Finishing The Thistle
Thistle Finished
Well, I decided in the end to unpick the silk pearl purl. I was extremely disappointed about that, because the whole idea of this project was to provide an underlayer for the pearl purl.
On the other hand, I do think it turned out rather well. The gold and viscose gimp makes a beautifully tangled, almost “fluffy” head – there’s something like 10 metres in that head, an entire skein of thread, uncut, and twisted back on itself in little one-inch fronds.
Even if I did feel as though I was using my pins more like a windlass!
The three shades of green wool break up the otherwise rather monolithic leaves and I’m very pleased with my fishbone stitch variation. I took care to make sure the two strands I was using lay side-by-side rather than twisting up, but in truth that wasn’t much of a problem.
Thistle Signed
The stem I worked in raised stem stitch band, incorporating rather more of the dark thread, and trying to make sure that I didn’t catch any odd bits of the felt – harder than it looks!
Finally, having decided that my planned embellishments (the silk pearl purl) were blemishes rather than embellishments, I took them out (cautiously) and signed with my usual Morse Code initials…
I didn’t have any plan for this piece, but I’m so pleased (in spite of my disappointment!) that I’m quite seriously considering framing it up.
you should definitely frame it, it’s gorgeous. I love all the tangles and twists in the flower head.
I agree. Frame it. It looks gorgeous. I love the cloth you’ve used too.
It is a beautiful piece! I love the damask background, too.
What a beautiful piece of art. Definitely frame it! You have created wonderful texture with this piece. Its quite incredible.
Very effective! Great use of the gimp on the flower head. Definitely worth framing 🙂
It looks great
Beautiful piece! Hope you decide to frame it..
The thistle came out beautifully! I like the Morse code initials, very clever.
It’s a stunner! Love the background fabric too. I always think of the Jacobite Rebellion when I see this piece…
Yes, that’s a fine thistle head now. Morse code initials – what a good idea!
Definitely frame it. Well done!
It looks stunning – a must for being framed! When I used to do counted cross-stitch, I would put my initials and the year in a corner …… if only I could meet someone with the initials BC, we could have an exhibition of work from BC and AD!!
Niw, there’s a thistle! Love your treatment of it. There is something about a thistle isn’t there.
Yes I agree, it deserves to be framed. Great job.
Well done on a lovely finish. I like the brush part of the thistle the best.
I came, I saw…and I was conquered !!! 🙂 The texture of the thistle is stunning. It looked like lots of bullions to me . And then I read through all the three posts on Thistle and realized that they are not. Lovely!!
What a fabulous thistle head! I love how full it looks and the damask fabric is perfect for it. Lovely!
It’s beautiful, definitely worth framing 🙂
Being half Scottish myself I think you should frame this its a beautiful piece of stitch work.
What a wonderful representation of a thistle, it definitely deserves to be on show!
You did a wonderful job on the thistle!! It would really look great framed. I don’t know why but I have a soft spot for thistle’s like this one..
This is lovely…. I love the stitching and I just love thistles too… they are so pretty! You should definitely frame it! 🙂 x