Bliss: June Heartfelt Wool Appliqué Pattern

When I designed the Heartfelt wool appliqué series, I chose “bliss” for June because June is so often thought of as a month for weddings. The month of June derives its name from Juno, the Roman goddess of marriage. Tradition says that couples who marry in June are blessed with prosperity and happiness. It seemed perfect to choose a word like bliss for a month of brides.

And then a boy asked my girl to be his bride and in a happy bit of happenstance they chose June to say “I do”. I don’t think they chose June for the Roman goddess of marriage, it had more to do with my daughter being a school teacher and wanting to honeymoon during summer break. Either way, stitching the June Heartfelt wool appliqué block took on a very special inspiration for me.

I always design my wool appliqué patterns so that they are easy for the stitcher to customize with colors they love. I chose creams, mint, and french blue, the colors of my daughter’s wedding.

This pattern features lots of dimension and texture. I tried to choose the embellishment options very thoughtfully to work with the wedding theme that was fresh on my heart. I thought you might find it interesting to hear more about why I chose the elements that I did.

Wool Appliqué bead details…

For special detail, I used Mill Hill Petite Seed Beads to dress up the center heart. The  crystal and pearl beads are a nod to the beading on a wedding gown.

When I married Anna’s dad, my mother passed on a pearl ring to me that was the first real piece of jewelry she ever had. My mom wore the ring as her wedding ring when she married my dad because they couldn’t afford to buy rings. I wore the ring when I married Anna’s dad. And now, Anna wore it as she married Mike. As I stitched the pearls on the heart, I couldn’t help but smile and think about how we had started a new tradition that hopefully will carry on for generations to come.

Bliss Wool Appliqué Button details…

I added two little bluebirds perched beak to beak on the hanging banner. I love that Just Another Button Company buttons have a design that goes all the way through. There is no front or back on the buttons so you can use the birds facing left or right!

The symbol of a bluebird as the harbinger of happiness is found in many cultures and may date back thousands of years. I love the idea of the Bluebird of Happiness and include bluebirds in projects when I can. Using a pair of them seemed especially sweet!

These oak leaf buttons are some of my favorite JABC buttons. I like to use them as flourishes around flowers. I love tucking them in little clusters of flowers to add in more dimension and to add a different texture. When tucked under fabric flowers, it helps to lift them up and keep them from laying flat.

In this case, they add meaning as well. An oak tree symbolizes strength and endurance. I liked the idea of incorporating those traits into a project celebrating marriage.

You may know already that I love scallops. I use them often to frame hearts on projects. With this scallop border, I added stitches to pucker the scallops and make them dome-shaped. I kept picturing dimensional scallops in my mind and wondered how I could make it happen. It turned out so easy and creates such a lovely effect!

If you would like to stitch this Heartfelt design, the pattern is now available in my pattern shop. The pattern includes all the shapes you need along with step-by-step instructions with photographs of each step and a complete supply. You can preview the supply list in the images on the shop page. I’ve also included shopping links.

You can find all that here –> Heartfelt: Bliss Wool Appliqué Pattern download.

PS. A note about the flowers- the flowers in this pattern are comparable in size and shape to the flowers in my Sew Sweet Valentines die set from Spellbinders. That set is on sale right now too! Check out my whole Sew Sweet collection at Spellbinders!