"In the Garden" Again: Wheelbarrow of Flowers

 

We are rapidly nearing an end to our revisit In the Garden. It has been fun for us to study these blocks again, with fond memories of teaching these classes. As things are beginning to open up post-pandemic, we look forward to teaching at shops and guilds again! I (Teri) had such fun stitching this one, as the wheelbarrow is filled with many of my favorite flowers; we hope you enjoy it as well. And remember, the printed pattern with ribbon is 10% off this week, using the promo code WHEELBARROW.

🌼🌼🌼🌼🌼🌼🌼🌼🌼🌼🌼🌼🌼🌼🌼

Thursday, October 18, 2018

"In the Garden"—Wheelbarrow of Flowers

Well, we have made it to the final block in our In the Garden Block of the Month Series! Our final block is a wheelbarrow full of flowers. Several years ago, I (Teri) had an old rusted wheelbarrow that I used as a planter to hide an ugly corner of our home's foundation. That year, I planted it with coleus and sweet potato vines. But this wheelbarrow was to be filled with a variety of favorite flowers we had not yet stitched.

My garden wheelbarrow

We had such a fun time in our class this past weekend at Primitive Homespuns Wool & Needleworks, that I didn't pause to take a single photo! The afternoon was over so quickly that we were all surprised when it was time to pack and head home to stitch. Here are a few highlights of the block.

The wool pieces for the wheelbarrow and birdhouse are appliquéd in place using a matching thread. Because the weave of the wool that I used for the roof of the birdhouse was pretty loose, I used a buttonhole stitch to give it a cleaner look. A piece of dark wool was placed behind the hole in the house to give the illusion of going inside.

I stitched the spokes of the wheel using a dark pearl cotton—three lines intersecting at the center, dividing the wheel into six sections. I searched my button stash the hub of the wheel, but you could just appliqué a circle of wool there. (Or you could embroider a circle with a fun circular stitch!)

  

I had appliquéd a piece of plaid green wool to the top of the wheelbarrow to serve as a background for the flowers. I knew I wanted to stitch black-eyed Susans. I've been a Marylander most of my life, and our state flower has always been a favorite. I used yellow silk ribbon stitches to create the petals' pearl cotton knots for the centers. 

Did you know that the black-eyed Susan was chosen as Maryland's state flower because it has the same colors as part of our state flag; it has an average of 13 petals, and MD was one of the original 13 states; and, it usually blooms on or around Independence Day? You are welcome for that piece of fascinating trivia!

I wanted to pull some of the purples that were throughout the quilt, so I chose salvia as another flower to stitch. I used pearl cotton to create the stems and leaves, and stacked fly stitches topped with a French knot for the blooms. I highlighted the purple pearl cotton that I used with a strand of light purple, so the blooms would pop a bit more. The purple I chose seemed to be so dark that it nearly disappeared, and adding the lighter color helped.

I also knew I wanted to include daisies, so I moved to the other side of the wheelbarrow and created the daisies using—of course—lazy daisy stitches. I varied the number of petals, to keep it interesting and to better fill the space. I used yellow ribbon French knots for the centers, but you could just as easily use floss or pearl cotton. The leaves are green ribbon stitches with silk ribbon.

The bullion roses were a new technique that we learned in class. I started with two yellow bullion stitches in the center, and then used a variegated pink to create the outer petals with overlapping bullion stitches. The buds were created using just two or three bullions. The calyxes were also made of bullion knots, using green pearl. I filled in the space with a few French knots. Be sure that you are wrapping the thread around the needle more times than you need to fill the space, so that it creates a curved stitch that will nestle around the previous stitches. And using a milliner's needle (size 1, 3, or 5) will make these knots SO much easier and more enjoyable!! It is much easier to pull this needle through all the wraps on the needle because the entire shaft is the same width. Ask me how I learned NOT to try these knots with a chenille needle... For a tutorial on making a bullion rose, click here or here.



The remaining space was filled in with lavender. I love lavender, and I know that I have taken photos of it in the past, but unfortunately, I couldn't locate any of them to share. To stitch it, I filled the area with small feather stitches using green wool thread, and then I just randomly made the lavender French knots throughout the section. Lavender is a great filler, both in a dirty garden and a stitched one! The stitched lavender does miss that wonderful aroma, though.

The wheelbarrow was finished, but my birdhouse needed a bird. I decided to add some yellow and make a goldfinch. He flew down and perched on the tire before going into his house. To stitch him, I outlined the body with an outline stitch and filled it with yellow stem stitches and straight stitches. I followed a photo I had taken to add the black and white wings and the black top of his head. A French knot with a small white stitch formed his twinkling eye. I used a pale orange floss to make his beak and claws. I think he's pretty cute!

One of the hardest things for me to learn when we started embroidering blooms with a variety of ribbons and threads is that there is likely to be a fair amount of variation. If I absolutely HATE the way a wonky stitch makes me feel when I look at it, I un-stitch. But more often than not, I keep stitching, and when the piece is finished, what looked horrid to me at first becomes hardly noticeable—even to me. I have spent a lot of time in gardens taking pictures of flowers, and I have come to realize that few of them are perfect. Well, they ARE perfect—in their imperfection! The petals are not all the same size or shape, bugs eat holes in some of them, the wind blows some away. While there are times that I redo a flower or two, especially when I am experimenting, a lot of times, I surprise myself and find that what I first considered a mistake just added some realistic charm to my garden. 

