Trimming The Tree

It's that time of year when you can never have enough Christmas trees, right?!?

Last month I had an idea to create one more stitchable tree for this year's holiday offering, and I scrambled to get the model stitched and the pattern completed, so I could share it with you.  And VOILA! -- here it is -- my new holly jolly BARGELLO CHRISTMAS SQUARE:

Working on the festive four-way bargello pattern certainly put me in the holiday spirit early this year!  (And watching lots of Hallmark Christmas movies definitely kept my in the proper holiday mood - grin.)   Lots of reds and greens and LOTS OF SPARKLE are in this design - with plenty of shimmery metallics and beads sprinkled throughout the whole design.

The outer background area is stitched in a simple Four-Way Stitch, using 1 strand of variegated ThreadworX #8 1049, with tiny gold and green Upright Crosses placed on the intersections for a subtle shimmer.  Even the outer border has a festive feel, with tiny little trees marching along the borders, each topped with a gold seed bead: 

I stitched the whole bargello design first, leaving the center area for last.  I knew I wanted to create a small tree, but wasn't sure how much detail would fit.  I needn't have worried.  My tiny decorated tree fit the small space just fine!

Honestly, working on the central little tree was even more fun than I expected.  After first backstitching the tree outline, I placed red and gold ornaments inside; then, filled in the rest of the tree with random straight stitches in two shades of DMC #5 greens.  I decided to add some textured tinsel on the tiny tree, so I loosely strung gold tinsel lines with Kreinik #8 Braid, then couched the curved lines down with red and gold beads - and added a fat red bead for the tree topper.  Sweet!!

All in all, this new holiday design was a delight to stitch - nothing too difficult (except paying attention to counting the bargello rows correctly - always the biggest challenge in any counted canavaswork design, right?)... so if you would like to add another tree to your holiday line-up, please jingle on over to my website and check out the information on my new BARGELLO CHRISTMAS SQUARE.  And HAPPY STITCHING HOLIDAYS!!

A New Novembery Quilt

Every so often, I get a craving to stitch up another quilt design.  And this month I was in the mood to work in purples and burgundies....so I went searching through my Watercolours skeins to see what would call out to me for an autumn quilt.

I chose the skein at the bottom, Watercolours 184 - "Sheherezade" with all those yummy purples and golds, so I could also sneak in a bit of metallic ribbons in purple and burgundy.

Here's the new quilt I designed and call "AUTUMN STARS":

Honestly, I can't get enough of those traditional quilty stars.... and I find myself returning again and again to playing with them in new and different ways.  This design incorporates some fun and easy stitch patterns in the star centers - checks and stripes - and uses them in the outer borders as well, which gives the design a contemporary art quilt look.  And I gotta tell you: there's nothing difficult about this one and the whole piece is just plain FUN, FUN, FUN to stitch on a cold night by the fire.  
Here's a close-up look at one of the purple stars and the border:

And because this has such a rich, autumnal feel to it, it would be terrific to change out the colors if you wanted to work your own fall quilt.  How about blues and golds?  Teals and oranges??  Just find a variegated skein you're crazy about, and then match your solid color #5 pearl cottons and two rich metallic ribbons, and you're good to start stitching!!

So if you're in the mood to stitch up this satifying new AUTUMN STARS quilt, please mosey on over to my website and you can find all the pattern information on my American Quilt Collection page.....

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!!

Come Visit My Pumpkin Patch

This summer, while I was working my "Bee-Utiful Garden" design with lots of bees and flowers, it occurred to me that the knot garden format would be fun to try in other seasonal themes.  Of course, the first one that I thought of was a fall harvest piece, with lots of pumpkins and whatever else would fit in the tiny spaces...
And here's what I came up with, for my next fall cyber class, "PUMPKIN PATCH":

I wanted the outer border to mimic a rustic split rail fence, and that's how I stitched the Woven Border this time.  I also had a blast coming up with four different pumpkin patterns to use in the garden blocks -- and you can see that two patterns have yellowy gold pumpkin blossoms in them, while the other two have big glossy leaves -- just to break up all that bright orange.  I wasn't sure how small and how many of those tiny pumpkins would fit in the design, but by golly, they stitched up just fine, and the overall effect is just like a field of growing pumpkins!

