Pie

When my daughter Rachel gifted me a copy of Rebecca Ringquist's Embroidery Workshops, I already knew there was a sampler included, all ready to stitch. What I didn't know, was that it was a slightly smaller version of the Pie sampler found in her shop.

Stitched entirely with Wonderfil #8 perle cotton, I tried to keep a more controlled palette than on my last sampler. And though most of the stitches were familiar ones, there was one that was brand new, which is always a treat. It was the Woven Picot, that you can see in the upper right. The crazy thing is, once each 'triangle' is stitched, it is actually loose from the cloth, except for its base. There is an option to tack them down at their tops, which I may end up doing, but for now, I'm enjoying their unique dimension.

The Bullion Knots and Spider Webs in the lower left were not totally new, but I hadn't done them often, so they felt pretty novel. 

The diameter of the design area on the sampler was just 6" in diameter, so some of those center stitches were verrrry tiny. As suggested by Rebecca, I experimented with using one stand and a double strand in different areas. And in that aqua section of couching shown above, I actually laid two double strands across before adding the securing stitches. All in all, it was a fun stitch, and I learned a thing or two. 

I'll move on to Kantha stitching for my evening handwork soon, and hopefully join in the upcoming Yo Yo Rainbow stitch-along in a few weeks. Oh! And I've a quilt binding to sew on! That's always a good thing!