A Favorite Star Returns

Over 15 years ago, I designed one of my first needlepoint quilt patterns, and it was called LONE STAR.  It looked like this:

I stitched it on the old tan canvas (didn't have eggshell in those days) with just one skein of Watercolours 018, "Peacock" and a handful of ecru #5 pearl cottons.  It's been very popular over the years, but recently I thought it would be fun to give it a bit of a facelift and bring the pattern up-to-date, adding a few more thread colors as well as creating an easier color graph to follow.
Here's the revamped version, which I'm calling NEW LONE STAR:

And it still uses that lovely Watercolours 018, "Peacock", but it also uses two blue pearl cottons and two brown pearl cottons... plus the same ecru background, but also a bit of metallic bling, with a royal blue Ribbon Floss for some accent stitches.

It was fun to get back to stitching a quilt, using fast and easy long, diagonal satin stitches and straight stitches.  This was a good "no-brainer" project for when you don't want anything hard to think about, or you want to just stitch and watch tv in the evenings, and not do any complex counting.  And I STILL love that blue & brown variation of Watercolours' "Peacock" -- it's a classic!

The other nice thing about this NEW LONE STAR is how easy it is to switch out the colors.  Just pick out your favorite variegated Watercolours thread, then choose two colors to match -- this uses two blues and two browns -- and grab a few skeins of a background color (I use ecru 95% of the time).

Can you see how it would look in fall colors?  Oranges and browns, maybe??  Or how 'bout a true Halloween version, using that great Watercolours 231, "Ethiopia" for rich golds, reds and purples?  And I can also see this done completely in REDS... how perfect would that be for a holiday pillow this year?

Anyway, if you'd like to have fun stitching my NEW LONE STAR, for an up-dated version of a popular design, please visit my website and get more of the stitching and ordering details.... and oh, yeah...have a happy, stitch-filled weekend!

California Dreamin'....

Stitchers: are your bags packed? Are you ready to go to the ANG Seminar in Anaheim this coming week for stitching fun in the sun...with time off to shop til' you drop?

Be sure to visit with Diana, from NEEDLEPOINTS LTD. in Garden Grove, CA., who is running this year's seminar boutique.  I've sent her a few of my models and a big batch of patterns for all you eager shoppers.  So check them out and be sure to say "Hi" to Diana for me..... And oh, yeah, have a great time meeting new friends and starting new projects -- there's nothing like Seminar to get you super-excited about stitching!

Ridin' Down a Happy Trail...

I've wanted to do another WESTERN COLLECTION pattern for a long long time. Perhaps a lot of you have already stitched my favorite fetish design called "TURQUOISE BEAR COLLAGE" that looks like this:
 

I love, love, love Indian blanket patterns, and have also collected carved Indian fetishes as well that I think make nice insets for my collages.  Over the years, stitchers have asked when I would be doing another "western" piece and for some reason it's taken me a while to get back to these colors, patterns and images that I love.

First, I wanted to create a companion piece to the turquoise bear design; this time featuring a jasper horse fetish I have in my collection.  I've been working on it on and off for the past year.... And finally, I''m happy to announce my new Western collage piece is DONE! And it's called the "LONG HORSE COLLAGE":

I had fun creating the western stitch motifs, like the blanket in the upper left,  the "horsehair" ribbon band at the top, the copper horseshoe... plus graphing out a stylized horse ...and then shopping for just the right jasper fetish stone to tie on his back:

Choosing a color scheme for this project was harder than I thought.  I collected a few different colorways - one lavender & brown that has a more subdued feminine feel; or there's the green & brown combo that has a lush forest feel to it - and I've included those thread lists as options on the pattern.  But for the model, I went with the blue & brown threads, because it's so typically western in its feel.  Here are the three color combinations with their main Watercolours threads:

At the bottom is the BLUE & BROWN version, using Watercolours & Wildflowers 260 - "Sticks & Stones" along with blue, rust and brown #5 DMC pearl cottons; plus a copper and blue metallic ribbon as well.

At the left is the LAVENDER & BROWN version, using Watercolours & Wildflowers 016 - "Bark" which also uses lavender, rust and brown #5 DMC pearl cottons; plus a copper and lavender metallic ribbon.

At the right is the GREEN & BROWN version, using Watercolours & Wildflowers 010 - "Fiesta" which uses green, rust and brown #5 DMC pearl cottons; plus a copper and green metallic ribbon.

Frankly, this design would look rich and western in ANY of these color combinations, and they all look terrific with the rust red horse!  And as I was working on this project, it brought to mind lots of happy memories of horses I've known and loved over the years, so it ended up as a stitched memorial to all of them....Truly a satisfying piece to stitch, on so many levels.

So, if you're in the mood for a nice Western project that will carry you down a happy trail of memories, please visit my website and read more about ordering my new LONG HORSE COLLAGE.

A Touch of Fall

Here in northern California, there's a faint touch of fall in the air, and the grapes have started to ripen a few weeks early ~ even though it's only the beginning of August.  And that reminds me that it's time to offer "HARVEST TIME" as a fall cyber class again. 

I don't know what it is about this project  ~ whether it's the plump clusters of grapes that are so fun to stitch, or if it's the rich luscious burgundy & green colorway of Watercolours "Camouflage" ~ but it's definitely a favorite of mine, and from what I can tell from stitchers around the globe asking for it, it's a popular favorite of stitchers as well!

