"Autumn...the year's last, loveliest smile."

- William Cullen Bryant

I thought I'd make a quick and easy wool appliqued picture to celebrate the coming of Autumn. I hope you like it. Happy stitching!

You will need:

6" x 8" piece of black background fabric ( I used "Hamami" style #H8713 by Hoffman California International Fabrics)
4" square orange tweed felted wool - pumpkin
2" square green plaid felted wool - leaf
2 1/2" length of 1/4" wide brown ribbon (I used 2/8" Italian cotton ribbon from Angela Liquori.com)
7" x 9 piece of thin cotton batting ( I used HOBBS Heirloom 80/20 black batting)
Valdani perle cotton
- size 12 - #O518 (pumpkin, leaf and ribbon stem), #M81 (pumpkin embellishment), #P4 (berries), #O532 (berries)
- size 8 - #O519 (leaf vein and stem, berry stem)
Chenille needle, size 24
Freezer paper ( this can be purchased it from the grocery store)
Fine point chalk pencil
Straight pins
5" x 7" frame (I used Aaron Brothers "Carpenter")
5" x 7" tag or mat board
Double stick tape or spray adhesive

Instructions - Use one strand of thread for all stitches.

Download Autumn Gift Layout and Pattern and Stitch Guide if needed.
Center the background fabric, right side up, on the piece of batting. Press (this will temporarily adhere the background to the batting).
Trim batting to match background fabric dimensions.
Trace pumpkin and leaf patterns onto freezer paper and cut out. You could also use fusible web but you will need to reverse the image before tracing.
Iron freezer paper patterns, shiny side down, onto wool and cut out. Remove freezer paper.
Pin pumpkin onto background using the layout as your guide.
Use #O518 to whip stitch the pumpkin.
Fold under one end of the ribbon about 1/4 inch. Pin in place about 3/4 of an inch from the top of the pumpkin using the layout as your guide. Fold the free end of the ribbon so that it turns to the right, fold the end under about 1/4", then pin to secure.

9. Use #O518 to whip stitch the ribbon stem.

10. Use a chalk pencil to draw the lines in pumpkin.

11. Use #M81 to back stitch over the lines. This is a lovely variegated gold and orange thread that works so well with the orange wool.

12. Pin the leaf in place using the layout as your guide.

13. Whip stitch the leaf using #O518.

14. Draw the leaf stem and veins.

15. Back stitch the stem and central vein using #O519.

16. Make the side veins by making a "V" shape stitch that starts on one side of the central vein, slides under one of the central vein back stitches and ends on the opposite side of the vein.

17. Draw the berry stem using the layout as your guide.

18. Use #O518 to make a closed fly stitch over the upper part of the stem and a back stitch over the bottom half of the stem.

19. Use the same thread to make lazy daisy leaves, at intervals of every two back stitches, on the bottom portion of the stem. Make a small straight stitch opposite each lazy daisy leaf.

20. Use #P4 to #O532 to make French knot berries.

21. I like to give the appliqued piece a final press before I trim it.

22. Use the glass of your picture frame as a template for trimming your appliqued piece and tag board to size. The final size should be 5" x 7", but it may slightly smaller or larger depending on the opening of your frame.

23. Use double stick tape or spray adhesive on the tag board to secure your project to the tag board before placing it in the frame.

24. Enjoy!