I mentioned last time how I started my stitching garden by creating bouquets of certain flowers and stitching them on 24 ct. Congress Cloth. TULIPS, above, is one of those early bouquets.
Then I had the idea to create a collage effect. And I stitched up this WILD ROSE project:
I wanted to have swatches of patterns behind a flower, and then add ribbons and buttons. To do this, I had to draw the design on the fabric and stitch inside the outlines - which worked perfectly well for the freeform flower bouquets. It worked here, but I really didn't see how I could instruct stitchers to duplicate this design using just a line drawing. In other words, I was stumped because this design wasn't easy to explain, especially since I used slanted boxes, which were hard to fill precisely with geometric designs that others could replicate exactly.
So, regretfully, I set this design aside and went back to stitching quilts....
Then quite a bit later, I had the brilliant idea to put my collage idea within straight boxes (which would be much easier to graph and stitch!) and lo and behold, my first flower collage was officially created - the PINK TULIP COLLAGE:
I was SMITTEN! Not only does this layout let me highlight a single flower in the center box, but it also highlights the beauty of variegated threads. And now I have a reason to mix & match stitches to create little boxes of composite stitch patterns - which I love doing - as well as dabble in creating little ribbon patterns to my hearts content. Seeing this PINK TULIP COLLAGE come to life was definitely an AHA! moment for me. I realized I could use this layout to stitch an infinite number of flower collages....and I certainly intend to create them the rest of my stitching life.
I have been quietly admiring your wonderful blog for several months now and I just have to speak up about how nice it is of you to share your designing insights. Your pieces are among my very favorite (I've stitched at least 20 of them and have another 20 waiting in the wings). Your framed pieces are displayed throughout my home and bring me much joy. Your creativity is amazing and inspiring and I eagerly await your future designs. And what an extra treat to see a peek of them in advance on your blog!
ReplyDeleteThis is fascinating! Thanks for sharing this with us, and keep creating those flowers!
ReplyDeleteI really love your blog--your photos are spectacular. I'm particularly smitten with the flower collages and enjoy this entire set of articles and the "sneak peeks" of your latest work. You seem to like using cotton fibres - flosses, #5 etc. I do too, but sometimes I try to convert to silks? Do you ever design with silks and exotics? How do you decide which stitch to put into each portion of the pattern? I'm fascinated.
ReplyDeleteI just found your blog and I am really taken with it. Your work is lovely. I love your tulips and I wish your had your patterns available for sale as I am a avid tulip person. My grandfather came over from the Netherlands. I was raised in South Haven MI just 30 minutes from Holland Mi where the tulip festival is held every year. We had probably 400 tulips in our garden when I was growing up. We had a corner lot where my mom still lives and we had tulips everywhere in the spring. It was so picturesque. I wish I could have that many in my yard now. I have done several tulip canvas. However yours are exquisite. Thank you for sharing and I look forward to more.
ReplyDeleteI love your Wild Rose design and hope you will release it.
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