So now's the time to think about harvesting some of your own grapes.....

Go visit my website: www.laurajperindesigns.net to read all about this fun up-coming class and register for it today.  

(And if you want to open a bottle of wine and raise a glass in celebration of the coming fall harvest, go right ahead!)

Hydrangea!

Last month, to relax and take a break from all my counted canvaswork projects, I pulled out a painted canvas I had in my closet, done by Sandra Gilmore called "HYDRANGEA".  I was really enjoying working on it, because I didn't have to worry about graphing any of the stitches and could just "play" with it.... I used some blackwork patterns (only I stitched them in white #5 pearl cotton), created some easy checks, tent stitched the watering can and all the flowers, 

then went back and "embossed" some of the petals by straight stitching (with rayon ribbon floss) on top of the tent stitching, like this:

   
.... added a woven border, so in no time at all, it ended up looking like this:

When I showed it to some of my stitching friends, they just loved it and asked me if I was going to create a "stitch guide" for it, so they could stitch it the same way I did.  [In case you were wondering: stitch guides are the latest trend in needlepoint today.  Buying a hand-painted canvas can be quite an investment, not to mention all the threads you need to stitch it... so it's rather intimidating to try and figure out how to interpret a canvas so you can enjoy stitching on it and still be true to the artist's original vision.]  My first panicky response was, "No way, I have too many other projects, to even think about tackling a NEW one...".  And then as more stitchers asked about a stitch guide, I calmed down and thought, "Hey, why not give it a try and see what happens..." 

So, sure enough .... I sat down and wrote a stitch guide, and you know what?  I had a blast!  I created a fresh new layout, hunted out some new fonts, did a few stitch diagrams (but didn't have to graph out EVERY stitch!) and even included closeup photos of the different stitched sections.   I then contacted one of my favorite wholesale distributors, FLEUR DE PARIS, because they handle Sandra Gilmore's canvases and asked if they'd like to carry my stitch guides as well.  They did.  And the rest, as they say, is history....
 

Soooooo, I have a new sideline -- Needlepoint STITCH GUIDES by Laura J. Perin Designs!  As you might imagine, I'm really excited about this new development.  I mean, who wouldn't love to have a reason to buy more wonderful threads and stitch more painted canvases as beautiful as Sandra Gilmore's?!?  So I'm off and running.... and shopping.... and stitching....

P.S.:  I'll be selling just the stitch guide on my website (www.laurajperindesigns.net) , but if you are interested in getting the canvas and guide together, please contact your local stitchery store and they can order it for you from Fleur de Paris in Los Angeles.

P.P.S: And in case you were wondering... Don't worry, I'm still going to be producing counted canvaswork designs. (You should see the string of them waiting to be finished in the coming months).... but doing a bit of painted canvas work makes a nice change and certainly re-energizes me for all sorts of new projects!

Friday Flowers

What flowers have you got growing in your garden this summer?  It's hard for me to get excited about planting flowers when the temperatures get into the 100s and the dirt is hard and dry as cement, but when it cools down a bit, I start craving new flowers to perk up the tired old flowerbeds.

This week I bought a few giant zinnas to add to my patio pots.  And a few petunias as well.  I needed something that LIKES the heat, right?

I got some purple and yellow petunias as well, and not until I got home did I read that these are considered LIME petunias.  Who knew there was such a thing?!? (I sure didn't, but I really like 'em...)

I also went looking for Portulaca, one of my favorite hot summer flowers, to replace the pansies I planted last fall that finally withered away in our scotching hotspell.  Portulaca has such bright happy colors, and with their succulent leaves seem to have a much better time surviving the hot weather once they get established:

And then I found THIS one -- a speckley, stripey geranium and well, I just couldn't resist getting it too:

Soooo.... guess what I'll be doing this weekend?

Happy Friday, Fellow Stitchers and I hope you enjoy your summertime weekend!

Ahhh, Summer Days!

This past week has been the most perfect summer weather.  Cool, grey mornings with the layers of fog reaching down and kissing the lush green vineyards on the valley floor; then when the fog burns off, warm, sunny afternoons with just enough of a breeze to move the air and keep it pleasant.

The weather these days brings to mind a happy blue and yellow quilt design I did a few years ago. I was pulling out this pattern today to send to A Stitch Above, in Cincinnati, Ohio and it got me thinking about how it was created.  A shop owner asked me if I would please design something that would use up the last 12"  strip of canvas that always seem to get left over when the larger canvases are cut.  Since I was getting tired of the normal square layout, I was happy to make a rectangular quilt that would be terrific as a longish pillow (or hey, just stitch four of the center stars and you could square it up!)....Here it is, and it's called SUMMER DAYS:

It uses Caron Watercolours 214, "St. Tropez" with denim blues and primrose yellows, and just a touch of sea glass green.  Isn't it a beachy feeling colorway?  I particularly like the wavy yellow row that looks "puffy" but is just stitched with one of my favorite threads - YLI Ribbon Floss. There's a bit of Ribbon Floss in sea green too.  The sheen of the rayon thread is a fun way to add just a touch of shimmer to the remaining pearl cotton colors.

I'm thinking this is real fun, fun, fun in the sun....
Hope you are enjoying these long days of summer and putting the extra daylight to good use by getting in some extra reading, gardening, hiking, dozing and of course -- stitching!