Melitastitches4fun's Blog

The Star of Stitches by Kathy Rees is an ANG Stitch of the Month for 2020 and my ANG Main Line Stitchers chapter is stitching this as one of our two counted projects for this year. Somehow, I forgot to post about this project until today!

Instead of outlining the areas with pencil, I used basting threads. They get in the way some on the bottom where I double backed. So, I pull them out once I get started enough within the area.

My Color Complements overdyed threads (048 Fall and 191 Golden Yellow) have way more color changes in it than what Kathy Rees probably intended. And, the areas of color seem to change quicker than in Watercolours. So, I can’t select portions to concentrate the color in certain areas. I was afraid that the subtle patterns would not be as obvious. But, the stitches differ enough that I think it’ll be fine.

The women at New Jersey Needle Artists (NJNA) gave some insights from their experience stitching it this past year (they have a wonderful variety of beautiful colorways which you can see on their blog). And, I decided to to go with a skein of #5 and a skein of #8 in each colorway because they thought that Watercolours was a bit too thick in several stitches. I picked up Silk Lame Braid Petite as well as Silk Lame Braid for 18 count in both colors. There are a couple of places where the thinner thread will probably look better (to me). Also, I couldn’t find a Petite Very Velvet I liked in my color & it is kind of thick for a couple of the stitches (in my opinion). So, I went with Silk Serica, a Kreinik & it worked fine in the first area.

I’m very pleased with the outcome of the first area. Love these colors.

For Area 2, I used different weights for the overdyed thread (#5 in the squares and #8 in the triangles) and the Silk Lame (for 18 count in the outer triangles and Petite in the inner triangles) to create some differences in texture within the overall area.

Had to use my ANG magnet for this piece!

Area 3 used a variety of Smyrnas (regular, oblong, and long-armed). Here I made sure that the colors were placed symmetrically. The diagonal line between the last 2 areas will get filled in later.