I am sorting the last entries and hitting up a random number generator to select winners. I’ll post details ASAP. In the meantime, after a very long incubation and development period, here is the newest Funk & Weber Designs puzzle pattern:

It’s not even on the Funk & Weber Web site yet, but it will be just as soon as I can get it there.

Like the Puzzle Pisces pattern before it, each of the leaves was drawn individually on graph paper, cut out, then arranged into the leaf shape to fit snugly and to strategically arrange the various colors. Some leaves were redesigned to fit better.

Given the varying colors and shades of individual leaves in nature, this piece positively screamed out for overdyed threads; it takes advantage of the subtle changes in color that overdyed threads offer, making the leaves look especially lifelike. Even if you follow the pattern to a T using the same colors from The Gentle Art, your leaves will be unique. Differences in dyelot don’t make a bit of difference, even if you use them on the same leaf.

Don’t worry if you’ve never used overdyed threads before; this is a great place to start. The first “rule” (I’m not a big fan of rules) is to complete each stitch individually; i.e. cross each stitch before moving to the next one. To make the leaves look natural, it’s also best not to stitch in tidy rows, but rather to stitch in a “close but random” fashion, stitches not far apart (which results in a speckled look), but not in rows. I call this stitching in “blobs,” and you can see the effect and learn how to do it here. When blob stitching, I tend to make each stitch touch the one before it in some way–horizontally, vertically, diagonally–but mix it up. Sometimes I’ll “travel” with my stitches (move to a different area a few spaces away), and sometimes I “fill in” an area.

You can control which part of the fiber you use where (a light length next to a vein, or a dark length for the vein, etc.), but you can also let the fiber do its job on its own.

As always, if you like the result, you’ve done it right. If you don’t like the result, you can always frog.

Any questions? Ideas to share?

Well, still don’t have the results of the contest, but here are the answers for the two branches (wink, wink) of the contest:

Branch 1: Scavenger Hunt

The five Clues of the Day were:

Sassafras, Sweetgum, Willow, Beech, Maple

These are some of the leaves used in the pattern.

Branch 2: Puzzlepalooza

Day 1: I Spell Fiance
Day 2: Fine Allspice
Day 3: Pelican’s Life
Day 4: Final Eclipse
Day 5: Fall, In Pieces

The first four seemingly nonsense answers are all anagrams of the title, Fall, In Pieces.

Okay, I’m off to sort and draw numbers.