Mini Mystery Monday, #8, part 1

Well, it's Monday again!  And that means it's time for another Mini Mystery.

I confess I've been working on my larger designs these past few weeks, and haven't been in much of an "ornamental" frame of mind... so when I decided to put another mystery piece together, this fast and easy quilt-y one seemed like a good  one to share next. 

And I thought I'd try something a little bit different this time around... Instead of giving you all the borders to do first, we'll focus on the center block of this little design and work outwards from there. Okay?  I hope that works for you; in fact I'm guessing that lots of you stitch all your projects like that, so I'm going to try it this time around.

In any event, the finished dimensions of this little piece will be 4.5" x 4.5" on 18 ct. canvas (or apprx. 3.5" x 3.5" on 24 ct. Congress Cloth, if you want you stitch it that way; if so, use finer threads like Wildflowers, Encore!, #8 pearl cottons, Treasure Braid Petite, #4 Braid for your piece.)

You'll need an 8" x 8" square of 18 ct. canvas; it can be white or eggshell or you can use a colored canvas.  This design can be stitched without the background stitches (which you don't have to think about until the last lesson), so you'll see the background canvas when you're done, if you want to do it that way -- it's just a bit faster to finish if you don't stitch the background!!

Grab a handful of threads.  I used pearl cottons - my favorite "go to" threads - but of course you can also used stranded floss or silk if those are YOUR favorite threads:
  -  a variegated #5 pearl cotton (Watercolours, Overture, or any other favorite variegated pearl cotton);
  -  a dark colored #5 pearl cotton for the borders;
  -  a bright color of #5 pearl cotton that will be your accent color;
  -  a ribbon metallic that matches/compliments your accent color pearl cotton; and
  -  a thinner #8 braid metallic in a base metal color (silver, gold, copper, etc.)

And here's the graph you can follow for the center section of this little mystery:

And if you want a close-up graph, here's a quarter section that will help you see the stitches better, and you can turn the graph around to stitch the other quadrants of your piece, as you come to them:

You'll see that this design starts out with a quilt-y center block - all stitched with easy Diagonal Satin Stitches.  Easy peasy, right?!? I usually start by stitching the variegated stuff first - I consider that my "foundation" stitching which sets up the framework of the design - then I go on to work the other pearl cottons next, followed by the metallic stitches last.

 Next time we'll embellish the center block with a few different stitches and add the second metallic thread as well.

Have fun picking your threads and starting your block, and I'll be back next Monday with the second installment!