Flower Basket Pillowcase

The progress on the flower basket pillowcase with a blue ribbon has been gradual. In my last post about this guy, we had just finished with the majority of the satin stitching on the blossoms. The basket line work and the blue ribbon were also complete. Beginning with the right side and working to the left, the vines and leaves had only just begun.

Pillow Flower Basket 07Satin Stitch

You can see up close, how the satin stitching is beginning to work together. If you have problems with your hand satin stitching check this site out. It is kind of exciting to see how the satin stitch works, isn’t it? Sometimes, I haven’t done a stitch for a while and I get lost. When that happens, I just look it up on the world-wide-web. It is amazing how many high-quality little lessons are available to learn better techniques.

Pillow Flower Basket 08 Details

Progress is made on this as more detailed work gets done. Gradually, it becomes easier to see flowers as they come to life.  The Flower stamens, then outlining begins on the flower petals. I am actually using some really different outlines to see what it would look like. For example, see the maroon blossoms outlined with pale yellow. Hmmm.Pillow Flower Basket 09 In all honesty, there are so many shapes in this pattern that it is a little confusing at times. Am I stitching on a leaf or a vine?Pillow Flower Basket 10 Now, you can see that as more and more of the objects are filled with color it then gets easier to differentiate between a leaf and a vine.  Pillow Flower Basket 11

My plan of attack from here will be to complete the work on outlining and details. Little touches here and there will get it to look exactly the way I want it to. Zing! a pillow full of love, to lay your head on and sleep.

New Pillow Case

Pillow Flower Basket 01Embroidering a new pillow case in the evenings. It is a “Flower Basket” pattern from one of my many iron-on patterns purchased over the years from (Aunt Martha’s). I love the way this one has a little ribbon tied to the basket handle.

Pillow Flower Basket 01Really, I don’t know what kind of flower is portrayed in this design. Not taking the time to research it, I am using any color that I feel like for the flowers. If you do know what kind of flower this is, please let me know. In the flower petals, there will be lots and lots of satin stitches happening.

Pillow Flower Basket 03Now, you can see some of the gold flowers have the stamen (anther & filament) done in black lines and french knots, coming out of the middle of the flower.

Pillow Flower Basket 05I am using all kinds of different greens on the leaves and vines and a good mixture of reds, yellows, and pinks on all the flowers. This is the most enjoyable way for me to paint with thread, just do whatever I feel like. How about pink? Nah, Yellow-orange, yeah that fits right here.

Pillow Flower Basket 06You can see that the ribbon is one of my favorite blues, I have a lot of shirts in this color. We all know it takes some time to finish one of these pillowcases. But, embroidery is a lot of fun for my hands in the evening. A repetitious movement calms me as I take one stitch after the other. I almost can feel the presence of my Mom, Grandma, and Great Grandma in the room sometimes. We enjoyed sitting in the living room doing our crafts together and visiting as we listened to music.

Finish This Pillowcase

Pillow 3 HummingBirds 10Here are the gradual steps that are taken to finish this pillowcase with 3 hummingbird iron-on patterns. Three different arrangements of birds, flowers, and foliage across this single bed linen.

On the left side is the close-up of the side view of a hummingbird hovering over a satin-stitched orange/yellow blossom on the pillowcase. I start off stitching him by using green threads on his main body with some white area around random short stitches which makes a cool feathery pattern.
Pillow 3 HummingBirds 03

I add horizontal feather stitches on the wings and tail in a deep purple. Then add random red stitching for his head cap area. Black lines emphasize the underside of his body shape, his beak and eye, and the individual feathers. Then turquoise blue is used to outline his upper body shape and wing tops. This hummingbird flying toward us is showing his underside to us with flowers behind. His wings and tail feathers begin in blue stitching.Pillow 3 HummingBirds 06 He is satin stitched in greens on his body and the wing tops along with a light amount of yellow highlight. His chest is a brilliant yellow and the underside of his throat is left white. Dark royal blue is used to outline the feathers on his outstretched wings.Pillow 3 HummingBirds 07

The third guy is a side view hummer sticking his beak into some pink and orange honeysuckle blossoms. His body is done in dark green with a small under-the-neck area of red. his wings are done in medium green with light green tops. Black is outlining his body shape and between his wing feathers. This has been a fun project for early spring as I wait for the real hummingbirds to arrive.

