Beginning the Center Building

I delayed stitching the Center Building because I felt that it was so central to the finished piece and I wanted to get a true feel for how the entire piece would develop.  I kept visualizing various possible stitches while doing the other areas and now I can put them in to reality.

I imagined that this whole area will have a lot of shine and sparkle, but it needs to be tempered to really display the shine.  I started with the leaves and used Renaissance Sprinkles #22 and Kreinik #8 Fine Braid 015 with a Roumanian Leaf stitch.  The Kreinik became the stem using a backstitch.  It was cumbersome working with two threaded needles and to avoid them becoming entangled.  However, I really liked the end result.  Just as I pictured it!

The background for the leaves was worked in a Diagonal Mosaic in Splendor S875.  Although most of this piece has been done in 4-ply Splendor, in this area I wanted the thread to be less bulky.  So only 3-ply was used.  I also used a #24 needle which would allow me to get into tight spaces.  The leaves were stitched first so I could follow the appropriate shape and I wanted the background to recede from the leaves.  The Diagonal Mosaic also is easy to compensate which is another reason it was chosen.

When I saw Threadworx #91055 (a Kreinik #12 braid overdyed), I just thought it would be perfect for the sky area.  The trick was to find the right stitch.  I wanted something that would flow and this thread could also create shading.  Out came the books again and I found a Slanted Victorian Step (#96 in Patchwork of Peace).  The original slanted to the right, but I decided to reverse the stitch and have it slant to the left.  Also, the stitch count was modified to blend the thread colors more thoroughly.


To get the colors to blend, the long stitch blended into the upper row.  I noted where the stitch went up with the purple circles.

The stitched sky

Blue Wave Building

This building used a whole rainbow of colors and needed to be simply stitched so as not to overwhelm the eye.

What follows is a description of the stitches and fibers used to create these effects.  I decided to start at the bottom and work my way up.  At the bottom is a purple stripe that is stitched using Threadworx Overdyed Floss #10241 in a 6-ply Upright Gobelin.  

The windows were stitched in the same manner as all of the previous windows in the other buildings.  The next detail was the yellow and blue windows.  The blue window was stitched in the Oblong Rice Stitch with Renaissance #437 2-ply base and Splendor S1002 1-ply on top.  The yellow window frame was stitched in Basketweave in Pebbly Perle P52.  Continuing with the same techniques, the green window's Oblong Rice Stitch has a base of Kreinik Fine #8 Braid 015 and Splendor S1139 in a 2-ply top.  The yellow window frame was stitched in Splendor S909 in 4-ply.  The yellow and blue stripes shine comes from using Soft Sheen Fyre Works FT28 and Neon Rays N79 in an Upright Gobelin.

I decided to use some type of medium sized box stitch as the background for the magenta wall.  After some hunting thru my books, an irregular Giant Scotch #211 from Patchwork of Peace.  The stitch is an offset giant scotch with a chopped off corner.  The photo helps illustrate the pattern of the stitch.  Also, don't forget the small stitch between the green window and blue/yellow stripes.

The next section was the trim above the blue wave area.  The orange stripe looked like it should be stitched in brass.  Soft Sheen Fyre Works FT26 fit the bill.  In order to emphasize the shape without creating too much texture, Upright Gobelin was used.  I wanted the green stripe to have some sparkle but essentially be matte. Because the area was only two threads high, there not too many options available.  However, a Tied Mosaic created the perfect effect using 4-ply Splendor S1139 and a tie of Kreinik Fine #8 Braid 015.  The finished stitch almost looks like a flower. 

 To keep the gentle sparkle effect, Petite Sparkle Rays PS 42 and 4-ply Splendor S929 were used in an Upright Gobelin to create the waves.  I wanted some texture but did not want to repeat the Split Gobelin of the other walls.  I decided to use the 4-ply Splendor S929, but not separate the threads in a Slanted Encroaching Gobelin.  By keeping the threads together, a gentle twist with a vertical direction was created.

