"In the Garden"—Oak Leaves and Acorns

I (Teri) was afraid that the only autumnal color we were going to get this year would be that which I stitched. Here in Maryland, the days stayed warm and the temperatures didn't drop as much at night much later than normal, resulting in an October of primarily green trees. In the past few weeks, we have finally been seeing some color, though it was sadly short-lived, as many of the leaves have already begun falling.

While I love green, the autumn palette is my favorite, so it was with great pleasure that I stitched this month's block in our In the Garden Block of the Month series, Oak Leaves and Acorns. If you missed our first block, it is available on our website. You can read about Cornflowers by clicking here.

November block: Oak Leaves and Acorns

Our BOM class was held at Primitive Homespuns Wool & Needleworks on Sunday afternoon. We had a delightful time—lots of stitching and lots of laughing. As you can see in the photograph, there were moments of nearly silent concentration, with only the sound of needles pulling thread through our wool. And then the conversation would begin, as we got to know new stitching friends. This quaint shop offers such a charming setting for our classes!

We began by stapling our leaves and stem in place onto the background. Around each leaf, we blanket stitched with The Gentle Art Simply Wool™ thread, which blended into the wool beautifully, giving the leaves a crisp edge. Variegated Valdani Pearl Cotton 12 gave the veins a bit of pop and sheen.

I have been intrigued by the new Rustic Wool Moire™100% wool threads. I had bought several spools but hadn't tried them yet. The branch seemed to be the perfect opportunity, as I had a color that blended with the wool I used precisely. It was a little fussy to work with, needing gentle handling and a short stitching piece, but I loved the way it worked with the wool. The natural slubs in the thread give the branch a little texture, but it sinks right into the the wool fabric. I didn't, however, choose the wool for the acorn caps. 

To make the acorns, I cut out a piece of gold the shape of the entire acorn. I blanket stitched around about 3/4 of the acorn, and then I stuffed it with polyester fluff. You could as easily use batting scraps or shredded scraps of wool for stuffing. Then I finished blanket stitching the acorn. For the cap, I choose Weeks Dye Works™ Pearl Cotton 8, but you could use size 5 if you want bigger and fewer knots. I first outlined the cap with knots and then filled it in—with hundreds of knots. I use a pillow when I do knots, so that after I wrap the thread around the needle, I can stick it straight into the pillow, and pull the wraps tautly, as in the photo above. I then pick up my work, holding the thread at the base of the knot with my thumb, and I gently pull the needle through from the back, keeping my thumb at the knot. Easy, uniform knots!

So many knots! You can use French or Colonial knots.

Pick a great movie or TV show to binge-watch, and knot away! They give such a realistic textured effect to the acorn caps.

I also met with the Margaret Potts quilt BOM group this past weekend. We are embellishing the blocks with ribbon and embroidery. To read about the ribbon flowers we learned last month, read the post "Potts" of Ribbon Flowers. Several people brought their blocks in to share what they had accomplished thus far. We had some lovely and creative flower centers! Not only are the flowers centers different, but each block has a different kind of veins in the leaf. It is such fun to see the modifications that are made to reflect the makers' own tastes and styles. 

A circle of knots and one of seed beads

Filled with knots to complement the color of the vase

A mixture of French and bullion knots

This month, we used River Silks ribbon to embellish our flowers, playing with several stitches—a straight stitch and the ribbon stitch. The buds were made with folded wired ribbon, and the thorny stem was created using the wheat ear stitch. I can't wait to see how these flowers look on all the blocks next month! 

What a fun-filled, stitching weekend! The only thing that could be more fun than two stitching classes would be to end the weekend with a birthday party for a two-year-old princess. Which I did! I know this grandma is a bit biased, but I think she is a darling little princess!

Admiring herself in her princess gown 

But I digress! If you haven't ordered your Cornflowers pattern, they are available on our website (click here). And our new pattern, Oak Leaves and Acorns is now available as well! We'd love to have you join us In the Garden!

