Satin Stitch Cows

There are a couple of things that I love–Jesus, first and foremost, my family, food… 

Two other things on the list of things I love are COWS and EMBROIDERY. 

Guess I’m just a dorky farm girl!  Here is a little project I stitched up that marries the two.

So, first of all, cows. 

I grew up on a beef farm. 

I spent my summers halter-breaking cows and showing them at the county and state fair.  Each spring my dad calved out about a hundred cows. 

I’d help–mostly by watching gates and holding wrenches, but my sisters and I enjoyed naming the calves as they were born. 

Some of the names we forgot, but others became our special favorites, many of which I still remember.

Just this last week I went for an evening walk in the pasture. 

It was one of those beautiful, breath-taking nights. 

The cattle were there, looking happy. 

It was a joy to be there.

And embroidery. 

My husband often teases me that I always have some project going–and for the most part, he is totally right. 

I am happiest when I am busy, and I have a very hard time just sitting down and watching a little tv–something my husband almost needs to do at the end of a hectic day. 

So I stitch. 

When we were first married I would try to sit with him and read, but this makes conversation nearly impossible, and I am married to a man that loves to talk. 

So I stitch. 

He’s happy, I’m happy, and sometimes I come up with a project I’m really happy with, like this one!

Here’s the How-To

Supplies:

• Neutral Fabric for background
• Iron-On Interfacing
• Embroidery Hoop
• Permanent Marker
• Embroidery Floss
• Felt

Now, admittedly, I didn’t take very many progress pictures, but there are just a few steps to this project.

• First of all, draw/trace you picture on to your piece of neutral fabric.  When that is done, iron on the interfacing to the back.  I do this so that I have a more substantial place to stitch, and so that the stitches don’t pull at the fabric too much.
• Then, go over all of your drawing with a back stitch, using a dark color thread.
• Next, move onto the statin stitch.  Now, satin stitch is simply a long stitch that goes from one edge of an area to the other.  The point of a satin stitch is to fill in an area.  For this project I used the lines marking the contours of the cow and started filling in various areas with the satin stitch.  Then I moved on to another area.  I did the entire cow in the same color, but the various angles of the stitch make it look like different colors.  There is no right or wrong way to do this–just pay attention to the shape of the cow.
• Finally, add a few felt embellishments.  I added little purple flowers that are simply layered circles with tiny green leaves.

And that’s it!

I’m pretty happy with it! 

And hey–if you are looking for another cow project, check out this one. 

Or, here are a few more projects that use statin stitch: here, here, and here!

Thanks for being here!