The yellow dome reminded me of gold tiles, but I didn't want it too shiny.  Therefore, a 4-ply Splendor S909 was used in a Hungarian stitch.  The stitch was 3 threads wide and 4 threads high.  To create the flow of roof tiles, the stitch was started at the bottom and compensated at the top.  To add the shimmer, Kreinik Fine #12 Braid was used as a Backstitch at the bottom of each stitch.

Finally the palm trees were done in Silk Serica 4036 in a Satin Stitch.  First, the trunks were done horizontally filling as needed, but the leaves were a bit trickier.  I found the approximate center of the group of leaves as the starting point.  Using that point, I followed the leaf slant and stitched the satin stitch using the longest thread of the leaf to guide the direction.  

A chart of the stitches used:

Pink and Blue Boxes

This area turned out to be a lot of fun.  I really enjoy using creative stitches that give texture to pieces.  The trick for this area was finding a stitch that would work for each of the squares.  I first counted the number of horizontal threads and discovered that the top row was taller than the bottom row.  However, if the solid blue row at the bottom was eliminated, the two rows of boxes could be the same height of 12 threads.  I then counted the number of vertical threads and discovered that each box was a different width!  However, if the boxes were made 8 threads wide, then they could be evenly distributed.  So...the box would be 8 threads wide by 12 threads high.

I had already chosen the threads: Splendor with a Frosty Rays accent.  Now what stitch should be used?
Out came the graph paper.

I started with the original concept of some type of diamond shape and a accent fill stitch.  Then came adding an accent thread.  However, since the Frosty Rays puffs out,  there would not be enough room to continue with some Splendor.  Version #3 allowed for more space and a better scale, but not enough room to do the accent area.  Therefore, the final charted area shows the simplified upright cross stitch in the center.

The pink threads were Splendor S845 in 4-ply with the Frosty Rays Y360 accent.  The blue threads were Splendor S870 and Frosty Rays Y047.

Blue Grid Building

I have been looking forward to stitching this building since it contains some of my favorite shades of blue.

The stitching started at the top with the roof.  A 4-ply Splendor S881 in an Upright Cross Stitch was chosen to give some texture as well as having easy compensation in the curved space.

I wanted the blue grid to give an impression of metal bars, so the chosen stitch needed to have some continuity.  Also, the vertical lines were not painted along the same thread and would have led to skewed and twisted bars, so some artistic license was taken to adjust the vertical lines.  Doing a Diagonal Gobelin would help create a sense of roundness.  The vertical area was stitched as one contiguous unit and the horizontal area was broken by the vertical bars.  The thread used was Silk Lame Braid SL15.  The fill area also used the same stitch using Flair F572.

The blue walls surrounding the window were very small areas so no detailed stitch could be used.  The Basketweave stitch in Pebbly Perle P52 for the yellow accent matched the Flair fill and the walls were done with 4-ply Splendor S929.

Since I wanted to get a better understanding of the pink and purple accents, I stitched the blue windows next.  The frames were done in Basketweave using Trebizond S10 Lapis (one of my favorite blues).  The windows were unequal in width, so the repeating theme of the Elongated Rice Stitch looks different in each window.  The shiny base was Soft Sheen Fyre Works FT36 and the overstitch was a 2-ply Splendor S965.  To avoid a misfitting compensated area, the tops of the windows were left with only the shiny thread appearing.

Now to do the pink and purple accents.  I wanted to unite both areas with some common color/thread that was done in a vertical pattern.  After hunting through my books, Jane Zimmerman's Canvas Embroidery Volume Two came thru again!  On page 86, I found an Oblong Cross Stitch variation.    These vertical threads were laid over every other column and the cross stitch would go on top.  Because of the thread weights, the entire space would be filled in and would also allow the 2-ply Gumnut Stars 179 to peak through.  The Gumnuts would become the unifying common thread. While laying the base, I discovered that the vertical lines were broken up by the shape of the accent areas.  To still have some curvature, I went down when the accent color ended and up when it started again, leaving the yellow wall untouched.  I also made sure that the total number of horizontal threads in a broken length was in units of 2 threads.  A complete cross stitch was 4 threads tall and a compensated cross stitch was only 2.  To insure that the stitched areas would not look ragged, I chose to do the thread counting.  This caused the shapes to not exactly follow the original design, but the concept was still followed.  The Cross Stitch was a tied and offset 2x4 cross unit, executed in diagonal rows as best as could be done in these awkward shapes.  The large Cross Stitch was 2 threads wide and 4 threads high, with a small Cross Stitch over the intersecting threads.  The laid lines served as the base for the Cross Stitch.  Splendor in a 2-ply was used for the Cross Stitch.  The pink was S845 and the purple was S1145.

