Needlepoint Update

To give my eyes a break, I spent part of the weekend playing around with a work in progress (WIP) that I have ignored for a goodly time. It is a needlepoint chessboard that I am doing with silk perle. Instead of using 18 count canvas (that would be 18 canvas holes per inch), I decided to try it with 18 count linen that I heavily starched. It is certainly nicer fabric to work with (it doesn't scratch my wrists the way canvas does), but it does make it a little more difficult to accomplish those perfectly smooth and even stitches that are the aesthetic norm in true needlepoint.

Humph, no wonder they sometimes call needlepoint canvas work.

That said, I think it is coming along nicely. I am 1/8 finished and am going back to my itty-bitty French children for a few days.