Mini Mystery Monday: October Finish

It's time to wrap up this autumn ornament, so let's get going...

Here's the final graph to follow for your last stitches:
 

All you need to do is fill in your empty spaces with the two motifs shown above; one is a modified Rhodes shape and the other is a Leaf motif.  Here is the Rhodes shape up close for you to stitch within the variegated diamond boxes (use 1 strand of your gold metallic thread):

All that remains to do is stitch the Leaf motifs.  And here's how you stitch them, using 1 strand of whatever thread you want to use for bright autumn leaves (can be solid color OR variegated):

And TA DA.... here's how my piece ended up:

I finished my leaves with larger 3mm round, gold beads (visit your local craft store and see if you can find these larger, round gold beads).  And along the outer border rows, I alternated rust french knots (wrapped twice on the needle) with regular gold seed beads.

Of course, you can use any combination of beads that you'd like to jazz up your piece.  And hey, you can even attach a leaf-shaped bead or button in the center diamond, if you have something that would fit that space... perhaps an acorn or small pumpkin button would be fun. . . . wouldn't that look great?


Another idea I had after I finished this design was doing it in red, green and gold holiday colors, and when you get to the leaf shapes, add another "petal" on the lower side, so the "leaf" becomes a "flower" and if you add a cluster of gold beads you'll have red poinsettias... or later, next spring, this design could be stitched in pale pastel colors, working some bright flowers instead of leaves....

Another way to change the look of this design is to change the background canvas.  Try working it on the canvas with metallic sparkles woven in it!  Or use the darker tan canvas with other fall colors, to create a more dramatic variation.  There are lots of possibilities with this design, so I hope you have fun working with it.

Enjoy watching the colors change on your autumn leaves, and I'll see you next time with another quick Mini Mystery!