Two steps forward and one step back. I’ve decided to keep the second shade of ecru that I’m using for the on point squares. But the Gobelin stitch over two threads wasn’t working at all. I can’t keep all the stitching going in the same direction throughout the piece, so I ripped out what I had done in that color. I’ve gone back to Mosaic stitch to do them.

The first quarter of the design has the framework completed, and I’ve started on the second one. All the squares on point are completed. But I’ve run out of Anchor #926 – the lighter color. I ordered some a few days ago and it should be here any day now.

While I wait for more thread, I decided to start working on the center. I’ve stitched two of the arms in very dark green (Anchor #218) using Diagonal Mosaic. The one that is on a slant looks great, but the one that in straight up and down is squared off. I’ll need to decide if I should remove  two stitches that are over one thread in the darker ecru and redo them in dark green. I hate ripping out stitches, but if it will look better, I’ll do it. This is why I don’t write instructions until I’ve stitched it – to find these little deviations that make the design look better.

Anne at The Cape Stitcher has just posted her second progress report as well. No, we’re not having a contest to see who can finish first. I normally post every three days and I try to keep to that schedule. And I’m quite sure that Anne will finish first.

I also spend time each day stitching (or planning) three projects at the same time. Last night I was working on a general plan for the next rug, then went back to stitching on this project. I also managed to finish the last of three large stockings for my three granddaughters. Now I need to get good backing material for them so I can get them finished and sent the first week of December.

I’ve had a busy couple of days and didn’t get much stitching done. I did get to my LNS yesterday to look over Silk & Ivory colors and try to narrow down the colors I will use on the new rug when I start it later this month. I want to try out different combinations for the borders, so I did a little playing last night. I’ve already eliminated one color, so I’ll keep playing and see what happens.

On the Zellig 2 tile, I showed you the middle four squares done in tan. I planned to use a darker tan for the squares that are on point. I decided I didn’t like the color and ripped it all out. Because the canvas is sage green and has a mottled look done in brown, I decided I needed a much lighter color for the middle squares and the other outlines that work out from the squares. I switched to Anchor #926 – ecru. I like this much better. After the squares were stitched, I started working the lines that extend from the squares and travel across the canvas to the outside border.

While I was counting and stitching, I ran into a small problem. I want to use Mosaic Stitch for a lot of this piece. The distance I had designed from the middle squares to the octagon that surrounds them is fine – an even number of threads. But the distance between the octagon and the outside border was 9 threads. This was easily corrected by adding one more thread between the two sections. I find this to be one of the problems with designing on the computer with cross stitch software. I can’t write the instructions for stitching the design until I have stitched it, as problems like this keep popping up. I have to work slowly until I have one part completed and know that it works before I can continue to stitch around the whole design. I can’t find a Mac software program that does stitch diagrams like StitchWiz on Windows.

Now I have finished one quarter of the outlines done in ecru and started on the next one. Here’s how it looks today.

I tried a new color for the squares that are on point and I’m not sure it’s dark enough. I’m not sure they stand out enough. And the square isn’t square – the left side is bigger than the right side. The right side is correct so I need to rip out the left side. I’ll do that after I make a decision on what color to use for the on point squares and the lines that travel out from the center.

Anne Stradal (http://thecapestitcher.blogspot.com) has just posted her version of this tile. She has painted the outlines and selected colors she will be using, so be sure to check in with Anne as well. You’ll be able to see two versions of this zellig tile being blog-stitched at the same time.!  I’m look forward to seeing how she stitches this.

This is project #2 for the month of November. I’m getting started a day early! I took the little free design I shared with all of you on my blog anniversary and added to it. Below on the left is the original tile and on the right is the new design I’ve created.

You can see elements of the original in my design and this is as complicated as I will go with this design. I really like this new version. The colors in the chart are close to what I’ll actually be using for this tile. One of my favorite color combinations.

This design is about 6 inches square so I can make the elements a little bigger and use more stitches. I want to use a lot of Mosaic stitches to see if that makes it look more like a real zellig design made up little mosaic tiles. So I started with the four center squares, stitched in Mosaic stitch. The canvas is an antique green and brown. The white sections in the design above will allow the canvas to show through. I’ll have to be careful with the colors I choose for several areas because of this.

I’ll continue with the 4 squares that are stitched on point. Then I’ll extend some of the sides of the squares to create the framework for the full tile.

Another blogger, Anne Stradal of thecapestitcher.blogspot.com will be stitching of a variation of this tile in the days to come, so check in on her as well. She’s making it into a Christmas tree ornament for herself. I haven’t seen it yet, so I’ll be watching her work too. This should be fun – two different interpretations on the same design. I’m looking forward to it!

