SPRING FOLIAGE

Coleus

Coleus is a hardy plant that comes in 60 varieties, from bright vivacious splashes of color to muted, more natural hues, and it makes a beautiful container plant.

Angel Wings

The distinctive white and green leaves of Caladium ‘Candidum’, or angel wings as it is popularly known, grow to almost 1 foot (30cm) in length. It’s a great ornamental plant, but cultivate it with care, as it is particularly toxic.

Polka Dot Plant

The polka dot plant (Hypoestes phyllostachya) has beautiful, brightly colored foliage but it has only a very short lifespan, dying almost immediately after flowering.

Bells of Ireland

Round green leaves surround small white flowers on this beautiful foliage plant, which can grow up to 3 feet (90cm) in height. Despite its name, this plant originates from Turkey, not Ireland.

Annual Honesty

A member of the mustard family, this purple flowering plant is grown mostly for its seed pods, which resemble silver dollars once dried and give rise to its alternative common name – the silver dollar plant.

Foxtail Barley Grass

The perennial foxtail barley grass (Hordeum jubatum) is a very adaptable ornamental grass that can be poisonous to animals if seeded incorrectly.

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Tropical Patches

Transform almost anything with these tropical iron-on patches! MATERIALS Linen Wool felt Chenille 18 needle Embroidery thread Scissors: fabric and embroidery Heat n Bond Iron 1. Transfer the three patterns onto the linen fabric, leaving sufficient space in between each so that they can be individually cut out in step 3. 2. Stitch the patterns following the keys for the white lotus, the banana leaf and the African violet (see Tropical Plants in Flowers Category : White Lotus, Banana Leaf, African Violet ) . 3. Once the stitching is complete, cut around each patch leaving a little less than 1in (2.5cm) of fabric all the way around. 4. Now cut three pieces of wool felt to match the shape of the embroidered linen patches, making them just a little larger to allow for a felt ‘border’ all the way around the edge. Place the felt pieces behind each of the linen patches. 5. Using a single strand of an embroidery thread of your choice, use whipped back s...

C – VARIATED BACK STITCH

This stitch, like satin stitch, is a filler stitch, albeit a less controlled one. 1. Referring to how to work back stitch (see Back Stitch), fill in the designated space with back stitches, keeping the stitches random with no consistency (1).

MATERIALS & EQUIPMENT

THREAD The embroideries have all been stitched with DMC six-strand embroidery floss (stranded cotton), but there are many other thread choices available, as well as yarns, cords and ribbons. Anything is possible, although some options are trickier than others! NEEDLES Your threading medium determines needle choice: e.g., DMC gold embroidery needles (sizes 1, 3, 5) have smaller eyes for single strands of floss, while the DMC chenille needle (size 18) has a larger eye for thicker thread types, such as cord or yarn, or for stitching with all six strands of floss. A chenille needle (size 18) was used to work all the embroideries here. Explore the options but choose a needle that has a pointed tip, rather than a blunt-tip tapestry needle. FABRIC Anything (and everything) can be embroidered onto: from linen to burlap, to silk, to paper. A favorite for modern hand embroidery, and the fabric used in this book, is a linen-look/linen-blend fabric, which can either be a combination of l...

Embroidery flowers

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