If you have ever taken a class with us, you know that we love to discuss the organic nature of our flower-stitching. I saw this plaque yesterday while I was shopping and thought it a perfect mantra. Remember: 

Stitching is supposed to be fun! Enjoy the organic nature of your garden.

Our Wheelbarrow of Flowers pattern is now available on our website, along with the other blocks in the series. As always, the hard copy of the pattern includes the ribbon needed to make the block. Next month, we will be creating a top border for our quilt, and we will discuss assembling the In the Garden quilt. We are almost finished!

Wheelbarrow of Flowers

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 Fuschia
• "In the Garden"—Hydrangea
• "In the Garden"—Monarch and Butterfly Bush
• "In the Garden"—Garden Gate

We would love to see you In the Garden!

“In the Garden” Again: Garden Gate

Today, we are taking care of a little housekeeping and letting you know about some changes coming soon. Due to changes in Blogger, our blog can no longer be delivered to your mailbox. Never fear though, you can still read our blog by going directly to it, checking social media, or better yet, sign-up for our newsletter and the blog links will always be included. Because of these changes we are in the midst of re-evaluating the future direction of our blog and its frequency. We will keep you posted as we go forward and hope you will still continue to support our little blog of stories, tutorials, and vintage beauties!

Now, on to this week's In the Garden post; this week, we are highlighting the Garden Gate block. I (Kara) began this block when I was in Malta, which seems like so many years ago. This is a bigger block, and the post below will give you lots of tips and tricks for managing the size. My favorite part about this block was creating the tiny little bees—they are so much fun to make! This week, beginning Thursday, July 1, take 10% off the digital pattern price by using the code GATE.

   🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝

Thursday, September 13, 2018

Because of my trip to Europe in August, we took a hiatus from our Block of the Month, but we are back to finish this quilt! On Sunday, I (Teri) taught the class on our newest block, Garden Gate, at Primitive Homespuns Wool & Needleworks in Frederick, MD. As always, we had lots of fun as we reviewed the techniques used to create this block. And the shop has just moved into a larger building, so we enjoyed a bit more room in which to stitch! A happy respite from our rainy day. 

Following are a few highlights for creating the Garden Gate, which is now available on our website.

 

Our beautiful new space allotted us plenty of room to spread out and stitch. As you can see above, I have the blocks assembled and am preparing for the borders and quilting next.

 

We had to do a bit of puzzle work to fit all the gate pieces onto the piece of wool that we had. Here is how one person got hers arranged so everything fit. 

Kara actually made this particular block, and her biggest piece of advice was to fuse the gate pieces. I tend to prefer stapling my pieces, but she said that because the piece was so large, she had to fuse the rails to be sure they didn't shift. Someone in class yesterday said that her pieces never stay fused. We discussed the possibility of using steam on a wool setting, and pressing it from the front and then the back for better hold. You could also fuse AND staple and/or pin, as Kara did above! 

After the arch and railings are appliquéd to the background, stitch the hinges and capstones. 

 

For the sunflowers, appliqué the back petals, and then use a stem stitch in the center of the front petals, echoing the edge. Kara added a bit of batting beneath the brown center before she appliquéd it down, and then added French knots, using a mixture of ribbon and floss for the seeds.

We placed the flowers before stitching the stems and leaves.

 

The flower stems are done using either chain stitch or the Hungarian braided chain. The Hungarian braided chain is used on the Cornflower block; you can see how to do it by clicking here. The leaves are then stapled, pinned, or fused in place, and surrounded by a blanket stitch with angled spokes creating the veins. To see another example of this leaf treatment, check out the Dragonfly and Fern leaves by clicking here.

A finished leaf

The beehive is appliquéd and embroidered. Brown pearl cotton is used for the rose stem (chain stitch) and roses are added, using the gathered French knot with white silk ribbon. It is the same ribbon stitch used to create the Butterfly Bush, which you can see modeled by clicking here. 

The roses will be scattered amongst the stems, and leaves are added with green silk ribbon using the ribbon stitch. The ribbon needed to create the roses, leaves, and sunflower seeds is included with the pattern.

And you can't have a beehive without bees! These little bullion bees are just SO fun. We had a great time making them in class. 

Thread a large milliners needle with two pieces of size 12 pearl cotton: one each of yellow and black.

 

Carefully wrap the threads around your needle so that the two colors alternate—about five wraps.

Pull the needle through the wraps gently, and take the thread to the back at the end of the stitch. 

All you need are wings, made by two small loops anchored with a tack stitch hidden beneath the bullion body, using one strand of white floss.

Cutest little bees ever!

It's never too late to join us In the Garden! We have one more block to go, and then we are ready to do the border and assemble the quilt. We would love to see photos of any of the blocks you have done. You can email them to us, or share them on our Facebook page.

All the patterns, which include any ribbon needed to complete the block, are available in our website store. 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 Fuschia
• "In the Garden"—Hydrangea
• "In the Garden"—Monarch and Butterfly Bush

"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!

 

🦋🦋🦋🦋🦋🦋🦋🦋🦋🦋🦋🦋🦋🦋🦋

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