Saturday, January 28, 2012

The 22-Stitch* (*Give-or-Take A Stitch) Hummer - Brazilian Embroidery

Someone wrote me a note asking about the 22-Stitch Hummer, what it is and what it does.
This is my 22-Stitch* (*Give-or-Take A Stitch) Hummer -- a Brazilian dimensional embroidery design (although it's not very dimensional -- it's all lazy daisy stitches and a few straight stitches) and I have the instructions and a pattern in my book, Take A Stitch by Rosalie Wakefield. It's also posted on my website, but I don't have a shopping cart finished yet, so you can contact me by email if you'd like a copy.

Well, this is a pretty good picture.  Ole' 22 is only an inch tall. Here he is stitched with metallic threads (I usually choose the durable Sulky metallic threads, but anything will work - it's only 22 stitches, give or take.) I've also stitched this birdie with Glory. In the picture above, his tummy and bib are Glory rayon floss and his beak is gold rayon Glory floss. His sparkly little eyeball is a size 14/o seed bead. 
            To save you buying the book (although I wouldn't argue), you can see that I made a fly stitch for his body outline which I then tacked with a lazy daisy stitch. I then added a couple of lazy daisy stitches on each side for more tailfeathers.  The upper wings are tapered because of 1) offset [a-b] points through the fabric for those 3 lazy daisy stitches, or 2) 4 lazy daisy stitches with extra-long tacking stitches. The top of his head is one stitch, couched in a curve, and his beak is 2 straight stitches, the upper stitch overlapping the lower stitch.

In my book, Take A Stitch, there is a traceable pattern for this little 22-stitch hummer, and another pattern for several different hummers (different coloring). I stitched one in metallic thread and one in Glory rayon floss. (yes, DMC would work -- one strand). I stitched this design one time with silk ribbon flowers and another time using a Brazilian dimensional flower I developed called "Canada's Rose". Here's a picture:
This little hummer is a perfect addition to any crazy quilt design, or any floral embroidery, or edging a collar or just anywhere that you would like him to roost.
Rosalie 

3 comments:

  1. Brilliant! I tip my hat to your creativity!

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  2. OMGosh this is beautiful....Thank you for sharing your creativity

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  3. Thanks, Sharon and Betty. Sometimes the simplest and easiest things are just the best.
    I love the lazy daisy stitch!

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