Well, I am finally making headway with my Gimena Romero stem stitch class! As I mentioned in my previous post, this is a Domestika online class in Spanish (English subtitles are available).
It was great fun filling in the largest colored section in this piece - the greenery, even if it was quite time-consuming.
What drew me to this piece was the lovely texture that carefully layered stem stitch provides, added to the wonderful sheen and texture the size 8 pearl cotton already has...
My next favorite section in this pattern is that large, central rose. I was captivated by Gimena's red rose, so I decided not to stray too far, using DMC 817 for mine.
Instead of outlining with a lighter shade as Gimena did, I outlined with a wine color - I wasn't sure I liked it until I finished the entire rose. It's subtle, but definitely adds something to it, I think.
The central 3 petals of the rose, I used a new technique Gimena demonstrates in the class, a stem stitch that is worked on the surface, with a raised texture - I worked mine too tightly, so you don't see much contrast in mine...
Next I tackled the leaves underneath the large rose... I experimented with a light teal (left) and a very pale blue, which reads as white (right). I added a dark blue outline to add some further contrast and interest... I like how it came out.
One thing I am enjoying about this piece is seeing how the light blue of my fabric "changes" the colors of my threads.
I'm enjoying experimenting and finding color combinations I wouldn't ordinarily use...
Another thing that fascinates me is how different colors look from daytime to night time...
Here it is in dayight:
It is neither easy nor fast to stitch in concentric lines of stem stitch, but so satisfying to look at, I think!
I am running quite behind, although I LOVE this class. I am debating starting another project, to keep to my one project a month schedule... we shall see!