Cool Blue Pinwheels!

I've stitched lots and lots of needlepoint quilts over the years, and recently when I had an urge to stitch up another one, I had the idea to blend my usual satin stitch quilt design with a little bit of blackwork.....in the hopes that it might look somewhat like an appliqued quilt.  You don't know if you don't try it, right??  So here's what I came up with:

I call it PERIWINKLE PINWHEELS, since it uses the traditional pinwheel quilt design, and I also used a yummy variegated Watercolours 295 called "Mountain Haze" in soft periwinkle blues and sage greens.

Below is an up close look at some of the pinwheel triangles and the blackwork flowers worked inside some of the open spaces....can you spot the triangles with the softly variegated "Mountain Haze" thread??  The body of the actual quilt is stitched with #5 pearl cottons, but the floral blackwork motifs use 2-3 ply of DMC floss, which creates a lovely lacy look to the flower inserts.  And if you look again, you can see that the flower colors alternate between light and dark flowers...and pssssst: I've even added some cream beads (included in the pattern) just for extra texture and charm!

I have to say I REALLY enjoyed working on this easy 8" x 8" project, with the diagonal satin stitching blended with sections of delicate blackwork flowers (done in 2-3 ply of matching DMC floss).  It makes a refreshing change from stitching the whole quilt in diagonal satin stitch, let me tell you!  And I've even included a pink thread palette as well as the cover model above, done in periwinkle blue.  I stitched my piece on the sage green mono canvas for a soft vintage feel, but you could easily stitch it on eggshell or even white, for a brighter, more contemporary look.

Honestly, I had so much fun stitching this sweet piece, I've got a few others planned in the same style, and I hope I can get them stitched up later this year.  Until then, if you want a really fun no-brainer project, please visit my website and see the pattern particulars for this new PERIWINKLE PINWHEELS design!

Stitch Some Friendly Flowers!

Who doesn't like a friendly bouquet of daisies?
And what could be better than stitching up your own bouquet in your favorite colors, so you always have some daisies in your house!!

Here's DAISY CHAIN, my next summer cyber class offering (I haven't offered it since 2016, so I thought it was time to bring it out again...):

This sweet 9" x 9" design is stitched on 18 ct. sage green canvas and features lottsa daisies - small, medium and large!  All the stitches are quite easy, and you'll be stitching some fun borders as well, which creates the look of several types of daisy ribbons all rolled into one square piece that would make a terrific pillow!  Here's an up close look at the different borders and daisies you'll be stitching:

Can you spot the variegated Watercolours thread that runs through the piece above and creates the color palette background for all your daisies?

 And to make it extra special, each stitcher gets to choose their favorite daisy kit color - 

YELLOW, PINK or BLUE - for added fun: 

So if you're a daisy lover, or just love stitching flowers as much as I do, please tip toe through the daisy patch and visit my website to see all the class information....  Happy Summertime Stitching, Everyone!!