Goldwork Heart II - background is done!

Over two months ago, I started the background on my Goldwork Heart II (a retired ANG GCC from Michele Roberts). Because I had been doing so much double-running work on a recent finish, I decided to try a different type of blackwork background, done all in running stitch. See my previous posts about this background - here and here.

I'm dancing now because the background is done! This single-running blackwork was actually ideal for the piece, because the gold thread was quite stiff, and I didn't have to turn as sharply as in double running. I kept all of the thread ends on the outside of the background (not ending in the middle of the heart).




After the background was all done, I used a size 12 pearl cotton and did a tent stitch over 2 all the way around the outside, pulling the thread ends to the back of the work as I went. Each end was stitched over at least 1/2", and then cut off. Here's the finished result. I'm not too concerned with how this outline looks, because it will not show when it's framed. This is just a way to tie off all of the ends.

This background is the same pattern on front and back, but it is not in the same place. On the back, it's actually offset by half of the pattern width and height. It's easiest to show this at a corner. Here's the top right corner of the piece from the front:

And from the back:




Now I can get started on the "real" goldwork part of the piece!