Stitch Some PRAIRIE FLOWERS!

 

  

Earlier this year, Nordic Needle in Fargo, North Dakota asked if I would be interested in designing another panel piece they could use for their new canvaswork club.  Their previous club project was the very popular NORDIC PANEL I designed for them using bright primary colors and geometric Nordic patterns.   This time around, I wanted to stitch something with summery colors and happy floral patterns.  Here's what I designed for them, called PRAIRIE FLOWERS PANEL:

Oh, boy, it was so very fun to stitch, with all the different flower patterns!  I was inspired by the pinks, yellows and golds of prairie wildflowers and tried to keep that in mind as I created different stitched flowers in each section.  Here's a look at it up close, with the "fantasy flower" section highlighted for you:

Doesn't that look like fun?!?  Each floral section is so colorful and fun to stitch - nothing too hard or too complex - honest!  And you even have the choice between two colorways: PINK or BLUE, as the handful of threads show below.... and yes, the kit includes the cute little bee button, too!

This new club project will be starting in October and run for six months, so you have plenty of time to stitch and enjoy it, especially during the dreary winter months.   If this piece appeals to your gardening fancy, please buzz on over to the NORDIC NEEDLE website: www.nordicneedle.com to find out more about joining the club....( you can also see what the blue colorway looks like, since Jessica, one of their employees, stitched up that model!)

Happy Stitch-Filled Weekend!!

I Love SNAPDRAGONS!

 

I just finished a new stitch guide this week, called "SNAPDRAGONS", to accompany Sandra Gilmore's painted canvas of the same name.  The minute I saw this smaller canvas (8"x 10" on 18 ct. canvas) I was smitten.  I love snapdragons and this lush bouquet had me grinning with pleasure.  Then there are all the different vases and dishes -- a china lovers delight! 

This was a pretty straight-forward canvas to figure out and stitch: the china is all tent stitched (or basketweave stitched where possible); the blue vase is also tent stitched in sparkly metallic ribbon threads; the cream vase uses shiny ribbon thread as well, but the ribs are slightly padded to create a more realistic raised texture.  For a satin sheen, I used more rayon ribbon thread for the chair fabric, as well as on the gold chair back.  I found a simple blackwork pattern to use on the wallpaper stripes, as well as a simple diagonal blackwork pattern for the table/tablecloth.  Here's look at the canvas up-close:

The last things I stitched were the bouquets of flowers.  The white roses gave me a chance to try a technique I used on the climbing roses on NANTUCKET: I used white Ribbon Floss and instead of laying each stitch flat, I deliberately twisted the thread and laid it with a soft twisting curl on the canvas, then couched the curve in place with a soft stitch of the same ribbon thread.  Working a bunch of those stitches created the effect of tightly furled roses, and overall I'm very pleased with the effect.

 

To tackle the masses of pink snapdragons, I  tent stitched practically the whole bouquet, from the darkest colors to the lightest; then went back around and added irregular diagonal satin stitched petals wherever I could figure out where to put them - concentrating mostly on the lightest pink colors, to give the illusion of depth in this shallow tablescape.

If you're smitten with this wonderful painted canvas by Sandra Gilmore, you might want to order it from your favorite needlepoint store, who can order the canvas and guide from FLEUR DE PARIS (Sandra's distributor).  I have just the stitch guide available on my website, if you already have the canvas and are inspired to start stitching! 

Ready for Some Spring Flowers?

I've had so much interest in the PURPLE DAISY class I offered last year, I'm going to offer it again this spring. 

If you'd like to try your hand at doing some "messy beading", this is a really fun, small project to make!

You'll stitch the 6" x 7.5" design on a 10" x 12" canvas that I print out myself, using a flower image I drew on the computer (using a photo of a purple daisy).  There's a fun "shadow stitched" background (easy peasy!), and a bold set of borders that are very fun to stitch, and frame the bright purple daisy with bright colors, checks and oh yeah, some beads! 

It's not a hard project, or a long one either;  four emailed lessons will be sent to you starting in mid-April. And the kit includes the printed canvas, all the necessary threads, and a packet of mixed gold beads for your beading.  If you've ever been curious about doing some "messy beading", here's your chance!!

So if you're interested in joining this next class, please visit my website: www.laurajperindesigns.net and click on the LJP CYBER CLASSES menu for all the class and ordering information.
HAPPY FRIDAY!!

A New Spring Bouquet

Last week I gave you a peek at something I was working on that had a bit of blackwork in it.  Remember this picture?:

Well, here's the finished design, and it's called SPRING BOUQUET SAMPLER:

It's a light and airy mixture of "composite" stitch patterns and blackwork patterns.  When I was designing this piece, I was curious to see what it would look like to mix in some blackwork areas with the slightly darker composite stitch areas.  And I really like how it looks like a small patchwork quilt, or even part of a crazy quilt.  I like to pretend it's a collage of sprigged cottons sewn from scraps left over from old-timey dresses....

