It’s fall and that means a trip… nay… many trips to our local apple orchard. Actually, we are very fortunate, in our area there are several apple orchards and cider mills to choose from. My son Drew, and his wife Meghan, moved to Wisconsin a few years ago and have been searching high and low for a true, honest to goodness working cider mill, with pick your own apples, wagon rides, and hot, freshly made donuts, but have yet to find one. But we have them in abundance… and they’re close enough to go to for cider and hot donuts… OFTEN! Which, in and of itself is lovely, but a bit problematic to my thighs! Anyway… I could hardly get through the season without sharing a felt applique apple tree. Last year I discovered the embroidery stitch the Woven Spider Wheel, and have used it often for flowers BUT it totally excels as apples! Make sure to “weave tightly” (I went under 26 spokes) and your apple will take on a lovely 3 dimensional look. (BTW… I added grass as an afterthought using 6 strands of floss and a simple straight stitch. You will not see that on the pattern, but easy enough to add if you’d like.)
I wanted to talk just a little bit about the applique blocks in general. I’m always saying they can be enlarged or reduced to meet your needs, but you might wonder what “needs” can I be referring to. Well… the designs in the applique blocks can be utilized in many ways. For example, I used this applique block as the pattern for my Wooden Apple Orchard. (Which I’ll be sharing the pattern and a brief how-to next week.) I didn’t even have to change the size. But by enlarging or reducing the pattern, or other small modifications like adding a 1/4″ seam allowance, they can be turned into many other things. The applique PATTERNS can be made out of cottons and appliqued on clothing or quilts. They can be cut out of wood. They can be made into stencils for your walls. They can be reduced, and cut out of polymer clay for brooches. You can add a back and stuff them for stuffies. They can become stained glass patterns. There are many applications possible.
To help visualize their uses, we are going to do a series of Christmas projects, using the same design in several different ways. We will be using a pine tree applique block and turning it into table decorations, a garland, a wreath and an apron applique. We will even use it to make Christmas cards. So watch for our new design and its many applications.
In the meantime, the Apple Tree Applique Block pattern can be found HERE
Food for thought. I do stain glass. I never even considered the appliques as patterns for it. One of those “duh” moments. Looking through them now I see where many could be used. I love the cherries, the beehive and the flower and can see how I could use them. Thanks for the suggestion and all your sweet patterns. You’re a favorite and now even more.
It’s very interesting seeing the felt tree and the wooden tree side by side!
I know I’m not very good at this stuff but I am trying. This is probably going to seem like such a stupid question but I made the apple tree and I’m trying to embroider the apples on and it’s a mess. My needle keeps catching the felt and I must be doing something wrong because I can’t weave it. Help. Really. HELP!
Not at all a silly question and one I should have anticipated myself! The diagram we have in the glossary is the universally accepted diagram of the Woven Spider Wheel Stitch, but very early on I ran into the same problem you are talking about and I started doing it slightly different. I use this stitch often enough, and I’d love other people to share my enthusiasm for it, that I wrote up a quick tutorial on how to do the stitch. Hope it proves useful. You can find the tutorial for the Woven Spider Wheel Stitch HERE.
thank you for sharing. I hope I can accomplish the woven spider wheel. Looks very nice!
If you didn’t go there already, make sure you check out the tutorial on making a Woven Spider Wheel. It really is much easier then it looks. Have fun!