Needlelace tree ornament - Elizabethan style of stitching

Well I’ve finished my major distraction from what I’m supposed to be working on here:

I enjoyed making it. As you can see in this close-up, I used 3 needles for the DBH on the left.

It was all worked in a hoop, then I cut it out with tabs, sprayed glue on the whole thing to mount it on this Mache tree thing that I bought for less than a quid (one pound). Once I pulled it into position, I let it dry then cut the tabs off.

The middle green part is Shell Stitch. I love that stitch worked as it is here, back and forth.

I decided to limit my colours to 4 to create unity plus that would make the gold stand out more too. I finished the sides with some narrow French lace that I had in my stash. (I haven’t taken good close-ups of that because that part had to be a little rushed.)

Here’s a better look at the couching down of some wool. The thing to remember about couching is, if you’re holding everything correctly, its very fast indeed. This part took me less than 15 minutes! Its not the neatest it could be, but I was in a desperate hurry by then.

You can spend forever on these things but I’ve found the point is not to become really obsessive but to think things through thoroughly beforehand for each stage, to learn lots, and move on.

On a separate note: I plan to overhaul this blog over the holidays. Its been brought to my attention that I need to give fuller explanations for previous posts. I keep a notebook with all my research and things, TG!