![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2v3MsPQ96t-Bx0ixVRKI393c3-lh1_9Mn52q3CQ7vT8du3IGB5lOdkTqyoOBaw8lbzZ6-9Kgu9YgKSG1fr_XLpWiYVXKfjGoRwBxZKzEJyjy_GziCdn1zhpSdgKl5l0ahPXUVEamsNLUH/s1600/DSC02180.jpg)
My berries are a lot like my hearts: but smaller and fiddlier! Again, finding the right fabric was tough but I was lucky enough to find some in my stash. I thought long and hard about ruby red berries which just felt so logical, but they really stuck out too much against my scrappy fabric. Then I thought about pinks but gave up on that for the same reason. I had settled on the idea of a rust, brown or mustard coloured tones as all these work so well with my fabrics - but felt they weren't authentically 'berry' enough. Then I found this fabric - I really don't do a lot with anything from the purple family, its a colour that doesn't immediately speak to me. But it works perfectly as a berry colour - its a bit red and blue - just enough but not too much and it blends in with all my scrappy mid tones beautifully. And the yellow helps it blend in with my browns without disappearing completely.
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I really enjoyed seeing how many of you worked your own berries. With so many of them to do, its really something to consider in terms of shape outcome and time. I did think about embroidery. But decided that I couldn't do justice to perfectly round berries and anything less than perfect little spheres would have proved to be too frustrating.
Here's what I'm doing: cutting the berry pattern shape from wash away fusible - that's the white circles you see. Then, putting this cut out shape in the center of a larger circle - that's the circle drawn onto the fabric.
The circle I'm using for the larger circle is precisely drawn thanks to the aid of this plastic template called a "Mathomat", I purchased it for a few dollars from my local newsagents. And it has a circle that works well for this purpose.
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You can see how much turning margin I have all around the circle: I'm cheating because this extra fabric will actually be my 'filling' so my berries aren't completely flat. It's just enough without being too much.
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So, the end result from the back looks something like this
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjE-iXvbSQOmuZf6LmCmmyYb2T3WF2MD9-pzpxkphq-zbd59ik4v7kciBobqZTgateJ3Ix6HE3HbKqepi8DPRr2DzMB64jET3gLMSzmG7dh48Pz20iadjG1IRN1kVDgaIGaMZe6F89XJg9_/s1600/DSC02170.jpg)
I'm going to make all my berries before I start hand stitching them down on the background. With tasks like this, I break the preparation down into 'parts' because I personally think that I create slightly different work on different days and I like to get it all out in one 'lot' so that its as uniform as possible.
In all, the pattern calls for 96x berries. This means I'll make 100x as I always make a few more in case any turn out wobbly ;)
I'll be breaking up my berry turning preparation with a few hours of Hungarian stitches for my stems. But for now, I just have to keep on turning...