Tying the Knot

 
I finally got my act together and finished French Country Wedding Bells, which leaves me, predictably, at the point of deciding how to finish it. I'd like to take it overseas, so framing is out. I may get brave and try a flatfold. I've done this type of finishing once before, but I wasn't thrilled with the finished product (due to my inexperience, not to Meari's instructions!).

Remember Chillin' Out? Remember how I washed it & all the floss bled? Remember how I gave away the pattern prior to washing the finished piece?

There's a happy ending to this story!

I emailed Pam with my story of woe, and she kindly sent the pattern back to me. So I'm stitching it up again, except I've swapped out the maroon for emerald green. I really like the green (Carrie's Creation Silk in Emerald, in case you want some). I also used a much brighter blue fabric.

When I say "French knots", you scream, right? It seems like all (okay, most) stitchers are afraid of these tiny little beasts. The cat's eyes in Chillin' Out are French knots, and I had never done a French knot before. Ack!

Back when I was fretting about the Berwick stitch, I came across a blog called Sarah's Hand Embroidery Tutorials. It has a great tutorial on the Berwick stitch, so naturally I looked up the French Knot tutorial.

Excellent!

I read the instructions (a few times), picked up Chillin' Out, and had those babies done in under five minutes! I honestly have no idea why anyone is terrified of this knot. It was so easy.

Not that I want to do, say, a hundred of them in one pattern!

 So after my French knot victory, it seems the stitching gods decided to knock me down a peg or two. I had stitched nearly everything except the two lines at the bottom.

The top line is supposed to line up with the bottom of the ice on the right. But it doesn't; the bottom line does. Ack! So I had to frog the ice.

I frogged the lines as well because the floss was leaving weird vertical lines at each of the squares.

The tiny vertical purple lines beneath the bottom line

I made sure to wash and completely dry my hands before working on this, so I don't know if it bled or if it's tiny pieces of thread. Either way, I wanted it gone. Even though I've frogged it, I can still see them. Grr. But I am not redoing the entire thing!

So my plan to have Chillin' Out finished by today has gone out the window, teaching me that backstitching in a poorly lit room is generally not a good idea! Ah, well, I still have the French knots to make me feel warm & fuzzy.


Best Stitches & Wishes,



P.S. We've just received word that our visas have been approved and our passports are in the mail back to us. All we need now is the cat's health certificate (authenticated by three different departments!) So maybe I won't have a chance to make that flatfold, but I will finish Chillin' Out before we move!