Late Summer Blooms
I have to say, I’m a little bummed we are running out of summer! Where did the time go? This year, summer just went so, so fast. In honor of the last of the sunshine (around here anyway :), I decided to pull out my yellow scrap pile and do something cheerful.
I had a nice piece of this black and white check to use as my background. At first I was going to make a table runner, but then decided on a smaller throw pillow project just in case the idea was a bust ;) I think I’ll definitely do the table runner now!
You may remember these petals from a couple of past projects. They are very versatile and worked perfectly for my late summer bloom. Here is a link to the PDF if you’d like to print it off for yourself.
I cut a bunch of petals from my different yellow scraps. I cut the larger petals from the lighter yellows, the medium petals from the medium yellows, and the smallest petals from the darkest gold/yellows. I played around with the layout, stacking different petals to create layers. I settled on this one, with its side profile of a black-eyed Susan or sunflower. I cut 8 large, 7 medium, and 5 small petals.
I need to make a stem. I planned to make the petals fray at the edges once finished, so I cut about a ¾” strip of green and frayed the edges by pulling out at least ⅛” of the strings on each edge.
I quilted the background down to the batting and backing, then changed thread colors to match the green and stitched the stem in place. This stitching is pretty crude, but it works with the raw-edge nature of the project. I didn’t use fusible web or anything, just held it in place with my fingers and figured if it got a bump or crease in it, that was more character added.
Then, I started layering on the larger petals. I used a matching yellow thread to stitch around each one before adding the next, wavering anywhere from ⅛” -¼” from the outer edge of each petal as I stitched them down.
Once the larger petals were crudely stitched down, I added the medium petals and interspersed them with the smallest petals as I went.
Here you see all the petals stitched down. I like the way it looks :)
I cut one little half-moon shape out of brown to be the center of the flower. I switched to black thread and stitched little circles all over it to hold it down and make it look like seeds or something.
Finally, I thought it needed a leaf. I cut one more skinny strip of green and frayed the edges. This time, I folded it over to make a leaf shape and stitched it in place.
Now for the fray treatment! I used an old toothbrush to really scuff up the edges of each petal and get them to fray out. I did have to clip back some long threads, but this gave the whole flower some country charm.
And here it is! No fuss, just fun and just what my living room needed :) I think this idea would work really well as a table runner, with the flowers coming from opposite ends curling onto the runner!
Happy Sunday, everyone,
Krista
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