Mini Mystery Monday, Floral Surprise - FINI!

Well, these weeks have gone by quickly, haven't they?
So now we're ready to finish up by adding the final flower arrangement in the center.

Here's the overall graph for you to follow:

Did you guess it was going to be a bluebonnet???  I borrowed a few bluebonnet flowers from my larger design, "BLUEBONNET COLLAGE", because I thought these little stitched flowers looked remarkably like the Texas flowers (although here in the West we call them lupines and they come in other colors besides blue - like pink and white and yellow). Here's the full BLUEBONNET COLLAGE piece for you to see:

And here's a closer look at the way the little flowers are created (without the french knots, so you can see the stitches better):

Once you've stitched your bluebonnets, as shown above you can add the french knots, with 1 strand of your light flower color, and then you're done.  Or you can certainly use beads instead of the french knots, if you prefer....  Here's how my little bluebonnet mystery turned out:

I hope you've enjoyed this project and will try it in other flower colors as well.... and even try it on different canvas colors, to see what other effects you can achieve. ( I think it would look really lovely done in soft whites, on the pale green canvas...or maybe use pale pinks or yellows...what do you think?)

 Until next time, Monday stitchers, have fun finishing this one up!

Singin' the Blues

I've started my week by printing a batch of patterns for a couple of in-coming orders. Sometimes, while I'm printing and collating, my eye catches on an older pattern of mine and I think,"Geez, that's really pretty." Case in point: my BASKET OF BLUEBONNETS pattern.


This was a fun design because instead of repeating the same quilt block over and over, I alternated a few different blocks (all with Texas names) to create a sweet little quilt. Here's a detail shot that shows the simple but elegant checkerboard border, plus the different "bluebonnet" blocks:


While I was printing it today, I got to wondering what the design would look like in other colors....in pinks and greens? lavenders and greens? orangey-golds and dark greens? how bout deep reds and greens? Oooooh, and while we're at it, how about stitching it smaller, on 24 ct. Congress Cloth, using a finer thread (like Wildflowers and #8 pearl cottons - or maybe even stranded silks, like Waterlilies.)

I get excited about all the potential combinations I can envision for my designs, and wish I could stop whatever I'm doing and start stitching a new color combination. But reality intrudes, I think about ALL the other projects I have lined up to stitch, new projects just waiting to be finished and revealed to the stitchy world.... and I sigh and get back to printing....