Good Morning, Quilters! (and Pooches and Kitties…)
Today is Day Two of our Sunflower Sampler Quilt-a-Long. (See Day One HERE)
Our quilt sandwich is pressed and marked with an oval and divided into eighths.
CHOOSING THREAD
I recommend using a heavy weight thread so you can really see the stitches. 40wt, 30wt, 28wt in cotton, rayon, polyester or silk are all great choices.
I decided to use cotton–it has less sheen than the other fibers and I think it will look more casual for this project. I had two choices in my collection:
Sulky 30wt cotton Sulky 30 Wt Cotton Thread
And Aurifil 28wt cotton (gray spool).
I chose a light peach color. It looks great with the fabric and will provide enough contrast to be able to see the stitches.
Begin in the center of the oval and stitch a spiral.
Then begin adding scallops around the center.
Whenever you get to the top and the bottom–stitch longer scallops to stretch the shape into an oval.
Continue adding rows of scallops to roughly fit the drawn oval.
Next (and without knotting off) add a wavy line around the oval, and echo stitch the oval one or two times.
When you are finished, it should look roughly like this:
ANOTHER OPTION
When I stitched my first Sunflower, I started with the wavy oval line and stitched in toward the center.
Notice the scallops go in-not out.
Choose whichever is easier or looks better to you.
Next week we’ll add the petals.
Let me know if you have any questions…
Sunny Stitching!
Lori
PS…All tutorials, images and information are the property of Lori Kennedy at The Inbox Jaunt and are intended for personal use only. Feel free to re-blog, pin or share with attribution to The Inbox Jaunt. For all other purposes, please contact me at lckennedy@hotmail.com. Thanks!
