this pretty mandala is our february #cozybluestitchclub pattern, and i'm excited to stitch this one up.
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like most of my mandala designs, i am starting in the center and working outwards.
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here i'm using the two blues [2 strands] to fill in the circles and leaves. the darker blue leaves are stitched with fishbone stitch, which naturally creates a midrib right down the center of each leaf.
for the lighter blue, i've filled the center with colonial knots and used a satin stitch to fill the outer circles.
the stems are just plain straight stitches.

i tend to use the same handful of basic stitches in most of my work. in the photo below, i've used satin and colonial knots again, plus another favorite, back stitch.

back stitch makes a great outline, and i've used it here for the light blue, red, and copper scallops. also that light blue circle. [2 strands]

the flowers are made with colonial knots (the red centers) and satin (the copper petals) [2 strands]

there's also a circular row of dots just inside the blue circle, and i used colonial knots [2 strands again] for those.

i just love seeing this design coming to life! once the floss color and textures get added into the mix, everything just falls into place.
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i'm using back stitch again for these circles - light blue, green, and copper.
for the peachy-colored lines, i used a single strand to keep the lines relatively thin, and straight stitches.

earlier i mentioned that fishbone stitch is perfect for stitching leaves, but you know what else is great? fern stitch.

i used fern stitch to create the veins and midrib of these green and red leaves, and then outlined them using back stitch. [2 strands]

next, these dark blue scallops along the edges of the leaves are getting the satin stitch treatment, and so are the copper dots above each leaf. [2 strands]
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(i think you can see here, my stitches are oriented widthwise across each little scallop so that the tips are smooth and not jagged.)

lastly, for the radial lines on the outer edge, i'm using straight stitch [2 strands]. 

all done now!