Free stitchery pattern for you

Happy Easter!

I hope you're having a wonderful weekend and that you have had time to stop and think about the reality of what we celebrate - God's amazing love.

I don't have any chocolate or Easter eggs to give you, but I do have a free stitchery pattern to share!

I have done three samples to show you just a few ways you could use the design. In this little wall-hanging I buttonhole-stitched the smaller flowers and did chain-stitch around the larger ones:

This one made into a needle-book hardly looks the same pattern, does it!:

One of the things I've discovered about redwork is that a simpler look works better.  You can see that I haven't worked any radiating centre lines on the larger flowers.  Instead, I enlarged the centre circle and filled it in with satin stitch:

 I didn't use stranded thread for this stitchery.  I bought some Gutermann thread at a good price last year when a quilting shop was closing down. Only thing is, when I came to use it, I discovered it was thick!  It turned out to be Top Stitch thread, not normal sewing thread.  I tried it on this stitchery and really enjoyed using just the one strand, rather than trying to keep two strands together and smooth:

The third sample I made into a mug rug:

I decided to applique the watering can on this one.  Now that I look at it, I wish I had satin-stitched the handle and filled it in.  Too late now, it's all made up!  

The flowers are backstitched on this sample.  I wanted the red centres to really pop to give this one with its murky colours the lift it needed.  Compare the first sample where the green centres play a secondary role. Isn't it fascinating how colours work?

I hope that has given you some ideas of different ways to work the stitchery.  I'd love to see photos of how you use it.  You can download your free watering can stitchery here.

I managed to complete a couple more things for the fete stall:

With a few things I had in my cupboard, the box of goodies for the fete is now full.  Now it's time to work on some Christmas designs - yes, magazine editors are needing them in the next few weeks!  I've been using a lovely range called Cinnamon Spice, not Christmas fabric but lovely muted Christmas colours which look quite delightful together. It's always fun making new projects!!!

Happy stitching!

Val