Inspiration Strikes!

Last week, I was wearing a a pair of pants I made many years ago out of a serene batik cotton print. All day long, while I was wearing them I kept looking down at the patterns on the fabric and thought they would make a very cool stitchery design.

See what I mean?

Finally I couldn't stand it any more. I stopped what I was supposed to be doing and sat down and drafted a composition that incorporated a few of the simple fabric patterns, plus a few other motifs that would create the look and feel of a tropical Hawaiian piece.

I scanned the drawing into my Adobe Illustrator program and started working out the graph lines and project dimensions. Once satisfied with the rough layout, I pulled out a handful of blue, aqua and teal threads and started stitching.

I spent all day yesterday sitting on my covered patio stitching, while Katie snoozed on the lawn. And here's what I got done:

I intended to just get the main areas established (so I could take this project to a friend's stitch-in this coming weekend), but I had so much fun stitching each of the areas, I couldn't stop working on it and sheesh, I might have it almost finished by the time the weekend comes around! All that remains to be designed is the Hawaiian-type floral motif in the lower diamond... but no worries! I'm confident that I can create just the right flower motif to finish this piece.

(Psst: Although the photo makes it look like I'm stitching on sage green canvas, I'm really working on the brighter aquamarine canvas, so I have an aqua background on the unstitched areas...)

Anyway, I'm hoping I'll be able to complete the graph and text instructions just as quickly as I can, so I can release this design while the summer is hot and cool projects are a stitcher's necessity! Until then: "Aloha, Stitchers -- and stay cool and serene wherever you are..."

My Egg-cellent Idea

You know the BARGELLO EGG I showed you a while ago? Well, today I thought I'd share with you how that design came about. I don't know if you're like me, but I'm always fascinated with HOW designs come into being. The creation of a new project always seems like such a delightful mystery, even when the step-by-step path of illumination seems obvious at times.

Anyway, a few years ago I decided to design my first bargello piece, which I called BARGELLO & ROSES:


I envisioned this design being made into a long, rectangular pillow that would show off the bullion-knot roses that run along the center of the piece. See?


I also thought that only a PART of the design could be stitched (there are notations on the pattern's main graph to that effect, if you want to try it yourself), and then inserted in a long pillow with two panels of tapestry fabric placed on either side. My Mom agreed to stitch up the bargello part of the model (while I did the bullion roses), and I thought it would be fun to see it done in yellows, like this:


(Have I sewn any of these projects into pillows yet? No. Maybe someday...)But I did hang the yellow BARGELLO & ROSES in my office and stare at it off and on for months.

Then one day, when I way looking at it from across the room, it struck me that it looked sorta like an Easter egg. Wow. Inspiration Struck. How fun would it be to make a bargello Easter egg and fill the center openings with favorite Easter treats like a bunny and flowers?

Well, I couldn't rest until I had the perfect egg shape (which, by the way, is devilishly hard to draw symmetrically by hand, but much easier to do using a computer!) and then I started filling it in with a softly rounded bargello pattern. And TA DA -- my springy BARGELLO EGG was born!

Pages of Inspiration

A non-stitcher friend of mine recently asked me where I get my inspiration from (something lots of people have asked me over the years), and if I ever run out of ideas. OH CONTRAIRE!! I told her that my problem is having TOO MANY IDEAS and consequently having to tell them all to quit crowding me, and to take a number and I'll get around to them eventually!

Case in point: this morning I took the time to browse through some home design magazines. In a spring issue of Traditional Home I came across several intriguing possibilities for future designs and I thought I'd share them with you, to show you how my "designing mind" works....


This is a large Henry Moore lithograph that caught my eye. I immediately translated this composition to squares of stitchy patterns and abstracted shapes. Can you see how well this might be adapted as an abstract canvaswork design? It could be large or small, monochromatic or multi-colored too....


Okay, focus on the wallpaper in this photo.It's a Victorian-looking wallpaper that struck me as an excellent format for a geometric canvaswork piece. Picture a large diamond shape, made up of four of the smaller diamond shapes (with the medallions at each intersection). That creates four diamond boxes to fill with something or other -- blackwork? flowers? intricate geometrics?? Hmmmmmm...lots of in-ter-est-ing poss-i-bil-i-ties.


Now this photo caught my eye because of the large floral painting on the wall. It reminds me of some of the happy, graphic, floral painted canvases we stitchers are seeing more and more of in the needlepoint market. Just imagine what a big stitched floral canvas would look like in place of this painting. And why don't these interior designers use some needlepoint on their walls? Hey, You Guys, NEEDLEWORK IS ART TOO!!!


Is this a happy room or what?!? My eye was immediately drawn to the big square canvases of color cubes. I'M SEEIN' BLOCKS OF STITCHING HERE - each done in a different color and stitch pattern. Picture a series of canvases (12" x 12"? 16 x 16"? or even larger? whoa, how about stitching these on 13 ct canvas?) with these same collections of colors, but stitched! They could be monochromatic, as stitch or color studies; or they could be color family studies. Either way, a stitcher could have a really great time working on a series like this.

