Thank goodness for sample stitching! I started working on the first of the zigzag motifs this week and couldn’t remember how I did the Comb motif that forms the squares. Started the first zigzag and knew it wasn’t right and ripped it out. Got out the sample, counted stitches, started again. One of the little squares wasn’t a square. I quickly found the mistake and then it was smooth sailing after that. so I did all the squares in Natural first. then I added the dark blue in the triangles above and below the comb squares. You can also see the small band that separates this motif from the last one.
Next I filled all the little squares with True Blue and Latte. The last step was to complete the triangles with a variety of colors, including a touch of Citron yellow showing through.
The rug is now 5 inches long. Still a long way to go. Here’s the rug so far.
I’ve finished the first of the Nose motifs and I love the colors and the look of it. First I went through and did the Nose and the colored spacers between each motif. I used Natural, Nutmeg, and Ahoy blue for this part. If your sharp eyes have noticed that the two blue sections are not the same size, that’s because the pattern wouldn’t come out right if they were all the same. I needed four more stitches to complete the row neatly, so I made the blue stripes over 4 stitches at the beginning and end of the row and also for the middle two stripes. The other four stripes are over three stitches. Neatly balanced.
Then I went back across the row and filled in the triangles above and below the Nose.I added a touch of the light True Blue here.
Here is the rug as it looks right now. Only 3 inches of the total rug completed, but I’m very pleased with the results so far. I’ll be adding a four stitch plain border next, to separate the motifs. Then I’ll start work on the first of the three zigzag motifs. The zigzags are more complex and will take several days.
You’ve been waiting patiently, so I worked hard over the weekend and here is the first part of the rug. There are 4 rows of basketweave, the Snake Skeleton motif, and then 4 more rows of basketweave. Here’s the close-up.
The basketweave is obviously dark brown. The Snake Skeleton didn’t have a background in the sample that I posted. I did the small diamonds first and then filled in the background. Lastly, I added the light blue long stitches to cover where two stitches of dark blue met.
This project is a big one. It’s 15 inches wide and will be 30 inches long when completed. I want to enjoy this piece, so I’m not hurrying through everything. It will take time to complete each motif across 15 inches, so this won’t move along as fast as the red rug which was only 5.5 inches by 9 inches. The motifs are all designed and laid out on graph paper. As I finish each section, I’ll take photos and then put the motif into my stitch software so I have a record of everything I have done. The one thing I didn’t do completely as I designed each motif was to decide the colors that would be in each one. I have notes for some of them. The small motifs (nose and diamond) will be predominantly natural. The large zigzag motifs will be predominantly dark blue. When it’s time to start a new motif, I want to look at the whole rug that is completed and decide what other colors or accent colors to use. I have lots of colors to work with. I think this is the best approach – letting the completed motifs help decide what colors to use next. Here is the rug as it looks right now. Boy, do I have a long way to go.
Finally!!
The Silk & Ivory for the blue rug arrived yesterday. I’ve wasted no time getting to work. Here is a photo of the colors that I will be using. The main colors will be Natural and Admiral Blue, shown on the left. The other colors are True Blue, Ahoy, Cafe Au Lait, Latte, Cappuccino, Coffee Bean, Nutmeg, and Citron.
I’ve started the stitching and will post twice a week as I make progress.
Here is the final small motif for the blue rug. It was taken from the brown rug on my inspiration post. It also shows the triple band that will go above this motif in the blue rug. The last of the large zigzags will be just above the triple band in the exact middle of the rug.
The second photo is my adaptation of it. There will obviously be more stitching around it, but I just wanted to show the elements of the motif. The rest will come later when I’m stitching the rug itself.
The photo is a little dark – it’s getting ready to rain here – actually by tomorrow it will be pouring with up to 5 inches of rain expected.
It took several days to get something I liked on this one. On the left is the completed motif, but I wasn’t pleased with it. So I went back and added a second color in between the off-white stitches. When I do the rug, I’ll put in the second color first and the lighter color on top. I didn’t go all the way around with the second color – just three stitches above and below the center V on the left and right sides. I’m satisfied with it now. And a background will be added to fill in the areas around the diamond shape and the intersecting lines between the motifs.
The last zigzag motif is almost done, but you don’t get a peek on that one. I always hold one back as a surprise. I got a lot done last night after taking a day off from the project. Now I can update the graph with all the motifs to make sure it’s the correct size. Everyone think positive, please. We need the Silk & Ivory to show up so I can start. I’m going crazy with all the waiting.
Inching my way closer to the middle of the rug. First is a small border. I’ll be using this before and after the middle motif in the rug. It will have 3 rows of basketweave before and after it in a different color – a nice separation before the largest of the zigzag motifs. Very simple – just basketweave with a small motif stitched over it.
I learned from the red rug I did first. Doing long stitches for the background and then stitching over it didn’t cover very well. This will look much better.
The next motif is the second of the zigzag motifs that I will be using. The third zigzag motif will be the largest and will be in the center of the rug. Like I did with the red rug, I won’t be showing you that one. That will be a nice surprise when I get to the middle of this large project. Here is the second zigzag motif as it appears in the actual rug.
The triangles above and below the zigzags are the most challenging. I haven’t been able to create anything that I think is close to this. I’ll continue working on it, as it is repeated in the last zigzag too. Here is my adaptation. I only did one of the triangles but you get an idea of how it will look.