Pillow 3 HummingBirds 09

Pillow 3 Hummers Begin

Pillow 3 HummingBirds 01This pillow has 3 hummers (hummingbirds) on it from iron-on patterns (Aunt Martha’s). These are three different arrangements of birds, flowers, and foliage. I have forgotten to get a picture of the patterns before I started stitching, but here it is with just the foliage done and the birds not so much. A closeup of the side view of a hummingbird hovering over an orange/yellow blossom is on the left side of the pillowcase.

Pillow 3 HummingBirds 02Close up of a humming flying toward us showing his underside is in the middle with some maroon and purple/pink petal flowers in the background. I have only started to stitch the underside of this bird’s wings and tail feathers in blues.Pillow 3 HummingBirds 06

The third is a close-up side view again of the hummer on the right who is sticking his beak into some pink and orange honeysuckle blossoms.Pillow 3 HummingBirds 08

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Pillowcase Two H Birds

Pillowcase Humming Bird Two 01Just finished embroidering a white Pillowcase Two H Birds. Usually, I draw my own pattern but these two hummingbirds are from an iron-on pattern by Aunt Martha’s Transfer iron-on patterns.

Pillowcase Humming Bird Two 02Here is the pillowcase all washed, ironed, and folded on the dining room table. I really took the easy way out on this, with the pattern and also failing to take pictures as the project gradually progressed. You’ll have to use your imagination.

Pillowcase Humming Bird Two 03This hummer on the left side has his beak inserted into the middle flower on the vine where I went with orange or pink petals with a dark maroon center. I used some unusual colors to show his feathers underneath his body in purple. His wings match some of the vine greens with the addition of turquoise in his flying feathers.

Pillowcase Humming Bird Two 04This hummingbird on the right started out as a basic green feathered dude. I added dark blue for shadows then a red under his neck, adding the black outline and feathers for his beak, feathers, and eye outline. Finally, I put some random golden brown scattered across his whole body. I like the way that the flecks of golden brown kind of make it look like his body is shimmering. I think I will use this process in satin stitching in the future again. His flowers utilize the same color as the bird on the left but there is only one blossom on this side.

Cutwork Flower Tablecloth

Cutwork Flower Table 13This Cutwork Flower Tablecloth was a discovery at a garage sale. It was sitting on a table full of miscellaneous craft materials. When I unfolded it, there were stains all over it. Would I be able to get them out? I could smell cigarette smoke and the stains were brown. The lady offered it to me for $2 so I thought, what the heck, why not.

I always keep my eyes open at garage sales and thrift stores for treasures!

When I got home I put it in the washing machine and let it sit overnight soaking in “Oxy 10”, then washed it in the morning and it came out sparkling clean.

Cutwork Flower Table 03You can see that it was machine stitched (embroidered) in a simple flower pattern with leaves between the blossoms. I have already added a darker pink outline to the interior of the petals of this flower. The edge of the cloth and some of the areas between the leaves are cut out and edges are reinforced with stitching. This is called, “Cutwork“, and here is a good definition of it if you are interested, this style of working makes a wonderfully interesting edge. BTW, I did not know the proper term to call it so I had to look it up myself for this article.

Cutwork Flower Table 04However, the machine stitching is just boring, so, I intend to “spiff it up” with some bright lines and satin stitching until I can say I love it. See the blue flower on the left where the original machine stitching pattern makes you feel like yawning? On the right is a yellow blossom that has had orange outlines added to the yellow blossom petals and red french knots added to the center. Okay, now we have some pizzazz going, and we are on a roll.

Cutwork Flower Table 07I added embellishment all around the edge and then thought that the center of the tablecloth needed something more than the two little sets of a pair of pink blossoms. So I added some vines, and daisy’s in many colors. Yep, yep, yep.

Cutwork Flower Table 05This idea spread to the corners and sides until I had all kinds of flowers and plants around the entire border of the tablecloth.  That is what happens when you go weed in the garden and all of the flowers are blooming.

Cutwork Flower Table 10Okay, a bit excessive but it was so much fun. It is a colorful addition to our tablecloth family.

Rose & Flower Tablecloth

Rose Flower Tablecloth 4First 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.

Rose Flower Tablecloth 3 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.

Rose Flower Tablecloth 1The 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?

Rose Flower Tablecloth 2Here 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.