I always have several projects in mind, even when I’m working on a major project. Now that the High Atlas pillow is completed, I have to decide what to work on next. I have four things on my list to work on in November. Maybe you’d like to see how I organize and work through all this.

1. I’ve promised several people I would get the stitching instructions for the Blue Middle Atlas Rug done. In order to determine how much thread is needed to stitch the rug on 18 count canvas, I’m stitching a quick one quarter of the design. Then I can multiply how much thread I use to get a rough idea. As I complete each band of the rug, I’m creating the stitch diagrams and writing instructions. Since I’m not stitching it for looks, I’m just using #5 perle cotton. I’ll show you a few photos of it, but not very many.

2. I’m doing my last craft show after Thanksgiving. I’ve been doing these shows around Christmas for 5 years and sales are never very good. But I’ve developed a lot of friendships over the years, and I want to see them one last time and say goodbye. Coasters sell more than anything else, so I’m working on coasters to sell. All the coasters I’ve shown online while I was playing with Moroccan tiles, are now in little acrylic coasters and ready to go. I’m working on more right now – about 2-3 a week. I figure I need about 30 for the two day show. About 20 done so far.

3. Zellig – I shared my first little tile with you for my blog anniversary. I told you that I was going to take that simple design and add to it to make a design closer to the original tile. I just finished this design! The colors are close to what I’ll be using to stitch it. Look for the first post late next week.

4. I’ve decided which rug project I want to work on next. My inspiration is an antique rug from Morocco. I’ll use the general design of the rug shown below, but do all the actual patterns and motifs myself. I’m also changing the colors. I love the original colors, but I need a change of colors after all the browns and oranges in the last few projects. I’m going to do the center in navy and the rest in shades of red plus a few accent colors. I’m going back to my favorite materials as well. I’ll stitch this on 13 ct. canvas and use only Silk & Ivory thread. This is what I used for the Blue Middle Atlas Rug and it’s still my favorite of everything that I’ve stitched. It will be about 15″ x 30″, the same as the blue rug. This will be the standard materials and size for all my rugs from now on. I love the size and the thread is so easy to stitch with.

So while I’m working on projects 1-3, I’ll also be designing the center motif for the rug plus the borders that go all the way around. I’ll practice stitch and attempt to figure out how much thread I’ll need. Then around Thanksgiving, I’ll start sharing a new rug with you.

Do you think I have enough to keep myself busy and out of trouble? I certainly hope so. Now that I’ve listed it all, I need to get busy. Friday I plan to get the first two bands of the stitching instructions for #1 done and get 3 stitched designs into their acrylic frames. Then I can get out canvas and threads for the new zellig design. I love it when I’m busy! See you soon with photos.

Time to add a border and finish this pillow. More projects wait in the wings.

The border has three parts. The first part is the Gobelin Stitch over 3 threads done in Cappiccino. This gives a nice finished edge to the rectangles.

The second border is something new for me. The small photos I have of these rugs doesn’t give me the best view of some motifs. Making them bigger just causes them to become blurry pixels. So I created this motif to look like what I could see and don’t know how accurate it is.  It was created using just long cross stitches over 4 threads. I did the 3 rows of Ginger stitches first. Then the Natural stitches go from the middle of one Ginger cross stitch to the middle of the next one. I like it. The Rhodes Stitch at the corner was done with 3 colors. I like to experiment with this stitch. Maybe just 2 colors would have been enough.

The last step was to go around the pillow one more time in Cappiccino – Gobelin over 4 threads this time. Using the darker color for the inside and outside border sets the border off from the rest of the pillow and also unites the whole pillow.

And finally, the whole pillow which is now complete. It measures just over 9 inches square.

I’ve completed the last of the rectangles surrounding the middle square. I’ve used one of my favorite stitches – Sprat’s Head – to do the main part of the design. The center was done with another another of my favorites – Rhodes stitch. I like doing this stitch with two or three colors rather than only one. I like the white canvas showing around the stitch as well.

Now all that’s left is the border. I’ll show how that is progressing in my next post. Here’s the pillow after all the rectangles were completed.

Is the last rectangle too fancy for the rest of the pillow? In the rugs, I can alternate the fancier bands with plain bands to keep the whole rug balanced. I’m not sure about this pillow. Would love to hear your opinion?

I’ll start working on the Middle Atlas Rug on 18 count canvas next week. I’ll do the stitch guide as I work on it so the stitch guide will be available by the end of November. Look for that to show up after the pillow’s final post next week.

Time to work on the third of the rectangles that border the center square. This one is on the opposite side of the center from the first rectangle and repeats the use of small triangles to create a motif. This is a motif that appeared on my first Moroccan rug, the red one.

