I am currently stitching the Carolyn Pearce Strawberry Fayre heart etui as a stitchalong project. This week I’m completing the stitching of the large leaves. See the end of this post for all the information you’ll need to join in! This is the image from Inspirations magazine:
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COMPLETING THE LARGE LEAVES ON THE FRONT PANEL – LEAF TWO
Leaf Two has a line of Coral stitch down the centre (see Mary Corbet’s video tutorial here). I love this stitch, and use it a lot. It’s simple to do, and quite quick. Add a bead of Mill Hill 275 again between each stitch. Work a couple of stitches at each end of the line without the beads in between, until you have enough space to add them. This leaf also has the Metallic copper Straight stitches and the Stem stitch outlining, as well as the Blanket stitch for the curled edge, so it ends up looking very similar to Leaf 1 (shown just above it, in the image below).
Pad the end section of the leaf with two rows of Chain stitch with two strands of Anchor 264 substitute, narrowing to one row where necessary.
Then stitch Blanket stitch with one strand of Anchor 266 substitute over the padding, keeping the direction of the long stitches going in a similar direction for the whole length.
STITCHING LEAF THREE
Leaf 3 has a line of Wheatear stitch down the centre – Mary Corbet’s tutorial video is here, to show you how to do it. After completing the Wheatear stitch, highlight the straight lines at each side with Metallic copper thread, then outline that part of the leaf with Stem stitch in Anchor 269 substitute and then Metallic copper (one strand each time). The turned back section is stitched just the same as Leaf Two.
As I stitched Leaf Four when I was doing Leaf One (as they use the same stitches), all the large leaves are now finished, and the whole panel now looks like this:
There are some interesting stitches on these leaves, but I do get the feeling that some of the detail is lost due to the leaves being so tiny, so once I’ve done all my stitching and stood back to look at it, it seems a bit wasted, as I can hardly see it, sometimes!
Having stitched with just green for two weeks, I am really looking forward to doing some of the smaller, more colourful flowers next time. How’s yours going?
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~~~INFORMATION~~~
The Strawberry Fayre design, plus the complete list of materials, appears in Inspirations magazine number 95. The publishers do sell a full materials pack (not including the mother of pearl ruler though!), but it’s rather expensive, so if you can use your stash, and just fill in with bits and pieces, then so much the better! The magazine is published in Australia – if you live in the UK, as I do, it is cheaper to buy a back copy from Manor House Magazines, and save a lot on the shipping.
To read about this project stitchalong from the beginning, start here. The post about which FABRIC to use is here. The post about the THREAD SUBSTITUTIONS that I made, plus WHERE TO BUY the threads and beads, etc., is here.
To look up all the posts in this series in the sidebar, see under the CATEGORIES list, under: Embroidery / Full size (others’ designs) / Strawberry Fayre heart etui, or use the SEARCH BOX at the top of the blog, and search for ‘Strawberry Fayre’ to get a list of all the posts (but it’s in reverse order, sorry!).
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Are you interested in doll’s houses and stitching? Then why not visit my website, where you can buy doll’s house needlepoint kits to make all kinds of soft furnishings for one-twelfth scale dollhouses. There are over 280 kits to choose from, plus chart packs, fabric project packs, tutorials, and lots of eye candy to inspire you! Kits are available on 18 and 22 count canvas, 28 and 32 count evenweave, and 32 and 40 count silk gauze, so there’s something for everyone – from beginners to experts.
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Janet Granger's Blog 
I know what you mean! It seems to be overly complicated sometimes. Too much going on in these tiny spaces. I am wondering if this is due to the fact that Carolyn might have stitched the whole piece using a magnifier?
Possibly, yes, but I’m stitching it using a magnifier, and even when everything is enlarged visually, some of those stitches just DO NOT fit in the spaces that the instructions say they do!!!