Friday Flowers Returns: "Winter Whites"

I know it's been ages since I posted a few Friday Flowers, but I thought it's time to start up again.

When I was working in my backyard last weekend (pulling weeds and neating up all the dead stuff) I uncovered a few patches of white violets shyly blooming underneath the shelter of larger plants:

I was surprised to see them because the blue violets are all sleeping and nothing but their stubs are visible, waiting for true spring to arrive. So this little white flower was a delightful surprise:

And even winter foliage can be lovely to look at this time of year. Aren't these pink-edged ivy leaves lovely?

And even when the garden is "sleeping" there are all sorts of interesting patterns that can be found if you look around a bit...

In another part of the garden, here is the first camillia to bloom - it's a new "yellow" camillia (even though it's really a pale cream) - that I bought with great excitement last year in a small nursery a bit further north in Ukiah (Northern California). It's suddenly sporting lots of small flowers with rather floppy and ragged petals:

Their fuzzy yellow centers are still hiding, but will probably reveal themselves in the next few days...

I hope you are all enjoying your winter gardens, wherever you live... and of course, getting plenty of stitching done, too. Happy Friday!

Mini Mystery Monday #5

Time for another little mystery project -- something very fast, very fun, and very easy!

The finished size of this piece is apprx. 4" x 4" on 18 ct. canvas; design count is 68 threads by 68 threads. I stitched the first design on white canvas, so you can use white or any light-colored canvas you want - eggshell or light blue or green....whatever goes with the threads you choose. (I also stitched it a second time on colored canvas, but more on that later on!)

We'll be using a very simple palette again: just one variegated thread with two different metallic ribbons. Chose one bright, "sharp/scratchy" metallic and one soft sheen, muted/dull metallic. To show you what I mean, here are the threads I used:

And we're going to start our mystery project with the very same element we used in Mini Mystery #4, the separated lone star (the divided star? the exploded star??):

And the center graph looks like this:

But this time we're going to make nine of these stars with a variegated border as well. So here's your graph for the first part of this mystery:

That's really all there is to the first part of this design, so go get your threads and start stitching! I'll see you next Monday with the next layer of stitches....

An Old Favorite

I was doing a bit of pattern printing this week, and every time I print an older pattern of mine, I find something new and different to like about it.

Take FEATHERED DIAMONDS, for instance.... one of my first designs done 'way back in 2000.

It only uses two skeins of any variegated Watercolours thread you like, plus 2 skeins (or 1 ball) of #5 pearl cotton in ecru, or any pale background color.  I think I used Watercolours 51 - "Abalone" on this original model.... but everytime I print it out I'm struck again at how timeless this design is, yet complicated enough for the eye to find something interesting to look at!

And without lots of thread color changes, you get the chance to really absorb the luscious colors in the solo variegated skein you've chosen for the piece. If you have a particular thread color you love, this would be a great pattern to highlight it, I think. Really, this design is an elegant feast for the eye...yet retains a bit of Amish simplicity, too.

I love all the little triangles that edge all the border strips.  I love the central diamond square by itself and think it would make a sweet little ornament just this size:

But then I really, really like the wavy ecru border that frames the center, and would like to make another ornament that shows THAT off as well...

And then I wonder what it would look like with metallic threads used in the circle motifs found in the corners or in the wavy ribbon border... And really, there's no reason why a solid color couldn't be added to the mix in  the outer borders or in the wavy ribbon lines....

Sigh.... so many options to play with in this one simple pattern...  I wish I had time to explore them all!

Stops and Starts

I thought I'd post a picture of the latest Prairie Schooler "12 Days of Christmas" Santa I finished last week. It's the "seven swans a singing" square and I thoroughly enjoyed stitching the swans in this one:

I think it's going to be the last one I work on for a while. Time for the Santas to go back in the Christmas vault, while I pull out a few half-started new designs for 2012...

The first one I'm focusing on is something I'm calling ACE OF DIAMONDS, because it's got lots of diamond motifs thruout the piece. And it's worked in what I consider my "January colors" -- icy blues, teals, and purples (I'm using Watercolours 192 - "Elderberry Wine"  - one of my favs, because it's so incredibly deep and rich and has such a good spectrum of colors to play with)...

There is a lot of icy blue and purple metallic in this piece, but the scanned image just doesn't pick it up. Sigh. Believe me, this is a sparkly, spangly piece with plenty of fun zig zag rows and all sorts of diamonds to whip up....

After working thruout the holiday season on lots of basketweave stitching, it's pleasant to return to some satisfying geometric work again.  So tonight I'm going to be very cozy in my evening stitching station, watching tv and getting back into the groove of my January blues stitchin' mood! ...

And oh yeah, so long, all you santas... I'll be seeing you again next winter!

A New Cyber Class

Well, I'm so pleased to report that the folks at TRIPOD have fixed the bugs that were bugging my website.

Whew! So now I can finally say that all the newly added PAYPAL buttons seem to be appearing - Woo Hoo! That makes things easier for you and me both....

And TA DA -- my new Cyber Class listing is finally visible to the world. Double Whew! Here's the next class that I've created -- SPRING TULIPS...

I wanted to surprise all you stitchers with something a little bit different this time. Something that wasn't counted canvaswork geometrics... or the shadow stitching on printed canvas... So why not a springy floral bouquet of three tulips to celebrate the arrival of spring? And this time, the project is worked on 24 ct. Congress Cloth with stranded Splendor silks. And you'll even have a choice of red, pink or yellow tulips! Here's a closer look at the class project:

In this class (which will start on March 17th) you'll be drawing the 6.5" x 8.5" tulip image onto your fabric yourself. Then filling in the areas with stitch patterns that create the illusion of satiny petals and twisty leaves. The background area is a floral blackwork pattern that is stitched with a variegated ThreadworX thread, and includes a subtle bit of sparkle with green Kreinik Blending Filament. If you are interested in trying out a new stitching technique this spring, please visit my new and improved website and click on the LJP CYBER CLASSES menu at the top.