I stitched the 9.25" x 9.25" model on 24 ct. Congress Cloth, so it has a much more delicate look than my usual 18 ct. creations, but it can also be worked on 18 ct. canvas by increasing the plies of silk used (and then on 18 ct. canvas the size of the piece would be 12.25" x 12.25"). 

And speaking of the threads, this is the soft pastel palette I selected:

Because I was in a springy mood, I wanted to use one of my very favorite variegated threads - Waterlilies 110, "Hyacinth".  This particularly yummy colorway of periwinkle blues, orchids and soft greens is not available in the thicker #5 Watercolours, so I had to adapt the piece so it could be done in stranded silk instead of pearl cotton.

While I stitched the rest of the piece, I left the center block empty.  Originally I was going to fill it with a tent-stitched image of a basket of spring flowers.  But as I got ready to stitch the center area, I had a flash of inspiration and decided to do something a bit more unexpected, and try a rather freeform bouquet of flowers.
Here's a close-up of the central area:
 

It's not really difficult, and to get you started I've included a graph of just the center box, that indicates where to stitch the stem lines, which gives you something to work off of as you create your own bouquet of french knots and lazy daisy stitches.  I really like the lightness and delicacy of this simple bouquet, and find it compliments the airy stitch patterns that surround it.  [And psssst: you know what?...if you'd rather fill the space with another type of image, try looking through that pile of cross stitch patterns I know you have, and I bet you can find just the right image of flowers or birds or bunnies to tent stitch in your center box...hey, it's just another idea to consider...]

So, if you happen to be in a springy stitchy mood like I am, please visit my website, Laura J. Perin Designs and you'll find more information for ordering this fresh new SPRING BOUQUET SAMPLER.

Calling All Flower Lovers!

I'm having another "encore" cyber class that will start in June.  It's my favorite CORSAGE, a fun small project with a set of enjoyable stitch patterns.  Here's what the pink version looks like:

CORSAGE is a small piece (8.5" x 8.5") done on 18 ct. sage green canvas.  I'm offering a selection of colorways, so you have the chance to personalize it to your own color taste.  As the thread photos below show, you can choose a PINK, PURPLE, BLUE or RED thread palette:

The PINK palette uses Watercolours 170, "Arabian Nights"; the PURPLE palette uses Watercolours 006, "Amethyst"; the BLUE palette uses Watercolours 153, "Distant Hills"; and the RED palette uses Watercolours 047, "Camouflage."

And no matter which colorway you choose, the focal point of this piece is the flower in the center box.  And again, you'll get to choose which flower center you'd like to put in your piece -- the dogwood/rose version (shown in the pink photo above) or the gardenia/camellia version (shown below in the blue version):

It's a really enjoyable piece to stitch, and the composite stitches aren't difficult - it's just a fun project that shows you how to create complex-looking patterns by layering simple stitches..... 

So if you're in the mood for something different, but not too hard, think about signing up for my CORSAGE cyber class (my website has more information, if you're interested).  Registration runs from now until the end of April; and the class will start at the beginning of June. 

Egg-Stra! Egg-Stra!

Okay, I'm egging you on a bit, but you get the idea.

It's FRIDAY, and time to get ready for the weekend...

Gather up your springtime flowers

Put on your prettiest spring outfit

And fill your basket with the sweetest treats...

But.... most of all, no matter where you are,
I hope you have a very, very colorful and

 

Time To Hop To It!

We're almost at the weekend, which is the time to celebrate the end of Winter, and the

 joyous beginning of Spring.

Time to share more flower shots, and a few more springtime pieces with you....

 

Here's a deliciously fun quilt to stitch, FLOWER SAMPLER:

Those coral colors go well with the coral version of my EASTER EGG ORNAMENTS:

 

For pure spring flowers, there's my TULIPS, stitched on Congress Cloth:

 

Oh, Yum!  Isn't Spring wonderful?!?

Countdown to Bunny Day!

Here in Northern California Spring has definitely sprung.

Blooming flowers are peeking out everywhere 

and my garden is looking very festive.

Keeping with the season, I thought I'd share some of my spring-i-est designs with you this week, to put a smile on your face and a hop in your step!

Here's a springtime favorite, DAISY O'HARE, from my Sampler Collection:

She's definitely dressed up and ready for the Easter fun to begin....

 Hope your week gets off to a colorful start...

Mini Mystery Monday Floral Surprise pt. 2

Now that you have your simple lattice foundation stitched, we can add a bit more stitching around it.

