May was stressful and busy in Colorado, but it didn't let up when I was back in Rhode Island during June. Gardening, painting, getting the house ready for visitors. It was more controlled chaos, and it was fun to see everyone, but I didn't have a second to relax and stitch. So this month I made a concerted effort to stitch and I made progress on my stumpwork project.
When I last updated you on this project, I had gotten one leaf half done. This month I finished all of the greenery. It took many hours, but the longer I stitched, the more I learned about stitching with wool and began to control for the stretchiness with shorter lengths and looser stitches. As I got used to wool's qualities, I began to work faster and admire its ability to cover large areas quickly and with less stitch definition than cotton or rayon. It is really beautiful to work with. All of my frustration from March is gone and I am eager to stitch more.
Here is all of my greenery still in the hoop.
And here it is cut out.
The edges of the leaves are finished with Lazy Daisy stitches stitched around the edge and tacked down. The effect is clever.
Unfortunately the backs of my leaves aren't as neat as the fronts. That will take much more practice. I am a bit disappointed since in the finished work the backs may be visible, but not usually to the viewers. All in all, I am pleased with my progress and will bring the project home to Rhode Island to continue working on. I should really leave it here, but it is just too much fun!
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