The "Virtue Outshines the Stars" sampler by Darlene O'Steen, one of my must-do pieces -- about six months of fairly steady stitching. I confess that I was getting a bit weary of it towards the end, but I'm very happy with the result! I used the original DMC colors -- on 32-count linen from xJudesign in "Milk Chocolate" -- but made a few tweaks here and there, re-spacing the alphabets slightly, centering the elements that were (curiously) not so, and as I mentioned previously, changing out the uppermost flower in the vases in the bottom band -- though on the whole, obviously, a superb design, I think one of O'Steen's best.
Lots of queen stitch! -- here in the flowers in the border and horizontally as a small dividing band, an unusual use for it but effective.
The new-to-this-piece larger flower is from O'Steen's "Tudor Rose Sampler" in her The Proper Stitch book, here with the arrowhead stitch center in 3045, the outline in 356, the double-backstitch "tips" in 356 + 358, and the satin stitch in 758. I'm not entirely pleased with my choices, but I do like the proportions much better now --
One of my favorite details is the birds in the upper corners! --
It's a very nice piece. I really like those flowers now the whole thing is finished. My favourite part, though, is the thick dividing line above the virtue box and the grapevine is nice too. Good job 😊
Posted by: dawninnl | August 27, 2024 at 12:52 PM