This one had no problems and stitched up quickly. Looking at it today, I think I should pull out stitches at the very bottom of the Gobelin bands and add one more stitch. I don’t like the canvas showing through in those places. Here is the rug after the third rectangle was completed.

Each time I worked on this pillow over the past week, I’ve look at the rectangle to the left of today’s rectangle. And each day, I dislike the open weave on that rectangle, so I ripped it out and stitched it again. This time I used a solid color and a simple diamond stitch to fill in the area. I like this better, but I think it’s still the weakest of the rectangles I’ve stitched so far. I won’t rip it out again, but it’s still not quite fitting nicely with the others. Here is the reworked rectangle.

I did pull apart the four strands and then put them back together, but it doesn’t cover as well as I would like. Trying to decide if I should pull out one part and redo it with 6 strands. Not sure yet. On to the last of the rectangles.

I would like to see the tiles you have created with this zellig pattern. You can email them to me at jan@threadmedley.com. There is a link in the column on the right. I’ll put them up on the blog if you give me permission.

I originally designed this little tile because I wanted a design I could use as tile on the wall of a needlepoint Moroccan room. As you can see now that you have stitched the tile, it’s WAY too big for that idea. I will have to create a much smaller tile that can be repeated for the walls of a room. If I use the Mosaic Stitch as a tile, and change colors as I create a pattern, maybe that would work better. Now I need to play with graph paper. See why I don’t get a lot of stitching done each day? I get a new idea and have to sketch and try things out while it’s fresh in my mind.

This zellig pattern can be repeated to create a larger design that can be placed in a tote bag, etc. The design below was done with the same cross stitch software but I used the colored squares instead of stitch lines. This way you can try changing the stitches if you want and create your own version of the design.

An on point square is created in the center of the four repeats. I’ve put an 8-pointed star in the space with a Smyrna Cross in the center of it. You could also create your own little motif to fill the space. Let your imagination guide you – have some fun!

I’m hoping to take the original tile and create a version that is more complicated and closer to the original. I’ll keep you posted on my progress. Right now it’s back to the pillow so I can get it completed.  Look for posts on that later in the week.

Today, we will complete the design by stitching a border. In my stitched model  below, I used a lime green. The colors for this model are a little unusual for me, but I think they look good together.

I did this border with 6 strands of floss, and it looks a little heavy. You could choose to use 4 strands if you prefer. It will still cover nicely. Gobelin was used for the top, bottom and sides. The slanted lines are done in backstitch over 2 threads.

Starting at one of the corners of the squares done on point. Count up 4 threads and make the first Gobelin stitch, going down and left over 2 diagonal intersections. When you complete 10 Gobelin stitches start the first of the slanted lines. The first stitch starts 1 thread below where you started the last Gobelin stitch and goes over two intersections. The second stitch starts 1 thread to the left of where the first slanted stitch ended and goes down under the last Gobelin stitch. You will do a total of 5  backstitches over 2 threads. For the second slanted line, you will need to add a compensation stitch over 1 thread to make the lines equal. Turn the canvas a quarter turn and do 21 Gobelin stitches, then the slanted lines again. (Note: The first two Gobelin stitches will go down in the same holes as the last slanted backstitches.) Continue around the tile turning your canvas as you go, ending with Gobelin stitches to complete the first side which was only half done when you started.

If you are using colored canvas, you don’t need to stitch the background. Your tile is completed.

If you are using white canvas, or want the background stitched, you can fill in the background now using the Basketweave stitch. I prefer to stitch the inside of the boxes first and then the space between the boxes and the border. Be sure to have the Basketweave stitches slant in the same direction as the box stitches to make it easier to stitch. When you get to the area around the arms, you find that two arms have stitches going in the wrong direction. To stitch around them, just do a stitch that goes in the same holes as the longer (over 2 threads) Mosaic stitches. Ignore the Mosaic stitches done over 1 thread. They don’t need to be covered. It’s only a half space (more or less) and won’t be noticed. My completed model is below.

Tomorrow I’ll show you how it would look if you repeated the design to cover a larger area of canvas.

Yesterday was a tiny area. Today is easy, but more area to cover.

The four arms radiating out from the center 8-point star will be done today with a darker or lighter shade of the color you chose yesterday for the star. I did the center in a medium brown (which is a dark shade of orange in this case) so I stitched the arms with a lighter orange.

Diagonal Mosaic is an easy stitch. You’ll make 4 small rows of this stitch for each arm. Notice that the last stitch in each row is a compensation stitch over 1 thread.

The diagram below shows one arm completed. I alternated colors for the stitches to make it easier to see how each row is done.

Be sure to turn your canvas a quarter turn as you start each arm to make it easy to place the stitches correctly.

When you have finished the four arms, your tile will look like this:

Tomorrow, I’ll show you the border around the tile.