March Stitch Along - Sunny Meadows
Hello again! I must say….I have absolutely loved this one! I may have gone a bit overboard with the colours though – at the end of stitching I’ve used 11 colours in total, a few more than I thought I was going to use but I just couldn’t help myself. The spring flowers have really sprung into action over the last couple of weeks and are just displaying so many colours!
So, here’s my recap of my stitching. I’ve noted which stitches I used, the thread colour, number of strands and which needle I used. But don’t forget the beauty of my embroidery squares is that you can colour them in using which ever stitches and threads you like! I’ve also added the links to my Instagram live videos, so you can give them a watch if you need to, even if you don’t have an Instagram account.
This design contains 6 different colourful UK wildflowers; Cow Parsley, Foxgloves, Primroses, Bluebells, Silene’s and Buttercups. Do not worry if you don’t know which is which……I’ve added pics in with my recap so you’ll know which flower I’m talking about.
This recap seems like a bit of a lengthy one; I’ve divided it into 6 parts (one wildflower per part) and have broken down the parts with the wildflower parts (flower, stem etc.).
If you fancy giving this one a go, you can buy your Sunny Meadows embroidery square here.
My wildflower embroidery square before any stitching. They arrive to you ready to pop straight into a hoop and start stitching.
I used 11 different thread colours on my wildflowers: DMC 904 (dark green), DMC 470 (light green), Anchor 281 (yellowy green), Anchor 89 (dark pink), Anchor 86 (mid pink), Anchor 66 (light pink), Anchor 363 (peach), DMC 922 (orange), DMC 728 (yellow), Anchor 178 (blue) and Anchor 1 (white).
But please do have fun using as many or few colours as you like!
I started with the Cow Parsley.
Part 1 : Cow Parsley – video link
I kicked my stitching off with the cow parsley.
Stems:
Stitch – Stem stitch
Thread colours – DMC 904 (dark green)
Number of strands – 3 for the main stem and 2 for the small branching stems at the tops.
Needle size – Middle sized needle from my needle pack when using 3 strands (my needle packs are available in my shop here) and the small needle when using 2 strands.
Flowers:
Stitch – French Knots with 2 wraps
Thread colours – Anchor 1 (white)
Number of strands – 3
Needle size – Middle sized needle
My stitched Foxglove.
Part 2 : Foxglove – video link
Flowers:
Stitch – Long and Short Split stitch
Thread colours – Anchor 89 (dark pink), Anchor 86 (mid Pink) and Anchor 66 (light pink)
Number of strands – 2
Needle size – Small sized needle
I’ve blended my pinks into each other and used varying amounts on each flower. This was fun to play around with but also quite fiddly with the flowers being so small. These flowers would still look very pretty using just 1 colour!
I also stopped the flowers short of the stem so I could stitch the stem going into the flowers.
Stem:
Stitch – Long and Short Split stitch
Thread colours –DMC 470 (light green)
Number of strands – 2
Needle size – Small sized needle
My stitched Primroses. I love how these orange and peach colours go with my Bluebells.
Part 3 : Primroses – video link
Flower petals:
Stitch – Satin stitch
Thread colours – Anchor 363 (peach) and DMC 922 (orange) – I used peach for one flower, orange for the other and picked my fave for the side on flower.
Number of strands – 3
Needle size – Middle sized needle
I also added a few straight stitches (using the colour of the inside of the flower) onto the petals for a small extra detail.
Flower insides:
Stitch – French knots with 1 wrap
Thread colours – Anchor 363 (peach) and DMC 922 (orange) – I alternated the insides from the colour I used on the petals.
Number of strands – 3
Needle size – Middle sized needle
Stem and Leaves:
Stitch – Stem stitch
Thread colours – Anchor 281 (yellowy green) a small amount of DMC 470 (light green) for the veining on the middle of the leaves.
