Small purple dome building

It's been a busy 2 weeks with the High Holidays and other family concerns.  So I finally am getting back to post.  There was a choice between the large purple-roofed building and the small purple-roofed building in the right panel.  I was concerned about how to stitch the roof, so I started with the smaller building because there was more room for error and it was more in the foreground.

The purple and yellow diamonds were intriguing and became the starting point.  The trick was to determine a stitch that would not add bulk and lay fairly flat but also show off the shape.  Again, using the KISS method, a straight stitch following the painted area seemed the best choice.  I counted the area and discovered that it was an even count, so the center would need to stay open.  The threads used were Splendor S881 and S909 in a 4-ply.  The lengths of each of the side triangles were to be the same.  The stitching direction was also important.  To emphasize the dimensions, the top and bottom triangles were stitched horizontally and the sides were stitched vertically.

I wanted the dome to look like roof tiles with a touch of sparkle.  The stitch used was Old Florentine in Splendor S872 in a 4-ply and Frosty Rays Y360 in backstitch as an accent.

The stripes were easy to stitch because they were small and shouted horizontal straight stitch.  The blue area was in Threadworx 010241.  Since this is an overdyed thread and I didn't want a stripe appearance, I took 6 ply, separated them, and then reversed 3 plies to create a tweedy effect.  The purple area was in Petite Sparkle Rays PS42.

And as always, the stitch guide:

Zigzag tower + Progress report

Finishing the rest of the zigzag tower was fun!  For the windows' wall, Splendor was used for a random length split gobelin.  I thought by varying the lengths it would look more like stucco.  To create a smoother look, the needle came up thru the stitch above.  This helps remove the "dimpled" look.  The green band needed to match the color tones of the adjacent candle minaret.  Using the same threads as the minaret, a scotch stitch was used with each alternating square reversing the slant direction.  The tie was done with the Kreinik Fine #8 braid crossing over the completed scotch stitch.  The overall effect repeated the zigzag.  The last area stitched was the tower top which I wanted to look like a beacon.  Again using the KISS method, the yellow was stitched with Flair in a straight stitch and the blue was stitched with Fyre Works.  To help smooth out the rough edges between the yellow and blue, a backstitch in blue was used.

Here is the stitching guide:

And here is the progress report:

Zigzag tower windows

The windows of the tower are perfect rectangles that are 4 threads wide x 12 threads high.  What an invitation to try something!  I wanted them to appear with a little sparkle to represent light, but not too sparkly.  Their color was a very deep purple, almost black.  In my stash I found a Splendor (S881) with an Accentuate (140) thread.  The Accentuate was more purple.

After looking thru my books, I decided on using a horizontal Oblong Rice Stitch.  The next decision was what should the large cross-stitch be: the Splendor or the Accentuate?  Out came the sample scrim to try them out.  The sample on the left had the Splendor as the base.  This looked to be too sparkly and too much purple for the desired look.  The Accentuate sample on the right had a hint of sparkle and was deeper in color value.

Here is a finished window:

Zigzag tower

Continuing the color theme, I decided to follow the dark green and headed to the Zig Zag tower where the green repeats in a band.  The main focus in the tower is the actual zig zag so that became the starting point. After hunting thru my books for ideas, I thought that a straight gobelin with some sparkle in the blue area and a brick stitch for the teal would be good.  I guessed wrong.  Here is that result:

The blue was nice, but the teal looks too busy.  So it became rip-it, rip-it.

I started over with the keep it simple method using a straight gobelin for the teal.  Here is that result:

 Definitely a better result!  The blue was a Silk Lame and the teal was a Pebbly Perle.  These threads gave some vertical accents and a little puffiness.  The next step...finish the zig zag tower.

Candle Minaret

There are several purples and magentas in this piece and they are difficult to distinguish the various tones. So after much studying, I decided to continue with the same purple from the blue arch and headed to the Candle Minaret.

I also decided that to outline every detail would be too over-powering and made the decision to outline only the large elements in each building. If needed, a backstitch could always be incorporated as an outline.

I started with the easiest area first: the band of gold and purple at the top of the diamonds. The purple was done in 4-ply Splendor using a laying tool for an upright gobelin. The yellow was done the same stitch using Flair.

The green diamonds were a focal point of the minaret and I thought they could use some bling. I also wanted to emphasize length in the stitch. After a couple of experiments, I decided to do a couched gobelin. The base thread was a Silk Serica #4036 and the couching thread was the Kreinik Fine Braid #8 #015. The pattern used is shown on the right. This created a dotted effect and also made the green more olive toned.

For the purple half-diamonds, a brick stitch was chosen since it makes a nice fill pattern for this shape. Splendor S1145, which also appeared in the blue arch, in a 4-ply over 4 threads was used.

The candle was a lot of fun to stitch. A plaited gobelin, 2 threads high x 1 thread wide, created a sense of movement. Adding metallic threads really made it glow!

Here is the stitch guide:

Details about the canvas designer

The question came up about who is the designer for this canvas. Danji Designs, model number JW-50. It is handpainted on 18-mesh and measures 14x11.

Color patterns

I wanted to continue working with the same purple that was used in the blue arch so I knew that color was used in all of its necessary places. Determining the next area to be stitched required some color pattern analysis. There are several shades of magenta and purple in the piece, as well as greens. I followed the use of the same purple and discovered that the piece can be divided into 3 panels based on color repetitions.

• In the left panel, the darker greens repeat as well as the medium magenta.
• In the center panel, the blue and yellow square background repeats.
• In the right panel, the magenta of the domes repeats.

The magenta/purple in the blue arch repeats in the diamond pattern of the minaret. So...this will become the next area to stitch.