My Current Fall Project

After finishing Sandra Gilmore's OLIVER last month, I was eager to get back to work on this very large piece (another Sandra Gilmore beauty) called FALL SPLENDOR.  It is such an elegant piece that I have been enjoying working on it every night while I watch (ahem, listen) to tv....

Whew!  It's a large piece - 15" x 15" with my added border work - but the sandstone background isn't solidly stitched, so only the gold floral work needs to be done, which I'm doing in plain old Tent Stitch with a Kreinik #8 Braid. I'm making progress, one leaf at a time...

It's rather restful, doing lots of tent stitching with metallic thread; then switching over to long Straight Stitches for the leaves. I've never done any of those old "longpoint" kits that Dimensions used to sell, but I've certainly enjoyed creating my long-stitched leaves, using 5 ply of Splendor silks. It's a simple but effective way to showcase all the luscious fall colors in this piece.

I've already padded the acorns, but still have to finish the red berries at the bottom -- they'll be padded too, with a shiny rayon ribbon, I think.

Anyway, I'm hoping to have this finished shortly (one leaf and five berries to go, woo hoo!), and then I should have the FALL SPLENDOR stitch guide done and mailed off to Fleur de Paris in the next week or so.  Stay tuned for further stitching adventures!
HAPPY FALL FRIDAY!!

More Fall Favorites

After I stitched a few fall quilt designs, I decided to broaden my approach and do some sampler-type designs that would be appropriate for displaying for a longer time in the fall,  and didn't depend on Halloween elements for their continued enjoyment.  They range from traditional designs to more

abstract or impressionistic pieces....

Here are some of my all-time favorites:   PUMPKIN HARVEST (which is basically a cross-stitch graph that is stitched on the plain brown 18 ct. canvas -- simple but elegant) 

RUSTY O'TOOLE 

 

 

AMBER WAVES

        

PRAIRIE STAR

 

and TURNING LEAVES

As the days and nights get cooler, it's delicious to stitch with these warm, rich colors, plus working lots of elegant patterns is another fun way to transition into the season of long dark nights -- now we'll have lots more time for stitching at the end of the day!

Fall Color

Over the years I've designed many pieces for the autumn season. 

 The first ones were quilts, such as FALLING LEAVES,

  

 CHEROKEE STAR,

 

MAPLE LEAF,

  

INDIAN AUTUMN, 

   

 and FOUR WINDS

 They are all built around traditional quilt blocks that stitch up fairly quickly and easily, and provide an excuse to play with lots of rich reds and golds and greens in a satisfying geometric design.  So if you're looking for an autumn design that is fun to work while sitting in the evenings watching tv, 

these fall quilts are just the thing!!

The Spookiest Day of the Year

Are you ready for Trick or Treat tonight?

Got all your pumpkins carved?

Got lots of candy? (All your favorites, of course...)

Watch out for those spooky black cats;

And keep an eye out for low-flying owls, too.

 

 

But most of all, 

be sure to have a really sweet and safe

 

HAPPY HALLOWEEN FRIDAY!

WHOOOOO Loves Halloween???

Do you??
Have you been working on any Halloween projects this month?
I've been super busy stitching on several autumn designs and painted canvases this season.  I showed you my new HALLOWEEN RIBBONS in my last post; it was soooo fun to sneak in some counted canvaswork in-between all these delicious new Sandra Gilmore canvases I've been playing with.

And now I'm delighted to share my next stitch guide with you --  he's called OLIVER, by Sandra Gilmore.

What a HOOT!!  And isn't he cute?  I mean, really...  He's a smallish canvas (10" x 10") , with a handful of easy stitches, so it worked up pretty fast.  I really, really wanted a variegated background for Oliver, so I changed the plain green stripes to a woodsy variegated thread with a woven brown border (although the stitch guide also gives solid color options as well).

Oliver's body and feathers are also done in variegated threads, to give him a more realistic look to his feathers. His eyes and beak are padded (although they got a bit smushed in the scanner!).  And the "Happy Halloween" text is tent stitched with one of those yummy variegated Painter's Threads I've been eager to try; here it gives a nice rich shimmer of greens and browns to the sign.

I like OLIVER a lot.... especially because his Halloween message will be nice to display around the house all autumn, and not just for that big purple & orange day!  If you love owls and Halloween, this could be your next fun project...  Please visit my website for more information on this new OLIVER stitch guide!

Time to Stitch Up Some Spooky Fun

Hey, Stitchers: are you buying some pumpkins and setting out your Halloween decorations this weekend? 

Are you itchin' to stitch up one more Halloween project?
                How about my newest design, HALLOWEEN RIBBONS??

I had a blast designing and stitching this fun piece.  I tried to fit in as many Halloweeny treats as I could, so you can stitch some cats, bats, hats, ghosts, pumpkins, candy corn and spiders.  And oh yeah, there are some fun ribbon bands to stitch, with lots of purple and orange chrysanthemums (or asters, if you prefer). 

You can make your pumpkins with or without faces - or alternate them, like I did.  The falling candy corns and sour balls are fun to create, and should put a smile on everybody's face!

This piece is truly over-the-top, I know.... but hey, where else can you have so much fun with lots of purple and orange threads?!?

Please visit my website for all the ordering information on this new, spooky fun HALLOWEEN RIBBONS design.           Happy Friday, Everyone!

Time for a New Cyber Class!

Many years ago (well, 14 to be precise) I designed a monochromatic geometric piece called PINK PARFAIT:

Over the years it's been a consistently popular piece, even though it takes some time to stitch it on the finer 24 ct. Congress Cloth and is worked with only two DMC floss solid colors and one fine metallic thread.

Just recently a stitcher emailed me about her interest in stitching PINK PARFAIT but didn't want to work it on 24 ct. Congress Cloth; could it be stitched on 18 ct. canvas instead?   So I pulled out the model and propped it in my office.  As I studied it, I wondered how it would look if I updated the design a bit -- revising some the stitch patterns, and using variegated silk threads on 18 ct. eggshell canvas this time around.

Well, folks, here's how it turned out:

(Please note: the photo of the pink version is turned "on point"; although the piece is actually stitched in the direction shown in the teal version above.  With this project you have the option of framing it either way -- and how cool is that?)

And I must say, even though the 11.5" size is almost the same as the 12" one done on Congress Cloth, it definitely worked up a LOT faster!  And was VERY fun to stitch using a subtle variegated Waterlilies silk, with two matching Splendor silks and two different metallic ribbons.  Here's a peek at it up-close:

And after I had it stitched up, it occurred to me that this would be a really fun cyber class.  So  TA DA, that's how I'm presenting it to you:  as a new cyber class for November 2014, called PATCHWORK PARFAIT.

The stitching on this piece is very easy and soothing; nothing difficult here except the counting of the borders... In fact, the hardest thing about this piece was deciding which color of variegated thread I wanted to stitch it in!!  I wanted to stay with more monochromatic color skeins, so there weren't any big jumps in the color sections.  Ultimately, I whittled it down to these five luscious colorways, so stitchers have these choices for their piece:

So, Geometric Stitchers, if you are in the mood for a yummy new project that's lots of fun to stitch, please visit my website, Laura J. Perin Designs, and click on the LJP CYBER CLASS section to find out more about this upcoming PATCHWORK PARFAIT class.  Registration is open from September 5th until October 18th.