Country Garden Stitchery

My son used to live near Virginia Lake in Reno and we  would take walks around it and see all the birds and at that time there were swans.  The lake inspired this embroidery pattern and the sentiment of love that the birds convey. I hope you like it. Click here for Swan Love embroidery pattern details

I decided to jump to early spring for this design and embroider a row of crocus flowers on a kitchen towel. I liked the yellow and green stripes on the towel and went with a yellow theme.  It's titled  Hello Spring .  Did you know some people like to give crocus flowers on Valentine's Day rather than roses? There is a legend of St. Valentine, a physician, who was imprisoned and sentenced to death in Rome.  One of his patients was the jailer's blind daughter.  On the day of his execution he gave the jailer a note with a saffron crocus flower in it to give to his daughter. Upon opening the note she saw a flower for the first time, her eyesight was restored. This occurred on February 14.  Find Hello Spring embroidery pattern   here  

My new design is now available! click here to see Sweet Pea Dragonfly It is embroidered on a white and grey linen tea towel with The Gentle Art Sampler flosses.  Pretty gift for someone who loves sweet peas! The pattern is available as a kit with a variety of photos, the towel, and two skeins of floss in Green Pasture and Red Plum. Please stop back by as I'll be posting  my new pattern for autumn soon.    

My new hand embroidery pattern is my most adventurous project yet.  Usually I like simple outline embroidery and in this pattern I have more areas filled in and used floss blends to get even more color ranges. The pattern is designed to be as detailed as you want. The twigs can be filled in more, more French knots for the plants, and more satin stitches on the leaves.  It's a fun pattern to experiment with adding other stitches as well.  Click here for more details.  The painting I used as inspiration for the pattern.   

I've put together some nice gift hand embroidery sets that have a pattern book, a handmade needlecase, and four skeins of lovely hand dyed floss Click here for details This is my kitchen towels embroidery book with a pretty rose needlecase and four skeins of hand dyed floss.  Click here for details. This is an embroidery book filled with baby embroidery patterns that are nice if you have a little one you want to make something for. It comes with a cheerful butterfly needlecase and four skeins of hand dyed floss. Click here for details Get them while they last!

Free shipping on Spoonflower fabrics through March 8th. A great time to try their fabrics if you've been curious. They are wonderful! Click here to go to my Spoonflower shop  The shades of purple, blue, and green in the Cranesbill Geranium prints beautifully.   Lovely home decor fabric. Click here for details on my Cranesbill Geraniums fabric My Green Veggies fabric is fun for market totes.  Customers have made totes with this fabric using the canvas fabric. Fun to add to your shopping bag collection!    Click here to see my Green Veggies fabric

My new pattern kit is listed in my Etsy shop and it's called Early January . A nice black and white pattern with winter plants with interesting shapes and seed heads from an earlier season. Click here for design details My latest sewing adventure with my Spoonflower fabrics.  Another zip pouch with my Strawberries Blue fabric Accented with my Avocado White Check fabric Hope you have a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

I bought a fat quarter of my Red Zinnia Wildflower fabric in cotton poplin ultra from Spoonflower . I found a pattern on Etsy for a clutch purse I liked.  It ended up being a very adventurous project.  I haven't sewn in a while and my left  brain got a work out  with this endeavor. It has two zippers and three pockets.  Not sure what I was thinking . . . I really liked working with the contrasting zipper and I learned some new techniques with this pattern.  I'll pick a one zipper project next time.    Red Zinnias Wildflower fabric  

For a quick sewing project these dish towels from Spoonflower are fun to make.  The towels are printed on their linen cotton canvas ultra fabric and are nice and sturdy. The fabric softens after washing and has a nice crinkle look from the linen.  They get softer with each washing. Press the towels with a hot iron and trim all the loose threads.   Square the edges with a rotary cutter and mat.  The edges can be pretty uneven and I had to cut 1/2" off one edge to make them even.  Press the edge of the fabric in 3/8" twice.    Do this on all the sides.  Since it is a thick fabric I wanted to make mitered corners.  Here is a great how to video from creativebug  on how to make them.  After the mitered corners are finished fold the hem down where the pressing lines are and sew an edge stitch around the towel.   Finished hem with mitered corners.     Finished tea towe...

My holiday towel this year is a Redwork Chickadee on a Berry Branch .  The design is on a  27" x 28" flour sack towel.  Flour sack towels are great for embroidery  because you can see the pattern easily through the fabric for tracing  and the fabric is really nice to embroider on.  I have a new set of Christmas Holiday Ornaments .  It is a set of six with the snowman and peppermint chocolate featured here.  There is also a hound dog, a kitten in a stocking, polka dot mittens, and a cowboy snowman.    I liked the soft grey in the vine pattern of the fabric so I chose a medium grey floss to compliment the burgundy red, creamy white shade, and holiday green  for the designs.    

I chose fabric way out of my normal color palette in honor of the autumn season  for this design.  Lily is taking her little dog Tulip for a bike ride.  They bought a  bouquet of flowers and are losing some on the way, but that's okay.  You can click here for pattern details.  

Hopefully we'll be enjoying some cooler temperatures now that September is here. This is my new hand embroidery pattern inspired by autumn stitched in  bright fall colors on solid green fabric from Waverly.   I love their selection of solid fabrics in bright colors for hand embroidery. Autumn Birds Embroidery Pattern details here.  

My new hand embroidery book is now available!  It has lots of patterns to embroider for children.  An alphabet series to make into a quilt, a quiet book, or toys. Lots of animals from farm animals to fish.  Storybook style patterns, too.   You can click here for details on the book.  An example of one of the alphabet series patterns.

My new hand embroidery pattern is available. Happy Octopus details here. This pattern will be in my new hand embroidery book that  will be published toward the end of July.   

My new hand embroidery pattern set is now available in my Etsy Shop It is a set of six patterns featuring animal flowers with a tiger, bear, giraffe, hippo, lion, and monkey. Fun patterns to decorate kids rooms and quilts. Animal Flower Pattern Set details here  

My new hand embroidery pattern Flamingo Pond is now available.   Lovely bright pink birds.  Well, depending on what they eat.  The colors of their feathers come from the pigments found  in the algae and other  critters they eat.

New needle cases available in my Etsy shop . Cheerful colors for spring and nice gifts for mother's day if you know a special mother who enjoys quilting or needlework! You can click here to see more needle cases.

My new hand embroidery pattern is inspired by a Lazuli Bunting bird perched in a blooming fruit tree in spring.   This pattern is available in my Etsy shop   My new needlebooks available in my Etsy shop. The newest one is the blueberries.  The colors in the berries printed so nicely on the fabric.  Great gifts for quilters and needle artists! The Needlework Show begins on Saturday April 1st! Please stop by and enter my door prize and have a look around.

I've made a new variety of needlebooks with my Spoonflower fabrics.  You can click here to see my Spoonflower fabric collection. A nature themed needlebook with a little chickadee perched on a branch with pen and ink feathers in the background.  These make fun gifts for quilters! You can click here for details   And a pink watercolor rose needlebook.  Very nice for Mother's Day if your mother is a quilter, needle artist, or crafter! You can click here for the rose needlebook details

My new pattern Lavender Poppy is now available in my Etsy shop!   It was a nice needlework show with a good variety of patterns.  Thank you to everyone who stopped by and those who entered my door prize contest! Hope to see you April 1-3 for the next one!