Gorgonian Coral and Fish

As the coral and the fish are the two main elements - I'll show them first, as they're what I build the rest of the picture around. I'm getting quite an education here, as I cruise the internet looking at images of these beautiful things.

I could only get an "interpretation" of the gorgonian, but this is great art, of course, so one may take liberties. Julia has already informed me that either the coral is a dwarf, or the fish has surpassed the whale shark in size, as these corals grow to be quite large. Oh well. I do like the way the Memory Thread makes coral. The little red polyps are made with Caron Waterlilies in "Chili."

I've used a lot of Thread Gatherer's "Sea Grass" on these ornaments - not because of the name, but because, coincidentally, they are perfect for the effects I want. This green is actually the color "Sea." Again, here I've used Sharon Boggon's variation of a herringbone stitch for grass, which was difficult for me, as I'd practiced on the crazy quilt pieces making nice, regular, symmetric herringbone stitches.

Next, the cobalt blue starfish was added - I had to have another one of these! This one is made with DMC Satin Floss. It's amazing how the addition of each element of the pattern makes it come more alive!

The third photo shows the additions beginning of the little critters and things lying around in the sand. I used an overdyed thread for the little orange thing, as well as for the French Knot critters in yellow and orange. These are what I call the "generic" marine creatures. I always take a look through my picture files before doing this, as I get images imprinted in my mind that makes it easier to come up with arrangements and shapes - and colors. Again, Sea Grass is used for the lime green things.

It isn't finished, but almost - I get tired visually at this point, and have to put it away, as the tendency is to overdo the "decoration" and clutter it.

The sea weed is another variation of herringbone stitch, and is made with DMC Satin floss. On the far left, the little plant was made with perle cotton in chain stitch. (I saw this in an underwater picture, and couldn't resist).

The beads will be the last thing to add - and I did get the size 11, so I can have a bit of variation in size on the bubbles.

Marine Life in Needlepoint

While looking at the pictures I have saved of the coral reefs, it suddenly dawned on me why the aquarium gravel we used to put in our fish bowls was invented. The area around some of the corals on the ocean floor looks just like it - this along with watching Anne doing the freshwater version of life underwater. It was looking at her "gravel" that made me realize it.

(If you haven't been watching this develop, do go look at The Cape Stitcher.)

Meanwhile, working on my saltwater version, I decided to be clever last night and create a gorgonian in needlepoint. At this point, I had decided that, again, Memory Thread was the perfect coral, and that the little red extended polyps it needed, as in a picture I have saved, would be best done with crossed chain stitches and a red French Knot. I got this far, and realized it was a mess - so spent some time taking them out, as I had already made the chain stitches almost to the bottom.

A friend mentioned to me that Memory Thread is not for stitching - just for surface embellishment. However, I have enjoyed "making stitches" with it in a limited amount - It is an absolute necessity for interpreting coral, and a few fly stitches and fern stitches are simple to do.

I had to make holes in the work with a large tapestry needle for pushing and pulling the thread wrapped wire through - but it can be done, and I rather enjoy it as a new twist in creativity. More on this later, as I intend to make little red French Knots all along the branches - without the chain stitches.

The Fish is Swimming

The fish is finished and free of the waste canvas. Having to use a chenille needle for this exercise has left my fingers sore - it's not an easy task pushing a needle through the stitched background with the waste canvas on top of it, and I also tend to forget that the tip is very sharp, as opposed to the tapestry needle we normally use for needlepoint.

I also had to use the needle nose pliers when the needle didn't want to pull through easily. The effect, however, is worth it. The stitches look rather rough, but it will smooth out nicely when gently steam pressed.

I left the top fin without it's spines, as I wanted to use a long stitch for emphasis, adding them after the waste canvas was removed. That worked well, so I wish I'd left the lower fin to do that way too, as the Satin floss really shines on the stitches. A learning experience for next time. I'll probably put this away for a day or two, and then look at it with a fresh eye that isn't tired.

By stitching this pattern element on waste canvas, I made it kind of float on top of the background instead of being part of it - very effective!

Stitching a Fish on Waste Canvas

I think I burned out - or just ran out of steam for the last two days, and haven't achieved much except to stitch a bit on the next coral reef ornament - this time with the fish!

I finished the background and sand, and prepared to put my litfle fish onto waste canvas. I still like the look of the design element on top of the background stitches instead of being part of it.

