Late IHSW Post: La Calabaza!

Hey Blog Buddies,

This is my latest IHSW post ever!  International Hermit and Stitch Weekend was a week ago!  I've been quiet the past two weeks because I've been working away on Debbie Stiehler's Autumn Pumpkin Patch.  (Calabaza is Spanish for "pumpkin.")  My original plan was to stitch half of a football-shaped section, but when I got to the halfway point I decided to go ahead and finish the rest of the section...

 

So now I have two footballs instead of one:

 

They're just like two peas in a pod.

 

From now on, I'll probably stick with the

original plan of stitching just

half a football at a time.

I was really burnt out at the end

from laying all of the 4-, 5- and 6-ply floss

which is called for in the various sections.

But I wanted to move this long-neglected project along,

and I made significant progress.

 

 

Here are a couple of the sections deconstructed.

This is the top left section on the left football above,

to give you an idea of the scale of the project:

 

The first step here was to lay the metallic ribbon in a grid.

You'll notice that it covers a good portion of the canvas.

 

The next step is stitching a double upright cross

using (at least) 4-ply of DMC.

We are covering up all that pretty ribbon!

 

(Sorry for the blurry photo!)

There are more upright crosses

in an Anchor floss that's an almost-identical orange.

You may be able to see some tiny

areas of white canvas still peeking through.

The ribbon is really hiding now!

 

Can you tell the difference in the oranges?

I can't, either in the photo above or in real life.

The last step is to cover the tiny bare areas

with regular cross stitches in lime green.

It gives the finished section sort of a tufted look.

And the ribbon underneath does add some shine.

Not all of the sections had four steps,

but all had two or more.

 

 

(Now you know why this took so long...)

 

Here is one of the plaid designs:

 

First step:  back stitch on the diagonal.

 

Next, fill in the same color pattern

with basketweave stitch,

and you can see the plaid start to take shape.

It's almost a no-brainer.

 

This week I'll be stitching on Part 2

of my Winter Logs SAL.

It will be a soothing break because it is all

Caron Watercolours with a couple of

#16 Kreinik braids thrown in--NO laying!

 

That's it from here.

Hope you had a good weekend,

and thanks for visiting!