This time I deliberately chose colors I don't usually put together in a piece, in hopes of challenging myself to step outside my comfort zone. The red white and blue theme could have been very Americana, but adding some other colors in the embellishments kept it from going all Uncle Sam on me -- and I think that worked well.
I didn't snag any of the silk patches this time, and watched my thread tension to avoid puckering.
Using a rayon embroidery thread for the circular stitching helped keep the fabric flat, too -- I discovered rayon slides easily through silk, although the thread itself tends to twist a lot.
I like how the Paris patch came out best. I love the effect of scattered seed beads condensing around an embellishment:
I didn't let myself look at the January block again until I was finished the February block and then put them side by side for a pic. That was when I noticed that I used the same circular embroidery stitches in the top right patch on both, which made me chuckle:
Second block down, ten to go. Now I'll take a break again until March 1st, when I start block three.
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