Number of strands – 2
Needle size – Small sized needle
My Bluebells……. you know these are a fave of mine. I think I was actually quite restrained with these……..I could of stitched my Bluebells using the same colours as the ones in my logo!
Part 4 : Bluebells – video link
I’m really sorry about the quality of this video – I had internet issues with this one (along with my other usual issues)!
Stem and leaves:
Stitch – Whipped back stitch
Thread colours – DMC 904 (dark green)
Number of strands – 2
Needle size – small sized needle
Flowers:
Stitch – Padded satin stitch for the main flower and a few French knots with 3 wraps along the bottom
Thread colours – Anchor 178 (Blue)
Number of strands – 2
Needle size – Small sized needle
For my Silene’s I used one of the pinks that I used for my foxgloves.
Part 5 : Silene’s – video link
Flower petals and the silene that’s at a side view:
Stitch – Satin stitch
Thread colours – Anchor 86 (Mid Pink)
Number of strands – 2
Needle size – Small sized needle
My original print doesn’t have a middle to the open silene flower, I fancied putting one in, so I hand draw a little circle in the middle to work around.
Flower centre:
Stitch – Stem stitch
Thread colours – Anchor 1 (White)
Number of strands – 2
Needle size – Small sized needle
These stitches are teeny tiny to make a nice round circle. I chose not to fill in the center of this circle but you could pop a little French Knot there if you wanted too.
Leaves:
Stitch – Lazy daisies and straight stitches
Thread colours – DMC 904 (dark green)
Number of strands – 2
Needle size – Small sized needle
I popped a couple of straight stitches inside each lazy daisy to fill in the leaf.
Stem:
Stitch – double whipped back stitch
Thread colours – DMC 904 (dark green)
Number of strands – 2
Needle size – Small sized needle
This stem is thicker in a few places, so I did add some extra back stitches in places to thicken the whipping.
I stitched my Buttercups using the sunniest yellow I had.
Part 6 : Buttercups – video link
Flower petals, the closed bud and the centre of the flowers:
Stitch – Satin stitch
Thread colours – DMC 728 (Yellow)
Number of strands – 3
Needle size – Middle sized needle
I used horizontal satin stitches to fill in the centre of each flower.
Flower centre:
Stitch – French knots with 1 wrap
Thread colours – DMC 728 (Yellow)
Number of strands – 3
Needle size – Middle sized needle
I placed these knots in a ring around the inside of the flower.
Stem:
Stitch – Split stitch (single row)
Thread colours – DMC 470 (light green)
Number of strands – 3
Needle size – Middle sized needle
Leaf:
Stitch – Long and short split stitch
Thread colours – DMC 470 (light green)
Number of strands – 2
Needle size – Small sized needle
Leaf veining:
Stitch – Straight stitch
Thread colours – DMC 904 (dark green)
Number of strands – 1
Needle size – Small sized needle
I popped this veining in over the top of the main leaf for a bit of extra detail. To make this easier I did use a thread saving method when stitching the main leaf.
My pretty wildflower display.
And there we are! A beautiful wildflower display.
If you fancy giving it a go, you can get your Sunny Meadow embroidery square HERE.
You can buy the squares individually if you already have a stitching stash to use, but I also stock threads, needles and hoops if you need them. And don’t forget the wildflower stitching video series is available on my Instagram and use #bluebellloveembroidery to show off your beautiful work.
I may have got a bit carried away with the amount of colours……. but I just couldn’t help myself.
April Stitch Along
It’s time for the ducks! It just had to be for the April showers…..although I hope we don’t get too many showers this year.
For April, the live stitch along videos will be on Tuesdays at 10am (bst). The first one will be on 5th April on my Instagram page. It will be lovely to see you there but if you can’t make it, the videos will be saved in a duck series for you.
You can buy your Duck embroidery square HERE for stitching along.
If you don’t already follow me – you can find my Instagram page by clicking the button below.
So that’s it for March! I’ll see you next time with my stitched duck design.
Liz x