Another Fun "Garden" to Stitch

 A few months ago, I was printing up a batch of LAVENDER FIELDS, and thinking how much I enjoyed designing and stitching that geometric lavender and green piece.  Here's a look at that design:

 

 And I got to thinking about doing another similar piece, but maybe using reds (a color I don't typically use, except for Christmas stuff).  And then "Strawberry Fields" popped into my head, and I got to figuring out how to design a geometric piece that featured strawberries.

Hmmm....the first challenge was to see if I could create a realistic strawberry (that was also easy to stitch, ahem), since they would be the focal points of the design.  I spent an afternoon fiddling around with stitches and threads and came up with a fun-to-stitch padded strawberry, as well as a pale pink blossom:

 

So once I had the berries and blossoms figured out, I could work on the rest of the design, which had a similar layout as my previous LAVENDER FIELDS, but changing the patterns and colors so it looked more like a strawberry patch!   And here's the 10.5" x 10.5" finished result done on 18 ct. santa fe sage green canvas:

 

The new STRAWBERRY FIELDS was stitched with a yummy red and green thread palette built around Watercolours 055 - "Cerise", but after I had stitched up the red model, it occurred to me that maybe some stitchers would like to see a bit of blue in the piece, to make a change from all that red....

So I pulled Watercolours 008 - "Nefertiti" (which is a variegated red/green/blue thread) that would fit right in with the reds and greens of the rest of the threads.  So if you want a bit of blue worked into your piece, you can add the bluer variegated thread, along with one #5 pearl 312 (blue) to use instead of the lighter red color (shown above on one side of the metallic squares border).  Of course the strawberries and blossoms and border lines all stay the same colors as in the red version, but adding a bit of blue will make a very cheerful combination, too!

The stitches aren't difficult, and both the strawberries and pale blossoms are fun to stitch.  Here's a look up-close, so you can see some of the stitch patterns used in this new piece:

 

So if you love strawberries, and would like to work on a piece that gives you a taste of those sweet summer days just gone by, please mosey on over to my website and see the materials list and ordering information for this new STRAWBERRY FIELDS pattern.   Happy Stitching!!