A Completion

An ornament completion… Designer - Charlette’s Collections; from the Just Cross Stitch Christmas Ornament Issue, 2015, On plastic canvas, using DMC floss, Mill Hill Beads, Beading Wire and one 1/4” butterfly paperclip.

And never again! Never again will I try a finish like this one. Agreed, it’s unusual, and interesting and all but trying to whip stitch such small pieces together around the arms of a butterfly clip, with the thread catching on everything from the edges of the plastic canvas to the beads on the wings, is not something for  my klutzy fingers to attempt. If all the swearing done when working on this little insect attaches itself to the insect itself, then there is some very bad karma associated with this soon-to-be- gifted ornament.

Oh well, perhaps the end result is worth the effort to the recipient, assuming it survives the mailing….

Here is a step by step of it’s assembly and how it looks in various views.

Wings on the clip, top view,side view and with clip arms straight out:

Body and antennae made of beading wire (finally got an in-focus photo that my computer would accept!):

Body and antenna after wire stitched to bottom of body:

Completed butterfly from top, from bottom and with clip arms straight out after body is attached (supposed to be glued but none of my glues held so I sewed it on!):

 

Maybe the substitution of DMC for braid wasn't the best idea for coverage, especially for the whip stitching around the edges but I didn't have any braid of the colors I wanted and, besides, I hate stitching with it so it would have been an even more unpleasant stitching experience!

This ornament/"small flat gift" took six nights of stitching, from start to finish. The card, which is the main focus of the swap, will likely take me only half a day! Somehow, I think I overthought this whole swap thing!