State Flowers, Trees, Birds, and Insects including Butterflies to Embroider

When you can’t garden outdoors, needlework involving flowers is a nice substitute.  I enjoy a variety of kinds including crewel, counted cross-stitch, and needle or pettipoint.  With my first grandchild about to be born I was looking about for a project and came up with the idea of an embroidered birth announcement using the state flowers of the states where her extended family has roots.  I am doing this in counted cross-stitch, but any kind of embroidery could be used. And of course, the state flower idea could be used for a variety of projects including a baby quilt, face of a clock, or sampler. You could include state birds. butterflies and trees too.  I used an excellent book that I found in the public libraries of both North Carolina, and Los Angeles for all the state flower patterns; Better Homes and Gardens, “ 20001 Cross Stitch Designs”.  There are numerous cross-stitch sites online that can help with birds, trees, and insects including butterflies.

Here’s a chart with the state trees, flowers, birds, insects and/or butterflies.  Notice in the chart below that some states have state butterflies, some have state insects that are butterflies, and some have both or neither and some are not officially recognized.  Regardless, some of the insects would be charming in embroidery!

*Some are not OFFICIAL STATE insects.