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....