A Little Repanelling Project

Over the past few weeks I've had some nice chats with several stitchery store owners about their having classes for my ONE LONG PANEL design in particular. It's been very satisfying to know that stitchers are having fun stitching up these panel projects.... and even more satisfying to know that stitchers are expanding their own creative knowledge and confidence by changing colors and making the panel design their OWN through their color picks!

Recently I received a call from TWO THE POINT in Overland Park, Kansas. They're planning to hold a class in a few weeks and were ordering a few more patterns, since they've had more people sign up. The stitchers there are all choosing their own color combinations, so each one will be a unique surprise for the stitcher when it's done. How fun is that?

And a while ago, THREAD & EYE in London, Ontario sent me a link to see the photos from the group of stitchers who were also taking a ONE LONG PANEL class in the store. Go check out www.threadneye.com and then click on the "One Long Panel Class" listed on the right side of the website. You'll see all sorts of color combinations for this design. And each one looks totally different than the next!

Hearing from stores and stitchers about how much they are enjoying stitching my projects really gives me a boost of creative energy. I'm so glad stitchers are having fun with my pieces ... and let me tell you: it inspires me to keep on stitching and designing fun projects to share with all of you! So Thank You, Stitchers for all your interest and support for my designs. I truly, truly appreciate hearing from you all!!

Wait! There's More...

Quite a while ago, in a previous post, I showed you the borderwork on a small California Poppy piece that I use as a teaching/class project. Now, I want to show you how I've slightly modified that border for a companion piece. Same pattern, different flower, -- and a different colorway.

This time I stitched up some lilacs:


Unlike the poppies, where both borders were stitched with the same dark green, I stitched the inner border with the lighter green and the outer border with the darker green. It creates a bit more drama and dimension - just by changing the colors slightly. Keep that in mind.... next time you want to add a border (or repeat one) think about altering the color just a bit, to create extra richness.

While we're on the subject... I also stitched this pattern in a wine country version, called GRAPE HARVEST, using an autumnal color palette:


In this teaching design, I took the lilac flowers of the upper design, turned them upside down and altered them slightly to turn them into grape clusters.

Same design composition, just different botanicals and very different color palettes. And what a different "feel" each design has!

(And oh yes, in case you were wondering, I've already started yet ANOTHER variation of this design, using soft pastel colors for a sweet summertime flower..... but you'll just have to be patient and wait and see what I come up with!!)