hello april stitch club members! i'm happy to introduce our new pattern this month, night sky.

i'm keeping it simple this time with just a single skein of floss, lots of fun linework, and my favorite color.

i've got my needles all loaded and ready (2 strands each):

and i'm starting simple, with a classic back stitch [2 strands] for the clouds.
the inside of the spirals get a little tight, but just remember to make your stitches small, so that they really hug the curves. we want smooth spirals here, not jagged boxy lines (unless that's the look you're going for).

making progress (with matilda)...

and snuggling up on a rainy cold day with my tea and embroidery...

more tea, more stitching...

ok - moving on now!

for the moon, i outlined it with back stitch (2 strands) and then used a running stitch for the outer rings (2 strands).

and here you can see the two types of stars. the shooting star is done with star stitch and running stitch (2 strands), and the tiny stars are made with cross stitches (1 strand).
with star stitch, all the stitches share a point in the center. but cross stitches are a little different - they're just two straight stitches that overlap to form an 'X' - they do not meet in the center.

and that's it! just four very basic stitches for this whole hoop. i LOVE this one, and i hope you do too!