I've been away for 10 days, the longest since I began this blog.  But I kept thinking I would have something "of interest" to say other than talking about my days of order thread supplies, marking canvases, writing instruction books, etc.  Of course, these things are of interest to me, but probably not to most readers.  However, amongst all this I have finally begun the final design in the Silk Ribbon Flower Series.  I love to draw and stitch flowers, so I'm sure there will be another series later.  But these four are all the same size(all about 5 to 5-1/2 inches square), have similar borders and two pairs (of coordinating colors) make up the four. 

I have posted photos here which, hopefully, give you some idea of how I get started.  The first photo shows a small picture of the type of Dahlia I want to stitch because of the colors and because of the new style of ribbon stitch it requires:  a twisted ribbon stitch.  There is also a black and white enlargement which better shows how the petals are formed.  Finally there is a very rough sketch showing the layout. 

The second photo shows a small swatch of the twisted ribbon stitch.  The third shows the ribbons I have yet to stitch with to give you a better idea of how the colors will work together.  The dark reds are wonderful and I think they will look great against the relatively pale green background.  The final photo shows the background almost completed. 

I began stitching on Tuesday and have stitched about 3 to 4 hours.  You might wonder why I would work the background in this fashion?  Well, if the petals are stitched first the tips of some of the petals will invariably be damaged when I return to the background.  (This lesson was learned when I stitched Hibiscus).  Also, I wanted the outer row of petals to sit on top of the background and the center of the flower to be stitched directly on the canvas.  This will add a little more depth to the flower.  I know, it does look a little funny right now. 

I hope to be finished stitching it by Monday night so hopefully I will have completed photos posted by next Tuesday.