Thursday, 12 March 2009

Moving right along...


It's amazing what a difference a bit of backstitching makes. Not to mention foresight. I decided that rather than go on and do another section of this piece with different colours; it made sense to backstitch the pear tree while I still have all the thread for it spearing the gumnut babies...er, still on the needles in the pincushion, so I can stitch any missed stiches while I spot them. There are remarkably few of those, I'm pleased to say. Leaves to the left of the peacock's head have been backstitched, those above and to the right have not. The difference in definition is clear. It's going slowly at the moment though, as I seem to have done something to strain my hands.

Some people love backstitching, some hate it - just like dressing a loom. Me, I like the process of defining clarity from murk. Gilding the lily, as it were.

Somewhere, there a couple of gumnut babies with a mighty headache.
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6 comments:

  1. Meg12 March 2009 at 08:46

    Stunning, Geodyne. You must be so pleased. I don't like backstitching, but it definitely works, doesn't it?

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  2. Anonymous12 March 2009 at 16:58

    Wow, it does make a difference, doesn't it?? I'm amazed!

    This is such a beautiful project; it's one of those that could almost tempt me to cross-stitch, though it's not somehting that normally calls to me...

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  3. Geodyne13 March 2009 at 08:47

    Meg: it's amazing the difference it makes.

    Alison: This project (the first version) spelled the end of my cross-stitch days. Once I'd completed this, I could never muster the interest to try a less complex project again. Of course, then I got all busy with my PhD, and then I realised that people did still spin and weave.

    It's unlikely I'll cross-stitch again, once I've finished this one!

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  4. Leigh16 March 2009 at 03:55

    I agree with you, the backstitching really enhances it beautifully. Lovely piece.

    Actually it's been so long since I've done any cross-stitch that I don't remember whether I liked backstitching or not. :)

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  5. Peg in South Carolina17 March 2009 at 13:50

    I have a little surprise for you. To see if you want to accept it, go to my latest blog post here: http://talkingaboutweaving.blogspot.com/2009/03/another-pause.html

    ReplyDelete
  6. Geodyne18 March 2009 at 07:58

    How very kind Peg! I'll have to do something about that.

    ReplyDelete

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