Hot Air Balloon Embroidery Project

 I finished the stitching on another of the motifs in the Hot Air Balloon embroidery pattern set.  This one features a balloon caught in a storm.

For the clouds and wind I used variegated color floss. I love to use this floss because the progression of color along the floss gives a sense of movement.  This effect is perfect for stitching storm clouds!  All of these lines are done with Stem Stitch:   

For the sun, I used Stem Stitch and Straight Stitch. 

The balloon is outlined with Back Stitch.  The middle curved line is Double Knot Stitch and the other two are Stem Stitch. The "rosettes" on the middle curved line and the bottom curved line are Buttonhole Stitch. The top curved line has French Knots The big pink X's are Stem Stitch with a Cross Stitch at each center point. 

The basket is outlined in Back Stitch.  The top half is Whipped Stem Stitch.  I used Straight Stitches for the fill: 

I am recording all the details about this project for my embroidery journal: 

Here is the list of floss colors I used:

Point a la Minute Stitch

Time for another 100 Stitches Plus post!  

I have learned a new stitch from Mary Webb's book Embroidery Stitches.

This is the Point a la Minute Stitch.  

This stitch consists of eight Straight Stitches arranged to form a cross shape with an open center.  It is made up of two sets of two vertical and two sets of two horizontal stitches.  These stitches are then whipped all the way around the cross shape.

To start, I formed the four vertical Straight Stitches: 

And then the four horizontal Straight Stitches:

For the whipping, I came up through the fabric under one of the horizontal stitches:

and whipped {or wrapped} the working floss around the Straight Stitch - notice the needle does not go back into or pick up any of the fabric, it just slides along the surface of the fabric, under the Straight Stitch: 

I kept whipping around and around:

and once the first Straight Stitch was completely whipped, I moved onto the vertical: 

I whipped my way around all of the Straight Stitches:

When all of the Straight Stitches were whipped, I was back to where I started and just went back into the fabric 

and secured my floss underneath. Since most of the action takes place on top of the fabric, this leaves the underside very neat:

The floss i used is a perle cotton floss.  This color is DMC color variations no. 4040

Easter Embroidery Project Part Three

I have finished my Easter embroidery project - and right in time!
You may remember from my previous posts on this project {part one} {part two} that I am making some Easter napkins.  
I used a variety of motifs from the Easter Embroidery Pattern:

I used four different egg motifs and stitched them in two spring colors - pink and yellow. 

For the grass and flowers, I used the same colors on all of the napkins - pale teal blue and mint green.

I used the Stem Stitch for all the grass and flower stems.  All of the eggs have rows of Straight Stitch in white or yellow.   All of the flowers are French Knots.

On this egg, I used the Stem Stitch to outline the egg, the Blanket Stitch for the top and bottom decorative lines, the Herringbone Stitch for the second line and the Chain Stitch for the third line. 

This egg is outlined with the Back Stitch and has Stem Stitch decorative lines:

This egg is outlined with the Back Stitch and has clusters of French Knots:

This egg is also outlined with the Back Stitch and has Double Knot Stitch decorative lines:

I am really pleased with these and am looking forward to using them this Easter!

Here are the floss colors I used:

Hot Air Balloon Embroidery Pattern

I have a new pattern set available in my Etsy shop.  

The pattern set is called Hot Air Balloons  

I am almost finished stitching these first two balloons and am looking forward to my next project from this set: