Cat Topiary Garden: Miles to Stitch

Remember last time I used skip tent (or basketweave twill since I'm doing this on the diagonal like Ruth Schmuff does) to stitch the two small bushes lurking behind the gate?  And I told you I was going to use a variation of that stitch on the topiaries?  That's exactly what I have been doing, except instead of doing tent stitches on the diagonal as in the diagram here,
http://www.notyourgrandmothersneedlepoint.com/2010/06/one-of-my-favorite-stitches.html

I am doing tiny cross stitches with my darkest green DMC cotton and the medium green DMC cotton I used on the hedges out front. You can just see what I've done in the photo I posted last time which I've reposted here.  The little yellow-green bush behind the gate is in skip tent, the tiny bit of topiary behind the cat topiary is in skip cross stitch.  The profile is higher in skipped cross stitch which makes it a tad more prominent.

I've turned the canvas upside down and am working the big bird topiary in the middle rear first.  The base of the bird topiary is dark green but a bit towards the top of the base is lighter green.  I am switching colors as I near the edge.  I plan to fill the entire bird topiary except for the very edges with this skipped cross stitch.  The edges will have French knots.  At least that is the plan.

Base of Bird Topiary Underway

This photo shows my progress to date.  It's going to take quite a while so I'm going to switch to a new project with a deadline and work on that most of the time, just doing skipped cross stitches when I am too tired to do anything fancy.  But not to fear, I'll be working on this.  I'm just not going to post again until the first topiary bush is done.

Anyone working this with me, use 1-2 plies of your thread to make the skip cross stitches.  When you get to the top where there is a lot of light yellow, stop.  That's where the French knots will go but I plan to do all the bottoms of all the topiaries in skipped cross stitch before I tackle the tops.  So leave those areas alone for now, ok?

I have a deadline for this piece also (mid-September) so I will be back to it, promise!

Written by Jane/Chilly Hollow
Blogging at http://chillyhollownp.blogspot.com
and at http://chstitchguides.blogspot.com