Retro Embroidery: Avocado Green, Harvest Gold, Burnt Orange

The time was late 1960's and early 1970's. Brazilian dimensional embroidery wasn't on my horizon for at least 15-20 more years, but I've been stitching since I was a wee smidgeon (a VERY long time ago) - first those dresser scarves and pillowcases our moms gave us, and later (I have no idea where she found them) the large pictures with deer or landscapes, all long/short stitch with 4 strands of Coats & Clark cotton embroidery thread. 

Fast-forward to the 60's, and colors trending to avocado green, harvest gold and burnt orange. --And a handy supply of McCall's Needlecraft, Woman's Day and Family Circle magazines. 

I pulled out my embroidery threads and started stitching. The design above (inspired by one I saw somewhere) started with lazy daisy stitches. I circled around and around until I ran out of one color, or got bored. Changed colors and continued to stitch.

 

Then I went to look for more. This was a tiny 2x2" picture (McCall's Needlework, I think) that I saw on an advertisement. I'll bet I can do that, I thought - and I threaded my needle again.

 There isn't any dimensional embroidery here, just basic embroidery stitches.

 

We lived in Omaha, Nebraska, at the time. One day when I was flipping through the Omaha World Herald, I saw an ad, just a line drawing in black and white. But I thought it was cute. So I stitched it. Here's a picture:

Everything is long/short or other basic embroidery stitches. The sheep is stitched with lazy daisy stitches worked around and around. I did have a lot of fun.

 

After we moved to Oregon and I discovered Brazilian embroidery in the late 80's, I had lots of fun playing with these newly-discovered dimensional techniques. And when I ran out of things to stitch, I suddenly realized that I could probably draw my own ideas. So I did.

 

So.  If I can do it, so can you! Just remember: our flowers are circles, ovals or triangles; our leaves are heart-shaped. Animals are mostly circles and ovals. Have fun! Easy as pie.

Rosalie

P.S. By the way, our kitchen appliances in Omaha were Harvest Gold.