Bargello & Butterfly Stitchers!

Hey, all you BARGELLO AND BUTTERFLY Stitchers!  I just want to alert you to a boo-boo in the Butterfly Graph....  The DMC numbers are reversed on the teal and blue symbols, so here's how they SHOULD be:

In other words, the BLUE thread - DMC 791 - should be the LOZENGE symbol; and the TEAL thread - DMC 991 - should be the FLOWER symbol.  And you can see where the teal stitches are if you look at the butterfly photo at the top of this post. 

And if you purchased one of the first patterns, you might not have DMC #5 791 listed on your back Materials Page.  You can stitch with DMC 791.... or if you have DMC 792 or 797 in your stash they also match the royal blue metallic ribbon that is used on most of the butterfly wing -- any one of those blues is equally electric!

So very sorry for the charting mistake and hope this doesn't cause you too much of a stitching inconvenience.....

A New Pattern for Summer

In my typical Gemini fashion, I've been fluttering between several new projects, flitting from stitching to graphing to sketching, but this one was the first one to actually get finished -- and just in time for the long sunny days of summer....  It's called BARGELLO AND BUTTERFLY, for obvious reasons:

I've used the same basic size and format as my previous BARGELLO AND VIOLETS, shown below:

 

which I enjoyed stitching so much, I got to wondering what other sorts of four-way bargello designs I could come up with.

BARGELLO AND BUTTERFLY is a larger piece - 10.5" by 10.5" on the Santa Fe Sage Green 18 ct. canvas.  I chose the sage green canvas because that cool green color is my favorite and I thought all the colors would pop against it  - and they do!  But if you want, you can certainly use the pale blue, grey, or eggshell canvas too.  I think the blue or grey canvas would give a much cooler feel to the piece, while the warmer eggshell canvas would be brighter and "sunnier" if you wanted that look instead.

I've altered the bargello pattern just a bit to create a different sized opening in the center.  And this time, I've place a big, shimmery blue butterfly in the center (and it was rather fun to tent stitch with #5 pearl cottons and a shimmery blue metallic, although you can always substitute DMC floss colors if you don't like tent stitching with pearl cottons.)  Here's the butterfly up-close:

And I wanted to create a different type of outer border for this piece, so I've laid blue metallic Ribbon Floss "in the ditches" and stitched over it with a "fan" or eyelet variation, which gives the border a more lacy, airy look (not to mention providing a neat place to add a few gold beads - grin) ...

And, although you can't see it very well in the photos, the background filling stitch is a plain four-way "lattice" stitch that has itty bitty upright crosses on top of the intersections.  For something different, I also mixed the background colors a bit; using blue metallic #4 braid on the north and south sections (see the blue arrows) and then a teal #4 braid in the east and west sections (where the green arrows are pointing).  Just a subtle color change that adds a bit more mystery and interest to the design.  (You can see the two different colors behind the butterfly as well, if you look closely in the previous photo...)

So if you're thoughts are turning to butterflies and bargello this summer, please visit my website to read more about this new BARGELLO AND BUTTERFLY design.

And of course.... HAPPY FRIDAY!!

A Little More Flower Nectar, Please

My new little camera (a Canon Power Shot A1000) takes the most amazing macro shots, which I normally focus on flowers. And it's always a thrill to see the pictures up-close on the computer screen, because you never know whether the shots are good or not until they are enlarged.

Here are some shots I took recently of a Tiger Swallowtail sipping nectar from the pink Jupiter's Beard wildflowers that grow all summer long in my garden....




He/She was quite a fluttery fellow skipping from one flower to the next, and while I wanted to get a full shot of its magnificent wings, I also kept getting closer and closer to see just how close a shot I could get. Here are my best shots:



I never imagined I would be taking pictures of butterfly tongues, counting the hairs on a butterfly's wings, or peering into the multi-faceted eyes of insects -- and loving it!

A Butterfly for Summer

Have you noticed how butterflies seem to be a current design trend this year?

Well, I've been working on a butterfly design these past few months, and have finally finished it. It's called BLUE BUTTERFLY. The focal point and center of the piece is a blue butterfly that really glows in bright blues and aquas:


Unfortunately, you can't see how the butterfly shimmers with faint glints of soft metallic Hi-lights blended in with the Splendor silks...but trust me, it does!

The butterfly is surrounded by two different geometric patterns (both very fun and easy to stitch). The inner pattern uses 1 ply of variegated Waterlilies 192 ("Elderberry Wine") and Splendor silks, and the outer pattern uses 3 ply of variegated Waterlilies and 3 ply of Splendor silks to give the pattern some weight. And again, there are three different metallic thread colors used (aqua, bright blue and royal blue) on top of the silks, so there is metallic shimmer throughout the whole piece, although the photos just don't show it:


In the corners of the piece, there are large blue medallions that I like to think of as stylized flowers. They echo and balance the blues of the butterfly wings:


And here's the whole piece for you to see:


The finished size is 10" by 10" on 18 ct mono canvas (in Sante Fe green, for a soft, cool background). And it uses quite an assortment of my favorite Rainbow Gallery threads: silk Splendor, Fyre Werks Soft Sheen, Hi-lights, Neon Rays+, and some Nordic Gold too.

If you're interested in this new design, please check out my website for more information on my new BLUE BUTTERFLY.