Since I had so many leftover threads from the Santa canvas, I was able to stitch this entirely with stash threads. Yay! Again, I tried to stick to the stitch guide as much as possible, not so much to maintain the integrity of the design, but more so I try out new stitches that I normally wouldn't do.
The stitch guide called for something called swirling bargello from Amy Bunger's cookbook for stitchers. There was a small diagram in the stitch guide but it was hard for me to really get this stitch since it wasn't numbered. I tried my best but I am sure it looks nothing at all like what it's supposed to.
For her dress, I followed the stitch guide to the letter, but I reversed the direction of the stitches to be mirror images as I figured that's how the pattern of the fabric would be. I also had a little trouble compensating the skirt part of her dress (it was done in shifting cashmere), but as long as you don't look too closely, I think it looks fine.
The tricky part for me was the background. Nothing was drawn on the canvas so I measured out what I thought would work. Looking at it, it's a little big, but oh well. I also ended up just tent stitching it instead of doing basket composite, as the guide called for. I wanted to finish this one and wasn't in the mood to learn a new stitch. :-)
I have three more P&M ornaments I am going to stitch this summer and am excited to get started! I really like them, though I will say, the diagrams in the stitch guide aren't that helpful for me as they aren't numbered. When I'm learning a new stitch I find that I really rely on the numbering until I get the hang of how to do the stitch.