Originally, I had drawn the fish facing the other way, so had to trace it and "mirror image" it. On using the waste canvas, one can position an element of the pattern in any direction, due to being able to move the canvas around. I didn't really consider another position for the fish until I looked at the fresh water version being worked at The Cape Stitcher's place. She has just now started this one, so do watch the progress if you haven't already found it!

We've had great fun discussing the various services we held when our children were small and we were dealing with a fish departed from this life. She says she held a number of Naval burials, while my boys preferred fertilizing the rose garden. (they didn't know this). I held "burials at sea" when I could get away with it. Anyway - do go look at hers, as her fish have more personality than mine does.

Working on waste canvas over needlepoint is not a swift process, and I wouldn't do it on a large area, but for the effect, it's worth the effort. I'm using DMC Satin Floss on this one, and it seems to be fine. We'll see when the waste canvas comes out!


















In the beginning, I was so enchanted by the colors on the salt water fish I've studied, that I had pulled out several to use on this one little critter - but then realized that it's so small, it would just lose itself among the French Knots I will add later lying around in the sand - too much would ruin it.

About Satin Floss: I've been using DMC Satin Floss since it first came out - there wasn't even a store in Austin who had it, so I had to buy some directly from the company. I think it's available now in most LNS's - and well worth using. It replaces their old rayon floss, which was crinkly and difficult.

The Satin floss is slippery, but no worse than any other brand rayon thread, and is more versatile, as it is plied. The colors, and they add new ones often, are gorgeous!! and of course totally compatible with the DMC pearl cotton and floss - as they are the same.

DMC History of Needlework and Threads!!

I haven't taken time this morning to find a beautiful picture to show with this, but one really should not miss the post Emma Broidery has made on her blog about the in depth history of needlepoint and X-stitch, as well as the total history of the DMC corporation. Well done, entertaining, and fascinating! Do go see her blog here.

A Scallop Shell! (another day, another dive)

Timing can be amazing! Carol-Anne Conway, whose beautiful blog I've been reading for a very long time (Threads Across the Web) sent me an e-mail a few days ago about seeing a dark blue starfish when she was fortunate to dive on the Great Barrier Reef - so sent me a page of images of this wonderful creature, just when I needed something different for this new water drop.


These starfish are blues ranging from lapis lazuli to ultramarine to cobalt! What a wonderful color to have to add to a needlepoint coral reef!

The first photo is of the ornament with the waste canvas in place and the scallop shell almost finished. Another learning experience - just be sure, if you try it, that the canvas is dampened well, and pull out each thread separately - not two threads together as they are in the weave, but single threads. Using needle nose pliers, this is still a bit of a chore when using it on needlepoint canvas - but worth the effort.
This time, after the first fiasco using the wrong thread, I used DMC pearl cotton for the white, and Satin Floss for the ribbing - and it worked fairly well. I think I'll have to practice some more, and try out different threads in the future. There was another way I could have stitched the scallop shell, but didn't think of it until I was too far along - and too tired to start over. (time counts for something here).

Next - the beautiful blue starfish was added, using DMC pearl cotton in the raised spider web with five spokes - made with a beginning fly stitch.



















This time the coral is purple - with DMC Memory Thread. The buttonhole stitch sea weed (at least I think that's what it is) was made with Watercolours by Caron.


I added the jumble of coral on the bottom with the usual whatever I had on hand in the right color and texture - and the seaweed is made with Sea Grass from The Thread Gatherer, as are some of the little urchins and polyps lying on the sand.


The stitch used on the sea weed behind the shell is one I found on Pintangle, as Sharon B. is showing her collection of wonderful buttonhole stitches - these from her band sampler.

The section with the buttonhole stitches is from December 2005, and the combinations are amazing. I asked her where she found them, and she said she just made them up. I have been seeing sea weed and all kinds of things just looking at a few. It's worth a trip downunder on the internet to see and study them. She presents a new one quite often.


I'm a bit waterlogged in the head now from swimming in the coral reef - and have a NN dealine looming, so will drink tea, relax, and maybe "think" a little bit before resuming stitching. In plain words, I'm tired and burned out. Brain dead.

Diving Again in the Coral Reef

I'm going to have to put these down, I think, for a few days, as I'm getting a bit tired of them - and seeing little French knot polyps in my sleep.

I finished the blue water drop, and am fairly pleased with it.

My favorite critter on this one is the little yellow urchin, which turned orange around the edges (lower right) when I got to the end, as I was using one of Sharon B's overdyed threads. What a wonderful accident!!

