Academy 2022 Offerings—Part 2

We are so excited about The Academy of Appliqué next year that we can hardly wait! The joy of anticipating a week with stitching friends, old—perhaps we should say experienced—and new always fills us will delight, but this year promises to be something especially wonderful!

Last week, Kara shared two of the blocks we will be teaching in Williamsburg next year. In both sessions, we are offering choices for you, so that you can choose either option, or both. In our first session, we add the Butterfly and Trillium to the Cascading Creek—both blocks from our Woodland Reverie series. Two years ago, we introduced this series with our spring and fall blocks (click HERE to see), but there is much fun to come as we explore the woodlands.

We are stitching each of our Woodland Reverie blocks on both a black background and a neutral one. It is fun to see how the colors behave so differently on the contrasting backgrounds. You have the advantage of seeing how the two colorways compare. This block begins with a basic papercut design for the fern; we use back-basting and will teach that method, but if you have a tried-and-true favorite method, that's always fine with us. Embroidery creates veins on the fern, and we created an appliquéd frame in the center using Dupioni silk to showcase our butterfly.

The trilliums are made with French wired ombré ribbon, and the center sparkles with metallic threads. 

The star of this block is a beautiful butterfly, ready to fly away. His wings are free to flap in the wind, as he is attached only in the center. The fun of discovering the perfect symmetrical fabric to fussy-cut for wings is an adventure in itself!

Many of the techniques used in the Cascading Creek and Butterfly and Trillium overlap, so while you might choose to work on one of them during class, you will be able to accomplish both if you desire.

Our second session will cover the center medallion of our Village Wanderings quilt, as well as the corner blocks, the seasonal trees. Because every village needs trees! We will cover the ribbon skills needed to complete the trees, as well as discuss the embroidery used for the little wool birds.

The bluebird sits in the budding spring tree.

A goldfinch in the leafy summer branches.

The woodpecker helps the turning leaves to fall.

The cardinal perches atop a barren snow-speckled wintry tree.

That is a lot of fun to have in one week!! Remember that registration opens at noon EDT on Labor Day. We don't envy you having to make choices among all the wonderful class offerings this year—there are so many wonderful classes from which to select! Of course, we would LOVE to have you joining the fun in one of our sessions, but whatever class you choose, please do plan to stop by to say hello. We'd love to say hi, or to meet you if we haven't yet had that pleasure. See you in February!!

To see the Academy of Appliqué class catalog, go to www.academyofapplique.com. 

"In the Garden" Again: Monarch and Butterfly Bush

It is officially summer, having celebrated the longest day of the year on Monday! The butterflies are beginning to make appearances in our gardens. But why not enjoy the beauty of a Monarch any time, without hoping he alights on your flowers? The printed pattern for Monarch and Butterfly Bush comes with 25 yards of silk ribbon to create the bloom, and is discounted 10% with the code BUTTERFLY10. Check out the tutorial below in the reprint of our original post!

 

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Thursday, July 19, 2018

"In the Garden"—Monarch and Butterfly Bush

Who doesn't love a monarch butterfly? It reigns over all in its species; well, at least its name implies royalty. But indeed, it is a beauty to behold. This week, we add to our In the Garden series with a monarch and a butterfly bush bloom. That, of course, sent me (Teri) on a quest to search through my photos to see if I had any suitable models for my butterfly. Alas, I had none perched on a butterfly bush, but a couple on lantana blooms—enough to get me started. So we hope you will enjoy the latest flower in our garden, along with its visiting monarch! 

This past weekend, at Primitive Homespuns Wool & Needleworks, we gathered in class and stitched some lovely blossoms to begin our butterfly bush blooms, and made some headway creating butterflies, as well. Here are some highlights of this block. 

First, I appliquéd the stems and leaves with matching thread and then appliquéd a piece of purple wool for the background of the blossoms. I realized after I got started that the wool I had was a bit dark, so I would recommend using a lighter wool, so you can stitch the blossoms a bit less densely if you choose. 

A backstitch creates the center vein, with feather stitches on either side. I didn't use a strongly contrasting green thread, but you might want to create more distinction.

To create the blossoms, I used 7mm silk ribbon, 4mm silk ribbon a shade darker, and floss for the tips. With the ribbon, I made French knots, but after I wrapped the ribbon around the needle, I took a couple of running stitches before taking the needle to the back, as pictured above.

When I do knots, I like to use a pillow. That way I can place the needle into the pillow, freeing both hands to adjust my threads or ribbon and pull them as taut as I want, and in this case, to adjust the petals created by the running stitches. Then, when I pick up my work from the pillow, I can hold it at the base of the needle when pulling it to the back, which creates a smoother knot. It is important to note here that since we are working with ribbon, a chenille needle is needed, so we can't wrap the ribbon too tightly, or it will be difficult to pull that wide eye through to the back. And don't expect every single knot to look the same—each will be as unique as each blossom on a real butterfly bush! Embrace the uniqueness. 

I created these blossoms randomly, with more of the lighter and wider ribbon at the bottom, mixed gradually with the darker and thinner ribbon toward the middle, and finally blending and finishing with regular French knots using all six strands of floss at the tip of the flower. I would caution you to be mindful that if you pack the knots really closely together at first, it's hard to spread them out after you've started. (Ask me how I know.) With the lighter purple wool in the back, it would be fine to spread your blossoms out a bit. You can always fill in gaps with more knots later if you want it to be denser, but you probably won't want to take out your ribbon knots. 

