Sonoma
SunburstWatercolours, #5 pearl cotton, and Kreinik #16 metallic braid
6" x 6" 18-count canvas, mounted on stretcher bars
#22 and #24 Tapestry Needles
Sonoma Sunburst makes a 3½" square finished design, which can be used as a Christmas ornament, a scissors fob, or even a frame weight. Try it in lots of different color combinations, using all the great vibrant colors available in 18-count canvas.
Click to see a larger-than-life-sized picture of the finished design.
Attach the canvas firmly to the stretcher bars. Decide where the top of your design is going to be and mark a T on the edge. This will help you keep track of where you are while you are doing the Walneto stitch. Find the center of the canvas, and enlarge that hole with your needle. This hole is a marker point; we will not be stitching into this hole, just counting from it!
Use one strand of the metallic, one strand of the pearl cotton, and one ply out of the three-ply strand of Watercolours.
The Master Chart shows the entire design, as well as the numbering system for the center Walneto. Refer to this chart for stitch placement; note the correspondence between threads and line colors at the bottom of the chart. The text is supplemented with charts showing the stitching sequence for other stitches.
Use the Watercolours thread. Begin with a long away waste knot in the upper right corner of the canvas. Count down 16 and over 2 to the left from the center hole (center of Large Tied Cross on Master Chart) and come up at number 1 to begin.
Referring as you go to the Master Chart, come up at 1, go down at 2, come up at 3, go under the 1-2 stitch, go down at 4, come up at 5, go under the 3-4 stitch, go down at 6, come up at 7, go under the 5-6 stitch, go down at 8. This gives you your base diamond shape. It is absolutely essential that this be counted correctly. If you are off anywhere, you will have to rip back! I speak from experience here!
When you are sure these four stitches are in correctly, come up at 9, which is immediately above 1. Go under the leg made by the crossover of 1 & 8 and go down at 10. This sort of twists around the 1-2 stitch which is already in place. Now come up at 11, go under the leg made by the crossover of 2 & 3, and go down at 12. Continue, following the pattern on the Master Chart. You will have to tie off a couple of times to start a fresh thread, but there are plenty of places to tie off on the back. Just keep track of where you stopped in relation to the top (marked T) of the canvas, so you'll start back at the right place.
Note: The last few stitches share holes, as noted by two numbers in the same square on the Master Chart.
Acknowledgment: Thanks to Jean Hilton for inventing the fabulous twisty Walneto stitch!
Using metallic (black lines on Master Chart), put an elongated tied cross in each leg. In the center, using pearl and metallic, make a large tied cross. The first four stitches are in pearl cotton (gray lines on Master Chart, numbers below) and the top four stitches are in metallic (black lines on Master Chart, letters below).
| Elongated Tied Cross | Large Tied Cross |
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Using metallic, make a row of diagonal mosaic (black lines on Master Chart) around the Walneto stitch. Refer to detail below.
Using metallic (black lines), make a square as diagrammed on the Master Chart in tent stitch. Change the direction of the stitches on each corner. Leaving four threads empty all the way around, make another row of tent stitch. Change the directions of the stitches on this outer row to match the changes in direction on the inner row. Refer to detail below.
Using pearl cotton, make two Amadeus stitches in each corner. Start at #1 on one side and work to the center. Then start at #1 on the other side. Both sides share hole #2. Each stitch goes over the preceding stitch. Fill the space in the center of the Amadeus with a tied cross stitch in metallic.
| Amadeus Stitch | Tied Cross Stitch |
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Work in crab stitch using Watercolours (white lines on Master Chart). Stitch all four sides from left to right, letting the Watercolours thread change colors as it goes around. Using pearl cotton add an upright cross (gray lines) stitch between each of the crab stitches. (See Master Chart for placement.)
7. Border corners: Add a leaf stitch using pearl cotton (gray lines) in each corner.
