Melitastitches4fun's Blog

The lilacs were the most fun flowers of Annette’s Bouquet (EGA Seminar class from Deborah Mitek) perhaps because they are French and Colonial Knots which I am more comfortable with than the other ribbon techniques.

These were also interesting because of the foundation consists of Fly stitches to raise the knots. I added extra Fly stitches than indicated in the instructions for the center top one because my line started out wonky but I had plenty of thread. By the second and third lilac, my Fly stitches lined up. You probably can’t see it but I poked a needle into the Congress Cloth to make the general shape.

Wrapping the lower stem stitches lightly adding twists and links with ribbon sounds easy. It took several attempts to get the first one (center top) and then when I finished it off, it almost looked better on the back. So, I tried until I was happy. Good thing I had plenty of ribbon. The second of the wraps worked great on the first attempt (bottom right). Then, I struggled with the third (bottom left). Wow.

You know that it took me 35 minutes to cut 4 skeins of ribbons for the lilacs (two were 5 yards and two were 5.5 yards). I know it was 35 minutes because dinner was cooking! The way it was cut yielded 4 threads of each color for the 3 flowers. That’s a lot of ribbon!

I saved ironing and separating them to get a good variety of overdyed thread in each set of three for the next day when I was ready to stitch.

The center top was my first one. It’s more dense than was probably intended but I kept putting my needle through thread which pulled the knots tighter than I wanted. Finally, I flipped the canvas and worked them up so the thread wasn’t in the path of where I was stitching. It’s a big lilac (compared to the teacher’s model but no two pieces would ever be the same anyway) which used 11 of the 12 threads one 7 mm strand left over). The shape is good, there is movement of color within the flower, and there is depth because some are tighter to the canvas. I am happy with my first lilac.

My second lilac was the bottom left. And, it too has a good shape, color movement, and depth. It is smaller. I had 3 strands of 4 mm ribbon left over (two solid and one overdyed).

The third (bottom right) is about the same size as the other one on the bottom and all aspects just as good. I had 3 strands of solid yellow ribbon left over (two 4 mm and one 7 mm).

Three lilacs took 3 days. But, I stayed up late to finish the lilac leaves and bow.

There are 6 lilac leaves using 7 mm ribbon in a Lazy Daisy and they were tricky. A little twist, a little luck, and a couple of tries finally got them in place.

The final step was the bow. Easier than the leaves because you twist, preview, and tack. I am very happy with the bow and the whole piece!!

FYI: I allowed my Surface Pro to get down to 22% (took about 3 hours of use) and then connected it to the charger. It took 1 hour and 20 minutes to fully charge my computer (I kept using it during the charging) and was left with 15% on the charger. So, that’s definitely adequate for my needs in chapter meetings and classes.

Given a little quiet time and my comfy stitching chair, I was able to finish the wild greenery (pistol stitch and wrapped backstitch), stems, the 3 remaining daisies, the 5 Periwinkle flowers, and the leaves. I left my 2 practice ones in the bottom right corner to show the difference.

One of the biggest tips from Deborah was to enlarge the holes for the tips of the petals (away from the center) before stitching them to ensure you like the shape of the flower before stitching it.

That leaves (pun) just the 3 large Lilacs and the bow.

I’m done with my 2-day class, Annette’s Bouquet, with Deborah Mitek and Seminar is done too! It sure went by quickly.

Deborah got through everything even though I didn’t stitch everything. I only practiced the periwinkle (pink) flowers in the extra space she gave us. I didn’t bother trying the lilacs because they are either French Knots or Colonial Knots and I can do them although I will practice because I have not done them with 4 and 7 mm ribbons. I also need to finish the stems, leaves, and wild greenery before stitching flowers.

I brought my mini hair straightener wand even though it was not suggested (Deborah brought two). She irons ribbons and threads. When in Rome! Diane S-B (who I know from ANG) was next to me. She had a portable battery pack and I had the iron. Good table partner and nice to catch up with her.

This is one piece that I am going to focus on when I get home and finish asap so I don’t forget what to do.

Finally, I understand how to make a quilter’s knot to knot the end of a thread. It has been explained to me before but I didn’t get it until now!

This 2-day class is Annette’s Bouquet with Deborah Mitek. Thankfully, the room is warmer.

Deborah puts together a lovely kit organized by flower and stems for specific flowers!

We discussed a good portion of the project but again the amount of stitching does not seem like a lot. I did get one Daisy done!