I’m still waiting for my threads to arrive, and really getting itchy fingers. I want to get started. I’ll be playing with a lot more colors, so maybe there will be some variation in the colors used for the triangles.
I have too many things going right now. Several small projects I’m trying to finish up quickly and several bigger projects that I will work on slowly over the rest of the year. Now I’ve added another one. Our chapter president has given us a 9 Patch challenge. We can use the two coaster patterns that I taught everyone in January (Bear Paw and 8 Point Star) and the pretty little heart project from this month. Each month in our chapter newsletter, she will give us another pattern to put in the 9 Patch. One square we have to create on our own. I already know what I’ll do for that one. The sashing between the squares and the border will be our own as well.
So I dug out overdyed threads and played for a while. Put them all away and started again. Here is the overdye I chose – a Valdani #8 perle. I’m going to use Congress Cloth for my 9 Patch.
This is not in my comfort zone. I’ve never been a purple person. Then I needed to find other threads to go with this overdye. I pulled floss, #8 perle and some #4 Kreinik Braid. Here’s everything I have to work with so far. You’ll notice that I didn’t pick a true purple. I picked Amethyst from Anchor and hope it will work.
The canvas in on its scroll frame and I’ve decided what to do for the sashing between the squares. I’ll work on this 1-2 times a week and post pictures as I finish a square, maybe once a month.
In response to a question about my last post, I know that the diamonds in the motif I’m working on are more square that diamond-shaped. I’m doing this because I don’t want the individual motifs to be too large. I want to have room for as many motifs as possible in this rug. Each motif will be repeated in the second half of the rug so space is running out quickly. In adapting a real rug to needlepoint, I want my version of the rug to have the look and feel of the original, but it shouldn’t be a duplicate of the original. We’ll see how things turn out.
I have completed the first zigzag motif finally. I tried so many variations that I just didn’t like, but hope this one will be the final. The only part that I’m not sure about is the off-white in the center. I still may change that a little over the next week.
With that one finished, I turned to the next version of the Nose. This one is much wider than the first one. I continued with the Sprat’s Head stitch, but modified it to leave a hole in the middle. Here’s a photo of the original design. The new Nose motif is shown in two separate rows.
And here is my adaptation of it. I’m finding the Nose motif easy to work with and like this version of it even better than the first one.
I’ll need to get these completed motifs onto the computer now. I’ve already started the second of the zigzag motifs that you will see in a few days,
I’m working on the first of the larger zigzag motifs for the rug. I’m having trouble getting something that looks decent. Here is the motif I’m working on in the actual rug.
I’ve got the zigzag part figured out, as shown in the photo below.
Remember, the colors will change drastically when I work on the actual blue rug. These are colors I know I won’t be using, so they are good to play with. I’ve tried three different things for the space between the zigzags so far and ripped them all out. Then I tried working on the inside of the diamond. I may have that part figured out. I’ll work on that a little more and then post a new photo when the entire motif is completed.
I also want to show you how I’m laying out the rug, so I can start next week. I’m working on the various motifs in the order I want to use them. So far, I’ve got two motifs ready to go as I showed in the last post. I will do four rows of basketweave in dark brown. The motif, the Snake Skeleton, will be next. It’s nine stitches wide. It will be followed by another four rows of basketweave in dark brown. After this fairly plain start, I’ll do the Nose motif. My rough sketch below shows this much of the rug and has notes all over it. Notes about how wide and how tall the motifs are so I can make sure they fit nicely in the dimensions that I’m using – 15 inches by 30 inches. And notes on the colors I want to use for each part of the motif. When I have the actual threads in hand, these colors could change. These elements will be repeated at the other end of the rug as well. Now that I have done a sample of each of these elements, I can put them on the computer. This is about 3 inches of stitching at each end of the rug – only 24 more inches to design!
You can tell I’ve already made some changes to the Nose element. This is definitely a work in progress.
I’ve been playing with some of the motifs already and trying to get an idea of how this rug will look. I’ve ordered all the Silk & Ivory thread in the colors I want to use and I have a few colors here at home. The 13 ct. canvas is on its way as well. (Thank you Judy for talking me out of using two separate pieces.) I hope to be able to start by the end of next week, so it’s time to get serious here. I have tried several of the motifs from all of the rugs. This first one won’t be used in the blue rug, but I love it and will find a project where it will fit at a later time.
The top photo is from the multi-colored rug from my inspiration post. The bottom photo is my first attempt at adapting it. It’s okay, but when I decide to use it in a project, I’ll probably try to improve it.
Now to the blue rug. The first photo is not from the blue rug, but I’m going to use it at the beginning and end of the rug along with plain bands before I start on the other motifs.
This motif is called Snake Skeleton. I won’t be using the different colors above and below it. I’ll use solid color bands instead. I’ll probably use two different colors for the little diamond shapes, alternating them. A simple motif at the beginning and end will look nice, soothing before and after the more complicated motifs.
Okay, just one more for today. A motif called a Nose. I used a similar motif on the red rug that I stitched earlier. I used Silk & Ivory to do this sample to get an idea of how well it would work and I really like the feel and how it looks. The three little bands will be used in between each repeat of the pattern. The little triangles need more work. I’m not happy with them yet. I’ve got a week to figure out how to make changes in this motif as it will be the first of the main motifs I will need to work on. The first photo is from the actual rug and the second photo is my adaptation. It’s a start but lots more work to come.
