After getting the workroom set-up and then taking a week off for holiday activity, I have finally completed the first of the flowers for the shrine project.

It is a detached buttonhole stitch “buttercup” based on the same flower from the Herentels shrine. It took some work:

1. Posted a picture of the original to Facebook to see if anyone knew someone who could point me in the correct direction. I had several people pointed at me and one responded that it looked like detached buttonhole stitch.

2. I had also asked one of my museum friends who said it looked similar to other small pieces from the same time period so the stitch must have been fairly common but didn’t have any other information.

3. Learned how to do the stitch and had to do several test pieces before I felt I could handle an entire petal.

4. Made four petals and four under-petals and stitched them all together to form the flower. That took about three days.

5. Posted my flower and a picture of the original to FB to get additional eyes on the thing to see if other people could determine if I nailed the stitch. It appears that I have.

6. Updated all of my correspondents as to my initial progress.

Additional steps need to be made to complete this flower. I will have to twist the wire for the center and then make the under petals. The under petals are of a style I am better acquainted with so they should not take so long. I would like to complete this flower and maybe one or two more just like it to frame them up for the 12th night A&S competition. I do not however want to jeopardize entering Kingdom A&S because the flowers might eventually find their way into the shrine. We’ll have to see if they even get done in time.

This flower is the first major breakthrough I’ve had in the flower construction. I’m having a ball with it and am getting a great hit of energy as a result. I have also learned that it is considerably easier to work in seclusion without the phone, tv, husband, and nature (like the birdfeeder on the window) to offer distractions. My workroom has lots of natural light from a window at ground level and the view from the desk is of a giant elm tree and some fir treetops that are on the far side of the lawn. Part of setting up the workroom included washing the windows so the light would get in.

I’ve also been able to sort through my silk collection and determine what I will need to complete the project. I will try Kreinik first (since that is where I got the rest of the silk) and then move on to other companies. I hope to find untwisted or low-twist filament silk.