Celebrate the Bounty

Here are more of my designs that share the colors and feel of the Autumn season. 

(They are all available at my website,  in the Sampler Collection and Impressionist Collection,

if you are interested.)

 Anway, I love designing things that can be displayed for longer times during the year; so 

I've amassed quite a collection by now....

Rusty O'Toole

Prairie Star

 Long Autumn Panel

 Red Poppy Collage

 Turning Leaves

My latest stitched painted canvas, Fall Splendor

and last but not least, Pumpkin Harvest 

 

Have a lovely Thankgiving weekend, and I hope you manage to sneak in a bit of stitching, too!

Fall Splendor

Well, here it is.... my largest finished painted canvas piece to date, FALL SPLENDOR by Sandra Gilmore.

It's been painted on the darker sandstone canvas, so it has a lovely aged parchment look to it; and with the "zig zag" border I designed for this piece, it measures 15" x 15".  Here's a peek at the variegated outer border:

What the photo doesn't really show you is that the entire floral pattern in the background is worked in simple Tent Stitch, using a glitzy Kreinik #8 Braid (6 spools, to be exact!), while the rest of the sandstone canvas is left unstitched.  Then for the leaves, I wanted something very simple (to show off all the colors) and decided to use long Straight Stitches.  Surprisingly fast, fun and non-stressful (well, if you don't count concentrating on keeping the long stitches flat, smooth and untwisted), it really was a joy to stitch all the different types of leaves in 5 ply of Splendor silks.

As this big leaf photo shows, just by changing the stitch directions in certain areas of the leaves, you can create surprising color changes, because the light hits the stitches in different ways....

Those red berries and fat acorns are padded and stitched with a shiny rayon ribbon, just to provide additional texture and surprise to the piece. (The padded elements are a bit smushed in the photos, since they're smack up against the scanner bed, but trust me, they are nice and poofy in real life.)

This canvas was an absolute joy to stitch, and I plan to enjoy looking at it all autumn long.

If you are hankering for an elegant fall piece, please contact your favorite stitchery store so they can order you both the FALL SPLENDOR painted canvas and stitch guide from my friends at FLEUR DE PARIS.  The stitch guide is also available on my website. 

HAPPY FALL FRIDAY!

My Current Fall Project

After finishing Sandra Gilmore's OLIVER last month, I was eager to get back to work on this very large piece (another Sandra Gilmore beauty) called FALL SPLENDOR.  It is such an elegant piece that I have been enjoying working on it every night while I watch (ahem, listen) to tv....

Whew!  It's a large piece - 15" x 15" with my added border work - but the sandstone background isn't solidly stitched, so only the gold floral work needs to be done, which I'm doing in plain old Tent Stitch with a Kreinik #8 Braid. I'm making progress, one leaf at a time...

It's rather restful, doing lots of tent stitching with metallic thread; then switching over to long Straight Stitches for the leaves. I've never done any of those old "longpoint" kits that Dimensions used to sell, but I've certainly enjoyed creating my long-stitched leaves, using 5 ply of Splendor silks. It's a simple but effective way to showcase all the luscious fall colors in this piece.

I've already padded the acorns, but still have to finish the red berries at the bottom -- they'll be padded too, with a shiny rayon ribbon, I think.

Anyway, I'm hoping to have this finished shortly (one leaf and five berries to go, woo hoo!), and then I should have the FALL SPLENDOR stitch guide done and mailed off to Fleur de Paris in the next week or so.  Stay tuned for further stitching adventures!
HAPPY FALL FRIDAY!!

More Fall Favorites

After I stitched a few fall quilt designs, I decided to broaden my approach and do some sampler-type designs that would be appropriate for displaying for a longer time in the fall,  and didn't depend on Halloween elements for their continued enjoyment.  They range from traditional designs to more

abstract or impressionistic pieces....

Here are some of my all-time favorites:   PUMPKIN HARVEST (which is basically a cross-stitch graph that is stitched on the plain brown 18 ct. canvas -- simple but elegant) 

RUSTY O'TOOLE 

 

 

AMBER WAVES

        

PRAIRIE STAR

 

and TURNING LEAVES

As the days and nights get cooler, it's delicious to stitch with these warm, rich colors, plus working lots of elegant patterns is another fun way to transition into the season of long dark nights -- now we'll have lots more time for stitching at the end of the day!

Fall Color

Over the years I've designed many pieces for the autumn season. 

 The first ones were quilts, such as FALLING LEAVES,

  

 CHEROKEE STAR,

 

MAPLE LEAF,

  

INDIAN AUTUMN, 

   

 and FOUR WINDS

 They are all built around traditional quilt blocks that stitch up fairly quickly and easily, and provide an excuse to play with lots of rich reds and golds and greens in a satisfying geometric design.  So if you're looking for an autumn design that is fun to work while sitting in the evenings watching tv, 

these fall quilts are just the thing!!