Melitastitches4fun's Blog

Step 1 of filling in the background of Hope from The Cabochons Series by Susan Portra was the long strands laid on the true diagonal first one way and then the other. I only went wrong a couple of times and saw it quickly enough.

I wanted the long stitches laid before our Saturday ANG Main Line Stitchers Chapter Stitch-in (in April) to be sure of the pattern. It took a couple of nights to get these in. The top ones were a little tricky even though they are on the true diagonal.

When I saw this photo, I thought it was the light that reflecting oddly. Can you see it? I  didn’t see anything missing. So, I continued.

I got 2 tack down stitches in when I remembered how much I disliked Tiara. So, I went to my Kreinik gold drawer and found 102 looked so close to Tiara T101 that I decided to switch. I happened to have 2 full spools and one very full spool in #8 Braid. I won’t have to Hope that I’ll have enough. That made my day!

I got 3 rows of tacking stitches in when I saw it wasn’t the light that was an issue! I missed laying the threads in the opposite direction on the two right areas. That was easy enough to remedy.

Although I was ready to stitch, I didn’t get any done at that Stitch-in because I was working on our group Santa canvas. It’s looking good!

But, I did have time to work on it a few days later at a Stitch-in with my EGA Brandywine chapter and again during a couple of Zoom meetings over the last month. The tacking stitches took some time but it really turned out nicely. The color in the photo below is more accurate than what’s in the previous photo. Today was an overcast day when I got the photo.

I’ll use this ornament to demo finishing for my Needlework and Textile Guild of Media in June. I’ve got a couple of weeks to prepare.

Now, I’ll get the next Cabochon ornament on the bars for our May 22nd Saturday Stitch-in with ANG Main Line Stitchers. I’m excited to see what’s ahead.