Winter in August

This month's biscornu for the:
Winter Petersburg is done! It's by Olga, who has a lot of very pretty freebies. The blog is in Russian but pictures are a universal language :)

The three squares that repeat. I love the pattern and the combination of stitches. I really enjoyed stitching the squares and it didn't get boring even though I had to do each five times.
Assembly was tricky since 5 corners come together at the top and bottom and 4 at each side. I went across and back and forth to narrow the gap. There was still a pretty big gap at the top and bottom so I put a bunch of beads to cover that up.
It's actually pretty massive and I had to hunt for ages to find a needle that could reach from the bottom to the top and still go through a bead. The beads are giant so it wasn't too bad.
I'm not sure if it's something that happens with all 15-sided biscornus or if it's because I used aida but the corners aren't smooth and stuffed. They are even more pointy in person.
I really enjoyed working on this. I'll probably do a few more if I can find any nice 15-sided patterns.

Title	Winter Petersburg
Designer	Olga
Start date	August 8, 2014
Finish date	August 24, 2014
Total time	23.75 hours
Fabric	16 ct red aida
Floss & Bead	DMC B5200, MH 16603

Winter Petersburg?

I got a very early start on this month's biscornu. This is a 15-sided biscornu by Olga. I think it's called Зимний Петербург, which Google Translate says is Winter Petersburg (I would greatly appreciate any corrections from anyone who knows Russian.)

Winter Petersburg
16 ct red aidaThe original is on evenweave so I've had to make some changes since I don't want to keep piercing the fabric. I also just realized that I'm supposed to weave another thread through those running lines in the middle squares, so I have to go do that.

A Very Citrusy Biscornu

A couple of days late, but worth it I think.
I started a blackwork biscornu for this month but it was taking a lot longer than I thought so I started something else. This is Morocco by Olga. She has a bunch of gorgeous freebies if you want to take a look.

I wasn't sure what colours to use and decided to go with one side in spring colours and the other in wintery colours (yes I was going to stitch both sides since I like the design). But I impulsively went with an almost neon orange. I'm so glad I did! Combined with the green and yellow which make me think of a cut lemon it's so sunny and bright. And the contrast with the blues would've been too much so I just went with the citrus theme.
Since I was keeping the same colour scheme I didn't end up stitching the entire second side. So one of the things I'm trying with these smalls is to use up left over floss. I had a bit of a panic at the end when I thought I was about to run out of the orange and green and that I would have to buy more, thus defeating the "use up old floss" part of the plan. It turned out that I had another skein of the orange lying around but I did run out of the green and had to make a change.
The Jessica Stitch in the middle was so much fun. The fabric ended up puckering a little but it disappeared after assembly so it's all good.
I think the middle of the green circles was supposed to by an eyelet but I went with a Rhodes stitch instead. And I have no idea what that arrow-like stitch is called, but it was fun too.
I just really like that arrow.
I had this lovely orange button I was planning on using for the middle but it would've covered up most of the Jessica so I went with some beads instead.
Whenever I stitch something with specialty stitches I remember how fun they are. Sometimes I think I should take up canvaswork since those designs use so many. But then I remember that they also use all sorts of specialty threads that are outside my budget and I come back down to earth. Still I think I'm going to stitch some more of Olga's freebies to satisfy my yen.

Title	Morocco
Designer	Olga
Start date	March 26, 2014
Finish date	March 27, 2014
Total time	10.75 hours
Fabric	25 ct antique white lugana
Floss	Crescent Colours Lobster Claw, Dinky Dyes Lemon Lime, Weeks Dye Works Emerald
Beads	Mill Hill 2002