Embroidery Journal Project - March

For March's embroidery journal project I adapted parts of four different patterns into a new one.

The four parts are:
- the outline - from Badbird's Embroidery Patterns
- the two birds - from Badbird's Embroidery Patterns
- two green clovers - this was from a machine embroidery pattern I saw on the internet. I tried to search for the link again, but can't find it.
- a willow branch - from a German American newspaper clipping circa 1900.

Each month I am doing a different design on a 12" x 12" piece of white cotton fabric that is imprinted with white leaves. At the end of this year-long project, I will have 12 different hand-embroidered designs that I will incorporate into a quilt.

There were 15 different colors of cotton embroidery floss used for this design. I tried to pick colors that were light; and reflected spring and some of the colors I'm seeing this month.

For the quilt squares for the past two months, I have simply done the backstitch. This month, I added some new embroidery stitches that I learned or built upon through the weekly Take a Stitch Tuesday challenge.

Stitches shown: Detached chain, running, chain, blanket, cross, and back stitches.

There are six stitches used in this piece:

- Detached chain - the five gold stitches in each corner.
- Running - the two pastel lavender lines in each corner.
- Chain - the two dark green clovers.
- Blanket - the two purple sections of stitches by each bluebird.
- Cross - the two sets of three "x"s by the leaves.
- Back - everything else that isn't done in one of the above-mentioned stitches.

Each part symbolizes something in this piece:

- Two bluebirds - many birds are migrating through and/or back to Minnesota. Last week, I saw a bluebird sitting on top of the butterfly house and then fly to the nature trail area.

- Willow branch - the willows by the pond area went from the soft, fuzzy gray stage to the blooming stage literally in less than a week. The weather is so atypical this spring that the plants, bushes, and trees have gone from their winter state to late-spring state in less than a month. Despite the brevity of this process, I was able to see a few in the gray stage earlier in the month.

- Clovers - St. Patrick's Day is a holiday that Sophia and Olivia enjoy celebrating. They spend time planning and building a leprechaun trap and putting out shoes for the leprechaun (who is a cobbler) to repair. The leprechaun has fun during the night re-arranging - and not fixing - the shoes, writing a greeting with the coins the girls leave out ("Hi"), and leaving some dollar gold coins and gold glitter sprinkled around the table.

We have Irish soda bread for breakfast and other green-colored items for the meals that day (e.g., pistachio fruit salad made with green pistachio pudding mix, coleslaw).

- Leaves with three "x" s - The perennials have started to emerge from the ground. The leaves are showing, but no flowers yet.

- Five gold stitches in the corner - These shapes remind me of the buds and blossoms on the trees. The apple trees are beginning to bud now while the northern magnolia bush is in full - and very fragrant - blossom.

- Purple and blue stitching in the four corners - This month I helped both the girls re-paint their rooms in colors that they chose. Sophia wanted a purple room and Olivia wanted a blue room.

In the process, I patched the walls where there were holes and where the sheets of drywall had come apart from one another slightly. They are both thrilled to have rooms that reflect their color preferences and look like they are in good condition.

One-fourth of the embroidered quilt squares are done already. Where have the past three months gone? It seems like time goes by so quickly.