I used several of Sharon's threads on this ornament, as I can pull out wonderful combinations in overdyes and textures from one hank - and can combine them into one thread. The little "furry" dark pink urchins are one of these, as it shaded from this color to much lighter and to almost orange.

The turquoise is two tiny threads in two different fibers, which is very effective. I believe she is out of these hand dyed threads right now, but did say that she might do more in another few months, so don't miss her blog at Pintangle!

My fine internet friend and co-conspirator up on Cape Cod looks at these for me, and is able to see what's missing - and in this case it was the bit of turquoise and bright green, which jazzed it up. It's good to have someone whose artistic eye I trust, and who isn't tired of looking at them.

The second rain drop, with the sea fan, isn't what I wanted exactly, and the more I add, the worse it gets. So I'll leave it alone now - as I'm not about to tear out what I don't like and start over. I'll get it out again tomorrow and look at it - but I do think I might have to go ahead and take off that orange star fish. It's too big. However, if it's going to destroy the little polyps around it, I'll just have to leave it.

I won't point out what else I don't like here or my mistakes/errors in judgment.

I had considered using Satin floss for the seaweed, but didn't want to overpower the fan, and used Thread Gatherer's "Sea Grass." How appropriate the name!! (also the color) I'm going to leave this project alone for a day or two, and then finish one more I'm working on.

A Little Red Lighthouse

If you haven't already been following Anne Stradal's latest lighthouse, do go take a look at it. This one has a really interesting history, and, as always, I am amazed at her very orderly use of decorative stitches - and on such small pieces that she does.

Visit The Cape Stitcher (currently under snow, I think)

Sea Grass: A New Thread and Coral Reefs (Choosing Colors)

I just received this Sea Grass last week - a new thread by Thread Gatherer that is absolutely "delicious." It is 100% cotton, and looks like tiny little raffia, but very soft. I'm really anxious to work with it and see what possibilities for special effects it has.

The timing is great - not only because of the name, but this new project I'm working on needs all the help it can get, and the colors and texture of this fiber are very interesting.

















I've begun to research plant life growing in the ocean, and am amazed at the diversity - and the colors!. Unbelievable life under water, and especially around the coral reefs. I"ve studied the critters, but never the plants - as I thought it was all just lumped together as "sea weed." A whole new course of study!!! Anyway, I have two of the water droplets ready to embellish, so hope to get started on that tomorrow.
I finished the round one, including the sand - I used Nobuko on the bottom part, as it really needed some texture on which to place a few shells.

A sea fan or two will grow out of the banked up sand on the left, (DMC Memory Thread) so I worked it in basketweave. You can see the difference in the way the light hits the surface of the floss - I used 712 on both areas.




The "needle shaded" blue tear drop will be next - I haven't really decided definitely the colors for the underwater scenery, as there are lots more choices - including the DMC Satin floss I intend to use - these are just kind of getting me started.

The sand under the water on the slender water drop is stitched in T-Stitch. I'm seeing a lot of this stitch worked differently from the way I learned a number of years ago - mine is over two stitches, so covers the canvas - an effect I prefer.

The last photo is the fat water droplet with the concentric circles (Anne's suggestion) drawn to mark the boundaries for the needle blending.





















My first attempt on this piece was to be clever and do a textured stitch on the water, as I see on photographs taken by divers that there is a lot going on down there - but it looked absolutely AWFUL, so I took it out. I think I was just trying to get it done in a hurry so I could move on to the fun stuff. Oh well. Patience. More in a day or two.

A Stitch by Any Other Name.........(in needlepoint)

I've been working on this one, and have now gone all the way to the bottom of the sea. I have to remind myself that it's just an experiment in developing a new idea, as I'm not totally happy with the abrupt change from medium values to dark, as I switched colors and ran out of room. I think it would have been a lovely transition if it were on a bigger space. Oh well. It will be covered up by sea fans, etc. anyway.

By running out of room, I mean that I had made two "ripples" with each change in the number of plies used - but only one when I started the last two shades, which were the teal/greenish.



















I think the reason I was determined to do this shading on a diagonal, is that I was loving the photographs I saw taken by skuba divers when I was researching sea fans. Upon further study, I discovered that sea fans grow perpendicular to the current, so as to ensnare micro organisms for food. This could account for the angle of the light to dark of the water.
Before reaching the line of the sand, I made a stopping place of tent stitch, as I do not like the appearance of textured stitches that are placed against each other without it - they look incredibly messy. The upper "slope" of sand will be in basketweave, as it's an anchor for the sea fans and coral, so doesn't need the "outlining."

