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