March and April are the time to be stitching colors and motifs for spring display and gifting.
Here are 5 designed-to-delight stitch combos from our spring patterns.
This is a little strip of Peacock Dreams (the whole is shown above).
Pomegranates with layered pink centers alternate with circular grids. The regularity of the circles’ grid lines is offset by the randomness of the satin-stitch and lazy-daisy fills.
This is just a little bit of the stitch variety in Peacock Dreams. Look at the zigzag line of blue and plum just above the circles. Within it, three-petal blossoms alternate with French-knot dots.
All of our traditional band samplers are packed with these kinds of fun stitch combinations.
Grow is a hoop-art filled with 8 little garden-themed scenes. Seedlings, wordart, gardens and a sunflower closeup are just of few of those elements.
My favorite scene is one of herbal concoctions and bundled plants hung to dry. Greens float in two corked bottles and a basket overflows with French-knotted seeds. Hanging bunches are stitched with diagonally crossing stems–and one of them is tied with a bow.
Rainy Day celebrates the spring showers that bring May flowers with a cozy mudroom scene of rainboots, sleeping pup and the rain outdoors.
Lines are key to creating perspective in this scene:
::> The brown baseboard establishes the sense of a back wall alongside a sidewall
::> The bold wallpaper on the back wall is rendered straight on with no distortion.
::> The stripes in the side wall move diagonally downward as they meet the floorboard.
::> The lines in the throw rug are closer together at the back of the room and widen as they move forward. Even the small bursts get larger at the front of the rug.
These patterns not only create a room’s perspective,. they also give you engaging stitch combinations to render.
::> The back wallpaper has you stitching bursts with eyelet centers, curvy whip-stitched medallions, and lazy-daisy-filled circles.
::> The lines in the side wall are shown stitched with a texture back stich.
::> The rug’s lines are embellished with straight-stitched starbursts.
Stitching mandala-inspired designs is a unique kind of mindful pleasure. The individual motifs add variety—but then the multiples of each motif give you relaxing repetitions . . .
. . . and so it is with Easter Fluffle: bunnies alternate with decorated Easter eggs.
Alternating bunnies use two different color schemes and pattern fills. Blue ears are filled with nested fly stitches, and the pink ears are rendered with French-knot-dotted scallops.
Blue bunnies get zigzagged collars, and pink bunnies get scallops.
Blue bunnies have a heart motif on their haunches while the pink bunnies have a four-petaled motif with nested details.
The decorated eggs also have fun repetitions and variations–which makes the whole project engaging to stitch.
While Honeybee Sampler is one of our larger 11″x14″ projects, it’s a surprisingly quick stitch. And that’s because just a few charming motifs (beehive, bear, sunflower and honeypot) are highlighted against a backdrop of simple and open repeating patterns.
Straight stitches are used for three of the dominant fills: yellow honeycomb, green latticework, and pink hexagon bursts. The other background patterns add variety while avoiding dense and complicated stitch combinations.
Sometimes we simply want a quick and relaxing stitch-through of a project. Honeybee Sampler delivers just that.
Click here to view our spring stitching projects in the Stitched Stories shop.
Tis the season to start stitching your holiday gifts and decor...
Our stick and Stitch patterns are perfect for making Christmas tree ornaments and for adding holiday motifs to linens and other fabric projects. Check them out over in the Stitched Stories holiday shop!