In the third photo, I'm showing how this stitch - whatever it's called (I made it up for this project, but I feel sure it's somewhere in a book or two with some grand sounding and complicated name) developed into something surprising that I could utilize to keep track of the progression of the shading.


Also - it demonstrates why a good knowledge of basketweave is essential. Coming DOWN the canvas from upper left to lower right on the WARP gives this appearance - a little sawtooth edge. Then, going back up - on the WEFT - it fills it in almost solid, so give a kind of watery ripple effect. I found that I had done two "ripples" or ridges each for the two aqua threads, but when I got to the darker greenish teal ones, I was running out of room - and in a hurry anyway - so only did one each. This accounts for the abrupt shading down to dark.

In the fourth picture, at the upper left, the arrow points to the first ridge in which I changed the ply count to 3 light, and 1 of the next shade to begin the blending and shading. The next arrow points to the WEFT - the dip - where one travels back UP the row. You can see how easily it fills it in.

On the lower right, the arrow points to the tent stitch separating the texture of the water from the intended Nobuko that will be the sand at the bottom of the sea.

The last photo shows the sand begun in Nobuko stitch, which makes it look much lighter than the sloping part - due to the light striking the long stitches and making them brighter, whereas in basketweave, in the same exact thread, they look darker and duller due to the light being broken up. It's amazing what one can do with just one kind of thread! The arrow on the left shows where I began the tent stitch outline of the circle, as it's necessary here to confine the Nobuko stitches neatly.


I think the next step here is to put it away for a little while, and start making some sketches to use to remind myself not to go totally nuts when beginning the coral/sea shells/sea fans/seaweed, etc. (and maybe a little brightly colored fish or two) I am prone to get excited and want to put all of it onto one poor little 4" ornament. One must develop patience.

Shading with Thread (Needle Blending)

I have watched Anne Stradal (The Cape Stitcher) do this with rapt attention for quite some time, and finally, with her encouragement, decided to try it myself - and I will tell you, it's addictive! She does hers on skies behind the lighthouses, but mine are intended for underwater things - coral reefs, etc.

I've studied many under water photos, and decided that my water needed to shade from light down to dark, and on a diagonal instead of straight down, as on the skies. This is a background for some sea fans, branch coral, whatever it strikes me to include when I'm done.

I just pulled out a 4" circle I already had drawn - stitch counted for symmetry, of course, and started stitching basketweave at the upper right. I decided in a hurry that it would take too long, and I'm impatient at this point, as I want to do the first sea fan with Memory Thread.

So - I'm stitching over two stitches instead of making a single "tent" stitch, but in a basketweave format. This probably has a very grand name in a book somewhere, but I'm unaware of it - and I was actually rather pleased that it looks kind of ripply. Having pulled out a skein each of 597 and 598, I started - and was amazed at how the shading progresses. Awesome!.

I don't want to go in to the particulars about the needle blending (I've decided to name mine "thread shading.") as you can go to Anne's blog and look at hers - she explains it very clearly.

When I finished with the darker shade, I still had about half of the water area to fill, and decided to try adding even more - and get darker, but a little bit green. Hopefully, I have calculated (mentally) correctly, and will have room to end with the very dark greenish teal. I'll show it tomorrow if I get it finished.

The skein of 712 is for sand, which will be a background for some coral and maybe a tiny sea shell.

Incidentally, this is how an idea becomes a design sometimes. I've seen this in my head for several months, and finally decided it needs to be done. If it's a mess, I'll just throw it away, sulk for a while, and do something else.

A Lighthouse on Lake Michigan (in needlepoint)

Anne Stradal (The Cape Stitcher) has a new lighthouse on her blog, which she'll begin stitching soon - so be sure to see it. These are always enlightening as well as very entertaining, and I look forward to them, myself. This pretty one is "White River" - located on Lake Michigan, and complete with history, as always.

Also, don't miss my article in the current Needlepoint Now about her and her work, and how she started designing the painted canvas - she wrote most of it for me, as she tells the story so well.

Moving along with Color!

The stitching on the Talavera cross is showing progress now, as the colors make it come alive.

I've been working with yellow mostly for today's session (while watching old 50's Westerns, which I love).

The close-up shows the amazing difference just the stitches make while using the same thread. The sunflower petals and the little square things on the diaper pattern are both DMC cotton floss #3821.

The difference is that I also used Kreinik Blending Filament #028 on the sunflower. The squares in the pattern are simply floss in Scotch stitch - and they look lighter and brighter than the basketweave of the flower petals, as they lie flat and reflect more light.

