This is the last post for our Magnolia Stitch Along! Today's part is not so long: we will work the few red leaves and add the last details :)
Foreword
Thank you, everyone, who is actively taking part in this Stitch Along! I love seeing your results and I also hope you check out each others' works to feel the necessary boost and inspiration. Honestly, you all are doing amazing!
I also know that some of you are barely able to find the free time, so thank you for those stitches you still manage to make despite your schedules and busy life! Every effort is appreciated and respected.
We will finish today our Stitch Along, but all the updates and reports from you are still welcome! When I get enough reports with finished results we will have a little gallery post to admire your hard work and reflect on what was hard, what was unexpectedly easy, what you learned and what you feel you still need to work on. Share all your impressions in the letters and comments, so that we can discuss it together :)
Check the previous steps if you missed them:
Magnolia Stitch Along Part 1
Magnolia Stitch Along Part 2
Magnolia Stitch Along Part 3
Magnolia Stitch Along Part 4
And now let's finish our project!
Red leaves
For the red leaves, we need threads P, Q, R, S,T as mentioned in the instructions. I also used Y, N and I/J in certain places, so don't be surprised when you see it.
I must say I simplified these leaves' palette a lot. Like, I can see in the close-ups of Trish Burr's original work how intricate and complex the shading is in these places (I truly think the red leaves are more complex than the green ones), but it was pretty hard to transfer it into my work without knowing for sure which colors are used where and how.
So my eyes weren't able to decipher everything. I'm saying it, because you might be more perceptive with the colors and solve this puzzle better, haha :)
Leaf #1
1. Laying a row of parallel satin stitches in thread S. It's not really the long and short stitch, just a ragged row of satin stitching.
2. Now it's turn for long and short stitches in Q and P. I felt, though, that there is a need for an even lighter color than P to work the middle, so I used the yellowish Y there additionally.
3. On the other side of the leaf, we can start with the island of P thread.
4. Honestly speaking, I reworked this part for few times and I'm still not 100% satisfied, I'm just done with it, haha. Anyway, I continued this row in color Q and then S on the ends. The next rows of long and short stitching incorporate thread R, then S and then the darkest T closer to the middle.
Leaf #2
1. The upper part of the leaf starts with thread S. I left some one-strand gaps in the row of stitches to insert color R there later.
2. A bit of long and short stitches in thread P to complete this side.
3. On the other side, we lay a row of parallel stitches in thread Q along the edge.
4. And then complete this side by long and short stitching in color S.
5. I noticed that there are some insertions of lighter colors on the edge of this leaf as well, so I just added few stitches in P right on top of the laid stitching.
6. Also, there is a folded part here. So we work it with split stitch first as an outline for this shape and then work a row of stitches in D.
7. Then long and short stitching in thread C.
8. There are also central veins for the majority of the leaves to work in stem stitch and they include two colors: the darkest F thread for the green leaves and the darkest T thread for the red leaves + a lighter one. Because I didn't get to use it much in the project and it felt like a waste I used thread N in the central veins to compliment the darker lines. (You can also notice my attempt to create a shade for this leaf with a couple of extra stitches in T color and a line of stitches in this color where the leaf is folded)
Leaf #3
1. So the last leaf, in my mind, is the most intricate one, and I surely didn't give it enough justice. You can play with it more if you want, but I kind of got lost and ended up doing a simpler version of it. Also, I swear I see there the brownish colors of I and J instead of P-R.
So we can start with the patch of darker T thread on the right side.
2. Next, fill the rest of the right side and the top of the left side with thread S.
3. Here we complete the left side with long and short stitching in thread T. And these are base colors of this leaf which I'm pretty confident in.
4. However, the rest of its palette turned out to be a bit too difficult for me. I played a little with various threads but the result was different from the original and didn't satisfy me. In the end, I just added stitches in J here and there and called it a day.
Last details
There were some details that I saved for the last minute of working on the project. It included the folded parts of the leaves and central veins that I already mentioned.
As for the folded parts, here is the close up of mine.
Although, I'm not too happy with them, haha. But I was already pretty exhausted by the project that I decided it's good enough and left it like that.
Actually, some of you already worked these parts and I really loved them! They looked very different and I anticipate that these parts will show the most variety among your works, which makes me really excited, haha.
Anyway, that's all! Yay!
Our Magnolia Stitch Along comes to an end. Aww.
Well, not really, because there is still a gallery post ahead waiting for us. Probably next month? I want to give you enough time and space to finish the design comfortably.
As for now, it's time for reflection and sharing your impressions!
Personally, I found the red leaves part the most difficult one and the flower – the smoothest and most exciting one. Which was quite a shock for me, because I was a bit anxious with the whole needlepainting and expected it to be much tougher for me. And I was really looking forward to the red leaves because I liked the colors and thought they are few and easy. Yeah, right.
Also, when working the green leaves, I found that I'm not really comfortable with the longer leaves where there had to be long rows of stitches. It's so easy to mess it up! The leaves #4 and #6 were my favorites among the green ones and I realized it's because of the complex pattern of direction while stitching them and because they are not that big in size. Among the red leaves, I enjoyed # 2 the most.
All in all, this was one of the most fun projects I did so far and it gave a considerable boost to my confidence as a stitcher, haha. There were many lessons I've drawn from it :)
What are your thoughts? Anything new you learned through this project? Share your thoughts and also your wishes for the next stitch alongs!
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