Becki and I have been working away on Melissa Shirley’s newest basket.  I have never stitched a piece with anyone before.  I’m a little bit of a control freak.  I thought it would be tough for me to share, but not when it’s with Becki.  We are having a blast!

We have spent hours talking and texting about this piece.

The first thing I tackled was the background.  I knew I wanted a very light laid and tied stitch and to tone down the color of the background. Not my favorite color. The first pattern I tried was easier, but boring.  Then Becki texted me a diagram from the Needleworks stitch of the week.  Great idea, but too heavy.  So, I made a variation on a them.

I knew gathered stitch would work perfectly for this piece.  Other than that and the squirrel, we were pretty much stumped on every aspect of this piece.

Becki  started working her magic on this little guy, but realized she needed a few more colors.  Isn’t that always the case?

Next we decided to tackle the poinsettia. This was our first idea.  We though we had a sure thing, except we were going to do it with Chenille.  That would have been worse.  We looked at it and couldn’t believe how wrong we were.

Here’s our final product.  We tried fly stitch, which ended up looking like satin stitch, which is so much easier.  We had threads tangled in the back.  Becki was untangling everything while I was stitching.  It was quite a sight.

Then I went back in and painted (with thread) the veins.  I think we are on the right track with the pine cones, but I need a few more colors and I have to play around with the size.

The basket stitch is really simple and quick.  Becki lays every thread perfectly!  I don’t have that kind of patience.

We will send out the first half of the thread kit with that portion of the guide when we get about halfway through.  Let us know if you want to join in on the fun!