I love sunflowers and with so many designs around, I wanted mine to be different. I decided on a large center with squares that did not line up. I liked the idea that they would be slightly offset. I wanted the center to appear like it was puffed up in the center. To achieve this, I used larger stitches with darker threads in the very center and as I worked my way out, I used lighter colors and smaller stitches. To give the sunflower some special touches, I used brown beads around the Rhodes stitches and large golden beads on the Stem Stitch. To make the background look like lace, I used two pulled thread techniques.