Thursday 5 December 2013

Kate Knight cushion in The World of Cross Stitching 211

The latest issue of WOCS contains one of my works, the one I simply nicknamed `orange tree` - it might be the Tree of Life for all I know, I just went for the most obvious (it is stitched on a gorgeous, tangerine coloured fabric, maybe Lugana, as far as I remember, but I might be wrong there). As usual, this has been a while, too - actually, it kinda seemed to go on forever: not only because it wasn`t what you`d typically call a stitcher-friendly project (out of the 86 hours it took, I spent over forty just doing the backstitch, and most of this you won`t even notice, e.g. the fiddly individual petals on the 70-odd blue flowers and green leaves around the frame), but also because I started it before my 3-or-4-week summer holiday and finished it after we came back, so it seemed that I`d worked on it for months. :)
I have quite a few progress photos for this project but I`d like to apologise in advance for the quality of some of these. I must have taken them in the evenings, under a reading lamp, or maybe behind drawn curtains - I remember it was very hot when I was stitching this, so I frequently had to darken the room just so that it wouldn`t feel like an oven. Anyway, here they are:

Every journey begins with the first step: a tentative start on Day 1
(photo DEFINITELY taken in sunlight streaming in through window)

Still at the stage of figuring out the best way to go about this design :)

And the solution: stitch dark outlines of flowers as reference points
(plus all 3 shades of green for leaves, so no need to come back later)

Backstitch defining not only flowers and tree but wee birdies as well :)

The above-mentioned fiddly backstitch: one shade darker blue for the petals
and 2 different shades of green for the tiny leaves

And, finally, the finished product - gorgeous, even if I say so myself :)

7 comments:

  1. Replies
    1. Thank you! It is quite a statement piece, isn`t it? Pity I couldn`t keep it! :D

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  2. Wow! That was not what I expected from the first picture but it is gorgeous. I love all of the fussy stitches, great job.

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    1. Thanks, Minnie! If I`m honest, there were moments when I couldn`t wait for the backstitch to be finished but every stitch was worth it, they made all the difference. Plus it`s such a stunning design, I think it`d look good on white fabby too...?

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  3. Lovely work!! I love to see the progress pic as you went along :)

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    1. Thanks, Mii - I love progress piccies too! Plus they`re ALL I have at the moment, I`m only going to buy the magazine today so I haven`t seen the official, professional photos, I just know they turned it into a cushion as I saw that much on the cover of the issue`s picture on the Internet. :)

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  4. This is a beautiful piece especially on the orange fabric but half the time spent on back stitching is enough to out me off! I think the birds need it and the flowers but not the tree. Love your progress pictures, it's nice to see it grow!

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