Gecko Begins

This has been such a very busy month with classes...mine and StitchMAP's. So, I have not had any time to stitch this month's HEX Challenge...and only have two days to get it done! So, I began last night with the outline of the gecko and the brick behind. Both were done in Stem Stitch.  

  Stem Stitch is not the first choice of many people for a design that has such tight curves...the instructions actually said Back Stitch because of this reason. But, I like doing my own thing with designs...and rarely (as it never most likely) do exactly what instructions say for anything. And, Stem Stitch can be very easy to work around inside and outside curves...even tight ones...if the length of the stitch is just shortened. For these tight curves, the inside curves stitching is reduced to only a couple of threads for each stitch...and it works around the line perfectly!  

  Next was to select some beads and threads. I pulled a whole bunch of greens from my stash. But, most of this will not be used as the gecko is too small to hold ALL of this.   

  I did find some tiny cabochons in green. These were part of a MIX of cabochones that I bought and wondered what in the world I'd do with these teensy ones. Goes to show...don't discard anything! Ha! These will be temporarily held in place with a tiny drop of E-6000 glue until I can encase them with embroidery work or beading.  

The eyes are first to deal with. The gecko has "bulging" eyes...and I didn't want them to be green like the body. So, I went with a 4mm round black bead. Olive green bullions, stacked on top of each other, create an eyelid for each eye.  

The next area for consideration are the feet. This gecko's feet are pronounced, like a tree frog. I placed a little bead near the end of each toe.  

These beads look like round beads probably...but, they are actually drops. These are tiny, about 3mm, and I purchased them for tiny spider bodies.  

Each toe is rounded with one or two bullions...which mimic the eye lids nicely...and French Knots to fill in the foot. Well, that's the progress so far...now, I'm off to stitch some more!