Here's the graph to follow for this week:

Outside your stitched box (the narrow borders) you need to lay a pair of metallic ribbon stitches "in the ditches", going the full length of your center box - as shown by the red arrow above.

Or, if you prefer, you can count up/over and stitch the outer scalloped border first, using 1 strand of your lighter green thread. If you stitch your scallops before laying the ribbon threads, just be sure to count carefully to leave/skip over enough canvas threads for your long ribbon stitches!  The green arrow above points to a good place to begin stitching your scallops.

After you have the long metallic threads laid, and the scalloped borders in place, you just need to add a bit of gold metallic accent stitches, as indicated by the pink arrow above.  First, place a straight stitch across the center, then add the elongated cross stitch on top, so it holds down the laid metallic ribbons, using 1 strand of your fine gold #8 braid.  While you're traveling around the square, you can also add the other gold accent stitches in the corners when you reach those spaces.

That's it for this week!  Next time, we'll start filling in the diamond spaces with a different little flower, which will get us ready for adding the special flower in the center diamond.....  Have fun!!

(P.S.:  If you're having trouble opening the graphs with Internet Explorer, try using Google Chrome or Mozilla Firefox.  My blogsite doesn't do well with Explorer, but interacts fine with Chrome and Firefox... go figure!! )

Mini Mystery Monday: A Floral Surprise

Now that Spring has definitely sprung, and we're fast on the way to full Summer, I thought a floral design would be appropriate for the next Monday mystery.  So grab a handful of threads and join me in this one!

There's no variegated thread in this one, but here are the threads I've pulled to stitch with:

I've grabbed some half-skeins of DMC #5 pearl cotton 3345, 3346, 797, 792 with Kreinik #8 Braid 3280 (that's just what I had laying around, but any other gold will work just as well)...

Basically, you'll need:
     -  TWO greens - one dark, one medium
     -  TWO blues - one dark, one medium
     -  ONE gold braid you have on hand
     -  and an 8" x 8" piece of 18 ct. canvas, either eggshell or sage green is fine for this piece

The size of this piece is apprx. 4.25" x 4.25" on 18 ct. canvas (and apprx. 3.5" x 3.5" on 24 ct. Congress Cloth, if you choose to stitch it smaller; if so, adjust your threads accordingly to finer #8 pearls or stranded floss/silk with a thinner #4 metallic braid).

And here's the graph you can start stitching from:

It's a standard grid/lattice formation that we'll have a lot of fun filling with our mystery flowers later on.  Here's how mine looks at this point, with half of the blue Smyrna Stars stitched:

Well, that's all for the first installment of this mystery project..... Enjoy getting your lattice set up and I'll see you next Monday for more fun stitching!

Mini Mystery Monday #7, pt. 2

It's time to stitch the next part of this month's mystery piece.  We get to fill in those diamond shapes with some fun little flowers.  (Did you guess that was coming next?!?)

AND you get to choose between two different floral motifs, so that makes it even more fun!

Here's the graph for the first option:

And here the graph for the second option:

And here's the detail graph for stitching each of the two floral elements:

 Hmmmmm, it's hard to decide which one to stitch, isn't it?
They're both equally fun and easy to stitch....one's a whole little flower, and the other is just the flower face up close... It's totally up to you which one you prefer to use in your piece!

And at this point, you might also decide to use a variegated thread for all your flowers, instead of alternating two different flower colors row by row.  Or maybe you'd like to make all your flowers one color.  Or maybe you'd like to try making your flowers with a silk ribbon so they have a bit more texture and dimension. Well, all of those creative options give you plenty of things to think about to personalize your mini mystery piece....

AND AHEM.... here's another thing.... I made both floral motifs as eyelet-type flowers, because then - TA DA - there's a hole in the center that makes a great place to sew a bead (or a french knot, if you prefer).  Just another fun option for you to think about!!

Have fun with this week's stitching.... and I'll see you again next Monday!

An Old-Fashioned Garden

Speaking of quilt gardens, how about my GRANDMOTHER'S GARDEN?

I've always loved those faded old quilts that have the flower-shaped blocks, usually done with scraps of old clothing or floral fabrics. This was my attempt at re-creating those beautiful old quilts - but using stitches instead of fabric!

Here's what those rounded sections look like up-close, made up of lots and lots of scotch squares, and also you can see how the variegated flowers are alternated with rows of solid color flowers:



Again, I was going for an old-fashioned feel, and used a variegated thread that reminded me of spring florals. But when I look at it now, I wonder how different it would look if it were done in bolder colors(like reds, oranges and yellows), which would definitely give it a more contemporary and purely graphic feel.

Oh, the infinite stitching possibilities!

And since it's Friday, I'll sneak in a few matching flowers to end the week...




HAPPY FLOWER-FILLED FRIDAY!