These three week cycles of the SAL seem to fly by, I’m stitching the Jacquie needlecase by Faby Reilly, she’s releasing a new section every two weeks, last time I had just finished stitching the organza wing for the dragon fly…
We’re now working on the final section, another piece of stumpwork for those of us who wish to try it. Firstly however there was the basis of cross-stitch and french knots. It did make me smile a bit as whereas the first dragonfly reminded me of a jelly baby, this one looked like a little green (blueish) man from Mars!!!
He’s surrounded by a haze of dragonflies. The french knots weren’t easy to place, Faby recommended gridding the area to help with accurate placement, of course I didn’t so some were a little out, I think I would have found it easier to stitch after the ‘Art Nouveau’ lines were stitched.
There’s quite a lot of stitching on this next section, so Faby has kindly given us four weeks to complete this bit.
The stems are stitched with whipped back-stitch, the eye’s of the dragonfly are padded satin stitch over the cross-stitch base and the tail of the dragonfly is a long detached picot stitch. Practise definitely makes perfect with this stitch, now I’ve got the hang of keeping the long warp threads taut and using my needle to get the weft threads to lie neatly, it’s my best one so far!
‘All’ I’ve got to do now is make two sets of wings on the organza again. I’m going to edge it with buttonhole stitch with just one strand of thread (as per instructions!) this time and if it looks 100% better I might even make another for the earlier dragonfly.
One tip I’ve just learnt from Faby is that when you are struggling to thread a needle, try turning the needle over, needles are made by punching the eye out, so one side is usually smoother than the other, a bit like when you punch a hole in paper. So far it’s worked at least 95% of the time for me!
This SAL is organised by Avis of Sewing by the Sea, we post every three weeks our progress on our individual chosen project, it does help enormously to motivate you on a long project. Please follow the links to see everyone else’s progress…
Avis, Claire, Gun, Constanze, Christina, Kathy, Margaret, Cindy, Heidi, Jackie, Sunny, Megan, Deborah, Renee, Carmela, Sharon, Daisy, Anne, AJ, Cathie, Linda, Helen
thecraftycreek 
You are coping with this tricky SAL beautifully. Well done!
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That latest dragonfly is looking wonderful. There is a lot of intricate stitching in this panel. Your stitching is beautiful.
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Another beautiful piece in the works Margaret. The body of the latest dragonfly certainly does look like a wee Martian lol xx
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Absolutely stunning – stitch work looks complicated to me but you are super talented.
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beads, sequins & French knots – you do love a challenge, don’t you ^^
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Hahaha the little mars man was too funny! But wow, your progress is stunning and I love the art nouveau lines. Great tip on the eye of the needle! I will have to try that next time. Whenever that happens to me, I just pull out my needle threader from my notions pouch lol!
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This is so delicate and pretty. I love the colours and how everything works so well with the sparkles.
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Have read elsewhere & used that tip about threading needles & it really does work! Your stitching is amazing!
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The minuscule dragonflies are gorgeous around your “Martian”. I love all the bead details too
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The little martian man is adorable, it will be fun to see how he morphs into a dragonfly. I love the colors of this project 🙂
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Your thread work is putting us to shame. Extremely intricate and well executed, plus I love the colours you’ve picked and I’m partial to dragonflies.
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I love everything about this project and the new dragon fly is no exception! The colors, stitches, placement, marvelous, and your stitching is absolutely top notch!
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Your work is always so beautiful!
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Oh, this is so beautiful! And yes, I have also noticed the thing with the needle! 🙂
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