Brazilian Butterflies and REAL Flowers

Yesterday I posted some notes about one of Ruth Griffith's B.E. designs that I'm playing with, "Butterflies In My Heart".

I found this lovely blue/purple rayon ribbon floss in my box of treasures and have wanted to use it for a while. After I stitched those little bugle beads down the center of the flowers, I added cast-on stitches on each side using the rayon ribbon floss. Between each bugle bead I added a 3-wrap French knot to give the flower a finished look. Detail:

..and then I picked up my camera and went for a walk in my garden. Here are some of the pretty iris my friend Virginia shared with me a few years ago:



Do you ever wonder about what's deep down inside those flowers?
This one has a fuzzy orange caterpillar deep down inside there. See:

OK. Those are some of the iris in my garden. But if you remember, it rained a little in Oregon -- a record of 14.53" for March-April-May this year. Everything has decided to bloom at once.  See:

This is my Ceanothus, or California lilac, a blue flower I've loved ever since I saw it growing in the Sacramento, CA, area.  I'm pruning mine into a sort-of tree (not enough room for the flowers, otherwise).

When all of these little flowers fall, the ground looks like blue snow.

I'm not sure what happened here ... I tied up my Gold Medal rose to this little trellis I found at JoAnn's. But all of the flowers are facing away (probably entertaining the little hummingbirds that come to visit my Red Chestnut tree right next to the rose). Maybe I should have just pruned the rose in January.

If you aren't tired of wandering through my garden, here are more pictures.  This is a raggedly, shaggy peony next to a thorny rose stem. (I have yellow tree peonies, too, but they are bashful bloomers).

Oh, for sure. You have to almost lie down on the ground to get a good picture of those little babies!
     This spectacular beauty showed up all by itself. It's a columbine that volunteered from several other varieties that I have (probably pollinated by a curious bee). I haven't ever seen it before, and if you want a REALLY good look, double click the picture. Doesn't it just scream, "Design ME in BE!"?

I think I'll go out and collect some seeds before the little finches decide to snack on them.

Daisies are my favorite flower (oh, wait, these aren't daisies -- they just LOOK like daisies).

These are blue bells (campanula).

 Oh, wait.  I think ROSES are my favorite flower.  This is JUNE in Oregon anyway -- the month of our Rose Festival. 

This is Cl. Royal Sunset. It has been growing and blooming for 30 years ... even more since we cut down a tree that was shading it.  It's a 3-day rose. Beautiful bud and then opens to a lovely rose. This photograph is the second day. On the third day, it totally flattens out and cries, "Prune me, Prune me." (You didn't know that flowers talked, did you?)

This is Day 1 for the Climbing Royal Sunset (by the way, a lot of these roses are from Jackson/Perkins, but some are from Roseway and Fred Edmunds and other wondrous places).

And THIS is Day 3 for the Climbing Royal Sunset (hardly worth the waste of digital picture whatevers):

I have a Peace and a Chicago Peace, but I'm not quite sure what the name of this rose is:

This next rose is a floribunda called Sunsprite. It has also been here for over 30 years.

Here's my Peace Rose (or Chicago Peace) - I never get them sorted out:

I call this next photo "Bee on Fox". The foxgloves have re-seeded to the front of my garden, covering up all of the short stuff behind. This bee is taking a nap, but he heard the click of the camera, got into a huff for being awoken, and flew off a minute later.

I think that if anyone asks me what my favorite flower is, I will reply, "Yes."



I love these leaves -- the insignificant yellow flowers, not so much. But the leaves are amazing.  It's a short little plant and the leaves are actually more gray than green. But if you are designing Brazilian embroidery flowers or foliage, double click this to see a larger version and just imagine how it could be translated into a pretty design!

Speaking of designs, here's one of my newest. I call it a Posey Rose and for those of you attending our BDEIG Seminar in a couple of weeks, you will receive instructions for stitching it yourselves!



Which reminds me -- I should probably go back to finish up my stitching projects.

      I hope you enjoyed wandering through my flowers. Between them, my cats (uh, oh ... cat coming through) ...

That's Cuthbert. Looks like The Sphinx, doesn't he?  Well, between all of these and my Brazilian embroidery, I definitely do enjoy the beauty I see around me each day.

Rosalie

Getting Creative with B.E. Designs

This is a Ruth Griffith design for Millefiori:  "Butterflies In My Heart". It's available for you to stitch - should be on my website - but you can email me for more information if you'd like a copy.

Instructions for stitching all of the flowers with our EdMar rayon floss are included, but I thought it would be fun to march to my own drummer, and I'm stitching the design with "sparklies" ... Candlelight metallic fibers, a similar fiber but a bit lighter called "Madeira Glamour" and some beads. Of course.

I'll keep snapping pictures and hope to send you a photo of the finished embroidery before too long.

Ruth has several designs available. Most recently, I posted photos of her "Mini-Roses" design. These designs are just a joy to stitch.

