A Juicy New Cyber Class

Summer can be hot...

Summer can be cool...

Summer can be bright...

Summer can be sweet...

And to celebrate all of those things, I'm sharing a brand new cyber class with you, called

ORANGE BLOSSOM TIME.

Oh, YUM!!

This is a sweet little counted canvaswork piece (apprx. 8" x 8") done on 18 ct. eggshell canvas.

I think of these small projects as mini samplers of fun and easy stitches:

 nothing too hard or too big,

but just right for something to stitch outside on the patio, on the beach, or by the pool.

ORANGE BLOSSOM TIME uses a variegated Watercolours (076 - "Woodlands") with

a handful of vibrant #5 pearl cottons, a few soft Floche threads, and two different types

of metallic threads (one thick and one thin).  

Creating the padded oranges in the center and corners is such fun 

and an easy technique to add to your stitching skills.  Plus, stitching with

all the bright-colored threads is a pure delight!

Registration for this new class runs through the end of July, with the class starting

sometime in mid-September....

So if you'd like to add the citrus-y piece to your collection, please visit 

my website: www.laurajperindesigns.net to see all of the cyber class details.

Curves (and Curliques) Ahead

Last year I had fun exploring the wonderful world of painted canvases and creating stitch guides for some of them.  But this year, I resolved to get back to work on new counted canvaswork designs, and try harder to balance my time and energy between painted canvases and counted geometric designs. 

I pulled out a piece I've had on stretcher bars for quite a while, and determined to FINALLY GET IT FINISHED!  As it sometimes happens when I'm working on a totally new and complex piece, I will stitch myself into a corner and not know how to proceed.  With the pink project shown above, I had stitched all the fancy corners and centers (and lots of Jessicas), but was left with a wide background border area that I didn't know quite how to finish.  So the piece sat for a long time, and I moved on to other projects.  Then Kreinik came out with a new thread - a #16 Braid that had WIRE in it, so it can be bent into fun shapes and spirals for a lovely dimensional effect.  AHA!  Just the thing to make some simple curlicues and couch onto my pink background.   So I went back to stitching on this piece (which I decided to name ARABESQUE) and once the curliques were in place, I was able to stitch on to the end and finish the piece. 

Oh, and there was one other dilemma: what kind of unusual jewels could I use to add bling to this design?  I decided to try some gold oblong beads - just for something different... And it was also a challenge to find a crystal jewel large enough to stand out in the center, but I finally found one. (Both the beads and the large jewel are included in the pattern).

And, TA DA!!! Once I found my beads and jewels, I was all set.   Time to get the pattern finished so  I could release this brand new design and share it with you.  And here it finally is: ARABESQUE.

I stitched the model in my favorite "Pink & Green" combination with gold accents, although the pinks are very muted and more like the mauve "ashes of roses" color so popular at the end of the last century.  But this is such an elegant piece, it would definitely be fun to stitch in lots of other colors, don't you think?   (I wish I could stitch this up in other colors, but I've got other projects to finish, more threads to try, new pieces to design, still more cyber classes to create!!).... But I've gone ahead and included other thread suggestions in the pattern for a handful of other colorways such as BLUE, PURPLE, PEACH, and TURQUOISE.

As in most of my designs, the color palette starts with a variegated Watercolours thread (the pink version uses 022 - "smoke") and a handful of DMC #5 pearl cotton colors.  Mix in two Ribbon Floss threads (one mauve, one gold), and accent with a few Kreinik metallics..... The finished piece is apprx. 12" x 12", and is stitched on a 16" x 16" piece of 18 ct. mono canvas.  I used my favorite Santa Fe Sage Green canvas, but you can do it on any color canvas you prefer.  If you'd like to try your hand at a totally new type of geometric design, please visit my website and see the ordering information for my curvacious ARABESQUE.