Finally the yellow wall was stitched.  As I was starting in the top right area, I noticed a space for a small architectural accent.  A Smyrna Stitch in 4-ply Splendor S909 fit perfectly.  The rest of the wall was stitched using the random length Split Gobelin stitch going from top to bottom.  (See earlier posts for further insight.)

And the stitch guide

Lower Left Building

A major section is now stitched!  There was so much detail in the lower left corner and the structures were hard to separate visually, but it is now stitched.

Lots of details, but some straightforward design choices.  The first area was the blue and green stripe done in a satin stitch with 6-ply threads.  The green is done in Splendor S1139, while the blue is in Threadworx 010241.  The latter thread has some variegation in the dye design.  To avoid a striped appearance, 3 plies were reversed and then combined with the remaining three threads when threading the needle.

The green center section was stitched next.  The window detail was the start point.  For the shiny thread, Frosty Rays #Y360 in the elongated cross-stitch, and a 1-ply Splendor #S1145 was used as the rice stitch topping.  The dark green columns presented a problem: the columns should appear straight, but they were painted on a slant, so the stitch choice would be critical to create a straight object.  To repeat the dark green thread from earlier section, the Silk Serica 4036 was used for a Reverse Angled Gobelin.  Instead of doing an upright gobelin, the slant was from upper left to lower right over 1 thread and dropping lower by one thread for each stripe.  To allow the room for the fill thread (Kreinik #8 fine braid in color 085), a blank row was left before stitching the next Silk Serica row.  The fill stitch is a reverse basketweave.  The light green background was done in Splendor S1139 in a split gobelin with random lengths to create an illusion of stucco.  To have a smoother stitch, the needle comes up at the top and goes down at the bottom and also leaves a smaller puncture hole.

The door allowed for some creativity.  The white stripe was essential to help separate the two doors and was done in Elegance E800 as a basketweave.  The starting point was placed equidistant between the two door edges to make sure that each side was the same size.  Soft Sheen Fyre Works FT26 was used in gobelin over two threads.  The stitching was started at the bottom to allow for any needed compensation to be done at the top.  If the compensation was done at the bottom, the pattern rhythm could potentially be disrupted if there was not enough room for a complete row to be done.  The door handles were done in a straight stitch in Kreink #4 very fine braid 005 with tacks used where the curves occur.

The dark green walls in the lower right were stitched in Silk Serica #4036.  Because of the weight and texture of this thread, the simplicity of the basketweave stitch was all that was needed to allow the thread to shine.  Since the yellow windows were very narrow, Flair #F572 in a horizontal gobelin was used.  The window frames were also stitched in basketweave using a 4-ply Splendor S1145.

The blue and purple wall has some detail areas at the top and bottom.  Since architecture frequently has some raised decorative elements, to mimic that idea, the blue scallop area at the bottom was stitched using a buttonhole stitch done in an upright manner.  All of the threads were vertical with the edging following the scallop's curve.  The thread chosen was the Silk Lame Braid in 18 count SL15 has a fine weight with some sheen without creating a lot of bulk in this accent area.

I wanted to repeat the scallop feel of the bottom band in the upper blue band. I used this stitch diagram for this area. The heavy blue lines were done in a 6-ply Threadworx 010241 and the Silk Lame Braid SL15 was repeated as the fill. These thread choices connected back to the other blue wall areas.

