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Sunday, August 7, 2011

Tree of Fantasy

When I first saw pictures of Tree of Stitches I thought it was a pretty neat design. And then I had a vision of it in Caron Waterlilies Umbria (#204 here) on muddy green for a Halloween tree and I knew, just knew that it had to happen.

Unfortunately Umbria melts into only green fabric I have in stock completely. So I went in a completely different direction.

The trunk is in Weeks Dye Works Peony and the foliage in Caron Waterlilies Bermuda Reef which is a lovely green/blue. I haven't quite decided what colour the owl and rabbit are going to be, but I'm sure it'll be something unnatural and cartoonish.


Tree of Stitches
28ct white Jubilee, Caron Waterlilies Bermuda Reef, Weeks Dye Works Peony

Since I'm in the mood to do so I'm going to review each part.


After the cross stitch trunk and branch the first stitch was the Leviathan Stitch (aka Smyrna but I like the word leviathan more), which I've done a couple of times and is rather fun. The next was French Knots (Colonial Knots were an alternative, but I went with French). I found following the chart for the placement difficult so I just winged it to look like the diagram. (This would come back to bite me late). While I'm not going to rush out to stitch something entirely in French Knots, I've definitely gotten more comfortable and I don't think I'll be avoiding it anymore.


Next is eyelet stitches. I did this one with one strand and having done tons for hardanger this wasn't any issue. The next was Rice stitch and while I had no problems with the stitch I have to confess that I just don't like it. Not sure why. About five seconds after the last rice stitch I realized that I have extra space between the french knots and rice stitches. The model has no such space. I might go back and add in a few eyelets but I'm going to hold off until the whole tree is done. If it looks lopsided then I will add something, if not why bother?

Tree of Stitches is by Abi Gurden. It's still available over at the Yahoo Group Stitch Specialists. It'll be up until September which is when the next SAL (an owl) begins.

10 comments:

Cole said...

What a lovely design! I can see how you pictured it to be a Halloween tree, but I can't wait to see what how it works up like this! Enjoy all those stitches :)

mdgtjulie said...

I love the colors you're using, although I would never have chosen them for the things you've chosen them for. They look great together though!!!! Can't wait to see it all finished!

Bee said...

Your Tree is looking wonderful!
You can easily change any of the branches, making them bigger or smaller, leaving gaps or filling them in, so don't worry about that one gap. No two Trees are the same!
I look forward to seeing how your Tree blossoms!

Rachel said...

Your tree is fantastic, Blu!! I love the blue/green color :) I still haven't started mine, lol. I still haven't decided on a color scheme for it.

Your French knots look really nice too, very even! I enjoy French knots, so I am looking forward to that part :)

I am looking forward to seeing your tree grow! :D

Lainey said...

Look forward to seeing your tree grow, the colours are so pretty!

Gabi said...

Lovely combination of colors. Your tree looks great.

Jo who can't think of a clever nickname said...

I've been thinking about this one for ages and keep changing my mind. I really like your colour scheme and it's making me think of doing it now and choosing an unorthodox colour.

Joysze said...

OH!!! What a refreshing set of colors, Blu. They're so bright and happy... I love it!!

Heather said...

Wow, that is really great. And I love your idea of making a Halloween tree.

Giovanna said...

Love your tree start! And I'm envious of your perfect french knots : -)