'compass rose' is our february 2023 stitch club design, and it's one that i sketched out ages ago, when i was designing the sea captain and his wife. now, almost 10 years later, here it is, ready to stitch!

i'm starting in the center with the flower, leaves, and buds.

for the leaves: back stitch [2 strands] for the outlines, stems, and midrib; the veins are straight stitch [1 strand].

the buds are done with satin stitch [2 strands], and i've outlined the flower with back stitch [2 strands]. i'm planning to fill in the flower a little more later on, but i'm happy with this for now.

next i'm adding some brick stitches to the rose. using the lighter pink to fill in the edges of the petals...

and then adding a second row of offset back stitches to the spiral in the center, to thicken the line up a little. i might fill in the center a bit more, but i'm not sure yet.  

moving along to the compass part of the design, i'm using back stitch [2 strands] and the navy blue to outline the compass and the crescent moons:

and i used star stitch [2 strands] for the large stars here. i am considering filling in the rose some more, and maybe (probably?) filling in those crescent moons around the edge. i'm not sure yet.

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i decided that i wanted a little bit of fill in the crescent moons. a total fill seemed a bit too heavy and bold for me -- i don't want to throw off the balance of the piece -- so i ended up just adding a row of brick stitch along the inner edge of each moon, using the lighter blue floss [2 strands]. i really like it!

i also used that same lighter blue to stitch the small stars [cross/1] and the radial lines on the outer border [straight/2].

and i think she's done! i'm happy with the simplicity of this design, and i like the contrast between the geometric lines of the compass, the pretty flower in the center, and the wonky imperfect lines of the stars and outer border.