4-Way Butterflies Bargello

I have been working on a design I call 4-Way Butterflies for nearly 6 months. It was to be a Christmas gift for LAST Christmas! I told the receipient I was stitching something for her for Christmas, but not to hold her breath till she got it! Well, it was handed over to her last weekend, so now I can tell you about it. I will post it over several days, as though I were just starting it.


This design has 4 butterflies in the center, symmetrically placed, and will have a Bargello background. I have the butterflies all charted out, but have no idea what the Bargello will be! I will turn my canvas 1/4 turn for each butterfly so that the stitches of each butterfly will "point" to a corner. This is what it looks like with just the little bodies stitched. Doesn't look like much does it?
The bodies and outlining will all be in Kreinik #12 Braid, black #005. Tomorrow I'll show you what it looks like with all the outlining completed.