And done...

Ok, so it was finished ages ago but it's been sunny!  Overall, I think I'm happy with it, but it's one of those pieces I think I'd like to do again, knowing what I know now.

Nearly there...

As usual, Tracy managed to pull me back from the brink last week in class.  I thought I was never going to get the centre circle done, but somehow, with a lot of handholding, we got there!  There is only (only!!!) the centre section of super shiny chips to do now, I'm hoping to get that done this week now that half term is over.

A long overdue update!

I haven't posted an update for a while.  Now my phone is fixed I can take photos again.  I've done some more work on the half circles, although I still have concerns about the shape, and the jap in one twisted while I was plunging it.  I'm leaving that for now to see if Tracy has some magic trick to fix it!  Also, a lot has gone on in the centre circle, some felt padding in the middle, and string padding around that to create the doughnut shape, then I covered it all with silk.  The cutwork has been tricky, it has been a lot further around the circle a couple of times now, but come back out again because the angle was wrong, the spacing was wrong or it all just went wrong!!!  As a result of this, I'm starting to gain confidence, but I'm still not getting the angle right.  Maybe it will come with a few more tries!

Best circle I could manage!

It's still not perfect, but it's the best circle I managed, and I tried more than once!  I did have to start wondering how many times I could pull out the stitches without the whole thing falling apart.  Next job is to reshape the half circles in the corners.

Arms are done...

I finished off the arms with some rococo and twist, stitched in the detail with twist, with a final bit of pearl purl to hide the joins.  I need to fiddle with the half circles a bit, to pull them back into shape.  Might be a bit tricky but I think it will be worth it.

Outline done

The pearl purl outer edge is all done now, and I think gives a really nice finished edge.  Only some rococo and twist to couch down on the inside of each arm now and my homework is done!  I'm a bit concerned about some pieces of felt showing under the edges of the gold, but I'm hoping Tracy can magically fix that.

Shiny

First update for a while, I have been doing some work, I just haven't got around to blogging it. I do love how shiny its starting to look, I don't think photos really do the shininess justice.  I got all the loose ends plunged, and I've started work on filling in the arms of the cross. Does a cross have arms?

Not sure I'm happy...

I had a really good stitching session, but spent the whole time swinging between thinking it was going badly - couldn't get the stitch angle right, the spacing was wrong etc etc - and thinking I was really improving.  Feels like I've at least made a start now.  I have found a new problem with light, turns out you can have too much of a good thing and if the gold catches the light, I can't see a thing.

Padding

I covered the felt with silk, as some of the centre of each arm will be visible, then put more felt on top of this around the edge of each arm.  Still two arms to stitch on, but I stitched on the first gold!

Felt stitched on

Cutting out felt turned out to be trickier than it sounds. Think it might be a bit uneven but got there in the end.

Framing up

Well, there's not much to show on the goldwork front so far.  I've got the silk stitched on and everything tightened up on the frame. Only I forgot to pin tissue paper on.  I've decided that's a job for another day!

Mounted

Now it's all done and almost ready to hand in for assessment. I just need to fill in the assessment form. Then I can concentrate on goldwork!

Stitching done!

Tracy got me back on the right track today and now it's all done with just the mounting to do! I didn't think it would be finished today, so just some curved needle torture to look forward to and then it's on to the goldwork.

Slow, slow progress.

I'm getting nowhere fast!  I think I've pulled out more than I've stitched because I just can't get the swirly curve right.  Still, I've finished the day with more canvas covered than when I started so that's a positive.

Unpicking...

It took a few attempts, and a lot of unpicking, before I was happy with the curve at the bottom of the swirl.  There doesn't seem to be much canvas covered for the number of hours I worked!!!

Back to work

I had a longer Christmas break than I planned and did nothing at all!  I got back to it today and got a little bit done.  The light is rubbish today, so I struggled to see the colours a bit.  So I gave up for the day!