Bunches of Bunnies Heart |
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I started this chart on Easter day, and finished it up on Tuesday. It's a cute little heart stitched band sampler style. I won this chart as a door prize at the last meeting of our CyberStitchers chapter of EGA. The chart is from The Sweetheart Tree. It utilizes a few specialty stitches along with cross-stitch and back stitch:
The pattern calls for 32 count white linen, but I stitched it on a sample of 28 ct. Monaco that I had in my stash. I stitched it with DMC cotton floss. The finished size is about 4" x 4". I did the finishing work on this chart in September, 2002. This was a brand new adventure for me! I wanted to try to make this little sampler into a padded top for a box. I found a cardboard heart-shaped box at Michael's craft store. It was a nice size (approx. 5.5" wide and 5" high by 3" deep). The sides were embossed with roses.
First I primed and painted the box. Then, using acrylic paints, I sponge-painted some silver paint on the edge of the lid, the bottom of the box, and around the roses. Then I lightly painted the embossed roses with two shades of green and two shades of pink. The paint looked fairly bright, so I sort of white-washed the roses with more of the background color. That helped to mute the roses. Finally, I sealed the painted box with a coat of clear sealer. I didn't really want to use glue on the stitched part of the top. So I next cut a piece of white felt into a heart shape, and glued the felt to the box top. I covered another heart-shaped piece of cardboard with some batting, then covered it with the stitchery. I basted around the edge of the stitchery, put it around the cardboard heart, then tightened up the basting. Thus, no gluing. Next, I stitched the stitchery heart to the felt using an overcast stitch. That was a little tricky and would have been easier if I had a small crescent-shaped upolstery needle. The last step for the outside of the box was to sew on a string of pearl beads. Again, I stitched the beads to the edge of the stitchery using an overcast stitch. I wanted to make the inside of the box special, too. I had seen a technique to emboss velvet demonstrated on HGTV's Carol Duval show. I wanted to try that. I'd bought an old velvet waterbed cover at a garage sale for $1.00. I used that for the box lining.
First I cut out a chunk of the velvet about two inches bigger than the box. I got out my rose rubber stamp, and placed it upside down on the ironing board. I then laid the velvet over the rubber stamp, upside down. Next, I spritzed the velvet with some water, then placed a hot iron over the velvet-covered stamp, making sure to not allow the steam vent holes to touch the stamp. After just a few seconds, I lifted the iron and turned the velvet over to reveal the rose design embossed into the velvet. It worked great! I wish the embossing showed up a bit better in this image. Using the hemmed edge of the cover, I cut a strip of velvet to line the sides of the inside of the box. I glued the velvet to the sides and bottom of the box. This left a raw edge along the bottom inside edge. I covered that raw edge with a length of rayon cording, which frayed at the end. I touched up the ends with Fray Check, then glued in a large pearl at the point of the heart. My box is now complete. To learn about beading with cross-stitch, visit Needlework 101 and read Beading Tips. To learn about couching, visit Needlework 101 and read Couching. I'll be keeping this piece for myself to display each year. I really like the colors used in this piece. Very spring-like, soft and pretty.
The Sweetheart Tree
Charles Craft
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