Melitastitches4fun's Blog

Florentine Fancywork by Toni McKelley is progressing nicely despite some discrepancies. They are allowing me to make my individual interpretations here and there which Toni encourages anyway.

Other than making it a little longer, there are no overly evident differences in the Bargello Ribbon. Once you establish the first line, the rest is easy and fun.

I did select the thread portions of the Watercolours. The yellows are on the top and bottom smaller areas while the peach/orange areas are for the center three areas.

The dark areas are a brownish portion of Rainbow Tweed selected for contrast. Toni recommended 1 strand which is a little thin but 2 strands looked too heavy. Since it is on a brown canvas, I stayed with 1 strand.

The horizontal band if Hungarian Diamond or Pavillion stitch is larger than the way it’s diagrammed in The Needlepoint Book by Jo Ippolito Christiansen and so I am calling it a variation.

Since my space is slightly wider (not sure why), I got full units which makes me very happy. Having one side differ from the other was not thrilling me.

Since Toni used a different overdyed thread from mine, I didn’t have enough of a blue portion in either skein of Watercolours 239 Wheat Fields I had and so I used more of the pink/orange portions than the yellow/orange portions used around the border. I’ll use the blue portion elsewhere.

Once I determined my side border strategy for Florentine Fancywork by Toni McKelley, it worked up nicely. It is different from both of hers (stitched and diagrammed as they differ from each other).

By extending the band, I can fit 9 flower motifs but space them into 3 groups: 2, 3, and 4. Her stitched grouping of 8 was 3, 1, and 4 but more space in between each group. And the diagram was for 9 flower motifs with no spacing.

This is fun!

There are opportunities in this piece to use color-matched portions of Watercolours 088 Mountain Meadow in the border. I enjoy doing that.

The flowers are the yellow/peach portions while the bottoms are the green portions. I worked from the sides to the center.

And, I have another full skein of Watercolours (different lot but very similar) for the rest of the design to use as it comes off the skein.

I started in the middle of the top border with the Periwinkle in case I had basted incorrectly. But, it was fine. I did make a counting error by not looking closely enough at the Master Diagram which I did correct (after some hesitation).

Normally, I would complete the whole border and Toni recommends the top and left side be done first. However, after looking at the Master Diagram and the stitched piece on the cover, I found definite differences. It took some studying to figure out what was happening because the overall size is the same or similar. Finnally, I saw the biggest difference is the 8 flower motifs spaced 3, 1, 4 on her original stitched piece versus the 9 evenly spaced flower motifs on the Master Chart. She probably thought it would be easier for stitchers to do the 9 but I really prefer the 8. So, I will stitch the side borders later just to be sure no more variations occur.

Also, the flower motifs were not diagrammed with the green stem extending into the flower. So, I am adding an oblong cross stitch over part of the flower in the center. Here’s half done, half not done yet. Which do you prefer?

Florentine Fancywork by Toni McKelley was an ANG Correspondence Course years ago but I didn’t get it and regretted it. So, I put a saved search on Ebay quite some time ago and forgot about.  Back in June, I got notified that the instructions had been posted and I bought it. When it arrived, I asked my husband to put it away for Christmas. Again, I forgot about it! What a wonderful surprise to open it today. That’s definitely going to be on my must stitch list for counted pieces in 2026!

Toni used Rainbow Gallery Overture which she calls a space-dyed thread! Haven’t seen that term before. It’s what I call overdyed. And, it calls for V114 Victoriana that has been discontinued! Of course. Toni uses segments of it in the border but not everywhere. Apparently, it has greens, yellows, and peaches according to the text and photos. I have one card of Overture that isn’t V114. But, the separated strands are slightly thinner than strands of Watercolours. Since I have lots of skeins of Watercolours and coverage will be better, I will switch to one or two skeins of Watercolours.

There is also Rainbow Tweed RT66 Leaf Green which is still available but I think I’ll stay with Watercolours.

First, I will pull the solids. Flair, Mandarin Floss, Neon Rays, and 3 Splendors are all available at Fireside Stitchery which I can pick up on Saturday January 3rd at our rescheduled December Stitch-in. That leaves Gold Rush 14, WG53C, Violet Blush that is not available at Fireside Stitchery but is still available elsewhere. I do have Gold Rush 14, WG86C, Lilac that is a bit darker but might work just fine. Once I obtain the solids and decide on the Watercolours, I will decide on the Gold Rush.

Very pretty design combining the various bargello patterns together.