Sunday, July 6, 2008

Nearly Headless Nikki

As promised, here is a picture of my progress! I am so proud of this one and am loving stitching it! Please take note of all the back stitching in gold metallic thread along the shawl (grumble). Also, of the lazy daisies that you can barely see on the shawl but that took FOREVER to complete (They are good practice because in her hair the pattern calls for double lazy daisies...never done those before...) Next, please notice the magenta cording along the cuffs and collar instead of generic back stitching. I love the way the cording makes the piece more three dimensional! And finally, PLEASE take note of the corded belt! That was a labour of love!!! The directions seemed simple enough: make the cording without a needle, loop the pieces to create a knot,and tack it all to the piece in the desired place. No problem! Sounds easy enough! Next, wrap one strand of magenta around the ends of the cording and draw it through the fabric so that you can tack it to the back and finish it off. Aahhh, here is the problem!!! This is 18ct. fabric that has already been stitched and so 10 strands of corded thread does NOT easily draw through the fabric to be tacked! GRUMBLE!!! I broke three needles and bent another two trying to do this and at one point I thought I was going to break a hole on the fabric! It really was a labour of love. My husband giggled at me trying to make it work and I scowled back at him! LOL! But it's done and I think it was worth it because it looks GORGEOUS!!!!

14 comments:

Jane said...

This is absolutely stunning and worth the broken needles! Can't wait to see the rest

Andie said...

Wow!! Absolutly gorgeous! You must have the patience of a saint :D

Suzanne said...

Great stitching!!! It's coming along nicely! Love your baby birds! Thanks for visiting my blog! Suz

sammyjo said...

very beautiful, i love it. you've done a wonderful job on this peice!!

Anonymous said...

Wow looks great already and well done for persevering with it!!

Daffycat said...

Wow, that cording looks incredible...this is an awesome piece!

Anonymous said...

that looks amazing. the back stitching really gives it a lot of dimension.

Stephanie said...

Looking good! I haaaate cording. I had loads of it on my last piece and it's not fun at all. Too bad it's so hard to see all the detail from the photo, but I love this piece so it'll be worth it in the end!

Hazel said...

Lovely stitching. My mum used to keep finches. I remember them having babies. Very sweet. Thanks for visiting me. Come back any time. xx

Lainey said...

Wow that is stunning! Look forward to more up-dates.

Hugs
Lainey

CJ STITCHING AND BLOOMS said...

Hello, YOur stitching is absolutely stunning. And thanks for visiting my blog and commenting on the Dotee Dolls. Hugs Judy

Mary Ann said...

Thank you for the nice comment on my blog.

Your Elegance of the Orient is gorgeous, and your stitching is beautiful!! I also enjoyed seeing your baby birds.

Sue said...

This is a beautiful piece ;)

stitcherw said...

It's looking awesome, what a gorgeous piece. Also, I loved looking at your earlier pictures of the baby birds, they are so cute. I'll bet they'd be such fun to watch to as they learn to fly and such.
Sue