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Very striking. How big is it? Particularly like the way you self-outlined each petal.

It's in a 4" hoop. The self-outlining was challenging as it was difficult to keep the stem stitch regular while working a free-form shape on a counted fabric, but I wanted an alternative to the gold/silver outlining I'd been using so far.

With this one I tried to do several things - see how small an area you can get away with on 28th and still make the patterns show up; do a traditional black-on-white one; take passing through the fabric to minimise stopping and starting; see how patterns work side by side.

The left-hand petal originally had a different pattern but i didn't like it, sampled a few and substituted the present one. If I was doing it again I'd probably swap a few patterns around for a better balance, but on the whole I like it.

Like to over all effect very much. Must confess that I couldn't have left the round centre's inner diamond without the upright stitches, tho!

just catching up, and such lovely finishes!

I've been writing a bit more about my blackwork adventures on FoF