First Tablecloth

This was the first Rose & Flower Tablecloth I embroidered. It was a Christmas present from Grandma in high school. She had taught me how to embroider on pillows, towels, and table runners before this project. It was a graduation present in the real world of embroidery for me. We still use this cloth on special occasions and I love the colorful array of flowers in the pattern. It is a “Rose and Daisy” Bucilla tablecloth kit.

You can see a row of flowers in a circular-shaped arrangement down the middle of the tablecloth that is bordered by curvy rows of daisies along each side. Each corner has the same rose that goes down the center. Spaced on the edges are a few rose buds with daisies. This took me a full year to finish, and there were many times when I thought I would never get it done. Doing a project like this teaches so much patience and perseverance. Believe me, it is quite an accomplishment to be able to finish this.

The more open rose bloom is a beautiful line drawing and the change in color from the darker red interior to the pink exterior is just classic. The leaves are expressive among the scattered daisies all around it. One of the difficult things to figure out was how to do the thorns on the rose stem. If the point is not done right, they curve instead of coming to a good point. Do you notice how many times the color of the embroidery floss changes?

Here is the smaller budding rose and daisy arrangement that is spaced along the side edges. It was great to have a smaller area every once in a while. Whew. The stitches used in this one are outline, line, lazy daisy and french knots in many, many, many colors.