Never to Old to Play and Coif Update

I've been playing with silk. Lesson 6 of the Cabinet of Curiosities has been a blast for me.  I don't know why but despite many years of doing cross stitch from charts and needlepoint on painted canvas, it never occurred to me to draw and outline and fill it with tent stitch. Lesson 6 has the historical research behind this technique.  And the theory behind the colour choices and gradations.   I had already started work on a small purse on congress cloth to use at work for my cell phone and keys (most women's clothing does not have pockets!) so I started adding motifs.  The first was this butterfly from a coif pattern (the squirrel is from an old cross stitch booklet and the violet is from a Long Dog sample)

As well as a test of the outline needlepoint method, this play was a binge on silks as well.  So these are some silks I bought a while ago.  Somehow, as I played, I forgot all my reservations about saving silks for special projects and just used the colours I wanted to use.  And I have lots I've been saving.  So you'll notice there is no colour matching throughout all these motifs.  It is just practice for me using the technique before starting the butterfly pinkeep.

Aren't these overdyed colours wonderful? Gloriana Peacock Blue, Opulent Orange, and Red Clay.  It makes me happy just looking at the skeins next to each other.

I also tried a bug and snail.  The lesson learned from these is, use a higher count for small motifs in future.  The bug is in Kreinik braid - Opal.

The flower is from motifs from the Cabinet lessons.  As well as the small motifs lesson, this one included the colour theory lesson.  I really can't combine colours well, so I need to make sure I buy 3 or 4 shades in a colour family when I buy silks.

So here is my small purse/sweet bag so far.  I really love the outline and fill stitching method.   I plan on doing the background in silver, in one of the larger filling stitches mentioned in Lesson 6 that you see on the old sweetbags.

And here is the nearly finished coif!  There are two leaves left in silk for one chapter member who wants to do something.  And then the rest of the gold work is another member.  Once that is done, I'll have to think about making it up.  I have some linen for the lining, but I'm going to need to consult on how to sew it up.