TDiTM Stitch #13

Reference: Twelve Dozen Stitches in Twelve Months This is a little combination floral seam of one tall flower and one tiny little ground cover flower. It is quick and easy…especially if you use flower cap beads instead of the French knots for the tiny ground cover flowers. Stitched in perle cotton (sz 5); light green for stems and center French knot, lilac daisy stitches and French knots. The beaded version has flower beads, tiger eyes in lime green, and seed beads. The sequence of stitching is: 1. Stitch the zigzag 2. Stitch the Straight stitches for stem. 3. Stitch the lazy daisies for the large flower. 4. Stitch the French knots at the top of the large flower, and for the tiny flower.

Pink Flower Bed

I've been working on some round robin blocks lately. And, put TDiTM Stitch #12 on one of them. A little pink flower bed...

TDiTM Stitch #12

Reference: Twelve Dozen Stitches in Twelve Months

This little stitch was created in my mind a couple of week ago, and had to wait it's turn to be posted. To date, it is my very favorite! I seem to be saying "It's a simple little stitch!" quite often lately...but it's true!

An unexpected pleasure of this stitch is that when done upside down it reminds you of wisteria or grapes, and right side up of hyacinths...or, at least, to me it does.

The stem and leaves are medium green perle 8 cotton, and the french knots are a variegated purple/blue perle 8 cotton.

Stitch the zigzag, stem, and leaves. Then build the stack of french knots starting at the bottom in layers. The flowers are identical until you get about half-way up, then the position of the knots change. This positioning causes them to appear to have some real life, and I like that very much.

I'm finally glad to share this little beauty, as I've been "holding off" stitching it on any of my projects until you could see it. And, as I am numbering these on my computer as I go, I didn't want to get out of sequence!

TDiTM Stitch #11

Reference: Twelve Dozen Stitches in Twelve Months

This little flower is a result of my wondering about how Stitch #10 might look if the stems were longer so the flower was fuller and not at tall.

The entire flower is stitched in Perle cotton (sz 5); rose for the petals (lazy daisy stitches) and top (French knots); and olive green leaves (lazy daisy), French knot, and zigzag base.

The sequence of stitching is:
1. Stitch the zigzag
2. Stitch the green vertical stems and French knot.
3. Stitch the outside lazy daisy leaves
3. Stitch the petal lazy daisy stitches.
4. Stitch the petal French knots.

This is a simple little flower to do. An option would be to fill in the center stem area with a star or flower shaped bead. Bead spacers (metallic) might also be a good option for dressing up this little wild flower.

TDiTM Stitch #10

Reference: Twelve Dozen Stitches in Twelve Months

Here’s another simple flower. I like the darker shade of blue for the bottom “petals” which are slightly shorter than the upper petals…but wish that I had stitched the French knots in the darker blue rather than the stem color.

The entire flower is stitched in Perle cotton (sz 5); royal blue and sky blue for the petals (lazy daisy stitches) and olive green for the stem (straight stitch) top (French knots) leaves (lazy daisy) and zigzag base.

Another alternative would be to drop the green base petals…and stitch the zigzag in lazy daisy instead of straight stitch....hmmmmmm, a good idea for “future” stitches!...

Of course, anytime you have French knots, they can be substituted with seed beads; just as in the last photo.

The sequence of stitching is:
1. Stitch the zigzag.
2. Stitch the green vertical stem, then the outside lazy daisy leaves, then the French knots.
3. Stitch the darker base petal lazy daisy stitches, pointing them slightly down.
4. Stitch the upper petal lazy daisy stitches starting with the very top vertical stitch then work the outside top stitches and then fill in with the lower top stitches. Fit them into the “space” of the stitch, and don’t go outside the zigzag width so each “flower” has room.

This is a simple seam treatment, but has possibilities for change. If you built it a little taller by adding a couple more French knots and one more row of loops, it might resemble hyacinths in bloom.