Mini Mystery Monday for November, pt. 1

It's time for another mystery piece, and this time it's sort of a mini sampler that celebrates the season....

Grab a handful of threads in fall colors:
   - a variegated Watercolours that has your favorite fall colors
 (you'll only need 4 or 5 of the 3-ply strands; I used a bit of Watercolours  285, "Sherwood Forest")
   - a dark color #5 pearl cotton for the borders
 (try medium-to-dark greens or browns; I used green DMC 3345)
   - a bright color #5 pearl cotton that reminds you of fall leaves (I used rusty orange DMC 920)
   - two #5 pearl cottons that are a nutty brown - one light and one dark
(just a strand or two of each is all you'll need, and not until the final lesson, so there's no hurry on that one!)
   - a Kreinik #8 Braid in your favorite gold (I used 002HL)
   - a piece of 8" x 8" 18 ct. canvas in sandstone or tan or eggshell is fine, too.

Here's the first graph for you to start your stitching:

From the center of your canvas, start stitching the Large Cross variations, using 1 ply of your variegated Watercolours.  Work outwards until you reach the narrow border lines, then stitch those with 1 strand of your border color #5 pearl cotton.  

Work the remainder of the Large Cross sections, and then start on your wide outer borders.   You can go back and add the gold squares in all the border intersections, using 1 strand of your Kreinik #8 Braid.

Here's an up-close graph of those Large Cross variations (I don't know what else to call them!):

These are rather odd stitches, in that the large cross goes over 5 x 5 threads, then you add pairs of straight stitches on top.  What I like about this composite stitch is how "bumpy" it is.  It creates an interesting texture when you fill a larger area, and they remind me of little raised "buttons" on the canvas.  Go ahead and stitch a few, and see what you think....

Next Monday we'll add some more color and texture and little by little, this design will start to POP!
(Trust me, this is a really fun one to stitch up and there will be several interesting options for you to play with down the road...and when you get further along, you'll be saying, "oh yeah, this is definitely a Novembery piece...")    See ya next time!!