We are currently in Kerrville, TX and were thrilled to have a visit from our granddaughter, Cassandra, who is a photographer from Austin, TX. During the visit, we went on a short road trip. Cassandra loved all the thistles blooming along the roadside.
She took these photos:
When I saw this week’s TAST stich, the half chevron, I first stitched a straight line of the stitches on this month’s crazy quilt block (more on that later in the month). Then I began playing with the stitches on graph paper, rotating them in various ways.
I eventually came up with what I thought could be stitched as a thistle.
My sampler is stitched on hardanger fabric, which I have found does not lend itself to some of the stitches I’d like to use.
Hardanger fabric is evenly woven squares, but unlike Aida fabric, the corners are not interlocking. Some stitches taken on the hardanger tend to slide under the weave. I will not use it for this type sampler again!
Because of the limitations of the fabric, the final stitching is slightly different from my graphed drawing.
I started with the center of the design, and worked my way outward, working with the aid of a magnifying glass.
The finished square, a little over 1” in size, looks like this:
Spare Moments Stitching 
That is so creative! I love the way it looks.
Love the inclusion of your graph pictures in your blog. Sometime I draw out the stitches on paper but I tend to get a bit dyslexic with graphs and lose my way. Love thistles, reminds me of Scotland
An interesting flower!
looks wonderful. I’ve a fondness for thistles as we go up to Scotland a lot for holidays x
Excellant post and stitching
wonderful, thanks for sharing the idea.
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