Californica 2023- June Justicia californica

For June I'm working on the Justicia californica also known as Chuparosa.

Chuparosa is Spanish for either hummingbird or this flower (and others) which looks custom made for hummingbirds with its long tubular flowers. Hummingbirds are a delight and special around the world. However, it's my understanding that in various cultures throughout Mexico and Central America the hummingbird is especially important. I went down a little rabbit hold about this and if you want to too, this is a pretty good start. 

Back to the chuparosa flower. Its tubular flowers are about 1 to 1 1/2 inches long, usually in shades of bright to deep red, or sometimes yellow. They have a two-lobed upper lip and a wide three-lobed lower lip that falls open to reveal the inside of the blossom. You can often see the stamen sticking out.

Here are the plans:

Colors: DMC 310, 444, 470, 471, 920, 922

Tubular Flowers: Upper lobes (A): With three strands of 920 do three rows of stem stitch on all the upper lobes. There are a couple of upper lobes that have sunlight on them. For them, I did a row of stem stitch using 922.

Tubular Flowers: Lower lobes (B): Satin stitch of 2 strands of 920.

Sepals (C): Satin stitch- 3 strands of 471 (I meant to do 470 but didn't.)

Stems (D): Couched- Couch 6 strands of 471 (I meant to do 470 but didn't.)

Leaves (E): Satin stitch- 3 strands of 470 (I meant to do 471 but didn't.)

Name: Backstitch- 2 strands of 310

 

Box: "Split" stitch- 2 strands of 310, but maybe you want to save this for after you've completed more months to get a nice even stitch across months... (A true split stitch is a single strand, but in the absence of a better term, I call this a "split" stitch.)

Alternatively, you could do the following.

Colors: DMC 310, 444, 470, 471, 920

Tubular Flowers (A &B): Bullion- 2-3 strands of 920 I never know how many times I wrap the needle because I just eyeball the length, but I would guess you'd want to wrap it at least 10 times.

Sepals (C): Satin stitch- 3 strands of 470

Stems (D): Stem stitch- 3 strands of 470

Leaves (E): Satin stitch- 3 strands of 471

Name: Backstitch- 2 strands of 310

Box: Split stitch- 2 strands of 310, but maybe you want to save this for after you've completed more months to get a nice even stitch across months...