Rose Flower Tablecloth 5

 

Brown & White Tablecloth

Brown White Table Cloth 05This is a simple brown & white tablecloth with off-white embroidery to embellish the edge and corners. The reason I chose this kit was, that I had just completed a tablecloth that had many different colored flosses throughout. I thought having only a single color would simplify and speed things up. I would not be stopping to change colors all the time. Ha, ha.

Brown White Table Cloth 01You can see that this table spread does only have embroidery on the edges and at each corner so the center of the table is plain. Consequently, I select this cloth whenever I want the food to be the star on a table or if I have a decorative doily or runner in the middle.

Brown White Table Cloth 04What I failed to take into account was the complex type of stitches utilized in this particular pattern. There is a lot of satin stitch and curvey outline along with mucho chain stitch. The most difficult stitch for me on this tablecloth was the “fishnet”. The fishnet starts with laying down thread then tacking it down at all of the intersecting points. It is a bit tricky and took a while for me to get comfortable with it.

Brown White Table Cloth 02All the edges of the tablecloth have a border of flower blossoms on curved stems with two leaves. The corners have a larger blossom arrangement with seven different shapes. Each blossom has 3 petals and a base filled with solid satin stitch. There are two lower petals in fishnet and outline stitches. There are 3 french knots inside of each flower. The curved stems connecting the flowers are done with a chain stitch. There are two leaves on the stem, one combines the fishnet with satin stitch, and the other is all satin stitch.

Embroidery Guides

There are many free embroidery guides on the internet if you search. I look them up whenever I find myself wondering about how to do a specific unfamiliar stitch. Two of the most complete and clear articles I have found recently are below.

Better Homes and Gardens

Good diagrams. Backstitch, Outline stitch, Blanket stitch, Chain stitch, Circular Couching stitch, Cross-stitch, Fly-stitch, French Knot, Lazy Daisy stitch, Offset Backstitch, Crossed Straight stitch, Pinwheel stitch, Running stitch, Satin stitch, Split stitch, Star stitch, Stem stitch, Straight stitch, Whipstitch. Seed stitch.

Baby Blanket 05

Our baby blanket is full of entertaining characters. We have done quite a few, but let’s not forget all the numbers. The numbers count. Haha.

By the way, I discovered that the spelling of the baby’s name was incorrect. Thank goodness for family texts that showed up with her name spelled differently. I had to rip out the embroidery and redo two of the letters. Luckily, this was just before getting ready to finish stitching the binding around the edges and quilting it on the sewing machine. Here is the initial layout design where I spelled her name Liera.

LA Baby Blanket name 02LA Baby Blanket name 03It fit with the letters between the leaves and vine.

LA Baby Blanket name 04Here it is redone with the “i” and “e” changed around. Whew.

Baby Blanket 03

The baby blanket embroidered characters start with a ladybug and ends with a lucky shamrock to fill this blog page.

LA Baby Blanket LadybugL is for ladybug,

LA Baby Blanket Lizardlizard,

LA Baby Blanket MoonM is for moon,

LA Baby Blanket OctagonO is for octagon,

LA Baby Blanket Octopusoctopus, orchid (already shown on the previous page),

LA Baby Blanket PuppyP is for puppy,

LA Baby Blanket RectangleR is for rectangle,

LA Baby Blanket ShamrockS is for shamrock,

You may have noticed that the red checker binding on the blanket was covering part of the shamrock image. Darn. When I quilted the backing onto the sheet I discovered that the backing wasn’t as long as the embroidered sheet. Ooops.

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Baby Blanket 02

The most enjoyable part of making a baby blanket for me is to draw the creatures, you know, the alphabet suggestion images for learning to read. I came real close to getting the majority of the alphabet on the blanket when I was done. Only missing 7 of the letters –  E, G, J, N, Q, V, X, and Z. Maybe I should plan better the next time to get all the letters in. Forethought and planning. Hmmm.
LA Baby Blanket Fish

F is for fish, LA Baby Blanket Flamingo

flamingo, LA Baby Blanket Frogand frog,

LA Baby Blanket HandH is for hand,

LA Baby Blanket Heartheart,

LA Baby Blanket Horse

horse, LA Baby Blanket HumBird Orchid hummingbird, (and orchid above it)
LA Baby Blanket Ice Cream ConeI is for ice cream,

LA Baby Blanket KittenK is for kitten,

The characters continue on till the blanket is full of fun things to point at and talk about.

