Order of work...

I am usually pretty good at predicting the best 'order of work' when I stitch, but this week I think I misjudged it a bit. I did't have to unpick anything, but I did make 'life' more difficult for myself than it needed to be. This is what happened.... 

I first finished the large hill in the middle. Lots and lots and lots... and then a bit more of seed stitch. Once I got on a roll it went relatively quickly, but it will be a while before I venture into a large area of seed stitch again.

Someone asked me how I get it even. When you look close, it is not as even as I would like, but overall it works. The one thing I do pay attention to, is that each stitch is worked as a back stitch. If you stitch them as running stitches, they become very flat looking. 

So fare so good, and onto the 5th and last hill. This is where I got myself into a bit of a pickle.

I started by outlining the hill in stem stitch mostly because it is a good stitch for fine, smooth curves and I wanted the scroll on each end of the hill to be nice and clear. I could have just worked multiple rows of stem stitch, I guess , but decided on heavy chain stitch.

1) it would give a heavy, more solid line next to the stem stitch and 

2) it would continue up the stalk to the small plant on the end, to match the small plant growing at the base of the tree. (I like to stitches for similar elements, especially for large designs, so the overall impression doesn't become too busy and overwhelming to look at).. 

If you are not familiar with heavy chain stitch: it is kind of a double chain stitch worked in reverse. This means that for each stitch, you need to slide the needle under the previous two stitches. This is ok when you stitch along a line, but here - I was smack, bang up against a row of stem stitch + stitching with wool... needless to say, I had to work very slowly and carefully not to accidentally catch and split the stitches already there. 

I got there in the end - but yes: I will be swapping the 'order or work' when it comes to writing up the instructions. 

It was all down hill from there...

I filled the hill with two layers of trellis. The bottom trellis is stitches from top to bottom and side to side. Once that was couched in place, I stitched a second trellis, diagonally on top with the stitches more spaced. The intersections of the second layer were quite raised so I had to stop and think how best to couch them down...

... and ended up with possibly my least favourite stitch of all. Bullion knots. They are fare from perfect, but I am happy with the look of the filling.

So here we are... the hills are done... I think. I might add a little something to one on the left, but I haven't decided on that yet.

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY

Anna x