Pistil stitch and fake pistil stitch

Happy Friday, friends!!

Days have been busy with packing,disposing and donating stuff for the impending move. But the last couple of weeks we had to take a break owing to all of us falling prey to the notorious flu going around throughout the town. We had managed to keep ourselves relatively healthy during the past two years over here ;but the walls crumbled in the last stage :)

One of the main factors that motivated us to return from here is the healthcare system. There are long waiting times for doctor's appointments. And many times new patients are mercilessly rejected.When one is young and in the prime of health it is easier to tackle the system, but at the stage where the middle-aged body is experiencing pains, it doesn't make sense to go around visiting multiple doctors and getting a waiting period of 1 to 6 months. For even the simple eye checkup there's a six month wait and the baby would be born before one gets to the gynecologist. Of course , a private insurance would put you ahead in the waiting list. Money matters !!

Anyway, in between all this, I finished a simple pattern from JDR which had been with me for a long time.It called for Pistil stitch or long tailed french knot or lavangam stitch as known in some parts of India.

 Though I like Pistil stitch, sometimes I go wrong with the tension of the tail and the knot and I have to discard the whole bunch of stitches because of one mistake. It was at one such stage I decided to try out this idea of faking it :)

Below is the pic of my fake pistil stitch flower. It is not a very neatly stitched one, but I think you'll get the idea.

I just made french knots all around and then inserted straight stitches from the center into the knots. This way one doesn't need to bother about all that keeping the tail taut while inserting the needle into the cloth. You can use this method if you're not comfortable with the regular Pistil stitch.

Alternately,you can also stitch a line and then make a french knot on top of the line very close to the tip. But it will not be an exact replica of Pistil stitch. In the picture the petal marked with oval is stitched in the second manner. But the placement of french knot in this case should be exactly at the tip, unlike mine which is slightly afar.

So, that's the post for today. This piece too will go as a gift but this time without framing :)

March is midway but there have been only a few sunny days. Next week is also expected to be cold.We have requested some friends who're coming on official visit to bring along some sunlight from India ;)

Have a great weekend,everyone!!!

Love,luck and sunshine,
Deepa