Melitastitches4fun's Blog

I selected the Ray stitches with French Knots from AL’s suggestions and needed a template for the corner motifs to make sure they are all the same length.

So, I made a cardboard model on magazine board and poked holes after measuring (seen on the far right in the photo). I tested making the marks with a purple pen (left), Sharpie (center), and a #4H pencil. The Sharpie ran into the fabric and will not be used. If the purple pen marks disappear, those dots are the easier to see than the pencil but I can see the pencil marks enough to darken them before stitching or press harder when making them. 

Luckily, I had stitched the Bijoux from the center out. So, it was easy to remove the outermost 4 stitches.

I didn’t have anymore of the Valdani #8 Pearl Cotton. So, I went to my stash and found Soie Perlee SPS274.

An extra piece of magazine board would have made it even stiffer but I managed to fold the fabric across the back holding in place with glue until I stitched it closed.

Here’s the finished piece in place on the 3rd side of this tissue box.

Thanks to Brenda C and Linda P for confirming that a trellis would be good for the petite flower that I stitched with my EGA Brandywine Chapter. I woke up thinking a trellis would be the way to go.

The one thing about a trellis that had me worried is that I wanted straight lines and if this fabric is an evenweave, it’s too small for me to count! So, I went to my scraps of monocanvas and found a piece of 10 count monocanvas giving me an easy grid to stitch. Way easier to count than 18 count canvas. I stitched an edge the same size that it would be finished (4″ square) so I could cut right up to the edge. The monocanvas also adds some stability to the fabric. But, I could see through the fabric and I didn’t like that. So, I cut a 4″ square piece from the white fabric that Ann H had supplied to make the stumpwork petal to place between the monocanvas and the yellow design fabric. Seemed perfect so far. I never tried this before. Fingers crossed.

Now I had a reasonable expectation of correct, straight lines but don’t normally count on the back! I looked up trellis photos online and some are gorgeous! But, a simple flower needs a simple trellis.

I tried one strand of Kreinik Silk Mori #8050 Black but that was shedding after 4 long stitches. So, off to my thread stash where I found Bijoux MMT424 Renaissance Gold (which is half black).

But, the number of canvas threads was not the same on both sides (differs by one). And, once I had 5 lines going across a corner the 4th and 5th lines were crooked with careful counting (forgot to get a photo). At this point I abandoned the criss-crossed trellis look. I needed an even simpler finish.

The inner 2 lines looked good but I wanted a third line. Placing it further into the corner made sense to me. But I thought there was something wrong with my eyes because the lines seemed ok until they weren’t.

It took several attempts to get all the lines straight by simply measuring the width of each end of the band. For what this is and where it’ll be displayed, I think it looks fine.

But rather bland. I decided to see what AI could think up. I use Google Lens and asked for suggestions for the corners. I got complicated suggestions as well as these that appealed to me.

AI offered to pick to the best solution for me and I asked it to pick the best one from only the three suggestions above and generate a photo. This was what I got:

I asked it to replace them with a cluster of 3 Colonial Knots in the corners. This is what I got:

I don’t know about you but I am impressed! It drew on the best embroidery site (in my opinion, Mary Corbet’s) and came up with great suggestions.

Until I saw one of the above options, I was willing to live with my bland finish. However, one of them was so much better that I have to redo it! What would you do? Which one did I choose. Wait and see. That’ll be the final post for this piece. Hopefully, sometime tomorrow.

Today, Ann H led us in working a small (2″ tall) flower in shaded threads with stumpwork. She provided the muslin fabric (yellow/white) with the outline of the flower already in place, overdyed green Valdani pearl cotton #8 for the leaves and stem, wire for the stumpwork, and instructions.

I brought my own silk threads for the flower in three shades of one color, hoops, and needles.

We met for 4 hours and took a long lunch break in the Country House’s Bistro. It’s a lovely retirement/continuing care facility where one of our members reside. This is all that I got done while there.

But, it went quickly once I sat down at home.

Ann changes threads when stitching the buttonhole stitch to hold the wire in place. This allows the shading inside the petal match the outer edge. I think it’s a great idea. That is different from what Celeste Chalasani taught. Celeste had us stitch the wire in place in the lightest color all the way around.

Being only 2″ tall, I want to add something. Then finish as a flat and add to my yellow tissue box. The other two pieces on that tissue box are also EGA Brandywine Chapter projects, Casalguidi and Chicken Scratch.

Should I add butterflies? A trellis stitch background? Thoughts? Ideas? Suggestions?