Summer Symphony

# Summer Symphony

Planning and reference

She collected reference photos online, printed several, and cut out the flower shapes to test sizes and arrangement. The paper cutouts helped judge scale and avoid making the flowers too uniform. This planning stage determined relative petal lengths, center sizes, and overall composition before any fabric or stitching.

Materials and construction choices

• Petals and centers: hand-dyed cotton for yellow petals and a browner fabric for centers.
• Stems: green yarn, chosen after fabric stems proved too bulky. Yarn was easier to couch and allowed more natural curves.
• Threading: matching cotton machine thread to appliqué the flowers and to couch the stems.

After cutting the applique pieces, Ruth pinned leaves and stitched the petals and centers in place. The leaves were cut and pinned, then stitched down, completing the basic applique stage.

Adding texture and depth

Ruth focused effort on the cone centers of the echinacea. To achieve a slightly "furry" appearance and a graduation of color, she used four different colors of hand-dyed wool thread. The centers were worked with random cross stitches and straight stitches to produce irregular texture and some darker areas for depth.

She tested adding stitching lines on the petals using stem stitch, making small sample petals to see the effect. The petal test showed the stitched lines did not contribute enough visual improvement for the time required, so she left the petals unstitched and considered the piece finished at that point.

Final assembly and next steps

Ruth bought a piece of background fabric and stitched the nunofelt piece to it. The finished artwork was laced around two pieces of matte board, the same finishing method she uses routinely, and is ready to go to the framers once she has a few more pieces completed.

She noted recent sales of smaller 5×7" landscapes at a gallery in Kalispell and plans to make more of those smaller formats next. The completed piece will be sent to the framers with other work when she has a batch ready.

Community and engagement

Published Sep 11, 2026 by ruthlane.