May I introduce you to the newest member of the HeartFulls family?
Sunflowers are happy late-summer flowers that grow tall and proud as the watch the sun move across the sky.
They represent unwavering faith, and they are often associated with optimism and happiness.
May I share a quick walk through of how I made stitched my samples?
I started with the smaller outer petals; using my light box for petal placement, I fused and stitched them in place. Then I added the larger petals layered on top. More fusing and stitching.
I stitched all the way around each petal, just because. I could have fused both layers and stitched only the visible edges.
The Sunflower kits have enough of each petal color so you can make both ornaments using whichever petal color combination you choose.
Next, I fused the flower center over the petals.
The photo is a bit blurry, but I bet a sip or two of wine will make the picture sharp and clear! (Or, maybe that's the other way around?)
I like to secure the outer edge of the center with a blanket stitch, just like the petals.
I can stop right here. . . OR. . . I now have an enormous circular space to have some fun with embellishment - stitches, beads, ribbon . . .
I chose to add a whole lot of French knots to add seed-like texture.
For the seeds, I started with the Quilters Select self-erase pen to mark a circle about 1/4" away from the edge of the center circle.
The markings will erase all by themselves in as little as an hour or two. Or, max the marks will be gone in a few days. (Always test first, if you want to be sure.)
Then, using size 5 thread, and a size 3 milliner needle, I followed the drawn line with evenly spaced French knots to mark the center of what will become a random-looking ring of 'seeds' around the outer edge of the flower center.
I continued to make randomly placed French knots around between my initial ring of knots and the edge of the brown wool circle.
It's not really necessary to make the initial ring of knots, but I like to make sure my knots have even coverage inside and outside of the initial circle. It's kinda like when you're writing on an unlined piece of paper and you're sure the script is following a straight line, until you look up and see the text has drifted up or down on the page.
For the last round of random French knots, I follow the inside of the initial circle.
Because I know some of the threads, especially size 5 perle cotton, can be difficult to find, I decided to make available the select colors and sizes of Valdani Perle Cotton I used for my sample. I used the variegated brown in size 5 for the French Knots, heart outline, and blanket stitched edge, and the size 12 variegated yellow (the color is approprately named 'sunshine) to secure the flower petals. Jump over to the Hummingbird Highway webstore to investigate!
At the moment, there are two versions of the Sunflower HeartFulls available as kits, complete with all goodies - brown or green print background fabric, felted wool for the flower petals and center, as well as fusible web, stiff interfacing, and woven facing for the interiors.
Click on the button to access the kits. And of course, you can raid your stash with the PDF version of the Sunflowers HeartFulls too!
Happy Stitching!
Head Hummingbird
Hummingbird-Highway.com
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