"Potts" of Ribbon Flowers

We have written about the Margaret Potts quilt many times in the past, and we have enjoyed teaching several workshops based on the blocks of this antique quilt, patterned by the Baltimore Appliqué Society. Last year, Kara and I (Teri) taught a Block of the Month series at our then-local quilt shop, Patches Quilting and Sewing. When it ended, the class wanted more, so we began a new batch of blocks—this time embellishing with ribbon. I thought you might enjoy studying our approach to this block, along with some highlights of our class. My intention was to include some photos of our class time, but with Kara in Germany, I had no "down time" to think about taking photos; we were having too much fun stitching! 

As before, since our focus was embroidered embellishment, we fused the blocks and covered the raw edges with stitches. Of course, the same effect could be achieved with needle-turn appliqué if you are totally opposed to fusing. The buds, calyxes, leaves, yellow flower centers, and vase were all fused, and then we were ready to begin embellishing.

A rectangle of yellow was fused beneath the window cut out of the blue vase fabric—what a "cheater" method of reverse appliqué! In fact, the light fusible creates a bit of a firmer surface for inking. In the original quilt, a name was inked in the center; I chose to simply write the date, but most people in class yesterday said they would probably write something different. I used Weeks Dye Works variegated floss to outline the edge of the vase with a scroll stitch.

The bud and calyx were outlined with a chain stitch. On the bud, I first outlined the center petal, and then the outer two petals to meet it. The leaves were all "veined" with a blanket stitch. For the larger ones, the edge of the blanket stitch creates the center vein, and the spokes go toward the leaf edge; a stem stitch covers the raw edge of the leaf. On the smaller leaves, the edge of the blanket stitch is on the outside of the leaf, covering the edge, and the spokes go toward the center of the leaf, creating the illusion of a center vein. To see a tutorial on these leaves, read Anna Scott's blog post, here.

The stems were made with River Silks 4mm silk ribbon, using a stem stitch. We played with this in class a bit, to see the difference the size of stitches make in the look of the ribbon stems. It took of bit of expectation-adjusting; everyone commented on how different the look and feel of the stitch is when compared to doing it with floss or pearl cotton. That's part of the charm! ☺

The flowers bloomed out of wired ribbon. We actually started the class with our flowers—why not start off with a bang? We had quite a lovely garden in no time at all. A whole lot faster than waiting for a real flower to bloom!

 If you would like to try these flowers, I've included a tutorial below. Have fun!

With tweezers or the tip of sharp scissors, bend the ends of the wires
to prevent them from getting lost in the ribbon.

Fold the ribbon in half, and securely stitch the ends together. 

I used a backstitch to create a seam, creating a circle out of the ribbon. 

Open the ribbon into that shape.

Using your fingers or tweezers, pull the two ends of the wire
on one side of the ribbon. They should be side-by-side
on one side of your seam. Gather them as tautly as you can. 

Wrap the wire near around your tweezers or scissors tips to secure the gathers, 

and trim the excess wire. You now have gathered the center of your flower.

The ribbon from the back

Checking the size with the pattern     

Pull the wires on the outside edge just about an inch. Secure and trim.    

From the back with trimmed wires

Adjust the gathers so they are even around the ribbon.

On a piece of cardboard or Styrofoam, use pins to manipulate the
outer wire into petal shapes. Start with the top and bottom,
then each side. Place pins where the wire is indented.

Divide each of the four sections in half. Use your finger to hold one half
of the section and drag the pin toward the center, creating two petal shapes. 

You might use two fingers to hold the petals and drag the pin between them.    

You should end up with 8 pins for 8 petals. 
(A smaller flower could have 6 petals.)    

Carefully remove the pins and secure to your background,
over the yellow center.    

Don’t worry if the shape shifts a bit. As you are appliquéing it down, you will be able to manipulate it into the shape you want. It’s wire…YOU are in control! With matching thread, appliqué around the inside and then outside, catching the wire and adjusting the gathers to look the way you want to as you stitch. Don’t be afraid to fuss with it! Use French knots around the inside edge, or beads, if you want sparkle. Have fun!    

We hope you'll try one of these flowers and let us know what you think. Enjoy!

Previous posts about Margaret Potts

"Potts" of Flowers

A Potts Palooza—Part One

A Potts Palooza—Part Two