I was honored to be able to work with Katarina Roccella’s beautiful new fabric line, Blithe for her blog tour. Katarina is a designer for Art Gallery Fabrics and I am a huge fan of her fabric designs! A muted palette of grey, teal, pale pink and even a few metallics mixed in…this is the perfect end of winter, hint of spring fabric line!

You can read more about Katarina’s inspiration here and you can see the Art Gallery Fabrics look book here. Follow along with her on Instagram and check out each of the other stops on the Blithe Blog Tour!

For all of the hoops, I used size 5 Eleganza Perle Cotton from Sue Spargo. This hoop was made using the Bird Songs design from Blithe.

 I added lots and lots and lots of French Knots in pink, orange, white, grey and black to the buds on the branches. I picture this tree blossoming in early spring with the greyness of winter far behind!

For this hoop, I used a background of Winterberries in Snow which has metallic gold berries flecked throughout. The butterfly was cut from the Arcadia Bliss in Shine pattern. I used large teal Lazy Daisy stitches on the butterfly and I added grey Feather Stitch details to the background.

This snow bunny was also cut from the Arcadia Bliss in Shine fabric and the background is Winterberries in Gold. A teal Chain Stitch border and offset Lazy Daisys in hues of pink and orange and teal add to the spring like feel of this hoop.

I love the lacy, almost doily-like, pattern of the Arcadia Bliss fabric and I tried to replicate that with additional stitching on the bunny.

This is the only hoop that I used all wool thread to embroider on the fabric. Ellana Wool Threads from Sue Spargo / Wonderfil Specialty Threads are delicate and yet vibrant in color. On this motif from Joy Wreaths, I introduced brighter colors as I embroidered Bullion Knots, Cross Stitch and Lazy Daisies. It was a delicate balancing act…embroidering just enough to let the fabric shine through and not going too crazy with stitchery!

For my final hoop, I used several fabrics, including this beautiful quote on linen from the Eternal Nature fabric, to weave a pattern. Using my trusty Wefty Needle, I used the fabrics listed above and added several strips of the Evergreens in Dusk for a lovely, woodsy feel. I also added a snowy owl from Bird Songs and embroidered him in whites and greys.

I love working with Art Gallery Fabrics and especially enjoyed working with these gorgeous Blithe fabrics as winter winds down and spring is not too far away! I hope you enjoy these hoops as much as I enjoyed creating them! 

-nichole