Tiny Stitches...
It Has been a while, Dear Readers, since I showed you any stitching project progress! That is because until recently there hasn't been any progress. From the beginning of December until the middle of January my energy was devoted to the Christmas Card and little stitching projects were strictly forbidden as way to distracting! I had been making good progress on the Tiny Mille Fleures Tapestry pillows, little kits by Mary Corbet of "Needle 'n Thread" blog. Her designs were meant to insert into jewelry bezels or make into scissor fobs.... but I wanted to make them into dollhouse pillows! this meant extending the frame to a square shape and adding details in the new corners. Above you can see where I left off at the start of the Christmas Card work. These are stitched on 48 count silk gauze..... and believe me it is challenging! It requires very good light and a magnifier, which I use for all the stitching over 30 count. Even so, the evenings are long and too dark to work at this time of year. And when I was delving back into the petit-point projects I came across one of the Baktiari carpet inspired pillows I had started.... and it being on only 40 count silk gauze, I gave it a try in the evening light.
You might recall that I had decided to make several pillows
by taking parts of the design from the still not quite finished carpet
(it needs the fringe added once it is removed from the frame)
and adding a small edge border.
The first one was not square....
a detail I overlooked when beginning the project!
The second one I am trying to make closer to a square shape.
I still think it is off by one stitch....
but keeping the design balanced meant I had to compromise.
The stitching goes quickly compared to the tiny Mille Fleures designs.
As you can see I am using a different colored
section of the carpet for my second pillow.
I still have not decided how the border should go.
And meanwhile, I did get back to work on the Mille Fleures pillow.
I started adding in the bright red background color,
beginning in the upper right corner.
And I finished designing the added flowers for the new corners.
And because I was getting close to the finish of the first pillow...
I decided to stitch the framework for the next one.
Here you can see I have finished adding
the flowers to the new corners of the first pillow.
And here you can see the bright red
background is all completed too!
It was very very challenging to get all those
red stitches located and properly stitched!
Because the stitches are so tiny
it was nearly impossible to notice missing stitches.
I had to consult the chart very closely!
Holding the stitching up to bright light helped too!
(Those missing stitches showed as a tiny prick of light!)
And then I was off and running with pillow number two!
Here you can see I didn't even stop to take pictures
'til after the bunny was nearly complete!
And then, Dear Readers, the usual thing happened....
I wanted to make changes to the design!
*sigh*
(Why does this happen so often?)
I looked at the pillow shape
with that lonesome bunny off to the left side...
and thought "surely where there is one bunny another is nearby!"
I got out my graph paper and colored pencils
and sketched a companion bunny using
the approximately same amount of stitches tall and wide,
but in a slightly different position.
I tested it the best I could against the chart....
The graph paper is almost the same size as the printed chart....
just a tiny bit smaller, so the actually stitched bunny will be a little larger.
But it looked as though it could work
without making too many changes to the blossoms.
Close enough that I went for it!
Here you can see both bunnies have been stitched.
It remains to be seen how the blossoms will have to shift...
I will address that as I get to them!
Here you can see I started with the blue blossoms
that would not need to move at all.
This is so I could have a good reference for counting
the stitches in order to place the yellow blossoms.
Some of them needed to move a lot....
most only one stitch to the side.
Later I added an additional one on the top of the bunch.
Adding more blossoms....
The blush pink ones to the right of the
new bunny mostly had to move over!
Here you can see the blossoms are mostly done
and I have begun stitching the greenery.
It is impossible to tell at this point,
whether or not the new Bunny has improved
or spoiled the design balance.
With the addition of the blossoms in the corners,
there is a shift of the colors overall.
The two tan bunnies in the center
with the bright yellow flowers
might look imbalanced when finished.
But even if it does,
I think I will be glad I added him in the end!
So that's what I have been doing, Dear Readers,
in this cold winter weather....
Stitching teeny tiny flower blossoms
and warm brown bunnies!
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