Old free pattern now at Patreon

 

I had this pattern here back in 2019 but removed it to fix some things but never got around to relisting it. I sorted the old PDF and put it over at my Patreon site.Maypole Embroidery

As always I'm working on too many projects and nothing seems to ever get finished. I think a lot of it comes from fabric and craft stores closing. I really prefer to see my supplies in person so I tend to hold off ordering things I know I need. Like right now I really want a white pen for marking embroidery on dark fabrics but have been putting off ordering one since last fall. 

Living in 2 places doesn't help either. I was hauling things back and forth to work on them where ever I was then I decided to keep some projects at one house and some at the other. Didn't work too well. I kept wanting to work on a project that just happened to be at the other house. Then there's having supplies at both places so it always seems that the thread, pattern, or fabric I need is at the place I'm not.

I did finally finish the PDF for a new rabbit but since it's coming on Fall I think I'll wait to list him. I have a new cat done and then there's still the gnomes to do the directions for. The solution to putting off writing the PDF's would be for me to either get the software I need for the old laptop I'm using (win7) or get a new one and the get new software. I have been using versions of Microsoft Publisher since my first computer and that ran win3.1 (a step up from DOS!). I never got it for the 7 because this is a hand-me-down from my husband. I'm still using an old desk top computer with win xp (with no internet)at one house to write all the patterns and then this lap top to do online stuff at the house with internet. It makes it all to easy to put things off.

I am still working on the next sections of the crazy quilt so come back for them. This next section is one I'm really liking.

The next sections of the crazy quilt block

 I'm late this month due to having the flu the second week of the month. It was rough and I still feel weak from it. My allergies are super bad again, too. I did decide to do more of the embroidery so that instead of putting the 3 sections up for July, August and September, I'm putting them all up now. You can now see the entire piece too. 

Now there is one problem with this embroidery. I worked on it while I was dealing with the flu and have now lost the paper with most of the DMC embroidery floss numbers. It's another reason I'm late putting this up. I've been searching but I decided to give up.

Look at the section with the web. I removed the bright green plant and embroidered some grass and flowers. I used narrow silk ribbon for the long leaves.

The blue water section is made similar to section one. It has the same yo-yos, small white flowers, and fish. Go back to the Feb. post on it.

Along the "water" edge I drew lines to look like various grasses. I used feather and stem stitches. There are french knots in the curves in the feather stitches. The cat tail plant was made with padded straight stitch and outlined with stem stitch.

Next I added the ferns. I do have the color for them. It's DMC 890. I used 3 strands to stem stitch the curved stems and lazy daisy stitches for the leaves. I did two in DMC 842, but wasn't happy with them so only did the 2.

Around the ferns are lots of french knots. I used 3 strands of DMC white, 936, and 937 to make them. I then decided it needed a few small "rocks". I used 4 strands of DMC Flower thread 2642 to make 3 wrap loose french knots. This time I stopped myself from going crazy by covering all of the fabric. It was hard to stop but I'm glad I did. I have a box of DMC and Ginnie Thompson flower threads that I'm trying to use more often. I also have a box of DMC rayon thread. It was sent to me from DMC when I was one of the winners in a national contest they were involved in. I found it breaks easily so I guess that's why they stopped making it.

Between the extreme heat and my allergies I'm not getting as much done as I want but I do have some new patterns to get up at etsy. I'm also thinking about bagging up bits of tatting I have filling a large candy jar to sell. I'll post when anything gets listed. 

Thanks for reading and try to keep healthy!

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!