Grandpa's Garden #2

When I posted my portion of the Round Robin, which I titled Grandpa's Garden, I wanted to include a photo of a tree with cow charm. But, my camera took a perfectly horrible photo that was so out of focus, I barely recognized it had a tree in it. Of course, the block was already on it's way before I realized this error. My cyber sister was to my rescue and send me a better photo once the block was received. So, belatedly, I thought I'd share it.

TDiTM Stitch #9

Reference: Twelve Dozen Stitches in Twelve Months

This flower is short enough to use on smaller projects or small patch pieces. It would be cute worked along a seam without the zigzag…just evenly space the flowers, or connect with a simple long straight stitch.

Olive green Perle cotton (sz 5) was used to stitch the zigzag, flower stem, and flower leaves…but the stem would be pretty done in brown as well. Chili pepper red Perle cotton (sz 5) was used to stitch the flower bud. The bud is a collection of French knots, grouped to form a round shape, with five straight stitches radiating from the top.

The sequence of stitching is:
1. Stitch the zigzag
2. Stitch the straight stitch vertical stem first…then the outside lazy daisy leaves which are at 45 degree to the base.
3. Stitch the French knots starting with the center row of 3…place these centered slightly above the stem. Then stitch the 2 french knots below this line of 3…and the 2 french knots above this line of 3. This will form a circular shape cluster of French knots.
4. Stitch the straight stitches above the top row of lazy daises.
5. Red seed beads provide an alternate for French knots, as shown in the beaded photo.

An alternate stitch would be to do the flowers without the straight stitches at the top as well.

TDiTM Stitch #8

Reference: Twelve Dozen Stitches in Twelve Months

It has been pretty cold these last few days, and I'm ready for Spring to be here! The grass is all brown now, and there are no flowers. So, when this little daisy popped into my head...it was surely a welcome thought! And, opened a flood gate of floral ideas!! So, we will be walking through the gardens of my mind for the next few stitches.

The assembly of this stitch is very simple...and can be easily followed along with just the chart I think. The colors chosen were very traditional yellow and green (perle cotton #5)...with a yellow crystal for the beaded center variety...but I thought white with brown or black in the center would be good. Of course, would not have photographed very well on the white fabric I'm working from...so the yellow it is!

TDiTM Stitch #7

Lucky 7 !!!

Reference: Twelve Dozen Stitches in Twelve Months

Hope ya’ll are enjoying the stitching. I’m having a wonderful time just letting the ideas flow…not that lazy daisy, French knot, and straight stitch really call for a lot of “brain power”. But, still…it’s fun!

This is a pretty quick stitch…not overly complicated…and I like the change-up between the daisies and the straight stitch…just make sure you mark it off so you leave the same amount of “spaces” for the daisies each time.

The sequence of stitching is very simple:
1. Stitch the zigzag
2. Stitch the Straight Stitches. For this, I stitch the vertical stitch first…then the outside stitches because they are at 45 degree to the base…and then stitch the second and fifth straight stitches…since they are half way between the vertical and 45 degree ones. Hope this makes sense to you.
3. Stitch the French knots
4. Stitch the Lazy daisies starting with the center one...which is a little larger than the two outside ones.

I used Perle (cotton) size 8, in light and dark purple to stitch the sample; and added purple Rocialles on the beaded version.

TDiTM Stitch #6

Reference: Twelve Dozen Stitches in Twelve Months

Here’s another stitch that is a good candidate for variegated threads. The sample is done in perle (cotton) size 8, beige and medium purple. The beaded version replaces the French knots with Swarovski® Crystals (bicone, 2mm, color: jet AB).

Here is the order of stitches I completed to create this combination stitch:

Step 1: Stitch the zigzag
Step 2: Stitch the straight stitches below the zigzag
Step 3: Stitch the straight stitches above the zigzag, leave enough room for the French knot
Step 4: Stitch the French knot
Step 5: Stitch the lazy daisies, one center large and four smaller ones