When you see this I’ll be at ANG National Seminar in Tucson, enjoying the sun! So I thought you might enjoy sharing in the heat with your own sunny project.
I’m not going to lie – I thought this would be an easy little design. I had the concept I wanted to use at least a couple of months ago. But when it came time to actually design, I had to make 4 attempts. First the design was too complex, especially since I had to line draw the canvases! So I made it a little simpler. Then the sunflower center was a off kilter – especially egregious because I didn’t discover this little boo-boo until I had stitched it. Throw that attempt away, and try again. Then the petals were too big, so I redesigned to make them a little smaller; the larger petals made it look more like a marigold than a sunflower. After I did that, there was too much negative space, so I added the sun. At that point, I decided no more changes and we’ll go with it.
I think I’m happy with how it turned out! Even though it’s well-know that I’m not a fan of yellow, what other color could a sunflower be? So yellow it is, three shades!
The kit includes Presencia floss – 1225 Dark Lemon, 1227 Medium Gold, 1232 Deep Canary, and 8075 Medium Brown. The sunflower’s center is EdMar Co. Boucle’ 120 Chocolate.
Trying to find a thread to use for the bumpy texture of the sunflower’s center was somewhat of a challenge. I didn’t want it to be too complex to stitch, or tedious (I hate tedious). So I was randomly looking through my thread library (really too much to be called a stash at this point), and saw the boucle’. I think it’s perfect! I couched it down following the curve of the sunflower’s center, and it was quick and easy!
I alternated diagonal mosaic stitches for the petals, to give a little definition, and used a darker yellow close to the center and a little color moving out. I didn’t backstich the petals to outline them, but when you stitch you can decide if you want to add that or not.
All in all, I think it turned out pretty well, and capture the essence of what I conceived in my head weeks ago. I hope you like it too!
We completed the project with a sunflower printed fabric, and displayed it on our display stand, green with sun cutouts. A wonderful summer project for inside while you’re escaping the heat, or poolside!