Melitastitches4fun's Blog

Not that this is by any way a masterpiece or anything close to it but I was looking through my box searching for something else & found more notes from Mary Shipp’s classes.  I had said it was my design but I was wrong – it is an adaptation. So, I thought I share how I made it.

I collected photos (this has a white fingerprint smudge on it-sorry) as Mary suggested to see learn about color & perspective.

Then, I sketched it. Drawing isn’t as difficult as it may seem. I took her advice & practiced techniques in Betty Edwards’ book, Drawing on the Right Side of Your Brain.

Then, I mapped out the areas.

Lastly, I selected stitches for the various areas.

And, then I stitched it. Not going to win any prizes but much was learned.

Shortly after I finished the fireplace, I started “Understanding Design” taught by Mary Shipp. As with the previous course, I wasn’t disappointed with this one. The class materials were extensive & Mary’s critiques were very instructive. As I look back over the materials, I see that there is much more I can learn from them on my own. Even though I didn’t have to stitch my lesson, I wanted to as I looked forward to taking the “Understanding Color” class!