It's Iris Time!

I have a few clusters of iris in by backyard, 

and they've been putting on quite a show in my garden this week, 

and as always, I'm fascinated by their delicate beauty, precise markings, and deep rich colors:

 

And then I remembered a piece I stitched two years ago, 

called "FLEUR-DE-LIS" for a springtime cyber class:

 Oooh, la, la!  This royal French flower was such a pleasure to stitch! 

Lots of interesting (but not difficult) composite stitch patterns,

 and a central iris motif that is surprisingly easy to create.

So, alors.... I thought it would be fun to offer FLEUR-DE-LIS again as a cyber class. 

Stitchers get to choose between two color palettes - BLUE or PURPLE:

The BLUE palette (on the left) is built around Watercolours 289 - "Lexi's Blues" and 

the PURPLE palette (on the right)  is built around Watercolours 006 - "Amethyst"....

both use #5 pearl cottons, a variegated cotton for the background, and a few

fun metalllics for a little bit of bling -- how yummy is that!?!

Registration for this class runs from April 26th through June 1st, and the class will start in July 2014.

If you are interested in stitching this piece in July, please visit my website

 and read all the cyber class details... merci beaucoup!

and.... HAPPY FRIDAY!

Friday Flowers: Southern Gardens

 

 

I'm looking forward to watching The Masters in Augusta this weekend.  I'm planning to do a lot of stitching on several in-progress designs while watching this beautiful golfing event....and while I stitch, I just love getting glimpses of the velvety greens, and most especially, the azaleas and dogwoods in full bloom. 

Recently, I showed you my newest flower collage, AZALEA COLLAGE, which is the perfect piece for this weekend:

But I'm also reminded of an old favorite piece of mine called SOUTHERN GARDEN, which I've hung up in my hallway, to enjoy this spring.  I've revamped the pattern, so the charts are now in color (one is a foundation graph, and one is the flower placement graph):

I especially love the wrought iron fence and gate in this piece....I modified some blackwork patterns to fit for the fence and arching arbor... 

...and the masses of flowers - azaleas, dogwoods, camellias, and wisteria - are created with assorted textural stitches (lazy daisy, bullions, french knots).

   Yummy!  This is one way I get to enjoy those favorite spring blooms just a little bit longer...

So if watching The Masters this weekend gets you in a "Southern" mood for stitching some flowers, please browse my "Secret Garden Collection" at my website: www.laurajperindesigns.net.  And Happy Friday!

Need a Little Spring??

"Spring has sprung,

The grass has riz;

I wonder where

Them bunnies is?"

Ooooooh, I've got bunnies.... and chicks.... decorated eggs... spring flowers....

and just in time for Easter, too!

It's my brand new pattern, called SPRINGTIME RIBBONS:

 Boy, is this a fun one to stitch!

Lots of fuzzy little bunnies and chicks.. I mean, how cute is that?

  

I stitched the bunnies and checks with the very soft Bella Lusso merino wool (but you could also use pearl cotton or floss).  And check out those cute little eggs!   Two different styles, but very easy to stitch...

I had a hard time deciding on which spring colors to use in this piece, especially since I used Watercolours 270, "Easter Egg" as the foundation for my palette.  Should I use mostly pinks? blues? lavenders?  Tough to pick a favorite.... so I decided to mix them all into the design for a very colorful spring basket!

Same with the choice of canvas: I could have done it on the pink canvas, the light blue canvas, the lavender canvas, or the sage green canvas, but frankly, I was curious to see what it would look like as a "white-on-white" color scheme, so I went with the eggshell canvas with gold flecks.  This finished model looks just like a yummy Easter cake.  Or like the cover of a big box of Easter chocolates.  In any event, you can choose your favorite color of canvas for this piece and it will look totally YUMMY, whichever color you pick!

And if you like stitching ribbons, like I do, you've got three different ribbons to work up, with three different floral treatments - not hard,at all, just plain fun!  I chose to use a different color on each ribbon, but if you have a favorite springy color, you could certainly do all the ribbons in the same color family.  Just something to consider....

Anyway, if you are craving a pastel treat for a springtime project, please check out my sweet new SPRINGTIME RIBBONS on my website!