Sometimes Enough is not Enough

Our Merry Christmas Mystery Class came to an end today. And while I will miss all of you dear friends and the fun we have had, I'm excited to be sending it off to the finisher. This piece is singularly the best time I have had stitching anything to date. How's that for a big statement.

Today we tackled the center square. The background is a pretty open stitch and must be completed first before the letters.

What to do with letters that are this thin? We could Tent Stitch them, but then we would have jagged edges on many of the curves. We could Cross Stitch them which would even everything out. Or we could do my favorite option. Couch Kreinik metallic along the strokes of the letters. To me this is the prettiest option. It does have some drawbacks.

Since the background is semi-open, you do have to pay attention to where your threads travel on the back. This means tacking your red and green threads directly behind the letters. It's a little fussy, but worth the effort. Take it slow and when necessary scooch the threads behind the letters and tack them in place.



After I finished the center I still wasn't satisfied. I felt it needed more. Enough wasn't enough. I added a simple gold border around the entire design.

Now it's finished and as I said, off to the finisher. It will be back in a few short weeks ready for your perusal.

Merry Christmas from she who still has her tree up!

Merry Christmas

I hope you are all enjoying your holidays with family and friends. Today was quiet and I was able to finish Merry Christmas!

I couldn't wait to share. It seemed appropriate to post this early and not wait until Sunday night after class.



Some of the squares repeat techniques from previous squares for balance. Others use new threads and of course more crystals. I've always loved crystals but now more than ever they seem to really be the answer.

Beads are great, but you run the risk that a finish could come off over time or that the lining could change color. Crystals are what they are. They don't change and the sparkle is simply amazing! It's swarovski!!



I had really been looking forward to working these two squares. I knew I wanted to use iron-on crystal trim for the lime stripes. The ornament, well the ornament is just fun. It works up quickly and is just the balance the design needs.

All that's left is the center square.

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas Poinsettia

Today was the day we tackled the poinsettia in the Merry Christmas Mystery Class. We're coming along. When you look at it, we've already completed quite a few squares.

I really like the poinsettia. And not just because there are crystals in the center. While that isn't a bad thing, that's not the only thing I like about it.

We started with T Stitch in Sparkle Braid covering all the petals and allowing just a bit of the shading to show through. Now, here's the cool part. After all the T Stitch was done we filled in some of the open stitches with Tent Stitch in a darker shade of Sparkle Braid. It's just enough to make the shading pop.



This is a great technique for anything that is painted with a lot of shades and tones. One color of one thread across everything in an open stitch and then enhance the dark shadows.

To really bring the Poinsettia to live we added veins in Chain Stitch and Stem Stitch and of course crystals in the center.

We also finished two other small squares in class!

I'm off to start lesson #4. Wonder what fun we can have there.

Merry Christmas Lesson #2

Here we go. Lesson #2 of the Merry Christmas canvas was today at the shop. We tackled a few more squares. Still many to go but this is a great way to stay on track and feel like you are accomplishing lots! Little goals do the trick.

Today we did simple Long Stitch triangles in 2 of the squares. Nothing exotic, we needed an easy square to get us started today.

We made a big sparkly pink snowflake. I'm convinced the world would be a better place if it snowed pink. Maybe some purple too. You may have noticed that I like bling. I also try to go for the unexpected, so rather than completely beading the snowflake which was my first thought, I put beads in the background. It's just a bit of glitter. The snowflake itself is a Laid Filling Stitch. Long Stitches of Perle Cotton overstitched with Petite Sparkle Rays. The final touch are the crystals on top for a little more sparkle.

We also did the diagonal pink and white striped section at the top. It's the easy sections that give me the most pause. The stripes aren't painted on a true diagonal nor are they perfectly even, so I had to do something that didn't work against those things. It's nothing more elaborate than Long Stitches but then I ruched Petite Sparkle Rays and couched it in place to make the sections divide with a little bit of frosty magic. Not a bad solution.

That's it for this lesson. It's super quick to stitch. All of you lovely ladies who are trying to play catch up because you have just received your canvas or are still waiting, here's your chance!

More bling to follow.......