A new wip

My first stitching project for 2013 is this fancy cake from the La Patisserie pattern.  For the floss colors, I am going to use pink and red. 

I have done the cake stand in red, using the back stitch and the double knot stitch for the top rim of the cake stand. 

For the cake, I am doing the back stitch using three strands of pink cotton floss.  For the frosting decorative border I am using three strands of satin floss.  It is really beautiful!  I am using the couching stitch with this, to hold the strands in place and give the border a draped look.  In between each draped element, there is a round shape and I am using the satin stitch to fill those:

I was having a hard time doing the satin stitch with this satin thread :) the thread kept slipping out of the needle and it was becoming very frustrating.  I remembered that I had some smaller needles that have a smaller eye so I switched to this size 28 chenille needle.  It made all the difference!  I had been stitching with my size 24 chenille needle - you can see the difference between the two - the top is the 24 and the bottom is the 28:

The 28 really holds the satin floss better.  Since the 28 is shorter I find it easier to work the satin stitch.  Here you can see the two needles threaded, I am using only one strand of the satin floss to do the satin stitch.

I will be sure post my pictures as I make more progress on this one!

Whoops :(

An update on my patisserie project.   Everything was going along really well.
 

I finished the upper edge of the awning and the border around the iron sign with the double knot stitch.  I stitched the curtain swags with a couching stitch. 

I also used the double knot stitch on the top of the curtains.  I was loving the way it looked when I noticed the spacing between all the knots was not quite right on the left-most curtain top.  I just had to go and fix it, which meant taking the stitching out.  Can you spot the resulting disaster?

Here is a closer look.  I used my scissors to take the stitching out and snipped right through the fabric.  You may remember when I did this exact same thing on another project.  That time, the damage wasn't as bad.  I don't know how I am going to fix this!

On a much happier note, we had a beautiful, sunny weekend and I took some pictures of my daffodils:

these miniature daffodils:

And one of my rhubarb plants:

I'll be back soon to post some pictures of my zinnia wip - much happier news on that progress!

Two projects and tomatoes

I am working on more gingerbread projects! I am currently stitching up this gingerbread house and this gingerbread border. First, notice that I am actually using the couching stitch and the satin stitch! The couching stitch is the stitch I used for the sides of the house. The satin stitch is used on the hearts on the shutters and the door. Now, notice the colors of the grass in front of the house and the lollipop on the left side of the door:I am mixing individual floss strands to create a swirly color effect. On one of my last posts, I was asking about color suggestions and Annie commented that I should try mixing floss together to come up with the right look. I took her suggestion and I mixed red (dmc #349) with white (dmc BLANC). I used three strands of each color:For the grass, I mixed green (dmc 910) and my favorite bright green (dmc #907) I also have a garden wip to share - my tomatoes are finally ripening!

I have been picking them as they turned color but now I am picking the green ones and bringing them indoors to ripen. Here is my harvest so far. Yum!