On the embroidery this time I'm using dmc embroidery floss I had laying around. Originally I planned on going white on white, but for this, it seems to look better in colour. I only have a sort of green, white and yellow on hand, which means a trip to the store for something more. I'm leaning toward red or some gothic shade of purple.
On the leaves, I'm using a fly stitch, which was easier than it looked in the book. I might use it on the vines as well.
For the flower, the middle is a Jacobean filler stitch. It doesn't have a specific name that I can see, and my book only calls it just that. It's made of long strands, similar to warp and weft lines in weaving, spaced evenly. Then the cross stitch which holds it down is done only at the points where the two lines meet.
There's another Jacobean called a cloud stitch. I'm debating on working that in there somewhere, as it looks equally interesting.
Here's a closer view of the two stitches.
If you notice, the outline is more like the first half of a blackwork design. Instead of drawing on the fabric, as I'd done for the blackwork, I decided to try a tissue paper stencil method. I drew the design on very thin tissue paper, in my case some orange stuff left over from my sister in law's birthday present wrapping. It's then pinned smoothly over the area, and stitches are done through the paper all the way around, outline only. Tissue paper is then torn away and you're left with the design to work with, without having to worry about removing pencil or washable ink lines later.
On the celtic knot work, I tried filling the centre with cording. Because the muslin gives so much, it didn't pouf as much as I'd hoped, but it's not bad as a first attempt. On Linen I believe it'll have a bit more oomph. If not, I may try a stuffed batting layer, which is cut away after the initial design is stitched, so the outlying area lays more flat.
Nothing like a good camera close up to remind you where you'd forgotten to close off a hole. I used an awl to poke them so they'd close up completely afterward, but sometimes they don't do it without a bit of coaxing.
The outline of this one was couched with dmc floss over crochet cotton size 10.
Ugh, I just realized the little fuzzies my cat left on it. I wouldn't put it past him to have been laying on my table recently. He loves eating acrylic yarn for some reason, but not wool. Good excuse to buy only the good stuff :)
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