In the central space, I wasn't sure how much stuff I could fit, but was pleased to stitch up a bunch of pumpkins, a few crows, and a very friendly scarecrow in a checked shirt.   Here's a close-up:
 

All in all, a very happy piece for the autumn season. 

So if you'd like to stitch up your own "PUMPKIN PATCH" for this fall season, please mosey on over to my website, www.laurajperindesigns.net, and see all the cyber class registration information.

Sunflower Fields!

We are deep in the long hot days of summer, and to celebrate the season, I decided to pull out an old project idea for a new "impressionist" design that features sunflowers, more or less in the abstract.  I've had the sketch in my "TO DO" file for a long time, and this summer seemed like the right time to figure it out -- so I did!  And SURPRISE: I'm calling this one "FIELDS OF GOLD":

It's been a long time since I've done one of my "abstract" collages, and picking out all the sunflowery stitch patterns was tremendously fun.  And honestly, I LOVED stitching this one, with all of its green and gold threads - including some silk ribbons for the center sunflower - because it truly felt like the perfect summer project!  And don't you just love those checkered bands?  They really add a great accent to all the yellows and greens, and just tone down/ground all the brightness. 

There's a handful of translucent gold seed beads mixed in with larger black beads (you can't really see them, but they fill the center of the large sunflower in the middle of the design).  

Here's a closer look at some of the central stitching patterns:

 And yeah, I had to add a few tiny bees buzzing around the single sunflower - very fun stitching those cuties...  All in all, this is a wonderful summertime piece that I highly recommend.  The stitches aren't difficult at all, but as in all counted canvaswork designs, the hardest part is often just counting correctly.  So when I'm starting to set up all the borders, I count VERY CAREFULLY (often times twice or thrice) to double-check that my borders match the graph.

This 10" x 10" design is worked on 18 ct. mono canvas in eggshell.  The glowing palette is built around Watercolours 251 - "Sunflower Seed", with a handful of #5 pearl cottons, thick and thin gold metallics, and two colors of Splendor Silk Ribbon for the Lazy Daisy petals on the central sunflower.  Easy Peasy!!

So if you want to have your own summertime field of sunflowers, please skip on over to my website: www.laurajperindesigns.net and check out all the information for this new "FIELDS OF GOLD" pattern.   And..... HAPPY SUMMER STITCHING!!

A Bee-Utiful New Cyber Class!

A while ago, I was talking with my friend Helen at FLEUR DE PARIS, a needlework distributor where I get most of my thread and canvas supplies.  I was telling her about some of my cyber class projects for the year, and she said in passing," You should do something with bees.  Bees are really trendy this year."  And she is so right... have you noticed all the cute bee projects showing up?

Anyway, I was in the midst of kitting up a spring cyber class, DAFFODIL TIME, and it occurred to me that the layout would be really fun to use for a knot garden with bees as the central theme.  So I pulled some threads, starting with the variegated Watercolours 297 - "goldenrod", graphed out some fun floral patterns, added some honey-colored walkways, and started to stitch.  And TA DA -- here's what I came up with, and I'm calling it  my "BEE-UTIFUL GARDEN":

And I gotta tell you, I'm totally in love with all those tiny bees!  Here's a peek up close at the bees and padded bee skip (stitched with a gently variegated ThreadworX #5 pearl cotton):

So now I'm pleased to announce that "BEE-UTIFUL GARDEN" is my brand new summer cyber class, with registration open NOW and running until the end of July, so we can get the class started sometime in August.  It's an 8" x 8" piece done on 18 ct. eggshell canvas, with a handful of summery colors.  And guess what?  Each stitcher can choose between LAVENDER DMC 333 & 340 (shown in the model above) or BLUE DMC 322 & 809 accent flowers:

Isn't that the sweetest cyber class for summer?!?  Please buzz on over to my website to see all the class information on this new "BEE-UTIFUL GARDEN".....
                     and HAPPY SUMMER WEEKEND STITCHING!!

A Kicky New Design!

Last month I had a craving for stitching something in red, white and blue, and while mailing out some of my old FANCY BOOTS patterns to a stitchery store, I had the brilliant idea of stitching up some red, white and blue cowboy boots.  Yee Haw!  That was a such a great idea, I immediately jumped on my inspiration pony and galloped away with it.....  Yessir, I just HAD to stitch me up some RED, WHITE & BLUE BOOTS:

I didn't want anything fancy -- just some good ol' American banners running around the borders, with a denim background, gold stars in the corners, and three of the cutest boots I could think of, so I could pretend I had them all in my shoe closet!  I mean, wouldn't these be perfect to wear with jeans on the Fourth of July?  Or better yet, turn this canvas into a denim pillow for your sofa?!?