The blue and purple wall was stitched in the same format as the blue and green wall using Threadworx 010241 and Splendor S827, both in 6-ply.

Now that all of the detail areas are stitched, the purple circle's purpose within the building appears to be a dome for the green column.  To create an illusion of a round 3-dimensional object, a Double Diagonal mosaic variation using a 4-ply Splendor S881 and a 3-ply accent of Accentuate 140.






The stitch guide for the Lower Left Building

The current progress....

Green stripe building

This building in the lower left corner group was very tricky to interpret.  After staring at the design, I determined that the purple object in the middle of the green stripe was a window and there was a round roof at the top of the green stripes.

I thought that accentuating the green stripes by outlining would be good idea.

However, after stitching the outlines, there was no room left to create the columns and they were bent in strange places!  So the chorus of "rip-it, rip-it" was heard,  creating this result.




Now that there was room, a stitch was needed that would create a sense of a column in the dark green areas.  The books led me to using a Reverse Angled Gobelin in Silk Serica 4036. The reverse angle means stitching in the opposite slant of the finished stripe.  The stripe appeared to be going top left to bottom right and the slant of the thread was in the same direction.  This was stitched over 1 thread wide and 4 threads high and skipping a row before starting the next row to create room for the reverse basketweave fill in Kreink #8 braid 085.  The columns had a barber-shop stripe of the two threads.

The light green stripe was stitched like the ZigZag Tower in 4-ply Splendor using a split gobelin with random length stitches and stitching from top to bottom.  The progress of the random stitches is shown above.

The purple window was stitched in the same manner as the previous windows.  Frosty Rays Y360 for the elongated x-stitch and 1-ply Splendor S1145 for the rice stitch.

The painted canvas showed a white stripe on the door.  I imagined that to be the separation of the two doors and stitched it in Elegance E800 in basketweave.  For the door itself, Fyre Works in FT26 (soft sheen) was used for a gobelin over 2 rows.  The stitch was started at the bottom to allow for any possible compensation at the top of the door where it was more realistic.

The door handles were done as a straight stitch in Kreinik very fine #4 braid 005.  To create the curve, small thread tacks were applied where the curves occur.

The purple dome called for a rounded effect.  A double diagonal mosaic variation was used.  The chart will be placed here.  This was a fun stitch to do in 4-ply Splendor S881 and 3-ply of Accentuate 140 as the accent.

And the green stripe building stitched:

Yellow CurleyCue Building

Finished another building!!  This one is named for its interior.

I started with the dome area and wanted to emphasize its rounded appearance.  To achieve this effect, Splendor (S1139 and S875) in 6 ply was used  in a horizontal gobelin stitch for the middle 3 stripes.  The two outer stripes were slanted by 1 thread moving upwards towards the outer edge.  More clearly, the left stripe went bottom right to top left over 1 thread and the right stripe went bottom left to top right.  This helped create the round effect.

The background of the center area was done in a 6-ply Brick over 4 threads using Splendor S909 stopping at the black interior design.  The yellow interior continued with the same thread in a 4-ply basketweave being very careful to leave the black design exposed.  I wanted the design to lay even in depth with the background and not sit atop other stitching.

The interior design was tricky to stitch and I made sure that I was awake because it required attention.  Kreinik very fine braid #4 in color 005 was used with a #24 needle to avoid creating large holes in the canvas.  Since there was a specific design shape painted, a modified Jean Hilton Crescent stitch was used.  Modified since the needle placement was not every other hole, but based upon where the design was taking shape.  Like the Crescent stitch, all holes were used twice and the stitch lengths varied to accept the curve shape.  The shapes are irregular, small and working with shiny thread made this whole experience a challenge with lots of needed concentration.

The exterior design was a breeze using a chain stitch.  Each chain started on the sides and followed the painted lines.  Therefore, there are 4 separate starting points for the chains.  For the chains on the left, the upper chain went towards the top and the lower chain went towards the bottom.  The chains on the right were mirror images.

And here is the stitch guide...