At the risk of sounding nerdy (heh) I've always had a thing for the moon. When I was young I remember seeing "harvest moons" where the moon was big, low, and large in the sky. When I got a little older, I was fascinated by the moon landing (a made-for-TV movie about Apollo 11 was my favorite movie ever). Lately I've been enjoying exploring the moon from a visual/aesthetic perspective.
Pattern/Technique: Blackwork Moon by Lucie Heaton. Stitched with glow-in-the-dark DMC floss on charcoal evenweave linen.
Lessons: Glow in the dark floss is made from many fine synthetic fibers, so it isn't twisted as tightly as cotton DMC floss, and doesn't produce the same fine lines as cotton floss. Also, because it's synthetic it can't be ironed (or at least, I didn't risk it after finishing the piece).
Evenweave linen is loosely woven so it's actually quite transparent and requires some kind of backing fabric so that the wall / frame isn't visible.
What I'd do differently: I knew that keeping the piece in an embroidery hoop for a long time would crease it permanently. The next time I work on a cross stitch piece I'll probably release the hoop after each session so that I have the option to frame it and not have creases.
I'd like to try making this with conventional floss (I think it will look a bit cleaner than the glow floss because it's more tightly twisted) on a standard aida cloth (more opaque).
One thing I won't change: I was careful to weave in the beginning/ends of each thread and I'm pleased with how clean the back of the piece looks.
