My Affair With Stars, continued...

As I was saying the other day.... I think it's time to tinker around with some of those traditional quilt star blocks, and make a few new comtemporary "art quilt" designs. I've already started in that vein with my favorite STARRY NIGHT design from a few years ago. Here it is in all its complex and colorful glory:


More recently, I came up with the wildly colorful RED HOT PEPPERS quilt design that makes me smile every time I look at it:


Well, I've been staring at that design on my wall for a few months now, and after watching the amazing pictures of snowy weather all over the country this winter, I thought it'd be appropriate to create a new "art quilt" that updates the old LONE STAR motif, but adds a bit more pizazz to the mix.

So this month's new design offering is a WINTER SKY quilt pattern in tealy blues and orchidy purples that is, I've gotta say, WAY COOL:


It's a larger size than my first little lone stars: 10" x 10" on french blue 18 ct. canvas. It also uses two different Watercolours: 192, "Elderberry Wine" for the multi-color bits, and 160, "Night Sky" for the subtle variegated blue border area. I've also sneaked in a bit of glitz with a touch of purple Ribbon Floss amongst the rest of the #5 pearl cotton colors. Here's a close-up of the star block (and the actual colors are a bit darker than my scanner is showing in the photos):


When I start stitching on a new one of these quilt designs, I always amaze myself again and again with how much FUN they are to stitch. They really do make great "no-brainer" projects in-between more complex stitching projects (and I really don't mind stitchers saying that they're "no-brainers" 'cuz that's exactly what I've designed them to be - grin!)

So, if you're interested in whipping up a few artsy-type stars to while a way a cold winter's night -- check out my new WINTER SKY pattern on my website (listed on the list at the right in bold letters.) It's a fun one!

My Affair With Stars

Many, many years ago, when I was living up in the Gold Country of California (in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada mtns, where gold was first discovered) I went into the local stitchery store in Grass Valley. There on the floor beneath a table was a basket of the very first Caron Collection Watercolours threads. I was immediately drawn to them and fascinated by their variegated colors.

I asked the store owner if there were any patterns available that used this new thread and she said no, there weren't. But I was so intrigued that I bought a few skeins and went home with them.

As I fondled these luscious threads, I wondered what I could stitch that would really show off the colors of the hand-painted threads. Because I was into quilts at the time, I decided to use some very traditional quilt patterns to try out the threads. The very first one I stitched was a small (6.5" x 6.5") Miniature Lone Star design:


Followed closely by Miniature Bear Claw and Miniature Wild Geese:



I was starting to get addicted to this new thread, so I designed a little bit bigger quilts (8.5" x 8.5") using the same classic patterns. Here's my Lone Star:


By now, I was thoroughly fascinated by the way the colors were revealed as you stitched. And I realized that quilt patterns were the perfect medium to show off the colors of the hand-painted threads.

Well, one day the store owner asked if she could sell a few of my designs. After a while she ordered a few more.... Then a customer who bought one, stitched it up and took it down to a larger stitchery store in Sacramento (the beloved FUZZY PENGUIN) to get it framed. The owner there asked about the design and soon contacted me about providing HER store with designs. Which I was certainly happy to do.

A little bit later, I was asked to be a part of the FUZZY PENGUIN'S large booth at the old Cross Stitch Festivals that were then held in Sacramento. There I met lots of stitchers as interested in stitching as I was. What a revelation! And somewhere along the line, someone suggested I send my designs to Nordic Needle to see if they would be interested in carrying them... and the rest - as they say - is history!

This is my long and winding way of telling you that I've had a fond and special relationship those quilt block stars for a long, long time. And recently, it occured to me that those very first old designs (that people still order now and then) will always be classics, but maybe it would be fun to re-visit them and see what I could do to give them a little bit of an updating. After years of focusing on very traditional styles of quilt blocks, I think it's time to give them a more contemporary "art quilt" look.

TO BE CONTINUED NEXT TIME.....

WHO-DONE-IT??

Last week I decided to enjoy a leisurely breakfast while perusing the latest issue of my favorite needlepoint magazine, NEEDLEPOINT NOW. Imagine my surprise when I turned a page and found one of my old freebie designs staring up at me in an ad, available in a kit!

Here's the design I'm talking about, and I'm sure you may recognize it because it was also on the cover of the May 2010 ANG Needle Pointers magazine, and you might actually have stitched it up yourself at one time:


I did a double take -- how had this happened without me knowing about it?? And stranger still, why did my design, called "This Heart's For You" have a different designer's name attached to it? Someone named Pat Mazu.... Stranger and stranger!

Breakfast forgotten, I got on the computer first to try and locate designer Pat Mazu, who turns out to live in Indiana. Much later that morning, I finally got to talk to Pat and here's what I found out: she had NO IDEA how her name had gotten attached to my design. She have never seen it before, and was as stumped as I was as to how the her name had gotten involved in the ad. Hmmmm, more detective work was needed! Pat agreed to call the magazine and I agreed to call the store that posted the ad, and we would meet again later to discuss our findings....

After many phone calls to and fro, here's what we were able to find out: first, every bit of content in NEEDLEPOINT NOW is sent back to their contributors and advertisers to proofread and authorize before it is published, so they do everything that's possible to make sure their information is correct; second, at the time the ad was placed, the store owner was in the midst of moving her store AND undergoing emergency surgery, so, needless to say, she was a tad overwhelmed and a few things may have gotten overlooked; thirdly, the store owner assured me that my design was NOT being copied and included in their thread kits (which would be a copyright infringement) and when stitchers inquired about the design, they were told to visit my website and print out the pattern from my "free patterns" page.

