Bees and Blossoms Week 6: Bee Hive

Welcome to the ‘Bees and Blossoms’ Stitch A Long

This Stitch A Long is taking place for 10 weeks on the Stitchdoodles blog – Starting Wednesday 18th May 2022 and finishing on Wednesday 20th July 2022.

Each Wednesday during the SAL – a new tutorial will be published on the blog with all the information you need to complete a part of the Bees and Blossom Pattern.

If you are not familiar with a Stitchdoodles SAL and this is all new to you and you would like to join in, please go to this page to get all the information.

Do you need help with any of the stitches?

A Stitch A Long doesn’t provide you with the step by step instructions for the stitches themselves – it is a tutorial on how to stitch the pattern design – colours, techniques and stitches used etc. I will link to a ‘How to’ for certain stitches where I can, if you need further guidance, please take a look here …How to Teach Yourself Hand Embroidery Stitches

Welcome to Week 6

This Week we will be stitching…

The Larger Bee Hive with surrounding Flowers

You will need quite a few different colours for all the different elements so I will list them as we go.

Use 2 strands throughout unless stated otherwise.

Stitching the Bee Hive…

You will need these colours… #738, 3827, #433

The main Hive is stitched with some weaving. I stitched each section (there are 5 to be weaved in total) on the hive individually like so…

#738: stitch long vertical stitches evenly spaced apart (about 1/8th inch) across one of the sections. Secure the thread at the back on the last vertical stitch.

Next, with #738 (2 strands) – bring a new length of thread to the top right (or left) of the section – change to a tapestry needle – then bring the thread over and under the vertical stitches (staying on the surface until you reach the opposite side.)

When you reach the end – take the thread to the back and you are ready for the next row.

If you want a bit more of a refresher on weaving, take a look at the Wonderful Life Cottage Roof Post which explains in a bit more detail.

For the top section that has an arch – start a line of weaving in the centre of the section and work upwards to the arch – this is much easier than starting at the top of the arch and working down!

Here’s a few progress shots of the hive being filled in…

Once you have filled in the 5 sections by weaving, the brown details can be added on…

#433:

Split stitch the Roof
Split Stitch the 2 legs
Satin Stitch the 3 front details

Finally, to complete the hive…

#3827: Split stitch the lines in between the sections.

Stitching the Corner Flower Arrangement…

You will need the following colours: #472, #471, #3350, #223, #29, #712, #725

Start by stitching the Green leaves and Stems first and then the woven wheel flowers.

Lower Leaves & stem: Fishbone stitch the leaves and split stitch the stem.
Middle Leaves: Fly Stitch from tip to base and then outline in back stitch.
Top Leaves & stem: Satin stitch the leaves and split stitch the stem.

For the Woven Wheels: There is a tutorial here if you are unsure of how to do these.

For the remaining details to be added to the leaves, see the following photo…

Now for the White Flowers and Berries to finish off the corner arrangement…

White Flowers: #712: Satin stitch the petals, #725 (1 strand) straight stitch half way up middle of each petal.
Berries: #29: French Knots.

Finishing Details for this week…

Yellow Flower:

#471: Satin Stitch leaves and split stitch stem.
#725: Back stitch around edge of main head and fill in with satin stitch.
#712: Satin stitch centre
#3350 (1 strand): Straight stitch detail in centre.

Star Flower:

#3712: Long individual chain stitch for each petal.
#725 (1 strand): straight stitch inside each chain stitch to fill entire length.
#712 (1 strand): Straight stitch inside each chain stitch half way up yellow.

Crocus:

#3350: Satin stitch each of the 3 petals vertically (I split stitched around the edges first to give a more defined edge)
#712: Split stitch up outer edge of petal on each side.
#472: Diagonal Satin Stitch leaves.