Meet the Missus

The next day was to prove even more challenging for me. Just when I thought I had grasped the notion of always stitching towards myself while always stitching in a clockwise direction, things got more complex. Mr Duck’s neck feathers all curve in the same direction, so each one is stitched in the same way. The curves on Mrs Duck change direction and on top of that, to maintain a feathery effect, the line of staggered diagonals switch between their normal top right/bottom left slant to top left/bottom right slant. All of these factors were nearly too much for my poor brain to handle but with Denise’s help and lots of sketches and pencil marks on my design sheet, I slowly began to get the hang of it.

© JEC/Carol-Anne Conway

Mr Duck is such a handsome fellow it is easy to overlook his wife. He is an extravagance of stitching effects; she is stitched almost entirely in staggered diagonals. He is a dazzling array of bright colours; she is a subtle selection of just three soft colours.

© JEC/Carol-Anne Conway

But when you start stitching her, you start to appreciate her understated beauty.

Her colours are very subtle and are combined with a strand of 0.8 gold that mingles with the flat silk to glint seductively here and there.

© JEC/Carol-Anne Conway

She may be little more than an outline but her lines are simple and elegant.

© JEC/Carol-Anne Conway

He is an flamboyant dandy, dressed in his finest but she is a timeless, classic beauty.

© JEC/Carol-Anne Conway

Happy Stitching