I had done this stitch before several years ago in one of the groups at the Embroiderers Guild and I had a bit of difficulty getting my head around it so up until now I have not done it again.
To be honest with you I quite enjoyed it this time and believe it or not I started this sample at the Guild on Saturday in the same group that I had done it before.
The Shishas that I used were unusual because they were oval..I got them from a trade table somewhere.
It was difficult in the beginning to get the base stitches to stay in place because they kept falling off the oval ends but I succeeded in the end.
I used Perle 5 thread on a fine Linen
When I started I did the 2 variegated ones (on either side of the blue one) and they looked like 2 eyes- so I added the blue one --then it then looked like 2 eyes and a nose.
I was tempted to put a mouth in (but I resisted the urge) so I decided to put another one above the blue one.
Then I thought it needed something else to bring it all together and what else but some French Knots.
This is what the Shisha looked like before I started the stitching and it is about twice the size of the normal Shisha.
I now have to make another book to put my samples in because I can't fit anymore in the present one.
