TA DA!

Where DOES the time go?!?

Here it is, practically the end of February, and I haven't done any blogging since Feb. 5th. Well...time to update you all on the projects I've finished this month.

Here's the finished FLAMINGOS IN FLIGHT:


Very upbeat, sort of tropical and a little bit of deco thrown in, too. It was really fun to stitch up (VERY easy stitches), and I particularly enjoyed seeing the juicy fruit colors come to life on the canvas. Although, when I look at it, I do think it would be a really wonderful pattern to change the colors. While I love the pink/peach/lavender combo, I can also "see" it in tropical blues/greens/turquoises...Can you see it that way too?

And here's the other project I've finished this month, the LILY OF THE VALLEY COLLAGE:


Can you recognize it from the "mystery" collage I showed you a few weeks ago?
Did you guess which flower would be going into the center block?

I had planned to stitch the ribbons with white pearl cotton, but when I started stitching them they were TOO stark white and way TOO bright, so I ripped out and stitched the ribbons with the palest blue I could find. The only place I used white pearl cotton was in the highlights of the actual lily of the valley flowers.

And the pale background is done with Caron Wildflowers in 141-Alpine Moss, which matches the thicker Watercolours 141 that I used thruout the rest of the boxes. Just using one strand of a thin, single-ply variegated cotton can create such a lovely watercolory washed effect on your canvas....I used a simple four-way diamond pattern here, but I've also done a simple zig zag pattern, which looks equally lovely. As you can see, it makes a terrific background for any canvas design!

[NOTE: Thes patterns are not quite available yet...please check my website in a week or two, and - hopefully - they should be available by then...]

Flamingos on the Go!

Remember last week, I showed you the palette of pink, coral and lavender threads I was using to create FLAMINGOS IN FLIGHT? Well, here's that work currently in progress:

The main blocks are easy to stitch up...and I wanted to use two pale colors for the background: pale pink and pale coral...Of course, the overall effect won't be seen until it's all stitched, but I think it's coming along nicely... and I can't wait until it's finished.

And as usual, as I'm stitching this one, I'm visualizing it in OTHER color combinations. Although I chose a pink palette for the model, I think it would look really great in blues and greens....or how about all reds?? The scalloped border area gives it a sort of valentiney look (although I was trying for a art deco look to go with the flamingo blocks). So I can definitely see it with a red variegated thread, in combination with solid reds and/or pinks....

And I've added a bit of soft metallic, with two different Ribbon Floss colors - one is a deep coral accent, and the other is the palest coral diamonds that appear in the scalloped border areas.

Anyway, I'm almost done with this design, and I'm really having fun stitching it.

Oh, Those Flighty Flamingos!

Check out this color combination:


Isn't it pretty?

I pulled these threads to start another new quilt design. And the block is actually called "Flamingos in Flight"...which tickled me so much I just had to design a quilt with it! (And I'm definitely using the title, too...) It has bits of the flying geese triangles in it...so the bird theme is woven nicely into the block pattern.

And of course, what other colors could I choose but bright pinks and corals (with a touch of lavender for a little tropical punch)?!? Luckily for me, Caron Watercolours has a great variegated thread color called Fraises du Bois (190) so I could match my pinks and corals to that... I'm really having fun stitching this up.

And I decided to work on a pale pink canvas - just for a change - although you don't see any of the canvas once all the stitching is done, so it could be done on good old eggshell....(But sometimes I like using a different color, just for the variety and fun of it.)

The colors remind me of the colors in the mix of little candy hearts we usually see around Valentine's Day. So how appropriate is that?!?! It's a very happy color combination to stitch with on a cold, grey, dreary winter's day...

I expect I'll have this pattern available sometime in February...until then, I gotta get back to stitching all those flighty flamingos!