Five-sided box 7: cornflower and strawberry motif

To finish off the Cornflower and Strawberry panel of my five-sided box, I just needed to stitch the strawberry flowers in the bottom right hand corner. The petals were outlined in split back stitch and filled with satin stitch padding, and then a top layer of satin stitchworked on top. Tiny yellow French knots filled the centre, and single lazy daisy stitches worked in dark green completed the flowers.

The leaves were stitched in straight stitches, with a line of stem stitch along the central vein.

This is how this panel looks, now that it is finished:

I’ve tried to show the effect of the satin stitch padding, and how much difference it makes to this design, by taking this sideways-on picture:

As I finish each panel, I keep thinking ‘I like this one best’….until I start the next one  🙂

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

Five-sided box 6: cornflower and strawberry motif

These cornflowers on the next panel of my five sided box were fun to do, and very quick. Only the rough outline of each flower needed to be drawn on the fabric. Then, fly stitches were placed individually all over the shape to be filled, in two close shades of a purply blue.

I still had to leave small bare areas between the petals on the full-face flower, to define it properly, which was a bit tricky. The bud was simple to do – just a few straight stitches.

To finish off each flower, I added a few straight stitches in deep navy and maroon, to give the effect of stamens. The sepals were more trellis stitch areas, and the leaves were done in rows of split back stitch.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

 

Five-sided box 5: cornflower and strawberry motif

I love making strawberries! I never get tired of stitching them. There are four altogether in the Cornflower and Strawberry motif from the ‘Embroidered Flowers for Elizabeth’  book by Susan O’Connor (where I got the original design from). As with the leaves and petals on several of the other motifs, these strawberries need padding first with a satin stitch across the shape, and then satin stitch worked from the top to the bottom of each fruit, having first worked an outline of split back stitch to define the shape. This first picture shows the padding done for three of the strawberries, and one of the berries completely finished, with the leaves worked in lazy daisies. The small green berry is supposed to be an unripe one.

This shows the trellis stitch worked on all four berries, and the leaves added as well.  I wasn’t too pleased with how the trellis came out for the top berry. This happened because I didn’t bother to turn my hoop around to work the berry ‘the right way up’ – so my spacing of the trellis lines went rather peculiar.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

 

Five-sided box 4: acorn and gillyflower motif

I’ve been looking forward to making the little acorns for my five-sided box. They first need a split back stitch outline, then satin stitch padding, and then satin stitch worked across the padding, to give a rounded effect.

A tiny straight stitch is worked at the end of each acorn.

The acorn cups are first made in the same way as the acorns.

Then, tiny French knots are made using just one strand of DMC thread, and one wrap round the needle. They are stitched all over the satin stitched base, covering it completely, to give a textured look.

This is the panel, once completed:

Nice, isn’t it?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~