I'm having loads of fun with my May TIF piece. I do love working with felt.The hand got quite 3-D and is completed. I just need to stitch it to the backing. I want to tuck some leaves in under the fingers and they're not stitched yet, do it's waiting. This is the backing I plan to use.
I've also completed some of the leaves for the bottom of the hand. The cluster on the left is complete and stitched together. Those on the right are in process--the dark leaf hasn't been stitched yet (rather, it's been stitched and ripped because I didn't like it). They're pinned together in close proximity to the final arrangement.
I'm using mostly DMC perle coton #5 and #8 and Medici wool, but I've also pulled out some lovely Needle Necessities overdyed perle #8 and some Steph Francis fibers that I got in England a few years back. They're subtly overdyed.
I've also tried some new stitches: including a Spanish knotted feather stitch but I find myself going back over and over to straight, chain, and stem stitches, and French knots--the basics. I used some feather stitching, coral stitch, and Portuguese knotted stem stitch and variations like tiwsted chain, but I've also ripped them out and gone back to simple chain and stem.
Have you ever found that you've gathered together a wide range of fibers and then you work mainly with floss and perle? And you have to learn all the new stitches but keep going back to the basic ones?
