Eidelweiss Part 3 - Update 1

Part 3 will have two updates, because I'm not actually done on this part. I think this flower will take a few days to finish.

Starting with the center. After doing the reverse chain and coral stitch outline, the center was filled with a satin stitch filling. It wasn't very clear in the directions, but I could see in the picture of the finished project that the satin stitch blocks sort of overlapped. In other words, each row is stitched one thread lower so that they are in between two blocks.

Again the petals are outlined. One thing to mention: From classes I've taken, all the instructors agreed that (no matter what type of embroidery technique) you should stitch the items that are in the back first and then do the ones in the front. This pattern doesn't do that. I've been stitching the flowers first and then the stamens and then eventually the stems. What I should have done was stitch the stems first, then the stamens, flower petals and then flower center. Not sure how that affects the final look, but for the petals in this flower, I did follow that rule.

Once I finished the outline, I could start on the filling stitch. This time it's Eyelets. I already mentioned in my previous post that I dislike them. Not because they're hard or anything. They're just really time consuming and boring, like leaves.

To make my eyelets with a nice big open center, I used a few tips I picked up from other stitchers and books.

1. Find your center.
2. Enlarge it by carefully pushing an awl through the center.
3. Start stitching the eyelets in alternating holes, i.e. stitch one stitch skip the next, making sure to pull on the thread to enlarge the hole. What I do is as I'm preparing to go back into the center, I hold the thread tightly away so it doesn't loosen the previous stitch.
4. Do that until you reach the beginning and then go back around filling in the missing stitches

It's better to use a sewing motion, but I found it really awkward with the hoop. I could never get my needle back out where it should. instead I used a stabbing motion, but didn't pull on the thread till my needle was back out of the fabric.

So far I've stitched three petals, I still have four more. I really should just power through them, but I feel my mojo slipping just looking at them. Here's to hoping the next few days are productive.