RSN Goldwork: . . . . . I'm finished!

So today at about 4:30pm, I finished all the embroidery work for my RSN Goldwork piece.  Pretty excited to say the least, especially after the previous 2 modules took a bit of time after I got home!  All I have to do now is mount it and send it off for accessment.  Yippee!

I thought I would share a couple notes on the "challenges" of this piece:

- The intersections where the blossoms overlapped the stem were especially challenging because it meant that the cutwork needed to meet the pearl purl outlining the blossoms and leaves nicely and appear to go smoothly...all while trying to keep my angle from section to section.  It took me a good number of tries and I will be honest at one time I had to take a bit of a break and go get breakfast at Leonards across from Tracy's studio.  It was a really great challenge for me though and I'm glad that I've done it.  Tracy showed me how I could gently shift the pearl purl out of the way so the smooth purl would sit nicely.  I also found that it was easier to work on those areas by working ground fabric side into blossom intersection than the other way (so I was tucking the stitch into the highest part). 

- At about 3pm today I realized that I had one small stem that overlapped my cutwork.  Panic set it.  How in the world do I cross the cutwork without cracking it?  Ahh!!!!  Tracy's suggestion was to mold it into shape and strategically stitch it down on either side of the stem.  One of her student's had done this for a pair of bird's feet to great success.  It was tricky and I did hit the smooth purl once (thankfully the tiny nick came out), but I think it worked.  It was an unexpected extra detail that I kind of love!

- The biggest challenge in this piece was how the elements overlapped and had lots of intersections.  Something to consider when designing the next piece!  I'm really wanting to do this design again but introduce some color into the mix.