Block #1

Here is the first Block of the Month for Sue Spargo. I love the unique shapes of the flowers and all the embroidery stitches. We learned the Pekinese stitch using teal variegated Valdani perle thread.  You start with a back stitch around your applique piece and then do backward e's from right to left through these back stitches. We did a running stitch around the leaf with the Valdani, used a ribbon for the stem of the seed pod, did a coral stitch around the pod with metallic thread and back stitched around the center of the flower with sea grass. Sea grass is a really fun thread to use. It is flat so looks really great with straight stitches. Then we learned the bullion stitch and did two of those as the crosses on the flower petals using blue variegated  Silken Perle thread. And finally we couched the yellow green Shepard's Silk thread around the blue and white cotton fabric in the center of the flower. The small circles around the center of the flower are punched out of wool with a 1/4" hole punch and then appliqued onto the wool with the wool thread. I had no idea that was possible,but it can be done because wool does not ravel. This adds a unique touch to any project and oh, so easy to add. No needle turn and circles stay round. Very fun.