Before and After

As previously promised, below you will find the before and after backstitching shots of Nursery Rhymes. I have now completed the bottom right corner, which means I'm roughly 25% done. Yay! The one thing I definitely love about this piece is all of the detail. The backstitching, fractional stitches, and use of multiple shades of the same color add a little extra specialness to it.

Before backstitching

After backstitching

Sorry that the angle on the after shot is wonky. So far, my favorite character is the little lamb at the bottom. I believe this is Mary's Little Lamb, although Mary has not made an appearance yet. I just love the way the backstitching gives his fur detail. I also love the tails on the 3 Blind Mice.

With the backstitching came my fickle friend, the French knot. For whatever reason, French knots like to play coy with me. One day, they will come out fine and the next day they will look horrendous, with no apparent change in my technique. The row of them between the spiders on the left were being particularly difficult. I eventually switched to a smaller size needle to make it easier to get though the solid stitching on backstitching, and lo and behold the French knots started behaving. Whatever works!

I'm a tad behind schedule on this one, but it's still my top priority.