To find out how you can join in with stitching this pattern – please go to this page for all the details.
Week 8 means that it’s time for you to…
Meet the Chickens!
Oh my goodness – these little guys are the cutest and I am sure you will have loads of fun adding these into your design.
That said, this block is quite time extensive – especially with all those French Knots – so don’t feel pressured to finish in the week. These tutorials are here for the forseeable so you have plenty of time to stitch at your own pace and enjoy it as you go…
You will need the following colours…
Blossom Tree: #632, #316, #3609
Chickens: #3859, #434, #350, #3820, #310
Mushroom and Flora: #3328, #738, #746, #3345, #839
Starting with the Blossom Tree…
If we start with the tree, you can keep coming back to it and filling in the blossom rather than trying to do it all in one go.
There are lots of French Knots which can get tedious – when you start getting fed up – leave it and move on to something else and come back when you are ready for another go!!!
Use 2 strands throughout unless stated otherwise.
#632: Stem Stitch – start at the base of the tree and work your way upwards completing the smaller thinner branches as you come to them.
The Blossom is stitched in 2 colours just to create a bit of variety but also to help differentiate between the clusters so it doesn’t look like a big blob of French Knots.
To stitch the individual clusters of blossoms – I find it easier to keep the bobbly shape of each cluster by stitching the French Knots on the Outline before filling in the centre.
If you bring your needle up on the actual shape line and back in on the shape line – the knot will be in the right place. All you need to do then is fill in the centre.
As you can see in the photo’s below, I started on the left of the tree in #316 and left gaps for the other colour – #3609 – where I felt it would help to define the different areas. Don’t try to be too uniform in your colour approach but do try and keep the areas defined rather than blended into one.
As you can see I’ve added bits of one colour in to the other in various areas to try and make it look as natural as possible…
Now for the Chickens…
All the chickens are stitched in the same way but have their own little characters come out as you stitch them!
I’ll take you through stitching one and then you can create the rest in the same way…
- #3859: Using 2 strands – Outline in Back.
- long & short stitch the chickens body keeping the direction of your stitching diagonal rather than stright down or straight across so it looks more natural.
- Keep the Wing area clear and complete the tail end to finish (I haven’t completed it in the photo here!)
3. #434: Long & short stitch the wing in the same direction as the body feathers, then using just 1 strand – stitch 3 chain stitch for the tail feathers.
4. #3820: Using 1 strand – Straight stitch the feet and beak, #350: tiny little straight stitch under the beak for detail and then 3 small chain stitch for the top of the chickens head.
Lastly in #310 – 1 strand – stitch a French Knot for the eye – if you find it disappears then use 2 strands or just don’t pull it through too tight.
Here’s a close up of all the chickens. As you can see – I wasn’t overly neat with the long and short stitch with regards blending and on the outline as I wanted them to be a bit ruff and cheeky looking! Pay attention to the location of the eye on the 3 chickens pecking at the ground so it looks natural.
Final little details…
All that’s left to do now is the little bits that make up the scene.
Mushroom: #738 Satin stitch the stem, #3328 satin Stitch the top and then with 1 strand of #746 stitch a few little french knots over the red.
All the greenery is #3345 and straight stitched.
The little bits of earth are straight stitched with 1 strand of #839.
Now the Chickens have arrived the cottage is looking very cosy indeed!
Well done for getting this far – I can’t wait to meet all the little chickens that get stitched up over the coming weeks.
Make sure you show off your lovely stitching on the Happy Stitching FB Group or send me some pics and I’ll post them here, can’t wait to see how your design is coming along.
Don’t forget you can also share your stitching on Instagram with #stitchdoodlesembroidery.
Happy Stitching!
Want to stitch this Pattern as well?
Purchase the template, pre printed fabric or Full Kit and you can join in as well…
Does your pdf Wonderful Life come with instructions
Hi Gracie, it does come with all the step by step instructions as well as photos. Included is a list of DMC threads that I used in all the sections.