I'm really happy with my choice -- a Jane Nicholas piece that was taught at our EGA chapter as part of the fall 2013 International Teachers Tour.
During class we worked through different techniques. . . but not many parts of the design were actually completed. Starting back up, I wanted to follow the correct order of stitching. And that meant jumping right in to working the background leaves and stems.
Day 1 - This photo is pretty much as the piece stood at the end of class. On Day 1, I did complete the leaf of the bottom right and added the central stem. The bud you see on the left was a sample of about a half dozen techniques that will be copied in 5 more buds and flowers, and the little blue blob is made up of blue and black detached elements that have been attached to the ground fabric and will eventually be a little lady bug.
Day 2 - More leaves and stems are in progress. Each leaf consists of three steps: a split stitch outline, which is then filled in with satin stitch padding stitches, and finally covered with satin stitch. All three steps are evident in this photo which shows where I stopped on Day 2.
Day 3 - It took 3 days of work, but the leaves and stems are now complete!
Day 4 - Moving forward, it's time to start work on the bases of the buds and flowers. The one bud on the lower left was mostly done in class, but now looks MUCH better with its top layer of light green satin stitch. I had also traced the padding layers for the other buds in class, so stitching those in place was also fairly quick. Yea!
Going forward, there's one more bud to pad, and then I need to take inventory on how many little pieces are actually complete and ready to go. . . and how many still need to be made. But I do have a nice glow of accomplishment for the week!
