TAST Cretan Stitch

This week's  TAST is the Cretan Stitch. This one was a bit hard for me to master. I couldn't figure out if the thread went over or under the needle, but eventually I got into a rhythm. I like the little fence that stacking rows of Cretan Stitch created.

Chicken wire and pine cones? Boy, it's hard to stitch everything the same size! Easier to do one isolated motif and make that look pretty good than to make a row where everything is identical.

Avril! This was the little kit I worked on last week. It came from Mary Corbet of Needle n' Thread. This was one of the kits that I won during the 12 Days of Christmas event. So sweet! The forget-me-nots are made with two different blue threads. You stitch a small lazy daisy stitch on all the flowers in a light blue then go around that with a darker blue thread. Yellow French knot in the center. How do you like that alternating chain stitch to make the heart! You thread the two different colors on one needle and alternate which one makes the chain. Sound easy? No, it's not! Well, I managed it, but I wouldn't want to do too much more of it than this.

I don't much enjoy satin stitch. The little pink heart is satin stitch and I am happy with that, but the forget-me-not leaves were supposed to be in satin stitch and they looked more like green worms than lovely leaves! I did chain stitch for these instead and I like the result. So much fun!