearts, Hungarian Stitch Flowers, Tied Windmill Stitches, and Ray Stitches.

This is my favorite part of this section. The big blue stitch in the center is Romanian Stitch. The purple flowers are Ray Stitches, on stems of a different type of Romanian Stitch. The light blue butterflies are made from Hungarian Stitch and backstitching. There's a small Star Stitch in the blue metallic at the bottom of the section, and then various ray stitches, cross stitches, backstitching, and Tied Windmill Stitches are scattered about.

The rest of the section is made up of more Ray Stitches, Hungarian Butterfly Stitches, and Tied Windmill Stitches.

Hummingbird Sparkly Garden Update

I just realized I had not updated my progress on the Hummingbird project in quite a while. This one is a Chatelaine design, and since it is so large, I rotate stitching it with stitching other, smaller projects. I'm stitching this on 32 count linen from Silkweaver's in "Mississippi Blue." So far, I have completed the center design, the four hummingbirds feeding at four flowers, and part of the border for this section. I still have to do the lacy border and the outside border.
Here is the whole thing:

As you can see, this border is almost complete, I just have to finish the beading, and the Jessica stitches around the edge of the border. The top left corner has the beading complete, this is what the rest will look like as well.

Each of the hummingbirds are stitched one over one, while the rest of the design is two over two. This added a lot of detail to each hummingbird, but was extremely tedious and time-consuming! I think it was worth the effort, though, because they really did turn out beautifully, and they could not have had the same subtle coloring and shading if they were stitched over 2. Here are closeups of each of the hummingbirds. Left side, in bright greens and browns:

Bottom, in purples, pinks and soft greens:

Right side, in deep blues, purples, and pale greens:

And the top hummingbird, in aquas, blues, and greens:

This picture taken on a slant shows the change in texture between the one over one hummingbirds and the larger two over two flowers:

Around the World in 80 Stitches - Part 3 of 24

I just finished part 3 of the Around the World Stitch-a-Long. This section had some really interesting new stitches for me, as well as some stitches I already knew. This section had a lot less variety than the first two sections, so it was a bit easier to stitch up. Here's the whole section:

The center section has Satin Stitching, Buttonhole Wheels and Faggoting all done in DMC Perle cotton. The Buttonhole Wheels were a bit tricky, but otherwise this section was simple.

The top and bottom petals have the same stitches: a Point Russe in the center, surrounded by Russian Chain stitch (basically 3 lazy daisy petals joined in the center), with ray stitches in the corners, and Pulled Eyelet stitches at the tip.

The left and right petals have the same stitch layout with a different color scheme, but have satin stitching in the tips of the petal instead of pulled eyelets.

Around the World in 80 Stitches - Part 2 of 24

I've just completed Part 2 of this Stitch-a-Long, and learned several new stitches along the way. I also decided that the metallic I originally chose did not "pop" enough, so I replaced it with two colored metallics (one in pink and one in blue) instead.

Here is the whole piece so far:

This section has two hardanger sections, which could be stitched as "cut" or "no-cut." I decided to do the "no-cut" version, since I don't think I am experienced enough with hardanger to cut a piece this big. Here are the hardanger pieces in both tulips:

This section also introduced the Mordvinian Star Stitch, which I found a little tricky. It looks a little wonky up close, but has a very nice effect from a distance. Inside the sections of Star Stitch are Pulled Eyelet Stitches.

Next up is Swedish Split Stitch, with a few stray cross stitches, ray stitches, and backstitches.

Next are some Danish Knots surrounding ray stitches, with a couple of rice stitches, cross stitches, ray stitches, and backstitches.

In the center of the section is a Divided Round Eyelet stitch:

And in the corners, there are flowers made of Queen Stitches and ray stitches:

Lastly, here are some closeups from what I redid with the new metallics in part 1, the Norwich stitch and the Lindisfarne stitch:

Tree of Stitches - Finished!

I finally finished the Tree of Stitches I have been working on, and I really like how it turned out. I am tempted to do one for each season, since this one would work well for summer. I could do bright and vibrant colors for spring; reds, oranges and yellows for fall, and pale blues and purples for winter. We'll see if I have time for that......

Anyway, here is the finished design:

 Here are the closeups of the new stitches. First up, star stitch, in Weeks Dye Works "Ocean."

Next is the Rhodes Square, in Weeks Dye Works "Aqua." I like the effect the variegated thread gives to these stitches.

The next few stitches were completely new for me, and were very fun to learn. I think this is my favorite one, the Fancy Cross Stitch. It gives a lovely layered effect. This one was stitched in Weeks Dye Works "Cadet."

Next up, the Tied Windmill Stitch in Caron Waterlilies "Bermuda Reef." This one was a little tricky - first it's imperative to keep the threads in the long stitches completely smooth & straight, and then it's tough to find the holes for the tacking stitches. But I think the effect is very nice.

This one is the Leaf Stitch, in Crescent Colours "Jolly Holly." This stitch is basically a series of satin stitches in the shape of a leaf.

Finally, the last two things to be added were the creatures. An owl perches in the branches of the tree, and is made from a combination of straight stitch, cross stitch, and knit stitch, in DMC 840 and 842.

And a rabbit sits at the base of the tree, stitched in DMC white and made from oval and circular rhodes stitches, with some backstitching added.

Tree of Stitches

My newest project is Abi Gurden's Tree of Stitches. It's a beautiful design using different specialty stitches to form a tree. I am stitching on 32 count lugana from Picture This Plus in "Spice." I'm using various threads from my stash in blues and greens.

Here is what I have so far:

The tree trunk is just simple cross stitch, and it is done in Crescent Colours "La Tierra."

The first specialty stitch is the Smyrna Cross Stitch in Caron Waterlilies "Celadon."

Next up is my least favorite stitch ever: the French Knot. The pattern has some really good tips on how to make French Knots more even, but it was still difficult to position them all since they are so close together. I think the effect is quite nice, but I still prefer beads to knots! I stitched these in Crescent Colours "Key Largo."

Another stitch I have done before is the Eyelet Stitch, in Thread Gatherer Silk N Colors "Forest of Greens."

Next was the Rice Stitch, in Weeks Dye Works "Lagoon."

The Cushion Stitch is the first stitch I've never tried before, although it seems to be a variation on the Scotch Stitch, which I have done before. This one is stitched in Weeks Dye Works "Peacock." I love the way this stitch really looks like leaves on the tree.

Another new stitch for me is the Jerusalem Stitch. It's basically a Rice Stitch turned diagonally, but it has a much different look. I stitched this one in Thread Gatherer Silk N Colors "Mermaid Shimmer."

Next up is the Floral Stitch, which is basically a simple cross stitch surrounded by satin stitches. I stitched the petals in Thread Gatherer Silk N Colors "English Meadow," which is a beautifully variegated silk that flows from green and blue to pink and purple. I did the centers of the flowers in Crescent Colours "Cobbled Peach."

Last up for now is the Norwich Stitch, in Weeks Dye Works "Emerald." I really like the texture of this stitch.