Punch Needle Monarch Butterfly

On one of my road trips I purchased a punch needle pattern of a monarch butterfly. I've had the urge to do some punch needle lately - mostly because it goes so quickly.

I had most of the DMC flosses called for in the pattern in my stash but needed a couple of varietgated ones - a purple and a green. After trips to my local LNS shops, Artisanthropy and Kimat Designs they were easily obtained. Both shops have online ordering and curbside pickup.

I started two nights ago by outlining the butterfly. The pattern is printed/drawn/ironed onto the weaver's cloth (a strong cotton/nylon blend). If letters or numbers are involved they need to appear backwards on the back so they are the correct orientation on the front.

The pattern calls for 3 strands of floss and to get gradations of colour they are mixed with two strands of one colour and one strand of another.

I am using one ring of a Morgan lapstand to obtain drum tightness being careful not to stab myself on the other side.

I used the colour photo on the pattern to place the white dots on the wings.

The oval is various gradations of the purple/blue flosses and will be completely filled in when finished. The vines are a solid DMC colour. The echinacea (coneflower) petals are a variegated DMC and the 'cones' of the are a blend of two DMC colours.

All I have left to do is finish the ovals with gradients as I punch towards the centre and the lighter variegated green background of the border.

I've also been working on my autumnal paint-by-number and have started the yellows. No pics yet but the image is somewhat Group of Seven-ish.

A while back I purchased a pair of scissors with curved blades - similar to those pictured below. They are great for using on punch needle pieces. I highly recommend ones like that. 

I think I'll mount the piece on a little box lid or a little wooden crate like the raw wood ones at the big box craft store. I can paint it with chalk paint.