Homework Update

For the past week, I've been working like a mad woman on homework. I've made good progress on Calm Flow. The phase 1 group has finished their class, I still have 6 hours of class time with my teacher that I can schedule any time over the next month. There are only two techniques to cover in this piece so I'm not sure what else could be discussed. Right now I'm concentrating on putting in the couched lines. I'll put in all the filling beads at the end.

At this point, the lower half is "done" and I'm working on putting in the lines for the upper area. After that it will be bead, bead, bead.

As I am so busy with Calm Flow, I was only able to work one day on the homework for Karahana. Still made good progress. The six center elements are all done and outlined.

I made my karayori thread ahead of time so it would be ready for stitching. This is the type of thing I can do during the week when I'm not up to stitching. They need time to set, so I wound them around empty spools. I'm so happy I never threw out those Kreinik spools. You can pop out both ends, which means I can wrap my karayori and never cross the thread.

The karayori thread is used to set the space in this piece. Spacing is very important to the overall look of the piece. The thread is couched around the center elements, and between each petal. They will be removed later on, once the petals themselves have been stitched.

I had some time leftover and spent it on the little trefoil elements. My aim for this week is to complete them before the next class on Saturday.

Here's the current state of my homework:

1. Pad and cover the six center elements in #1 gold, and outline it with #3 gold - Done
2. Pad and cover the trefoil elements in #1 gold, and outline them with #3 gold - this is more a nice to have as it doesn't interfere with the next lesson - Almost
3. Make karayori and stitch it around the center elements. This is to conserve the spacing between the center and the petals - Done
4. Put in the padding for the bottom petal turnover - On hold, it was decided we need to put the outline first