A Tipsy Centre

I have finished stitching the centre portion of The Tipsy Thistle!

This section was supposed to be Spider's Web stitch in different directions, but I couldn't find it in any of my books and I really wanted to learn some raised stitches, so ... The side columns are worked in Raised Stem Stitch and the centre column in Raised Chain Stitch. It took me several attempts to get these right, in the end I watched the excellent videos on the Needle n Thread blog and finally got it!

These small areas are worked in Stem stitch, Fishbone and Colonial knots; I much prefer Colonial knots to French knots, an Australian friend showed me these years ago, I think they are also known as Candlewicking knots; you twist the thread around the needle in a figure of eight rather than wrap it as in a French knot. I think they are much easier and give a nice raised knot.

The hands are outlined in Stem stitch, an all time favourite stitch of mine and one I actually know how to do! I am really enjoying learning all the different stitches on this piece, they are far from perfect, and I did think about removing the hands from the design, but I want to make this into a workbag when it is finished so a few wonky stitches and 'stitching hands' should make sense right?

The best part about finishing the centre section means no more green! I get to work on the thistle leaves next and use all the lovely special threads and colours in the kit!