February Block Challenge Finished

At last I have finished my February block. This one was a marathon because I decided to make this a practice block for bullion stitch. 

I am afraid I got lost along the way and in the end I used a lace butterfly to finish the block. This is supposed to be farm with vegetables and fish and bees and one sheep that really needs to be shorn. All in all I enjoyed doing this block it pushed my comfort zone right out.
March I have decided is going to be easier I will only be allowed to use seam decoration lets see how that works out.

More Hexies - The Knot Garden

I have been working on my Knot Garden again. Now I have at least finished one Hexie I can get back to the Garden. I was having a terrible time with the original stitching not because I cannot do the stitches but because I could not see the outline  of the design. 2 lessons learnt here.

1. Be more careful when you are transferring the design do not go at it like a bull at a gate. Make sure all the lines are transferred and you can see them properly. My ole eyes are not what they used to be.
2. Read all the instructions before doing anything!!!

I started with the Palestrina stitch and as you can see in the picture below it is terrible.

It is lumpy and bumpy and not at all attractive. I then decided to ink over the pathways, seemed like a good idea at the time and maybe it will work at a later time when I am prepared to remove all the stitching incorrectly started. The flower beds are not supposed to be Colonial knots and as I said before the Palestrina knots are revolting.

Enter Kathy Shaw's blog and her notes about the garden. At last it makes sense to me I can see the shapes happening.

So I ditched the original and started at the beginning. Here is where I am at now.

Nice neat Palestrina, though I must admit I used 2 strands of floss not just one to get the look I wanted. The pathways are starting to come together. I think this is going to be a WIP for a couple of weeks as I can only sit for so long but I think this is going to work.

Well I have just finished my first hexie for the Stitchmap Hex Labs. I started doing the knotted garden pattern but after doing more frog stitch than colonial knots I decided I must at least finish one project for the month then I can continue on the garden.

This is the front. I did not have the correct silk ribbon for the swirly rose so I used a finer ribbon and made groups of roses. The woven roses have a yellow bead tucked into the centre and the group of 5 roses have stamens made of purple bugle beads and yellow seed beads. The little 3 bead elements are just pearlised seed beads.   
Outlining frame is Palestrina knots in variegated mauve Perl 8 thread to match the silk ribbon flowers. 

On the back of the hexie I covered the show through stitches from the Palestrina stitch with a plain chain stitch using the same thread as the front. I may go back later and whip the chain but we shall have to see.

Back to stitching the garden maybe my brain has worked it out now. I love doing Colonial knots but I am having trouble defining the paths of the Celtic Knot. I must admit I am no fan of Celtic Knots so this may be the problem but I am not going to be beaten by a pretty piece of stitching.