To stitch the butterfly, I cut two pieces of wool in the shape of the butterfly; I set one piece aside for the back and placed the other on a piece of muslin while I embroidered it. My iPad was primed with a photo that I followed as I embroidered. (The pattern gives you the design to stitch, so you don't have to create it as you go.) I used chain stitches to separate the top and bottom wings, and stem and straight stitches for the rest of the design on the wings. 

After all the black lines were embroidered on the wings, I did the body. When I stitched it, I started with the turkey work and then filled in with bullion stitches. The better way is definitely to stitch the bullions first, and fill in with turkey work, which was what we did in class. 

 

When I trimmed the turkey work, I left the threads around the body longer but trimmed the threads toward the bottom of the section very closely. White French knots on the sides of the bullion knots add detail to the body.

After trimming the muslin to the shape of the butterfly, I backed it with the other butterfly-shaped piece of wool and did a dense blanket stitch in black all the way around. To create the dots, I did a running stitch with white thread through the black blanket stitching around the edge, burying the knot between the layers. A few random straight stitches in pale yellow added the rest of the accents. 

A black flower pistil folded in half and stitched to the back of the head creates the antennae. 

I attached the butterfly to the flower by taking a few stitches with black thread through the center of the body. The wings are left free to "fly." 

    

 Our wonderful class stitching butterflies!

As I was writing this post, I realized that I had no good photos of a butterfly bush. My neighbor has just planted a beautiful butterfly garden, so I asked her if I could take a picture of her butterfly bush. When I was thanking her for the photo, I told her the only thing that was missing was the monarch.

She responded with a photo that she took of her newly planted garden with a monarch in flight, right next to the butterfly bush! How timely and perfect. Thanks, Joni!!

Photo by Joni Bittner

I cropped it to zoom in on the butterfly—isn't it lovely?!

The pattern for the Monarch and Butterfly Bush is now available on our website, If you haven't joined us In the Garden yet, we'd love for you to pay a visit. Maybe you can stitch your own garden!

All the patterns are available on our website (www.needleseyestories.com), and the hard copies of the patterns include any ribbon needed to complete the block. To read more about our other blocks in the series, click on the links below.

• Introducing "In the Garden," A BOM Series: Cornflowers
• "In the Garden"—Oak Leaves and Acorns
• "In the Garden"—Violets
• "In the Garden"—Cardinals and Holly
• "In the Garden"—Rose
• "In the Garden"—Robin and Forsythia
• "in the Garden"—Dragonfly and Fern
• "In the Garden"—Hummingbird and Fuchsia
• "In the Garden"—Hydrangea

Stitching a Tea Cozy Garden

A few months ago, I (Teri) joined the local chapter of the Embroiderers' Guild of America. Each month at the meetings, an embroidery project is offered; at my first meeting it was a cute little tea cozy, made with buttons. I love tea, and I have a vast collections of buttons, so I gathered some fun buttons and threads and set off on my new adventure. 

I love to challenge myself to learn new stitches or to make them with different threads or applications. For this project, I chose to focus on using Painters Threads and floss by Weeks Dye Works. I had a wonderful time experimenting and just playing, without a real plan. The tea cozy went together pretty quickly, and I think it looks pretty happy sitting on my counter. I had intended to make it as a gift, so it will be a bit difficult to part with it! 

We were given a lovely kit that included the cut pieces of linen, the liner, and the insulating fabric. The butterfly buttons were available for us as well. This is how I created my button-embroidered tea cozy garden.

Choosing the buttons and arranging them was my biggest challenge.
Once I was pleased, I took a picture to follow as a guide.

Stems were lightly drawn with pencil and stitched with a stem stitch or chain stitch.
I used Painters Threads pearl #8, Turner. I then sewed all the buttons on with Weeks Dye Works floss, two strands of Saffron.

From left to right, these are the stitches and threads I used for each flower.

Picot stitch with Weeks Dye Works floss, Grenadine

Pistil stitches with Painters Threads pearl #5, Van Gogh

Colonial knots with Painters Threads pearl #8, Grandma Moses
and lazy daisy stitches with Weeks floss, Grenadine

Lazy daisy petals with Painters Threads metallic braid #4, Grandma Moses;
 ribbon stitch leaves with Painters Threads 7mm ribbon, Turner

 

The bee is made with DMC pearl #12, a bullion knot made with one strand each of black and yellow, with wings of loops made with Painters Threads metallic braid #4, Longan. To see a tutorial on making the bee, read our Garden Gate post by clicking here.

Drizzle stitches with Weeks floss, Autumn Leaves

Colonial knots and fly stitches with Weeks floss, Grenadine

This button is ringed with cast-on stitches that overlap to create the petals,
made with Painters Threads metallic braid #4, Van Gogh.

Left leaf—fishbone stitch, right—stacked fly stitches
Painters Threads pearl #8, Turner

Leaves, left to right: lazy daisy stitch with 7mm ribbon, stacked fly stitches with pearl #8, stacked lazy daisy stitches with Weeks floss, ribbon stitches with 7mm ribbon. Straight stitches with metallic braid #4 makes the flower. (All but floss is Painters Threads.) 

Pekinese stitch with Painters Threads pearl #8, Grandma Moses

Bullion stitches with Painters Threads pearl #5, Van Gogh

I changed the position of the butterfly button from my original plan; it seemed to be more balanced amidst the flowers. And the bees just completed my garden. As I write this, the weather is dreary and damp. I think I will go make some tea! Won't you join me?