Camellia Leaves

Finished the calyces, and a few leaves, plus the stamens and centers of the camellias. I don't like the color of the stamens for the mottled camellia. It's too pink. I may or may not fix it - depends on how I feel about this piece when done, as it is difficult to take out.

Hydrangea cluster

The flowers remind me of the other JEC Phase VII piece - Pansies. They are highly reflective and starting to look "holographic". It's a good thing the flowers are small - else they will be overwhelming. However they may work well with the striking ichimatsu border. I will have to step back and meditate on it when I'm ready to work on the borders.

Hydrangea central flowers

The small central flowers of the hydrangea macrophylla were represented with circles and fuzzy effect, and the large bract like outer flowers (tetramers) were done with random realistic technique.

I was able to do some stitching using a small Ott light, during the recent wind storm that knocked out power for about a day. Not having access to the internet saved a lot of time!

I started on the round knots around the centers of the tetramers. I used the "single hand technique" that Mary Alice taught me (and she learned from Midori) for doing the round knots. These turned out very nice and consistent.

Mottled Camellia

I finished 2 of the leaves and added short stitch holding (SSH) to the satin stitches. I used a 1/4 flat for the SSH as camellia leaves are smooth and shiny. Besides which it is easier than trying to do SSH with 1/2 twisted. They turned out really nice!

I started work on the mottled camellia.

Camellia

Back to JE's Camellia. I looked at the work so far and they appear better than I remember. Amazing how they improve just by sitting there!
The white petals turned out well today.