June's free embroidery- section 5

 

I know I'm really late with this month but I was working on new tatted jewelry patterns and put the embroidery off. The photo above is not the finished design, it's to show some of the branches of the bushes. The next photo shows that I went really crazy with all the french knots. These last 2 sections are more than a bit over filled with embroidery.

Here's how I did this section.

1. I started with the bee skep. Below is a pattern for the size I used. I was all set to couch threads for lines and make an opening near the bottom with black thread but then I got the idea for the simple tatted piece. Tatters will see that it's just the most basic tatted trim done in rows.

2. Next I drew the lines for the bushes and the circles for the hollyhock flowers using a frixon pen. A note about the bushes. They ended up looking more like small trees and I did add more branches as I worked.

3. The hollyhocks are buttonhole wheels using 3 strands of DMC 603 for one and 605 for the other. If I had to do it again I'd start with the lighter pink move up with 2 more shades of the pink, with the darkest for the french knots at the top. The french knots are made with 6 strands. The leaves are DMC 470. I used 6 strands for the lazy daisys and 4 strands for the french knots.

4. Now we come to the bush trees :) I used 3 strands of DMC 780 to stem stitch the branches. I added some straight stitches as I filled in the flowers and leaves. The flowers were done with french knots in 3 colors. I first started with 6 strands of white floss I dyed pale yellow and pink. I bought a Tulip dye kit at Walmart a few years ago to dye my own threads. Yarnplayer at Etsy has MUCH better ones. Because this was boring to me I added some knots using DMC 963 (6 strands) and DMC 3716 (3 strands). This is when I practically covered the fabric. For the leaves I was going thru my old stash of DMC and Ginnie Thompson flower threads and decided to use GT448. I used 2 strands to do the lazy daisy stitches.

5. I didn't like how empty is looked under the skep so I made straight stitches using 1 strand of DMC 3348 to stitch grass. That wasn't enough for me so I added french knots using the same threads as I used in the last section.

6. The bees will get bead bodies when I finally add all the beads to the entire piece. The wings are lazy daisy stitches using Maderia Decora 1401. 

That's it, here's a photo of the sections so far. Notice that I added a border above section 5. It's 2 pieces of crochet cord I made using some pearl cotton I dyed. It's called Romanian cord and the directions are on YouTube.

I'm going to combine the next 3 sections in one post. Two are done and the third has been drawn. Yay! we get a break from the green backgrounds. I wish I had either used all tans and browns for the greens or stayed with the same color of green so that picking out floss would be easier. I'm really disliking that lime green in section 4 so it may have to go. I'm thinking more of those hollyhocks instead.

 

May's Free Embroidery - section 4 of the crazy quilt

I had some trouble deciding on what flowers I wanted to do here. This section had been previously embroidered but I didn't like the colors so removed all of it. I decided to stay with similar soft colors for the entire piece. You may want your garden bright and cheerful with many colors so use the shades you like. There is no set pattern of where to do the embroidery so you can add stitches you like or even rearrange the design.

This photo shows part of the wood frame I'm using instead of a hoop. The holes in the wood are from the thumb tacks I use to hold the fabric in place. This makes doing the embroidery so much better, no crushing or shifting anything. If you are wondering about the whited out area, it's where some embroidery was done when I first started this years ago. It looks like section 6-8 will end up as one post since the embroidery blends into these sections.

I did section 4 with  spider web because my tiny fairy is walking along a strand. I'll do the spider later with a bead body. I wanted the web to shine a bit so I went thru my stash of threads and found an old package of Medira Decora 1402 I bought on sale somewhere. It's a shiny viscose thread that is stranded and I only used 1 strand. I used a Frixon pen to draw out the shape. It has 6 long straight stitch lines. Working from the center I couched along the 6 lines to make the web. I also added the line the fairy is walking along with a few couch stitches.

Next I did the greenery at the right. I may add more of it to go into the next section which I've drawn out but haven't started. Draw the lines for as many stems as you want. A tip is to leave room for the leaves or you'll be stitching over other leaves. I did this in a few areas but wouldn't want all of it squashed together. Another tip is to draw one and embroidery it, then do another, and keep up this way until you get as many as you want. I used 3 strands of DMC 16 to make the stems with stem stitch and lazy daisy leaves. Along the stems there are french knots made using 3 strands of DMC 746. I did 3 wraps.