So, by the end of this long and unexpected day, I had learned a few new and valuable things that I would like to share with you, dear stitcher....

FIRST OF ALL: I met another designer named Pat Mazu, who was extremely nice, very professional and wonderful to talk to. Please know that she is completely innocent and blameless in this ad mix-up. She was as eager as I was to get to the bottom of this mystery, and when all is said and done, not only did we solve the mystery together, but I feel as if I've made a new friend in Pat!

SECONDLY: I was very glad and relieved to know that the error in the ad was not deliberate, but rather a plain ol' unintentional mistake. And you know... that happens now and again, to all of us at one time or other, since no human on earth is perfect.

And THIRDLY: I would ask all you stitchers out there, when you are visiting your local stitchery stores to double-check that "freebie" patterns are indeed distributed free to you stitchers. Those free charts are my gift to you and you alone, and while I give my permission for them to be taught in free guild meetings, they are not intended to be resold in any way, shape or form.

And LASTLY: it's always good to pause and remember that the relationship that exists between stitchery store, teacher, designer, stitcher and let's add stitchery magazine here too, is a very close and special one. Not one of us by ourselves can exist without all the others. When you think about it, we're all part of one big stitching family. And while we may never meet each other face to face, we all share a common bond and love (and dare I say it, OBSESSION?) for stitching. So at the end of the day, what I say is: LONG MAY WE ALL PROSPER!!!

Show And Tell Time

This week I received a few emails from stitchers showing off their finished LJP Design projects, and I thought you'd enjoy seeing them too.

Here's my CHRISTMAS FOREST blackwork pattern, stitched up by Joyce DeMattei in California. Instead of framing her piece, she had it finished as a banner or mini-tapestry hanging. Isn't that clever? I would have never thought of doing that, but I sure like the look of it!


And Susan Allanson, also from California, sent these photos of the four pieces she stitched from my "Playing With Borders" series published in NEEDLEPOINT NOW magazine last year:





I LOVE the way these are all finished, with matching cording to boot! All of these pieces are apprx. 6" x 6" in finished size, so they'll look awfully cute hanging from a drawer pull or doornob, don't you think?

GREAT JOB, STITCHERS!!!
And thanks so much for sharing your work to inspire all of us!

A Little Post-Holiday Stitching

After the hustle and bustle of the holidays, I'm usually still in a Christmasy mood and want to keep working in those cheerful red and green colors. So as a relief from working on larger pieces, I decided to to whip out a few Prairie Schooler ornaments - just for fun...


I stitched all of these designs with plain ol' DMC floss on 18 ct. mono canvas, so that made stitching them up all the quicker!


And I have to say, the fact that they stitched up so fast (it took me 1-2 days for each of them, under no kind of time or stitching pressure) was an additional delight. As any stitcher knows, instant stitching gratification is ALWAYS a welcome treat!

And while I love all these ornaments, I must confess that this one is my very favorite:


I'll worry about making their rustic twig frames later... for now, I'll just go back to finding something else that's fast and fun to stitch!

Rise And Shine!

I was rotating some of my stitchery stuff on the walls around the house and decided to bring this old blackwork ROOSTER WEATHERVANE out to enjoy for awhile.

One of the great things about blackwork is you don't usually need much in the way of thread. This large project (apprx. 10" by 10") used just one skein of DMC floss, one skein of a rust-colored Kreinik Blending Filament and one skein of #5 pearl cotton (for the couched outline). Here's the rooster head up-close so you can see the subtle sparkle in the stitch patterns:


And while I love blackwork, I have a hard time finding just the right images to use to showcase the different blackwork stitch patterns. I think blackwork requires large chunks of space to fill - to show off the dazzling patternwork. I think you need to see the repeats of each pattern to get a really good look at all the different stitch patterns. So I try to think of things that have lots of big areas to fill. I remember I had fun choosing the rooster's different patterns and trying to find ones that suggested feathers. This photo of the rooster's body shows how well the different patterns look against each other:


The way I learned to do blackwork (from class lessons at a now-vanished stitching store in the Bay Area) was to DRAW the line drawing on the fabric (taping your drawing and fabric up on a window, then using a water-soluable pen that would be erased at the end) and then just start stitching the geometric repeats in each section. You only had to refer to a graph when you started stitching each pattern. After you had the pattern started on your fabric, you didn't need the graphs anymore, so you could stitch freely from then on.

I stitched this design many years ago, and now when I look at it I think it would sure look terrific stitched with a variegated thread of rusty browns. How antiquey THAT would look!

BRRRRRRRRR!

Welcome to Winter, Stitchers!

Is it cold and blustery where you are?
Are you cozy at home, with a warm drink close at hand and your stitchery projects clustered around you?
I certainly am.

This morning, I thought I'd take a look thru my design collection and find whatever patterns have a wintery theme to them. Here's the first one that came to mind, a quilt pattern called SNOWFLAKE STAR:


Here's a close-up of the snowflake blocks, with just a hint of icy sparkle in the little white squares (which doesn't show up in the photos, alas):



Here's another design I think of as wintry, and it's an Impressionist Collection piece called POLARIS:


I designed this with the bright night sky in mind, with the silvery rays coming off the large center star. This always strikes me as a cooler, more masculine abstract than most of my other designs in this series. (Although I must tell you that one stitcher commented to me that this piece reminded her of busy freeways - and I can see what she means - can you?)

Stay warm and as always - keep stitching, too!