My Affair With Stars, continued...

As I was saying the other day.... I think it's time to tinker around with some of those traditional quilt star blocks, and make a few new comtemporary "art quilt" designs. I've already started in that vein with my favorite STARRY NIGHT design from a few years ago. Here it is in all its complex and colorful glory:


More recently, I came up with the wildly colorful RED HOT PEPPERS quilt design that makes me smile every time I look at it:


Well, I've been staring at that design on my wall for a few months now, and after watching the amazing pictures of snowy weather all over the country this winter, I thought it'd be appropriate to create a new "art quilt" that updates the old LONE STAR motif, but adds a bit more pizazz to the mix.

So this month's new design offering is a WINTER SKY quilt pattern in tealy blues and orchidy purples that is, I've gotta say, WAY COOL:


It's a larger size than my first little lone stars: 10" x 10" on french blue 18 ct. canvas. It also uses two different Watercolours: 192, "Elderberry Wine" for the multi-color bits, and 160, "Night Sky" for the subtle variegated blue border area. I've also sneaked in a bit of glitz with a touch of purple Ribbon Floss amongst the rest of the #5 pearl cotton colors. Here's a close-up of the star block (and the actual colors are a bit darker than my scanner is showing in the photos):


When I start stitching on a new one of these quilt designs, I always amaze myself again and again with how much FUN they are to stitch. They really do make great "no-brainer" projects in-between more complex stitching projects (and I really don't mind stitchers saying that they're "no-brainers" 'cuz that's exactly what I've designed them to be - grin!)

So, if you're interested in whipping up a few artsy-type stars to while a way a cold winter's night -- check out my new WINTER SKY pattern on my website (listed on the list at the right in bold letters.) It's a fun one!

More Starry Thoughts

I recently received an email from a stitcher who informed me her local stitching guild was going to work on my STARRY NIGHTS design, over a two-month period. And because some of the stitchers were interested in changing the colors in the design, they were first going to have a meeting to discuss color theories and possibilities...and she also asked why did I include the greens in the project, when the variegated skein of "Elderberry Wine" didn't have any green in it.

It got me thinking about why I chose those particular colors for that project. And I realized that other stitchers might appreciate hearing my answer too. Here's what I wrote to that Starry Nights stitcher:

"What brave stitchers you are. I'm sooo glad you are eager to tackle the color changes!I love it when stitchers change the colors of my designs.It's such a fun way to challenge your color sense...and have a wonderful surprise element built-in to your stitching.

And I think your idea of having a color class first, to discuss color options is a GREAT plan! Be sure to bring along a DMC color chart - wonderful for seeing all the color choices - and lots of DMC floss skeins to play with.(The DMC chart also lets you see which colors are available in #5 pearl, and which are only available in floss - another important design criteria that you have to factor in to your color choices). How fun to get everyone playing around with variegated threads and all the color possibilities!!

As for STARRY NIGHTS:
When I was designing this, I wanted a nighttime color scheme, but I also wanted a variegated thread that had FOUR different colors in it (harder to find than you might think)...and the thread I settled on was Caron Watercolours' "Elderberry Wine."

Here's a photo of the thread, which I just got finished using in another new piece, NORDIC SNOWFLAKES. As you can see in the photo, there isn't any green in the variegated skein. Just blues, purples, fuchsias and turquoise.
You can see in the photo above, how all those VERY COOL colors go together and are so similar that there just needed to be an accent color in STARRY NIGHTS that was slightly different than the rest - something to add an unexpected POP ofcolor. So I snuck in some green (just in the floss/background)...which injects a slightly warmer hue into the overall piece, even tho the greens I chose - 992 and 3814 - are a blue-ish green, and seem to echo the turquoise color, 807. (Green is also a calming, grounding color, so it also calms all those jewel tones down.But at the same time, it's warmer than the blues and purples, so it adds a bit of warmth to the design, as well.)

These are the things you need to think about when changing colors in STARRY NIGHTS: Find the family of (four) matching colors to your variegated skein, then "throw in" an unexpected accent color....maybe a gold? or a bright red? a bright yellow? a bright pink? or a clear, pure color against a set of darker, muted colors? Some different color that will sparkle against the others, and make your eye skip around the complex quilt design....and also provide a fun sense of hide & seek/discovery thruout the overall pattern.

You might also like to know that when I was designing STARRY NIGHTS, I wanted to create a beam of lighter color - like a moonbeam - that goes from the upper right corner, down to the lower left corner. Keep this in mind when you stitch your background...and try to use the lighter background colors in that "beam" of light. It's another (subtle) way of moving the viewer's eye across the pattern. And then those dots of green make your eye skip from spot to spot in the overall piece. (Without that green accent color, I think the whole design would meld and blur together - might look rather muddy, overall - and your eye wouldn't see so many of the different shapes.)