Queen Bee - Take three

I have started working on my Or Nué Queen Bee - well actually I have started it three times. So much for thinking I wasn't going to do any samples first!

 As usual, I started all excited and energetic. As soon as I moved away from it a little later, I realised the colours I had used for the honeycomb pattern was too dark. It would most certainly overpower the bee. Rather than wasting time trying to unpick, I just started again - this time swapping the two shades of silk...

 ... and what a difference it made. It is tricky to photograph metallic threads and silk well because of all the reflections, but I hope you can see what I mean. Happy with the colours, I was really cross with myself for not having paid proper attention to pattern - the honeycomb is very crooked. Should I worry about it? Seen from a distance it really didn't look too bad at all...
If it was just for myself, I probably would not have worried about it (then again, I probably would). But the thing is, this piece will be used for teaching and I will be using really, really, really close-up photos, so no place for 'sloppy' stitching.

This time I did rip it out. Taking my time with the first two rows - careful stitching, straight rows, even stitches and tight turns. Those turns really do require a bit of practise... If you don't get the right and tight enough the edges start curving, getting you in to all sorts of trouble.

So far so good - by the end of today it was starting to take shape. I am rather excited to start adding the colours for the bee itself - seven needles in work by now and still a couple more to come.
Will it happen this weekend? Probably not - the grapes are turning and we have to net the vineyard before the birds spot them and get too excited. I just HAD to show you how it was going.

Have a lovely weekend,
Anna x