Orchid card

I am liking all of the oriental inspired cross stitch designs that are about at them moment. I found a lovely library of them in issue 207 of 'The World of Cross-Stitching'. I especially liked the use of pink and turquoise as it gave a softer feel to them. I chose to stitch an orchid for a friend as it was such a pretty design. I also had paper to match from a Craftseller magazine (Issue 33).

The design itself was easy to stitch although I was stitching on some fabric in my stash. I have no idea where it came from but it was an odd evenweave/aieda hybrid. It resulted in a small stitch but was effective as it kept it very compact. I do not like it when the count size is too big and you get gaps in the cross stitch. The only issue with such compact stitches is that it can make the backstitch more "fiddly" I was pleased with the result and only made one small alteration which was to make the stem a little more turquoise so it co-ordinated with the paper.

Orchid card design