Second Place

This piece is based on a tile purchased at Karakashian Brothers Jerusalem Pottery. I wondered if the rounded and pointed shapes could be reproduced by using what seemed to be variations on cross stitch occurring on some English charts. They appear to move stitches over by one thread on adjoining rows and to use stitches over two threads in one direction and only one thread in the other.

The threads are DMC floss and Kreinik braid on linen. It includes regular cross stitch (one section with braid for the bottom stitch and floss for the top); those over two threads in one direction and one in the other; long arm, double, plaited, and tied cross stitches; intentionally patterned reversal of the direction of the top stitch; and stitches offset by one thread in each row. Further variation was achieved by using 1, 2, or 3 strands of floss.