I decided the flower centers in the blue ones needed to be lighter and without sparkle, so used DMC Satin floss there with no blending filament. The photo of the threads shows the versatility of this BF, as you can see that the yellow is dark, and blends beautifully with the floss. There is also a light BF, which I've enjoyed using with the next shade lighter in the floss on other things.

The green (Kreinik BF #009) looks rather dark to blend with #987 green, and I was afraid it wouldn't work for this - but it blends very very well, and exhibits a light, bright random sparkle which livens it up a lot. This shows that one needs to experiment, even if it doesn't look quite right lying on the table!!

The next photo shows the #018 Kreinik metallic - two are blending filament, and two are #12 braid. The one on the far left is just plain 018. ( I didn't have BF to show) The dark navy on the fat spool next to it is HL, and the small spool to the right of that is blending filament HL. The light one is Vintage BF. The floss is #336. (the background on this piece.) The Vintage BF is what I used with the navy floss on the square "bump" stitches in the diaper pattern.

The arrow in the close-up picture is pointing to the only one I could get the light to hit correctly to show one little sparkle. In person, it's an interesting effect, and it looks much better than it would with the darker HL version.

The Joy of the Unpainted Canvas

I could call this "The Coloring Book," as I'm filling in color with thread instead of crayons or paint, and the outlines are dark (navy in this case, Kreinik 018HL #12 braid)

As I have said many times, I prefer not painting my own canvases when I intend to stitch them - and am especially grateful these days for the colored Sanford pens - the "permanent marker" kind - not the paint pens. I don't use them to "paint" areas, but rather to delineate irregular shapes, as in a flower petal which includes two colors - or for placing color on the diaper pattern area so as not to be confusing in the stitching..

I'm working simultaneously on several of these - which is easy because the DMC floss colors as well as the Kreinik braid and blending filament are the same for all of them.

The second photo is one of the original series I painted over a period of about two months - all about 6" high, so they work quickly. Very cheerful, they are!! (Most of these show now on my web page, Elegant Whimsies)

On this one, I used the orange Vintage Kreinik blending filament on the upper flower, and really am pleased with the way it works, as it doesn't sparkle, but there is a definite random "gleam" going on. The yellow area has yellow DMC floss and dark yellow blending filament. This is when it starts to get interesting, as I enjoy watching the white areas fill up with color.

The next one is another of the original nine designs. I chose to use Kreinik blending filament for the pattern only, designating the orange, white, and navy floss as "background" - so it stays in the back where it belongs.

However, at the bottom of the flowers on the shaft, I inserted the orange Vintage blending filament to make it part of the design - and I am very pleased with the effect. The last close-up shows how different the yellow floss looks on the scroll in basketweave with blending filament - and then on the diaper pattern in Scotch stitch - long, smooth, and flat without the metallic. A great effect with only one kind of thread!

I used perle cotton on the red flower, as the ropy twist gives it some extra texture to make it stand out above the rest of the pattern - and the bump stitches on the diaper pattern are the same red, but in floss with blending filament added - great effects with simple materials!!

A New Lighthouse

Just calling attention this morning to a wonderful new lighthouse canvas, complete with fascinating history - from Anne Stradal, The Cape Stitcher.

As always, I look forward to watching her select threads and, of course, the stitching process.

Water and Coral Reefs in Needlepoint!

Once upon a very long time ago - when I first started designing hand painted canvas - we had nothing more than Persian wool and cotton floss to work with. I absolutely refused during those years to do any Christmas ornaments, as these things should sparkle and shine.

They were actually kind of ugly, in my opinion, as little fat pillow things that were perfectly flat in texture. No decorative stitches or metallics or anything of that nature.

In about 1980, counted cross-stitch started becoming very popular. I didn't enjoy it, myself, but I did enjoy finding the Balger blending filament (now Kreinik) and decided one day in 1985 to do a needlepoint ornament with it. I chose a chart of a peach, and put it onto canvas. It was then stitched with DMC floss and the blending filament - and voila! I had an ornament that sparkled.

However, about the same time I designed this pillow (the canvas now very old and grungy and never finished) it never occurred to me to also spice it up a bit by using the blending filament, so I intended to just use the cotton floss.

I had been watching recently Anne Stradal's "needle blending" of the skies over her light houses, and started thinking about doing that with water, as the Great Barrier Reef and it's flora and fauna absolutely fascinate me.

