Queen of the Needle

I started this last Friday and this is what I have accomplished in a week. It's a pretty fair amount I guess. I really enjoy all of the creativity I get to use on this piece. I have changed a lot of things already. The fabric is a really super light pink. When I chose the fabric, I spent a lot of thought looking at my fabrics and picking what I thought would work and this is what I ended up choosing; it is 28 count honeysuckle pink jobelyn. The top corner motifs I did in dmc 3689 which wasn't my first choice. I really wanted to do it in white like the chart but white just wasn't showing up very good on this fabric. I have stitched this design before and the one I had done before was on checkered pink graziano linen and the white corners just do not show up very good at all. But the pink floss looks good too. The roses that are under the gold tone band near the top is a 40 step stitch; it looks a little intimidating going into it but it is really quite simple. The diagrams that Just Nan gives are absolutely awesome!

In case anyone is interested in the changes I have made, they are as follows:

(band 9) The center cashmere stitch I changed to a diamond silk stitch (not sure if this is the right name of it).

(bands 8 & 10)I took out the verses and put the bird from one band into the band with the bunnies, I also added a line of grass all the way across the band (I used a variation dark green floss) and am going to add a flower next to each bunny.

I changed the colors of the inside of the crown from pinks to treasure braid petite gold (026) and white.

I changed the fan vault stitch (band 7) to a border out of Better Homes and Gardens 2001 cross stitch designs, chapter on borders. I used dmc variations 4180.

I backstitched the top of the pansies (band 4) with one strand of black. I will be backstitching the daisies with one strand of ptb 026(band 3).

I changed the color of the satin stitch (near top, band 2, triangular pattern) from pink to a goldish color (dmc 422) and backstitched the whole thing top and bottom with petite treasure braid gold (026)

In the top band I left out the two side flower pots and added two mill hill bunny buttons. I changed the color of the middle green stems to lighter green, I changed the color of the 3 pinks in the flowers to dmc variations 4180.

I changed the corner border motifs from white to dmc 3689.

I changed the pink beads in bands 4 & 8 to lilac beads.

I am using an alternate Just Nan button in the center of bands 3 & 4. (one that I already had in my stash).

More changes to come...