With the greenery finished, it was time to start on the forward-facing flowers – to me, the most difficult because of those yellow faces. In nature, they can be very stark and striking, but in stitching them they will look pasted on top if they’re not blended well. What’s worse, blending well is extra difficult between such different shades. At this point, neither flower touches each other, so either one could go first.
The darker pansy, nearly finished. I think it needs a bit more to soften up the edges of the yellow face, but it’ll do for the moment while I stitch blues into the other one. It’ll look much better when there isn’t a great big hole in the middle of the design. I do like how the magenta looks blended into the top petals, and I put just a few stitches into the side petals, as well. Lots of the Johnny-jump-ups at my parent’s house have spots of darker color in the center of the side petals, so it seems natural.
And both pansies are done! I like how the blue one turned out even more. Since the blues and yellows were both much softer it was easy to blend them together, and then just a few veins were all it took to give this one some definition. I worked a bit more soft yellow into the purple pansy as well, and it looks much better too. I was worried for a bit, but the softer yellow made the transition much smoother, I think. Now, on to a little surprise . . .
A fat little bumble bee! I was planning on doing this bee on the front of the card case no matter which flower pattern we ended up going with, so I kept her quiet. I think it’s my fluffiest little bumble yet. The yellow from the flowers ties in well, too. Once the bee was done I couldn’t wait – I had to finish it into a card case. Taking scissors to a finished piece of embroidery is always nerve wracking, but I had made a paper model of this card case and I wasn’t too worried. A little interfacing, a little darker linen to line the inside, and then -
A card case! It’s just large enough to fit business cards in it. I might make others just a shade taller and more narrow, but it’s a great design. With three accordion-style pockets and a snap on the flap, it’s got plenty of storage, too. I might have to make more of these!
Here’s the front (picking just the right button took nearly as long as the right flower colors!) and a shot of it open. I’m sure I’ll have this little example of work for a long time.