Colorful New Quilt Design!

I can't wait to share this new quilt design with you -- it's CALICO STARS, and boy, is it a fun and colorful project!  It combines traditional quilt blocks with fun colors and easy stitch patterns to create a very special counted canvaswork piece:

 It's larger than most of my other quilts, being 12.5" x 12.5", but that just makes it a bigger feast for the eyes (and fingers).  And speaking of your stitchy fingers, I decided to combine #5 pearl cottons (which make up the main textured sections of the quilt) with the easier-on-the-fingers DMC floss colors that are used for the background areas.  I don't know about you, but as I get older, and after having stitched dozens and dozens and DOZENS of pieces with #5 pearl cotton, my fingers are getting a bit tired of pulling it through the 18 ct. canvas.  So I've found mixing in cotton floss offers a nice break for my hands!

Anyway, this was a very happy piece to stitch up.  I built the PINK palette around the pastel colored Watercolours thread 048 - "Far Horizons."

Then I decided to include a BLUE palette as well, featuring Watercolours thread 236 -"Appalachia", shown below.

Both colorways are equally yummy, but for those of you who love blue, I hope you'll enjoy the threads I've picked out.

My philosophy for designing these small quilts is to make them look as if they were real quilts.  I love the idea of stitching precisely pieced miniature quilts (much easier to me than sewing itty bitty snips of fabric!), and for that reason I avoid using stitching "gimmicks" like beads or fancy composite patterns in my quilt designs.  The most I'll do is add some metallic ribbon, if I want a bit of sparkle. And as you can see in the detail photo below, just using a few easy stitches can create quite a bit of textural variety:

So if you'd like to stitch up your own miniature quilt for the new year, please skip on over to my website and get all the ordering info on this new CALICO STARS pattern! 

Stitchin' The Blues

When the summer days are long and hot, I always seem to gravitate towards those projects that have cooling blues and greens.  I've done a lot of designs that use those serene colors, and I find them the perfect antidote for sticky, sweltering hot days (especially if you can sit stitching under a nice ceiling fan, or better yet, by cool ocean breezes).  Anyway, here are a few of my favorites:

REFLECTING POOLS (from my Impressionist Collection:

 EBB TIDE (in my Sampler Collection):

BARGELLO & BUTTERFLY (also in the Sampler Collection):

And some very fun American Quilt Collection designs... super cool FLYING GEESE:

and ultra serene OCEAN WAVES:

If you're eager to dive into any of these summery projects, please visit MY WEBSITE for more ordering information.

HAPPY FRIDAY, SUMMERTIME STITCHERS!

Time to Cool Off!

I thought I'd show you some more of my designs that feature blues and greens. On a hot summer day there's nothing cooler than stitching on a cool new project that has lots of blues and greens.... aquas and purples are pretty cool too, don't you think?

Anyway here's some more coolness for you to savor. And if they inspire you to take a big splashy leap into a cool new project -- all the better!

Reflecting Pools (the ultimate cool design!)

Sapphire Star

Pacific Coast Collage

Nature Sampler (a blackwork design)

Koi Pond (a blackwork design)

Malachite Maze(totally green, but still cool!)

Polaris

Turquoise Trail

And I'll close with a very cool Blue Hydrangeas

and the bluest of blue flowers, Bluebonnet Collage