Not a time-consuming project, and no fancy stitches here, either.  Just Straight Stitch, Diagonal Stitch, and Tent Stitch done on 18 ct. canvas in the eggshell with gold flecks.  (I was hoping there was white canvas with gold flecks, but shucks, no luck - the white canvas has silver flecks instead.)  But you could stitch it on plain white canvas, if you're a red, white & blue purist.... or maybe even work it on the leventeen blue canvas for a snappy blue background.

Here's a look up-close at two of the boots, tent stitched with #5 pearl cottons (although if you want, you can also stitch this piece with DMC floss, which is a tad easier on the fingers):

So if you have a hankering for some festive firecracker cute boots, mosey on over to my website: www.laurajperindesigns.net and check out my fun new pattern of  RED, WHITE & BLUE BOOTS.

And HAPPY WEEKEND STITCHING, too!

Time For Some Flowers!

 I don't know about you, but I've been craving some spring flowers to stitch...

 I wanted something fun, and floral, and not too difficult...
So I designed something that I consider Pure Pattern Pleasure --
                                                                                          this new FLORAL WELCOME:

I was thinking it would be fun to have a stitched "welcome" sign that was hanging in my house... and maybe it will be a seasonal design, to change out with other textual designs later in the year (we'll see how that goes).  As you can see, I already had a gold 10" x 12" frame that fit this 8" x 10" piece perfectly, so I'm ready to hang it in my entryway.

I've stitched my model on 18 ct. Santa Fe Sage green canvas, although it would be brighter and sunnier looking if stitched on eggshell (or any other color you prefer).  I chose two very fun floral patterns - one for the inside filler pattern, and one for the large flower border.  There's a soft variegated background pattern around the Welcome text that is basically a Four-Way Stitch with metallic accents, and the text is just Tent Stitch done with a soft Ribbon Floss metallic - easy peasy!!  Here's another look up close, although the photos just don't do justice to all the shimmer and sparkle in this piece:

Since my favorite color combo is pink and green, that's what I stitched.  But really, this is the PERFECT project for the stitcher who wants to change the colors to match her own decor.  Here are two other colorways - BLUE and LAVENDER -  I give thread substitutions for on the pattern:

 

But really, there are so many color combinations you could use for this .... something for all you creative stitchers to consider!!  No matter what the colors, this is definitely yummy, yummy stitching that's fun and festive and FLORAL -- just the thing for welcoming spring after a long, cold, grey winter!

So if you're a flower lover like me, and welcome a sweet piece like this in your home, please tip toe through the tulips to my website, www.laurajperindesigns.net, and take a look at the ordering information for this new FLOWER WELCOME pattern.

And HAPPY FLORAL FRIDAY!!

Spring is Peeking Around the Corner....

Are you tired of the dreary winter days? 

Ready for some bright springy colors and uplifting projects?

I've just posted TWO springtime cyber classes that are bound to lift your spirits -- DAFFODIL TIME and LILAC TIME.   To be honest, I just couldn't decide which upcoming class to offer next, so I thought, "Hey, why not give stitchers the choice of two really springy pieces?"

Here's DAFFODIL TIME, with the brightness of a field of daffodils:

And here's LILAC TIME, with a cooler, more subtle springtime palette:

So to celebrate the coming of spring, I'm letting you decide which springtime piece you'd like to stitch as a cyber class.  I'll run BOTH of these classes in May, so you can join one or both classes, if you haven't already stitched up these happy pieces!

Both of these designs measure apprx. 8" x 8" on the santa fe sage green canvas.  Both designs are stitched with a few variegated threads, a handful of #5 pearl cotton colors, plus a few sparkly metallic threads mixed in!

I consider these both to be advanced beginner-to-intermediate stitcher projects.  The stitches aren't difficult (indeed, you'll probably know all of them well) but they are combined in fun and unusual combinations that are really a pleasure to stitch.

So if you're yearning for some bright spring flowers in these last weeks of winter, please splash on over to my website, www.laurajperindesigns.net, and see all the class and registration information for both of these luscious designs!