This is my third post with the Stitch-a-long link party, so the photos below show just over six weeks work, though to be fair, I have done a fair few other projects in the last few weeks too!! Hopefully now I’ve managed a few finishes, I can concentrate a bit more in my Flower Lattice.

The design is by Di van Niekerk, I bought her book at an Embroiderers Guild day, thinking it was just a book of flower designs, it was only when I got it home I realised it made one glorious design. After a quick search on ebay I managed to get the background print too, all I have to do is embroider it…

This is how it looked three weeks ago, the bullions seemed to be taking forever!

On Monday I took it with me to stitch at my Embroiderers Guild meeting in Skipton, we meet once a month and the usual format is stitching your own project in the morning and a speaker in the afternoon. It’s surprising what you can achieve in 3-4 hours concentrated stitching!

I finished the flower heads and started on the leaves. These are stitched with open and closed picot stitch. I’ve not done it before but luckily Di’s instructions and diagrams are very good. Basically a framework of three threads is made over a spare needle then the thread is woven in and out until the frame is filled. The open and closed just refers to whether the base is wide or pointed. The thread is a perle, so it’s nice and glossy and heavy enough to hold it’s shape.

Once the needle is removed, the leaf is just attached at the base. The back leaves were stitched first, but it was still fiddly stitching the front ones without catching the ones behind.

I used a single strand of green stranded cotton to secure the leaves into nice curved shapes with little stitches either at the end or at one side of the leaf.

My next move is to stitch some french knots around the base to look like earth, a few straight stitches, then I can do the silver spider’s web, and somehow embroider a spider from a bead and some thread. So hopefully in three weeks time I’ll be onto the next diamond.

SAL is organised by Avis at Stitching beside the Sea, we each post our progress on a project every three weeks. I find three weeks is a perfect time for this kind of stitching, long enough to have made some progress (even if not a lot!) but short enough for everyone to remember the projects. It’s also nice to look back and realise the progress you have made.

Please have a look what everyone else is stitching, we’re all in different time scales so some may need checking a little later.

Avis at http://sewingbesidethesea.wordpress.com
Claire at http://claire93.wordpress.com
Gun at http://rutigt.wordpress.com
Carole at http://aslightobsessionwithbooks.wordpress.com
LucyAnn at https://lucyannluna.wordpress.com
Jess at https://everthecrafter.wordpress.com
Sue at http://sewingmagpie.blogspot.com
Constanze at https://textiledreamer.wordpress.com
DebbieRose at https://sewrosey.wordpress.com
Christina at https://petalsandpins.wordpress.com
Susan at http://susanpblog.wordpress.com
Kathy at https://livinginrapidcity.wordpress.com
Margaret at https://thecraftycreek.com/
Cindy at http://homeofaflossjunkie.blogspot.com
Helen at http://stitchingranny.wordpress.com