Then someone asked me about blending filament, and the light came on. Also, Anne is now doing a piece with water and fish on it - so the subject of seaweed, etc. came up. I spent a lot of time yesterday researching sea fans, and got quite an education on yet another aspect of Marine biology! Those things are gorgeous - so now my next project is to design some things with sea fans on them and to make them sparkle in a very subtle way with the Kreinik blending filament. I'm excited! (hope I can pull it off). I'm thinking how much more interesting this fish canvas would be with the modern wonders we have now.

The design was adapted from a silk pillow I purchased from a woman in south Florida many years ago. She would dive with her camera off the coral reefs down there, taking pictures - and then paint them onto silk. WOW!

Back to the Beads (and Mindy)

I'm back working on the three canvases by Mindy, and enjoying every minute of it, as the colors and patterns are beautiful, and they are perfectly stitch painted - never boring.

I have only just now started working on this one, and was in the mood for something pleasant but mindless - so began by putting in the white fretwork (in Kreinik #12 braid, 032) This geometric white line effect is all over the canvas, and is a unifying element in the busy design with so many colors.

Speaking of colors, the entire canvas will be done in DMC cotton floss except for the Kreinik braid. (Also will use clear Sundance beads on the flower design.) When I chose the thread colors, I decided to use just a very slightly lower intensity than the canvas is painted. The bright pastels are lovely, but I like them a bit more subdued - not much, but a little.

This canvas is, as are the other two, a process of being able to work on separate areas as I tire of one and move on to another. This is why they never lose my interest! Wanting to see what the next area will look like stitched is what keeps me going and entertained.

The next picture is showing part of the metallic gold fret on the upper left side. I have already started filling in the purple as it travels over from the solid area. This is intriguing, as I want to see what the shaded colors look like beneath all that fretwork!

You can also see the beads and how fine they look - the clear beads applied with the background color makes them blend well. Incidentally, this canvas is worked mainly with silk, as that's what I had in my stash to begin with - some of my very favorite colors. The other two will be done in DMC cotton floss.



















Next is a shot of the leaves with the gold begun. This too is a kind of mindless exercise, and then exciting to see what they look like with the threads filling in.
This is barely begun in the lower section.

The black fret is also interesting, but I have to fill that in during broad daylight - maybe even outside if I'm up to hauling my magnifier outside. Working on black on 18 mesh canvas is no longer the easy thing it used to be. Hmmmm. Anyway - more in a day or two.

I posted pictures of all three of these canvases previously, so anyone who missed it can just click on "Beads" on the side bar labels and find those.

DMC Floss 100%! (the Purple Ornament Finished)

I didn't like the way the Frosty Rays and Flair were looking on the flowers, as they were not the right texture to stand out against the background, so I eliminated that.

What DID work was the DMC Satin Floss (4ply), as it really shines, and stands out beautifully against the matte finish of the cotton floss.

Also, against the texture of the background being done in T-stitch.

Actually, the leaves are made with Perle Cotton, but could as well be done with floss. I like the subtle shine of this because of the "ropy" twist of the thread. It does make a bit of difference.

The larger flowers on the "lace trim" across the center were made with the same white Satin Floss, but in long, slanted stitches (4-ply), and slanted in different directions to give a bit of dimension to the petals of each flower. You can see this detail if you click to enlarge the picture.

For anyone who missed my little method of stitching with floss, I have used this for about 30 years, and found it extremely helpful in preventing the little individual plies from going astray during stitching. ESPECIALLY with the Satin Floss, which is rayon, and quite slippery. (but well worth the effort) Just take the labels off the skein, open it totally out (first removing all cats from the room) and then put the two ends together. Fold the long thread over three times and cut the looped ends. This produces a long thread, about 38" long or so, but cotton and rayon are both sturdy, and I haven't found it difficult as it doesn't fray. (This long thread doubled after you take off the plies you need, will be a working thread of about 19". It seems long, but is quite easily managed.)

Then take off two plies (for 18 mesh canvas, 3 plies for 13 mesh), double it, and thread the loop through the eye of the needle. Then put the ends of the thread through the loop, and pull a slip knot up next to the eye.



















This holds the plies securely, and once the stitching has begun, they will lie flat and not separate. If you make a mistake and have to undo a stitch - then you will have to cut off the slip knot. Oh well. It happens, but not often.

This ornament is extremely simple in design, but I thoroughly enjoyed working it, and didn't get bored - probably because of the four different color areas. It was fascinating to stitch just a little bit further and see how the color looked around the next band of flowers - which is one of the reasons I enjoy just drawing a design on white canvas and not painting it.