Big Red Peony

I'm now working on the Big Red Peony of the Persian Tile Project. To start with, somehow my photos of the work in progress were inadvertently deleted. That must be the work of my evil twin, Cindy. I'll have to have strong words with her!

When I last posted on this project, I had finished all of the leaves and stems. What a milestone that was! It felt so good to finish something, even though this is not a really huge project. So now I'm working the Really Big Red Peony in the center of the project. First of all, the instructions said to couch the No. 6 smooth passing gold thread around the outer petals. Okay, that was tedious and took over an hour, but not that difficult.

What is odd is that now we are supposed to cover the felt padding with satin stitch using the silk thread. On almost every technique I've seen to date, and admittedly that hasn't been all that many, the order of work is quite a bit different. First, you add the felt to the ground fabric, so far so good, then couch the gold around the edges. Then, add the satin stitch with the silk thread by stitching inside the gold borders!  I'm not sure I like this technique of laying down the border first, then adding the inside silk thread.   But I'll work it as developed, then change the techniques down the road sometime.

I got two of the outer petals stitched. I hope you have had a better weekend than mine! It's now Sunday evening, and as I've been up since 3 am (couldn't sleep), I'm ready to crash.

If you would like to follow this project all the way to its fulfillment, just click here! 

Have a good week!