By the way, you might want to visit the BDEIG website and the Seminar 2012 page to see a photo of "Tea Rose", another of Ruth's designs that is being taught by Ruby Scruggs.  Here's a photo:

 If you didn't have a chance to sign up for the class but would like to stitch the "Tea Rose", just let me know -- via email would be easiest.

Rosalie



FREE For You: Another Brazilian Dimensional Embroidery Design

This Brazilian Dimensional Embroidery design is called "Froggie Went A-Courtin'" and is free to you, courtesy of one of our BDEIG instructors, Mary-E. Crichton. Here's the story:

Frank Frog feels amorous as he sits on his cyclamen lily leaf in the swamp. Flo Frog, also feeling The Call of Springtime, doesn’t even mind the flies that circle around Frank. These two little lovefrogs have stars in their eyes as they bask in the shade of Mary-E. Crichton’s Shooting Stars.

This is another of the free "Designs of the Month" which are shared with everyone in honor of the start of our next 20 years (and beyond) as a needle arts guild. The design is posted at the BDEIG website for one month only and will then disappear forever. To download your copy and to start stitching right now, look for the free design here. Please remember that these designs are for personal use only and not to be re-sold.

While you are visiting the website, we invite you to stay around a while and leaf through the interesting pages. If you click "Seminar 2012", you'll find all of the class offerings, and there's still time to join the guild and come to seminar. You can also find a membership application posted.

Rosalie

Ruth's Mini-Roses, My Brazilian Dimensional Embroidery Interpretation

A while back I was stitching a Brazilian dimensional embroidery design by my friend, Ruth Griffith, called "Mini-Roses". I wrote about it here, when I explained that the center roses were stitched with the #15 milliners needle instead of the #1 milliners needle we ordinarily use with Lola.

Well, I have finished it.

I had a couple of different dye lots of #121 moss green (back when it was that gorgeous light moss green color) and I intertwined the border with some pink oat beads that I found.  I had a few extra, so I added them for some of the side flowers:

And I added Iris bullions around each to frame.  Instead of rolled roses, I found some tulip shape glass beads in my Stash of Wondrous Things, and I added more little seed beads for sparkle:

Because we can do whatever we want when we are creating our finished embroidery, I fiddled around with Ruth's Tole Rose, just adding an extra cast-on stitch or two:

And because I don't have the embroidery in its final frame (the picture above isn't as sharp as it could be), here is the original photo:

I'm headed for the craft store to purchase a wooden embroidery hoop. I'll paint it with acrylic paint and add a ribbon around the outside, much like I did with "Meditation", the design Mary-E. Crichton and Gayl Ratigan will teach at our BDEIG Seminar next month. Here's a picture:

Here are a few pictures of how I finished the frame (a purchased wooden hoop), painted with acrylic paint:

After the paint was dry, I re-hooped my embroidery, trimmed it and gathered the back side:

..and finished the back by popping in a circular-shaped piece of mat board:

I always label the back of any embroidery I do - date, designer (or my name if it's one of my designs), Brazilian Dimensional Embroidery.  And I have a nice Micron Pigma Pen where I can initial and date my work on the front:

Then I finished the "frame" with some sparkly ribbon and a glue stick -- and left ribbon tails (which I knotted) to tie a pretty bow for a hanger:

So you see how easy it is to finish your embroidery!

If you are interested in purchasing either of these designs to stitch, they are now available. I'll have mine posted on my Millefiori website (if I ever stop making blog entries), but you can email me for information. I am marketing "Mini-Roses" for Ruth Griffith, and in addition to six brand NEW Brazilian dimensional embroidery designs, I'll also have "Stardust" and "Twitter" ready for you to stitch. Everything should be ready to send by early next week, and I'll put you in touch with Mary or Gayl if you would like your own copy of "Meditation" -- or if you would like to purchase a dozen to teach to your own B.E. classes!

Just a note -- if you are looking for the little flower beads, try Beadcats.com.  You might  find the little rice pearls (also glass flower-shaped beads) at either Shipwreck or Fire Mountain. (I even saw them on ebay)! Or  check your local craft store.  I think there are probably other excellent bead merchants, too; these are just favorites of mine.

Rosalie

A Towhee, A Cat and Water, aka Rain

It is raining today in western Oregon -- actually, it's Oregon Mist and I think people missed it after a week of sunshine when we all planted our flowers.

About the rain:

This is a Towhee testing the bathtub waters, and it is raining here.  I will never understand why birds feel the need to take a bath when it is raining.

But he seems happy as a clam, so I'm glad he's here.

Speaking of water ...
This is a picture of one of my cats, Cuthbert, at the ole' watering hole:

Requesting privacy so he can enjoy his drink. Or just ignoring the photographer.

About this time, Rich came out to the kitchen and asked, "Don't you think you have enough pictures of that cat?"

I ignored him and snapped a couple more.
This one is captioned, "May I please have a straw?"

And this is a picture of Cuthbert saying grace after meals:

And because everyone has so patiently enjoyed pictures of the birds and my cats, I will now entertain you with a brand new post and pictures of my Brazilian Dimensional Embroidery. Thanks for visiting!

Rosalie