Decided to change the orientation of the blocks from horizontal to vertical.
Moved the brown border with the code (Loss and Regret) to the left side and the 2 columns of star stitched brown blocks to the right side.
In the process of stitching 3 columns together to make a strip, which will result in 7 strips. When the task is completed, I will stitch the 7 strips together. Four strips done, 3 to complete.
Working with batches of 3 is easier and more manageable than stitching the entire piece together 1 column to the next.
It took approximately 18″ of beige yarn to stitch the blocks together. Or roughly 1″ of yarn for each square of each block.
Should be able to start stitching the strips together later this week.
Need to decide how best to attach tree wrap to back of the piece. Leaning toward using a tie technique similar to the one my grandmother used when she made quilts.
The piece will have three layers of material: the stitched roofing felt, hardware cloth, and tree wrap, so reference to quilting.
October 17 Progress
Completed stitching together 7 strips of 3 columns.
October 23 Progress
Piece completely stitched together and wrapped the edge with tan yarn.
October 24 Progress, the Border
Originally thought I would loom knit an i-cord for the border, but after several attempts I didn’t like the results. The two that follow are the best of the rejected results.
Cream Border
R1 KKP, R2 KPP, R3 KKP, R4 K
Tan Border
R1 E Wrap Knit, R2 Flat Knit
The loom knitted borders are too bulky and fussy. I suspect the solution will be to use a strand of wire and wrap it with tan yarn.
While I am thinking about the border, thought I would attempt using a sewing machine to stitch together strips of tree wrap. The tree wrap will be tied to the back of the piece, similar to how quilt layers are tied together. Rather than having the knot on the front of the piece, the knots will be on back, the tree wrap side. The result should be a simple and clean cross stitch at each block connection.
Wait, what did I just write? A knot at each block connection. How many knots will I tie? There will be 15 for each column, 20 for each row, or 300 for the body of the piece. There will also be 17 for each side and 20 for top, 20 for the bottom, or 74 to tie the border.
That is all before I get to the really fun part of apply a salt solution with the hope of adding crystals to the pieces.