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Baby Blanket 01

LA Baby Blanket 05

Following family customs, a baby blanket was started as soon as we found out about our nephew and niece expecting a baby this year. Every baby needs a personalized baby blanket to welcome him or her into the world. Since we did not know if it would be a boy or a girl I didn’t try to go one way or the other and just tried to keep it so either a boy or girl would enjoy it.Using an off-white sheet 54″ x 90″ I embroidered the family last name right in the middle and surrounded it with a twisting vine and leaves border. I planned to add the baby’s name later on. I purchased some red and white checkered flannel to use on the back with no batting. After completing this name located in the middle I then began drawing miscellaneous creatures, numbers, and shapes spaced across the blanket.

LA Baby Blanket Apple

A is for apple,

LA Baby Blanket Airplaneairplane,

LA Baby Blanket ButterflyB is for butterfly,

LA Baby Blanket CherryC is for cherry,

LA Baby Blanket Circlecircle,

LA Baby Blanket DaisyD is for daisy,

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03 Green HummingBird

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Green Hum Bird Pillow 10At this stage of the embroidery on the 03 green hummingbird tutorial, my focus is on finishing the details and blending in or outlining shapes. I do that by adding touches of different colors to accentuate here and there. The addition of light blue edges to the wingtips and the tail feathers was a good start on wings and tail, but more is needed.

Green Hum Bird Pillow 16Here is the finished hummingbird green hummingbird up close. Using a medium turquoise embroidery floss I outline above and below his eye and also along the top surface of his body. To mix stitches in with the satin stitch areas already complete I also run the stitches into existing satin areas randomly. Similarly, darker threads are added to both the orange under his neck and the green body below between his wing and tail. Turquoise is added as a thicker division line between his wing and tail feathers.

Green Hum Bird Pillow 15
King size pillowcase complete.

The pillowcase is completed, it is ironed and ready to be mailed out for a Christmas present. Thank you for reading through this embroidery tutorial and Merry Christmas to you!

02 Green HummingBird

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Green Hum Bird Pillow 05We are continuing the embroidery on the pillowcase with a green hummingbird flying up to a vine full of honeysuckle blossoms. The honeysuckle vine leaves and vines are outlined in green and blossoms are satin stitched in orange. Now, I can direct my efforts back to finishing the hummingbird shading and texturing.

Green Hum Bird Pillow 07In this picture, you can see that I am in the process of adding a cool blue shadow to the wing and tail feathers right now. His long black beak is satin stitched along with his eye. A black outline follows the belly line from under his chin to his tail. A loose satin stitch pattern in a mustard brown fills between his feathers in both his wings and his tail. I have added random stitches of medium green in the neon yellow of the leading edge of his wings for more texture.

Green Hum Bird Pillow 08Looking back at the honeysuckle vine there is not enough definition between the tubes of the blossoms and the petals. Those surfaces are blending together and getting lost as I look at them. So, a darker red is satin stitched intermittently into the bottom surface of the tubes to help show a shadow shape and separate from the petals above. Also, a darker red outline is stitched along the dark side edges of each petal.

Green Hum Bird Pillow 17After darkening the edges of the petals, looking at them again, it still feels like it needs more. So, I use black to fill the center of the blossom petals and outline the shadow of the petal. Now I can see the shape and different layers of the honeysuckle blossoms at a glance.

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01 Green HummingBird

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Green Hum Bird Pillow 02A white pillowcase embroidery tutorial with a 01 green hummingbird flying up to a vine full of honeysuckle blossoms. We are viewing the hummingbird from slightly above on the side. I drew the hummingbird sketch and honeysuckle vine loosely not trying to be exact. Be careful about what you choose to use to make your lines for patterns with. Unfortunately, even though the package instructions said they would. I have had some products from the sewing store that did not wash out or iron off. Disappointing to say the least. Green Hum Bird Pillow 01

Madam Sew Heat Erasable Fabric Marking Pens

These iron-off pens work and I highly recommend them. Using them feels similar to writing with a gel pen. All the lines from these pens disappear with the application of an iron, so there are no marks to ruin all your work. You will want to get the ink refills when you order your pens, because the ink does go fast. Anyhow, these pens are a little expensive designs.

