Folk Art Flower Embroidery - part two

I finished the stitching on the Folk Art Flower project.  

The double head flower makes for a nice border accent.  Here I used it on a tea towel.

Can you see all the different stitches I used?  The stem of the flower is Whipped Back Stitch.  The leaves are Lazy Daisy Stitch with a Straight Stitch center:

The flower has Satin Stitch petals, a blue circle of Laced Running Stitch, a light blue circle of Double Knot Stitch, a red circle of Running Stitch and a Lazy Daisy center.  I added French Knots all around as accents.  

For the color palette, I used bright folk art colors - here are the floss numbers:

Baseball Theme Quilt Labels

I have a new set of Quilt Labels available in my shop.  These set is baseball themed!

As I have explained with my other sets, I print these on adhesive backed cotton sheets that can be run through a laser jet printer:

Once printed, I can remove the adhesive backing from the 100% cotton label and trim.  

Then I set the ink by using a dry iron on a high heat setting.

and the label is ready to use!  The best thing about these labels are that they can be customized by the user.  The labels have editable text boxes so that a customized message can be added.  The text font style, size and color can all be changed.

The labels are in pdf format and can be customized using the free program Adobe Reader.

There are also care instruction labels included.  These too may be customized:

There are 19 full color decorative labels, two blank labels and two care instruction labels.  The labels range in size from 3" x 2" to 5" x 5". 

I enjoy making labels for quilts, it is really nice to be able to add all the custom information I want and especially to be able to select different colors and fonts.

Raised Chevron Stitch

Time for another 100 Stitches post.  This is the Raised Chevron Stitch.        

This is a heavy composite line stitch made up of two rows of diagonal "V" shapes that are then threaded by a variation of the Chevron Stitch.  Sounds simple and basic.  It was not easy for me! Here is my attempt.

I found the instructions for this in the book Embroidery Stitches by Mary Webb.  She suggests using a ruler to draw guidelines to keep the v shapes straight and even.  So that is how I started:

I used two different colored threads:

The first step is to come up through the fabric and start the v shapes:

 

and continuing that along the bottom horizontal line:

Then I turned the hoop around and did the same along the top line:

So far, so good.  Now comes the "threading".  I am using white floss and starting by coming up through the fabric in the middle space between the v's:

Once the needle and floss are pulled all the way through, I attempted the Chevron Stitch - notice the needle is now just going over and under the v's.  It is not going back into the fabric:

Over and under the legs of the V's:

alternating between the bottom row and the top row:

all the way across:

There is not a finished picture of the Raised Chevron Stitch in Embroidery Stitches with which to compare my finished work. 

Work In Progress - Folk Art Flower

 I have a new project to share - this is a flower border from my Folk Art Flowers embroidery pattern set. 

I am experimenting with several folk art inspired colors and some interesting stitches:

When I finish all the stitching, I will share the stitch information and my floss color numbers!

I have shared several projects from this pattern set - you may remember this:

and this:

And now this - so many different color palette options for flowers!

Color Palette Inspiration

 This vintage image has such a lovely and unusual color palette.  

I would like to use this palette in an embroidery project, so I am collecting floss that will match as closely as possible.    

I matched the main colors, ending up with a 10 color palette: 

I like to add new inspiration pictures and their color palettes in my inspiration journal.  I usually glue the picture in first:

then add floss swatches and numbers:

Trim everything up:

and start planning what I will make using this palette.

Whipped Fly Stitch

 The latest stitch on my 100 Stitches list is the Whipped Fly Stitch.

This easy stitch is started by forming a Fly Stitch.  You can see my Fly Stitch tutorial here. Then, the Fly Stitch is whipped {usually in a different color}.  I am going to use these two greens in perle cotton to form my stitch.  The dark green is DMC 3347 and the light green is DMC 164:

The first step is to form a vertical line of Fly Stitches:

Now the line of Fly Stitches can be whipped with the second color.  To start, I brought the needle up through the fabric inside the first Fly Stitch:

I pulled the floss all the way through and then wove it 

over the diagonal arm of the Fly Stitch and under the vertical anchoring arm:

  

I continued with the next Fly Stitch.  Notice that the needle is not going back into the fabric, it is just sliding over and under the arms of the Fly Stitches:

At the bottom of the line, I took the needle back down through the fabric and secured the floss on the underside:

I learned this beautiful stitch from the book Embroidery Stitches by Mary Webb.