Th spider web flowers are next. Mostly they are called roses but I'm thinking of them this time as ranunculus flowers. Make them the usual way with 5 spokes of single thread and 3 to weave. I used DMC 3078. A tip is to draw the circles where you want these and the blue flowers to be leaving room for the leaves.

The blue flowers are very easy. I used 3 strands of DMC 775 to make lazy daisy petals. There are 8 for each flower. The centers will be beads added later.

The leaves around the flowers are lazy daisy stitches. I used 3 strands of DMC 895 around the yellow flowers and DMC 471 around the blue. Fill in as much as you want. I notice now that the darker green is not showing up real good so I may have to change it. Using green fabrics has made picking green flosses hard. With the Bali fabrics having many shades in them I'm tending towards much lighter shades than I would normally use.

I decided more needed to be added so I used french knots to fill in along the bottom of the greenery and around the flowers. I think of them as tiny wild violets. There are one of my favorite flowers and I drive my husband crazy when I refuse to mow over where they grow until they are dome blooming. I used strands of DMC 503 and 210 for the knots. I did the purple first then added the green.

That's it, you can see the fabric for the next section. It's the one I cut off the fabric and put a new one on.

Happy Mother's Day to all the Moms out there!

Finally the new tatting pattern is up and a SALE is coming!

 Yes, It's finally up. The tatted jewelry pattern has been done for a few weeks but "Life has intervened" and so it was put off. I haven't had time to even be on the internet lately so if anyone has tried to contact me that's why there's been no answer. 

This pattern is designed like my other patterns, meaning it's meant to be printed book style with the paper folded in half. Each design is written so you can print just the ones you want to work on. I used DMC and Lizbeth threads for everything but the green bracelet and earrings set. That gorgeous bright green came from Yarnplayer at Etsy. I LOVE her threads! 

That's 2 new tatting patterns in less than a year. Amazing what I can finish when I really find the time to work on it. I'm working on 2 new sewing patterns and updating 2 old ones I no longer even list. 

May's free embroidery will be later in the month. I've had a hard time deciding on the flowers I want to embroider in this section. It's about half done.

AND lastly, there's going to be a big SALE in the entire month of May. All of the listings will be 20% off.

Thanks for reading :)

Third section of free mini crazy quilt pattern

 

Section 3 has the white French knot hydrangeas and pink bullion roses. This time there's a much bigger picture because I removed all of the original embroidery I did in section 4 and completely removed section 5 and replaced it with a new fabric. I just wasn't happy with either section. You can now see the tan fabric I used above these sections, too.

Notice that I added a triangle piece of fabric with a tiny fairy printed on it next to section 2. She's walking on a single strand of white rayon thread. the fabric was hand sewn in place on top of the section 3 green fabric. This is optional if you don't have any fabric with something you would like here.

To do the hydrangeas use a button or coin in the sizes you want the flowers to be to draw circles. Mine range from 3/4" down to 3/8". Fill in the circles making the french knots with 3-4 strands of DMC white floss. You don't want the knots to be identical so do 2-4 wraps with a variety of floss strands. The leaves are straight stitched using 3 strands of DMC 3013. I free hand drew the leaves where I thought they'd be best. I would have preferred using 2 similar shades of green but once I started with this one I found I didn't have one that would work with the fabric. As I worked around the flowers I also used the green to add some knots to them.

The roses are made using bullion stitch with lots of french knots along couched branches. First I used 2 strands of DMC 895 to couch 2 strands of the same color along the seam lines, then added branches to fill in above the hydrangeas. I think bullions are easiest made with the threads I use when tatting so I used Lizbeth size 10 124 spring green for the roses and knots. I've had floss leave loops when making bullions. When I know I'm going to make a lot I'll get out my size 10 and 20 threads. I cut piece os the thread so I'd be able to have the pink with a little green and pieces of just the greens. Some of the roses are all pinks while some have a few green bullions. DMC does make a pink/green floss, it's Coloris 4500. There's one that's shades of pink to cranberry and light browns, Coloris 4504. If you've had enough making french knots substitute lazy daisy leaves. I'll be adding some using DMC 3364 now that I've thought of it. Seed beads will be added later.

BTW, I stapled this section to a small wood frame to embroider so I wouldn't crush section 2 flowers.