Sooooo, you see my dilemma as a designer? I'm equally intrigued by all of those pictures. Which of these ideas do I pursue first? Because, trust me, I wanna try ALL of them! And eventually I will, but for now I'll dog-ear the pages in the magazines, scribble some notes to myself in my little notebook, and then get back to stitching on the projects I have going now. If I stitch a little bit faster, maybe I can get those done and then start designing something new next week....Stay tuned, Stitchers!!

Happy Pre-Valentine's Day!

So, here's my finished valentine for this year, stitched up from the freebie pattern on my website:


I really thought I was going to do a "winter white" valentine on the red canvas. But then I was browsing through a magazine and saw this red and gold cup and saucer.


And I thought, "Ooooooh, wouldn't a gold valentine look scrumptious on that red canvas?"

So, I pulled some red and gold threads and started stitching right away.
And, in my typical tweeky designer way, I made a few modifications to the original graph as I was stitching.

Check out my heart pattern - Version 2 - on my website, if you want to stitch another heart with a slightly different pattern from the first version.



Oh, and if you want to try a PINK version of the valentine, I'll offer you this magazine photo as inspiration!

(Can't you just see a "winter white" valentine on pink canvas, with just a touch of soft pink metallics?!? Oh, YUM, another deliciously fun idea....)

Inspiration Chain

Here's another example of inspiration leading me along a surprising chain of new ideas and new designs:

Last summer I started stitching up a lacy blackwork design with very pastel colors. I had stumbled upon a lovely "twisted ribbon" border idea I wanted to try out, and that in turn led me to create a "willow branch" border that I also incorporated into this design. Here's part of the original design:


By the time I'd gotten the majority of the stitching done, it was autumn and because it wasn't appropriate for the fall season, I lost interest in the spring colors and set this project aside.

But then, (Aha! Inspiration strikes again!) it occured to me that it would be fun to create a fall version of the same design; using the same layout, but changing the colors and elements to reflect the autumnal season. So, I pulled another palette of threads (this time in autumn colors) and began playing around with stitch combinations that would be perfect for grapes and grapevines. And before I knew it, I had the VINEYARD BOUQUET stitched:

It was quite a challenge to think up a realistic grape leaf pattern; but I like the way this one turned out, with a burgundy-colored ribbon peeking out under the leaves... And I definitely wanted to create blackwork patterns that featured grape clusters. Only after I had the blackwork areas stitched, did I decide to put beads in every blackwork box - not only did it give the piece a lot of texture, but it was the most realistic way to make it look like grapes!

But now, here it is spring again....so I pulled out the almost-forgotten SPRINGTIME BOUQUET project and continued stitching on it. Instead of grapes, THIS version has fat pink Wrapped Roses (done with a shimmering Ribbon Floss) and the overall effect is a springtime fantasy of fluttering ribbons, soft pastels and lacy blackwork motifs.


Because the variegated thread I used on this project has such a lovely spring palette (Watercolours 64 - "Pale Lilac") I've included two color options on the pattern. You can choose between a pink accent (DMC 818 & 3354) or a lilac accent (DMC 340 & 333). Either color goes perfectly with the variegated thread and the soft springtime greens (DMC 3346 & 3347).

A Funny Thing...

It's a funny thing about inspiration -- you never know where or when it will strike. Which makes it such an unpredictable ingredient in the creative process. Here's an example of where inspiration has led me thus far this year:


See this pattern?
I created this little swatch in my most recent floral collage: LILY OF THE VALLEY COLLAGE. And when the whole piece was stitched, and pinned up on my wall, my eye kept going to that swatch. I really LOVE that little swatch! The more I looked at it, the more a glimmer of an idea began to grow....
What if I took that little pattern and enlarged it to encompass the whole piece, and then used that pattern as a background for a small inset cluster of flowers?

Suddenly, I could "see" that new project in my mind's eye...and I just had to sit down and start stitching to match what I saw in my mind... And as I began to stitch, this is how it looked:

Oh, I really liked this pattern!
So I just kept stitching, and adding more elements to make it a little sparkly...a little elegant....but also spring-y. I wanted to create a design that shouted "SPRING!" And to me that means primroses. So I chose the purest yellows and pinks I could find that were the truest match for primroses, and of course, found a variegated thread (Caron's "Mountain Meadow") that had just those springtime colors running through it.

The patterns were really fun and easy to stitch. And I enjoyed creating a few new stitches that replicate the look of primroses in different sizes: the tiny clusters in the background, the larger clusters in the corner squares, and then the up-close bouquet of primroses in the center block.

And here's the finished design:


YUM! Does that create a springtime tapestry, or what?!?
Can't you just see this as a lovely box pillow on a sofa or bed?
What a lovely way to celebrate Spring!