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! 

Time Flies When You're Stitching!

I couldn't believe that it's been almost two years since I offered PATCHWORK PARFAIT as a cyber class!  I guess that's what happens when you've got your head down and fingers flying over multiple canvases month after month - grin...

 

Anyway, I think it's certainly time to offer this popular class again... so if you missed it the first time around, now's your chance to sign up!  It's a large piece - 11.5" x 11.5" on a 16" x 16" piece of 18 ct. eggshell canvas, stitched with a handful of gorgeous silk threads.   And to add extra spice to the color choices, I've taken out the two palest, spring colorways and added two bold, fall colorways - PURPLE and GREEN.  Here are the color choices for the October 2016 class stitcher:
 

 
Isn't that a yummy selection of colors to choose from?  And in case you're interested, the palettes are build around these variegated silk threads: 
TEAL =  Waterlilies 121 - "evergreen"
BLUE =  Waterlilies 229 - "oasis"
RED   =   Waterlilies 045 - "flame"
PURPLE = Waterlilies 231 - "ethiopia"
GREEN = Waterlilies 245 - "savannah"
And all of the colorways include matching Ribbon Floss and Kreinik 1/16th Ribbon threads as well. 

The nice thing about this project is that the stitches are NOT DIFFICULT, as you can tell from this detail photo:

Indeed, once you have the sections/borders counted out, filling in the boxes is very relaxing and quite a non-stressful project. A good project for working on over time, picking it up between other more demanding pieces.  I think of this piece as part geometric, part sampler....but totally fun to work up!

So if you want a gorgeous geometric sampler to work on this fall, please visit my website, and see all the other PATCHWORK PARFAIT class particulars and ordering information.

Take Me Home, Country Roads...

Do you like creating samplers with many different types of stitches?
Do you like stitching houses?
Do you delight in miniature landscapes?
Do you enjoy the blue/green/gold colors of summer?
....Then you'll definitely enjoy stitching my new COUNTRY ROADS piece!

It's stitched on 24 ct. Congress Cloth, so it has a finer, more detailed look to it, with a finished size of 9.5" x 11.25".  This patchwork quilt of fields and pastures is built around the variegated silk Waterlilies 257, "Spearmint" and I pulled out a varied palette of greens and golds to give it the look of a lush, summery day in the country.  Here's a detail photo of the buildings:
 

Here's a peek of my favorite section, with poplar trees, tiny grazing horses and a red tractor (psst: if you prefer cows, I've included a cow graph, too):

Very fun, but very fine work; nothing too taxing, except the fiddly counting of the border lines and boxes! I used 12-ply silk Splendor for this piece, but I also give DMC floss recommendations on the pattern.  Although I wanted the miniature look of Congress Cloth for this piece, it could be stitched on 18 ct. canvas, but you'd need a bigger cut of canvas (do the math from the design count).... And I can only guestimate how much more thread you'd need - at least double the listed amounts, since you'd be moving up from 2-3 ply on 24 ct. Congress Cloth to 3-4 ply on 18 ct. canvas.

Anyway, if you have a hankerin' to create your own small piece of country, please mosey on over to my website and see all the particulars on this new COUNTRY ROAD design! 

Just a Reminder....

This is the last week to sign up for my next cyber class, DAISY CHAIN:

You can see all the class particulars on my website, and you can also choose between three colorways for the kit -- YELLOW, BLUE, or PINK.

Check it out, Daisy Lovers!!

Cool and Serene

In the summertime, when it's hot outside, it's especially pleasant to sit and stitch on something cool.
I was printing a batch of quilt patterns this morning, and came across an older one.... I forgot how lovely this one is, called MORNING GLORY, which evokes the blues, pinks, purples and plums of those bold climbing flowers.

I used a bunch of cool jewel-tone colors, making it look like an old-fashioned Amish quilt:

Very easy stitching, cool colors (with a bit of metallic sparkle) and a pleasing geometric design that is traditional yet modern when done!  What more could you ask for in a relaxing summer project?  It's available on my website, under the American Quilt Collection....

FRANTIC FRIDAY!

Yikes!
I just found out that my website is currently inaccessible, due to server problems with my host, LYCOS.  Hopefully, they will get the problem fixed as soon as possible - fingers crossed on that!!

But if you have some patterns you want, please email me at ljperin@comcast.net and I can create a PAYPAL invoice to send to you, and we can do business that way....

Friday Flowers: NEW DESIGN, Lavender Fields!

Okay, this post isn't really about my usual flower pictures, although here's a shot of the mixture of lavender and roses that went crazy in my front yard, earlier this spring:

But those sweet-smelling lavender bushes got me inspired to design a new geometric design (in the same vein as JEWEL BOX and NORTHERN  LIGHTS) called LAVENDER FIELDS:

I was really itching to stitch after looking through my stash of Watercolours threads, and pulled out a new color, 295, called "Mountain Haze".  Whoa -- fell totally in love with the soft periwinkle blues and greens, and had to design something with it!  It's worked on pewter grey 18 ct. canvas (but you can stitch it on the light blue or sage green canvas as well) and the design size is 10.5" x 10.5".  Lots of fun and easy components to stitch (after CAREFULLY counting all the green border lines - tedious, but absolutely necessary!)   Here's a look up close at one corner:
 

I stitched this model in a PURPLE & GREEN thread combo, but on the pattern I've also included a thread list for a TEAL & GREEN version, for those of you who prefer blues to purples....

So if you get weak in the knees for geometric designs.... and soft periwinkle blues/purples/greens/teals..... you gotta go check out this new design, LAVENDER FIELDS, on my website.  

Sometimes the next best thing to stopping and smelling the roses is to start stitching something NEW!!  HAPPY SUMMERY WEEKEND, STITCHERS....