Very occasionally, my bullions and I do not see eye to I to needle eye. I'm still stitching Ruth Griffith's design for Millefiori, "Butterflies in My Heart". I'm using up some of my sparkly threads, also some rayon floss.
These are only 25-wrap bullions with Iris. You would think I could get them right. Originally I had plans to stitch a Japanese Violet, but since my bullions were having their way with my needle, I re-grouped.
...substituting 18-loop up-down cast-on stitches in front of those stubborn bullions. If you look at the first picture above, there is an arrow. I offset the cast-on stitches, just for fun, and to see what would happen. I think that a third row of cast-on stitches in green sparkly thread (this is Candlelight) might be fun.
By the way, I am sure everyone knows this, but I'll throw it in anyway. Most B.E. stitchers are encouraged to stitch all greenery first, leaves, stems, etc. Sometimes you later find that the flowers don't quite reach and the tip of the stem is attached to nothingness. It's always a good idea to stitch stems almost up to the flower center ... just ... in ... case ...
Since this is the Butterflies in My Heart design, I tucked that pretty little butterfly bead into the flower center.
OK, what else did I do?
This is Ruth's French Hydrangea flower, four petals around a cast-on stitch center, usually finished with buttonhole stitch. I had this pretty little Swarovski marguerite bead from Fire Mountain Gems, attached the red marg on top, both fastened with a little yellow seed bead.
Then I added four little purple cast-on stitches (10 loops), followed by four red cast-on stitches (12 loops), and a third row of purple cast-on stitches (also 12 loops). Of course, after I was all finished, I thought that the center row might have been prettier with sparkly thread like the fuchsia-color Candlelight or a Kreinik cord.
There's more.
It's always nice to see what you have "lying around". These little purple beads are plastic and are from a stretchy bracelet that I re-purposed. By the way, all of those butterflies on this design -- if you check your jewelry box or take a trip to a 'whatever'-store, you can sometimes find inexpensive earrings that can be re-used for your embroidery. Of course, you can also find very nice butterfly beads and/or buttons at your local craft or fabric stores.
Next, I decided to complete the fuchsia. Ruth calls it a Snow Flower. There aren't any labels on our embroidery, so we can call them whatever we want.
In my book Take A Stitch (by Rosalie Wakefield) -- sorry, I thought I had it on my website; guess I'd better go over there and take care of that -- I have a stitch technique called a "Knotted Loop" -- I stitched this flower with Kreinik ribbon, pink #92, but I'm going to change to a darker pink:
Pretty, isn't it? You tie a knot in your floss (1" up from the fabric), then take your needle down through the fabric -- the knot stops on top and you have a (cleverly named) Knotted Loop Stitch. I also do my turkey work with this method -- using Cire or Nova for turkey work gets rid of that kinky 'permed' look because the twist is looser for these two floss weights.
The stamens are made with my New Pistil Stitch -- or Cast-on Pistil Stitch -- something I discovered accidently about a year ago when I thought it would be more fun to stop at my work table and play with my floss for a few minutes instead of cleaning the house. It was a TOTAL accident, but I like it SO much better than our traditional pistil stitch. You'll find ALL of the instructions here on this blog.
In this series of photos, I used Cire #001 and looped 2 cast-on stitches around the needle (Remember, you come up from the fabric where the knot will be):
I found some other pinks for the upper petals, so I'm off to stitch again!
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By the way, I am sure everyone knows this, but I'll throw it in anyway. Most B.E. stitchers are encouraged to stitch all greenery first, leaves, stems, etc. Sometimes you later find that the flowers don't quite reach and the tip of the stem is attached to nothingness. It's always a good idea to stitch stems almost up to the flower center ... just ... in ... case ...
Since this is the Butterflies in My Heart design, I tucked that pretty little butterfly bead into the flower center.
OK, what else did I do?
Then I added four little purple cast-on stitches (10 loops), followed by four red cast-on stitches (12 loops), and a third row of purple cast-on stitches (also 12 loops). Of course, after I was all finished, I thought that the center row might have been prettier with sparkly thread like the fuchsia-color Candlelight or a Kreinik cord.
There's more.
In my book Take A Stitch (by Rosalie Wakefield) -- sorry, I thought I had it on my website; guess I'd better go over there and take care of that -- I have a stitch technique called a "Knotted Loop" -- I stitched this flower with Kreinik ribbon, pink #92, but I'm going to change to a darker pink:
The stamens are made with my New Pistil Stitch -- or Cast-on Pistil Stitch -- something I discovered accidently about a year ago when I thought it would be more fun to stop at my work table and play with my floss for a few minutes instead of cleaning the house. It was a TOTAL accident, but I like it SO much better than our traditional pistil stitch. You'll find ALL of the instructions here on this blog.
In this series of photos, I used Cire #001 and looped 2 cast-on stitches around the needle (Remember, you come up from the fabric where the knot will be):
\
This is Mr. Oblivious:
He likes the nice, warm light. By the way, do you ever wonder why cats have flat noses? Here's why:
Rosalie
Miss Rosalie,
ReplyDeleteDo you have a digital pattern for the beautiful photo on the "Take A Stitch"cover in your Friday, January 31, 2014 post?
Thank you for your lovely blog.
Mrs. Donna Anderson