Leaf SAL - Sixteen leaves

In my last four blog posts, I have been sharing my Leaf Stitch-Along journey. The SAL was arranged by the Embroiderers' Guild Queensland during the Covid-10 restrictions and stay at home orders. These are the leaves I have embroidered so far.

Some I have enjoyed stitching enormously, others have been a challenge. Here's one that amused me no end - Butterfly Chain. It starts off with a line of straight stitches, three to a group. 

The Chain Stitch is added afterwards. It's detached. It lies on top of the fabric, tying the groups of stitches together to form a string of butterflies. And it makes a very pretty line stitch. 

Yet for me the butterflies disappeared, and all I could see was a fish bone!

Then, Twisted Chain Stitch sprang to mind, and I surrounded the fish bone with little fish of Twisted Chain Stitch. I'm still deciding if those will stay.

Other fillings seemed more mundane. I thought a Brick and Cross filling made up of staight stitches and crosses would be straightforward, and quick. But, I unpicked it five or even six times. First, I chose a variegated thread so that the densely worked filling would look lighter. Mmmm... 

After a few attempts and three determined rows I conceded that it simply looked splotchy. 

Then, with plain blue thread, I kept changing the spacing until all the lines looked more equally sized and spaced. 

The result is quite different to what I had expected. In the end, it's a filling that I am rather pleased with.

I have four more leaves to do to reach my goal of twenty. It's been an interesting journey so far. 

On another note, I hope you are able to enjoy doing some stitching today, Thursday 30 July, World Embroidery Day. You will be in the good company of very many embroiderers stitching all around the world.

'Till next time, happy stitching!