First Layer of Agreeable Tiger Moth

I finally have the first layer of my tiger moth piece finished!  I'm almost a week behind in my class, but oh well .....  I had a bit of trouble finding a stitch to use as a background in the areas surrounding the moth.  Everything looked too heavy.  However, it's amazing what you find when you re-read lessons!  Yup,  the instructor had already given me the perfect solution - pulling stitches tightly to make a sort of pulled thread look.  You'll see it below!

So here's the piece so far:

I embroidered the rectangular outline with a new stitch I'd never tried before, the Portuguese stem stitch.  There are really good instructions on this site.  It adds a nice texture.

The outline of the moth is done in a buttonhole stitch and the moth's wings are simply a criss-cross of threads tacked down at the intersections by cross-stitches.  The rows of running stitches are done in two colors of 3 strands of cotton embroidery floss.

And I decided on a running stitch for those pulled thread sections I talked about above.  You just make a regular running stitch and then pull it tightly.  Here's what one stitch looks like - disregard that I came up in the wrong row!!  I love the lacy, airy look.

Now I start adding layers of stitches to fill in the empty places and to overlap with some of my stitched areas.  Hopefully I'll be showing you that next week!

Happy Creating!  Deborah