Lavender Lavender is featured in Water Garden and Briarwood Garden.
Lavender is a bushy plant with long, delicate stems and leaves. The blue/mauve flowers form long spikes with a knobby texture. It looks to be related to Veronica but the structure and colour of the leaves are different.
Stalks and Leaves: Green 988 (2).
Flowers: Blue/Mauve 340 (1) + 210 (1) = 2.
Stalks: Stitch some stalks in Straight Stitch adding a few shorter straight stitches as leaves to fill out the base of the plant. Add some flowers to the stalks. Create bends or curves in the stalks by displacing the stalk to one side with the point of an awl or with another needle. This is done while the flower spikes are being stitched. Add until a lavender bush of the size and shape you wish is achieved.
Flowers: Use one thread each of the blue and light mauve. Stitch with Open Herringbone stitch. Start at the upper end of the stalk and cover the desired length of the stem. Note that the stitching is narrow in width and that the stem forms padding for the flower spike. Start stitching just above the tip of the stem, or start slightly below the tip for a flower spike that is not yet fully open.
Water Garden, stitched by Ann Bernard (original is 4″ x 6″)
This garden includes both Lavender and Veronica. These two plants are visually similar except for the colour of the blooms. Also, the leaves are different in both form and colour. Start by stitching the green stalks and leaves of all the plants you wish to include in your garden. Leave the threads posted to the spare cloth border so that you can recapture the thread and add or make alterations easily. When you are satisfied on the placement in terms of position and balance, return to each group and complete the basic stalks and leaves.
The directions for stitching Alyssum are included in the book. The plants need a base of green stitching behind the french knot flowers.
Contents: Hand Stitch Recognizable Summer Flowers
Fabrics for your Garden: Batik, dyed fabric, photo print, paint the fabric, silk and wool rovings, silk fusion, machine embellishing, machine pieced quilting.
Backing fabric and back-basting : Straight of grain: Supporting your frame.
Frames: Dressing Your Frame: Staples, thumbtacks, Q-Snap Frames, Grip-n-Stitch Frames. Ring or hoop frames. Supporting your frame on a table
Threads: Stranding, Stripping, Mixing and Saving. Threading your needle, thread management, Resources such as Google, DMC Thread Colour Cards, Tools.
Stitch Directions: Split, overstitching, seeding, stem, detached chain, enhanced chain, fly, feather, cretan, herringbone, woven spider web wheels, french knots.
Summer Garden Flowers:
Border Plants: Alyssum, dandelions, impatiens, lily of the valley, portulaca.
Daisy Family of Plants Stitch directions: Asters, black eyed susans, cosmos, english daisies, purple coneflower, pyrethrums, shasta daisies.
South African Daisies: Gazanias, gerbera daisies, osteospermum.
Herringbone Flowers: Delphiniums, lavender, liatris, veronica.
Roses – Stitched with bullion knots, woven spider web wheels, stem stitch.
Tall Plants: Double Hollyhocks, lupins, peonies, sunflowers.
Small Projects: Coasters, card inserts. Distorted straight stitch.
Cover Story: Come Stitch With Me:
Silk Flower Conversion: Technique; Clematis, hibiscus, single hollyhocks, petunias, leaves.
Funtasy Flowers: Poppies, and creating. Coasters.
Mounting Your Garden Ready For Framing:
This book is published as an ebook. Commercial colour printing is expensive and there are a huge number of colour photos and diagrams. An ebook makes the price affordable. You can print it on your printer for your own personal use. Priced at $12.99, this is a bargain and the information included makes it a good investment for both experienced and new stitchers.
Go to eBookIt.com. Bookstore is at the top of the home page. Go down to Crafts and Hobbies, Select and proceed to Purchase. Select the format that is compatible with your computer. You can also download it onto a tablet or iPad.
If you have any problems with purchase or downloading, email ryan@ebookit.com
I hope that you enjoy this book, use the preparation strategies and try out the flowers.
Nothing, particularly stitching, is very difficult once you know how!!!
Thank you, Ann B.
I love to read about how you create the flowers described in your book “Hand Stitched Recognizable Summer Flowers.” I have ordered a copy of your Summer Flowers, and I think having both the Summer and Spring flower collection will give me no end of ideas for my embroidery. Thanks Ann
Hello Pat, Thank you for purchasing Hand Stitdhed Summer flowers. I am sure that you will find lots of ideas that you can use both in the section of preparation and all the flowers. Enjoy!!