Over the weekend I picked up little Fan and started stitching away again. I've doubled the size of the border that's stitched, worked on her yellow hair oranment, and stitched the yellow edge to her kimono at her neck and sleeves.
For the border, I have occasionally around her head added a row to the alternating bundles of three stitches. I'm not sure if you can see this but in a few places there was a space next to a bundle that didn't look right if I did the stitches the way they go alternating -- bundles with ones. The thing to remember in compensating stitches is to make them look right instead of doing them right, and occasionally you'll do something that isn't right to get the correct look. Remember in NP that it is the overall look you are aiming at, not getting all the stitches compensated the way they should be.
The yellow dot of a hair ornament is just padded silk floss in the same yellow as the border. I did four layers before I got the look rounded enough. I have not decided whether to remove the orange beads or add more yet. Still mulling that one over! I think I need to finish her hair before I really decide this point. Stitching a painted canvas is often a wait-and-see process since everything you stitch effects everything else. Ripping out can be your friend; so can waiting patiently to make up your mind.
The edging of the kimono is long slanted stitches. I am not sure about the left sleeve yet. The curve that varied quite a bit and I turned Fan on her side with her fan on the right edge to stitch it with the slants the way the sun comes up across the horizon--slanting right and left and also pointing straight up. This made it a bit more jagged-looking than the right sleeve. I am not sure what to do about this yet. I can pull it out and stitch it slanting one way or overstitch that left sleeve to smooth the rough edges. Again, I'll think about this while I do other things.
In other words, stay tuned to see what I decide.
