A look back...September 2007 Freebie Fractal

Back in mid-September of 2007 I was introduced to the website xs-collectibles.com where I fell in love with the freebie that month so I printed it off and started.

These are just a few of the pictures of the progression of the piece. It took me about 9 months to complete this "bookmark" as the website calls it. I did this piece on 28ct monaco and the finished piece is 3 1/2"x 9", I'd hate to see the book they think these would fit into easily!!

This pattern was definitely a challenge for me. It was the first piece I'd ever done on such this type of material (smallest stitches and first even weave), it had over 92 different colors in it (lots of confetti stitches in this one!!) and first full coverage piece I've ever done.

Probably the smartest thing I did with this piece (which was also another first for me) was gridding the fabric with fishing line. If I hadn't done that I would have been so lost as to what color went where. You can see the gridding in the first and second photos. Some of the colors were so close in tint and hue that without the gridding I wouldn't have been able to count and figure it out.

I did this entire piece using my 3" embroidery hoop (hadn't yet discovered Q-Snaps!) which meant I was moving the hoop quite often but it did keep the fabric very taut also.

I finished this piece in mid-July and framed it myself. It was entered in the Hebron Harvest Fair in September 2007. It was one of three pieces entered in the framed category (I was only allowed to enter one framed piece even though I had more). I was thrilled when my "small" piece was the one that was awarded the blue ribbon in the framed country cross stitch category. The final picture is of it at the Fair.