The golden main rib

 After picking at bits and pieces for a while, and developing a true hate for the cherry blossoms on Hiogi, we decided to have another zoom session over the Christmas break to look at some of the elements needed for finishing. 

I know I need to redo the snowflake on the upper right, it is too ugly, and the cherry blossom cloud needs a fair bit of work, it is fair to say that no more classes are needed for Hiogi. Karahana has arrived in the mail, and I am ready to move on to phase 4. 

Things to watch for while stitching the gold rib: the couching thread likes to knot itself up, and can make a ball of mess on the back, so let it untwist every once in a while to help prevent knots. use a ruler to line up the long sides especially the side where the cords make a gap in the gold. Mine could be straighter, but will do. the cloud side is nice and straight, it is the lining up of the lower side that I wouldn't give it 100%. 

It was interesting going around in the circle at the base of the rib, keeping the koma moving and snugbut not too snug helpe keep things lined up.

Slow and steady filling in the spaces.

It took about 15 hours to stitch the whole rib, over 4 days, but I am feeling good about it.  The end is in sight.

The elements that need to be completed are 

1) finishing the short stitch holding in the green leaf

2) redo the upper left snowflake

3) the cherry blossoms, and short stitch holding on the cherry blossom cloud

4) the Katayori pairs around the clouds

5) the Katayori around three of the the paulownia leaves

6) add a third snowflake

7) the thin gold rib lines

8) the #5 gold along the arc of the fan and one straight edge

The trick is to keep plugging away at it.

We talked about making the katayori in the zoom class too, and I have some of those threads made up. I quite enjoyed twisting those threads up.