Green Hum Bird Pillow 03The main body of the bird is satin stitched in a medium green and his wing tops are light almost neon green. He has an orange patch under the neck with a little white area to catch your eye. Further, the wing feathers are suggested with lines using a darker medium green.

Under the chin of Mr. Hummingbird, I add a layer of turquoise satin stitch to show shadow under his eye. Also, I outline the top surface with the same color. Moving over to the vine, I use a slightly darker orange on the tubes of the honeysuckle blossoms.

Green Hum Bird Pillow 04The vines are outlined using two different greens, a medium where the light hits the surfaces and a blue-green where shadow resides. The middle line of the leaves and foliage holding the blossoms are all done in the lighter neon green.

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Butterfly, Dragonfly and Flowers

Custom butterfly, dragonfly, and flowers embroidered onto a white tablecloth. This is a design made from multiple Aunt Marthas hot-iron stamp embroidery patterns applied for the butterflies, dragonflies, and different kinds of flowers.

Butterfly Dragonfly 006
middle side-edge

Custom butterfly, dragonfly, and flowers embroidered onto a white tablecloth. This is a design made from multiple Aunt Marthas hot-iron stamp embroidery patterns applied for the butterflies, dragonflies, and different kinds of flowers. This view has a large butterfly with different colors of roses below him.

Butterfly Dragonfly 007
tablecloth center

After the insects are spaced around, I add flowers along the edge of the tablecloth between them. The pattern appears all along the edges of the cloth and also in the center of the table. There are roses, daisies, wildflowers, and multiple kinds of moths.

Butterfly Dragonfly 004

All four corners are different with none of them being the same. This corner has a grass leaf with wildflowers and a dragonfly. There are also different types of butterflies, moths, dragonflies, and flowers out further.

Butterfly Dragonfly 003

This corner has sunflower blossoms with an orange butterfly, and also a blue and orange moth off to the right.

Butterfly Dragonfly 002

More different flying butterflies and flowers.

Butterfly Dragonfly 001You may have noticed that there are many different colored flowers.

Butterfly Dragonfly 005There are multiple random vines drawn in with leaves and “tear-drop” stitch flowers scattered everywhere. The vines and little flowers are what connect all the characters and foliage together along the edges and across the middle.

Butterfly Dragonfly 008

This tablecloth took half a year to finish the hand embroidery on. I enjoyed watching each flower and bug come to life in its own special combination of embroidery floss colors. It was lovingly washed, pressed, and mailed off to a family member for her birthday. I hope that it will be used on many special occasions and that a smile will cross the lips of all that will spread it across their table.

Hummingbird Pillowcase

pillow Blue HB 01A Hummingbird Pillowcase with embroidery halfway done. This is a handmade dark blue pillowcase that is sewn from sheets purchased when they are on sale. I first draw out an outline to follow for embroidering the hummingbird as it flies over some small flowers which I decide to make with yellow satin stitches with an orange outline. The leaves and stems are light green. After getting this portion done, I feel like it is not enough.

pillow Blue HB 02So, I use my iron-away pens to draw another set of pink flowers for the hummingbird to be going after. Here it is completed with the hummingbird and flowers on bothe sides. I love drawing these little guys and then stitching them into life with my embroidery thread in the evenings. This one is being given to a very special lady for her birthday.

Process of Embroidery

Hummingbird on blue pillowcase

I am in the process of embroidery on this blue pillowcase with another version of my favorite theme. Hummingbirds and flowers! Right now, I think this pillowcase is about half complete. It just feels incomplete needing needs a little bit more. I will be drawing in some more foliage on the right-hand side and finishing it up in the next couple of weeks.

Two Flower Pillowcases

Embroidery on Pillowcases

I just finished the embroidery on two flower pillowcases this week. They are flowers done in the satin stitch along with french knots and regular border lines. This one is of four roses in different colors with a smattering of leaves and line doo-dads.

blue pillowcase roses
king size pillowcase with roses
Blue pillowcase with flowers
king size pillowcase with flowers

This next is another embroidery of two types of flowers in lavenders and pinks on a dark blue pillowcase. I am not sure which type of flowers they actually are. You know they are just out of my head, so in the fiction category of the flower kingdom. I like the way that the flowers show up with such a dark background. So, this color scheme is probably going to be something I will try again.