Mini Mystery Monday #4, pt. 3

Time to wrap up this small mystery project!!

Let's begin by adding a sweet and simple border around your snowflake design.
And I've come up with two versions, so you can decide which one you want to stitch on your project.

Here's the first one that I stitched on my model:

Start at the CENTER of the border row, counting up TWO THREADs from the tip of your snowflake, and work the zig zag row first, using 1 ply of the variegated Watercolours. Please note that each of your zig zag shapes are made up of four stitches (as numbered on the graph), until you reach each corner -- and that last corner shape is made of FIVE stitches! Next, add the sparkly metallic Smyrna Stars inside the zig zags and the Smyrna Squares in the corners - using 1 strand of your bright metallic ribbon color. Finally, do a simple backstitch row on either side of the zig zag border, to give it a clean finished outline. TA DA... FINI!

But wait a minute... if you want to try another easy border that you'd like to add beads to, stitch this one in the same manner described above:

And here's the graph for the whole design (with both borders included in the graph):

And as you can see in the whole graph, I've shown a few places to add small beads around the snowflake, if you want a little bit more sparkle.

So your sweet new mystery project should look something like this:

I hope you've enjoyed stitching this project which combines a few diagonal satin stitches with a little bit of blackwork. It's fun to see how different techniques can be combined in interesting and easy ways, don't you think?   And, here's a surprise for you: look what happens to this design when you do it in white #5 pearl cotton on RED canvas with a touch of pale gold metallic ribbon:

Isn't that totally amazing how different it looks? Makes me want to go back and stitch the previous Mini Mystery pieces on red canvas as valentine ornaments!!

So give it a try.... this little design lends itself well to all different types of threads, so I hope you get a chance to play around with it and find your own unique combinations....

A New Design for The New Year

I'm so excited to show you my first new pattern for 2012!
It's called "STAINED GLASS WINDOWS" and it looks like this:

It's a larger piece than most of my other designs - 12.5" x 12.5" stitched on 18 ct. brown mono canvas.

The inspiration for this larger design actually happened after I designed a smaller "Triptych Mystery" piece for NEEDLEPOINT NOW magazine (which ran in their Sept/Oct, Nov/Dec, Jan/Feb issues). Here's that whole of that smaller design:

I enjoyed stitching up this 3-part piece so much, that I stared and stared at it when it was hanging on my project wall. After a while it struck me that I could expand the patterns into a nine-patch layout, using the brown-framed squares as if they were windows. But windows of what? Well, the rich jewel-toned colors of Watercolours 231 "Ethiopia" reminded me of old cathedral stained glass (I toyed with the idea of naming this pattern "Cathedral Windows"), so I went rooting around my variegated Watercolours skeins, looking for other colors that would look good inside "wooden" brown frames....

I came up with three different colorways: the blue & green one I used on the model - Watercolours 289 "Lexi's Blue" (which is a new color from Caron Collection); a purple & orange version which uses the same Watercolours 231 "Ethiopia" as the Triptych Mystery piece (which I think is totally stunning and dramatic); and a red & gold version that also uses a new Watercolours color 290 from Caron called "Mystery Mix". Here are snippets of the two other colorways I list on the pattern:

The Purple & Orange version

The Red & Gold version

If you look closely you'll see that the smaller design is the foundation row for the middle of the STAINED GLASS WINDOWS piece, but I expanded the patterns, added a few more thread colors and added LOTS more "bling" with metallic accents and of course, gold beads. In fact, one of the fun design elements was incorporating one unexpected gold motif within each square of the design, so overall there would be lots of interesting treasures to look at.

Each of the squares has two different stitch patterns in it, plus a gold band running diagonally across the middle. And even the gold bands alternate between blue and green rows! I've also separated the two color families of blues and greens by working them in alternating rows of the large diamond shapes, just to create another subtle design element. Of course there are plenty of subtle color and pattern changes within the overall piece, but I chose lots of fun patterns (nothing difficult) so it was an absolute joy to stitch, block by block.

Here's an up-close look at the middle block so you can get a peek at some of the elements:

And after I had finished stitching the large model, and it too was hanging on my project wall, I realized that just FOUR of the squares could be stitched to create a very interesting smaller piece. So,I've included suggestions for a four-square version in the pattern for your additional stitching pleasure.

Now I must also tell you that I was so focused on stitching this pattern in rich "stained glass" colors that I reluctantly had to dismiss other color combinations or favorite variegated threads because they didn't "fit" with the brown window frames I'd decided upon. But this design would look fabulous in ANY OTHER COLOR COMBINATION you can think of. Don't limit yourself to the brown squares... but try another dark color for your borderlines, then create your own fabulous color confection. (I'd love to see this in a monochromatic version in whites and creams or maybe pale pinks or aquas??) There are sooooo many luscious colors to play with, it's hard to choose just one to use in a design, so I'm counting on you to surprise me with whatever colors you can find!

So if you're interested in this new STAINED GLASS WINDOWS design, please visit my website: Laura J. Perin Designs real soon..... And psssssst: I'm pleased to announce that I've been able to update MOST of my website so there are PAYPAL buttons for each item (there are a few glitches that the website company is still working out for me)-- making it easier to purchase my designs.