A New Design That's Pure Pattern Pleasure!

CALLING ALL BEACH LOVERS:  If you're a stitcher who enjoys doing geometrics, you'll understand my newest design, called "SAND & SEA PANEL".  It's an abstract design that captures a slice of the beach, where the sand meets the sea, and it's composed of just a few composite stitch patterns:

I got the idea this summer, when I was printing out a batch of my popular "RED, WHITE & BLUE PANEL"  and took a closer look at that model, thinking how cool it would be to try a stitch a slice of the beach in soft pastel colors.  Before I knew it, I was pulling out  beachy threads and fiddling around with shell-shaped stitches..... Here's a close-up of the sand and sea foam section, where you can see the shells (sorta like a half Rhodes Stitch) and what I like to think are tan sand dollars (or maybe sea urchins):

And of course, I had to create a simple bargello pattern for the edge of the sea brushing against the shore!   I pulled out a handful of shimmery Ribbon Floss and came up with a soothing repeat wave design. 

The lower block of sea pattern was also fun to create, using a variegated Watercolours in cool blues and greens - 194 - "South Pacific".  I was sorely tempted to use a brighter Watercolours 207  - "Bermuda Reef" for a sunnier look, but ultimately went with the cooler colors for the model, since it reminded me more of the foggy Half Moon Bay beaches I visited in my childhood. 

Here's what the sea section looks like up-close, and again, I tried to incorporate circular and starry shapes in the pattern, so it gives the illusion of looking underwater at all the mysterious sea creatures living in the ocean....

As I was stitching this piece, I was thinking how perfect this would be to hang in a beach cottage, or a coastal vacation getaway.   Not being lucky enough to have a shabby chic beach retreat, I at least can look at this finished piece and dream....sigh!   And if some of you stitchers can do some real beachcombing, I also thought a few real (tiny) shells would be fun to sprinkle on the finish piece...

So, if you're a geometric beach lover, you might want to wade on over to my website and check out this serene new "SAND & SEA PANEL" pattern.... cuz everyone needs a little beachy getaway!!