Free Christmas Gift For You!

 Ho, Ho, Ho...

T'is the season for holiday treats and surprises, Stitchers,

so here's a sweet little stitching gift from me to you --

a fast and festive CHRISTMAS SQUARE:

 

If you stitched up the AUTUMN SQUARE I posted for Thanksgiving, 

you'll surely want to stitch this companion ornament

 in your favorite holiday threads.

It's just the right size for a hand-held project,

 a small design to work on after all your big holiday pieces have been stitched,

 or something you can tuck into a purse for an on-the-go piece!

I hope you all have the Merriest Christmas Season,

with lots of fun stitching projects, and lots of treats to eat, too!!

ENJOY...

Giving Thanks

As a way of saying "Thank You" to everyone 

who's purchased, stitched, and supported my designs,

I've got a sweet little freebie chart for you to print out

and stitch up.

It's called "LITTLE AUTUMN SQUARE" and picks up a few

of the small Autumn elements from my recent

"FALL HARVEST PANEL.

So, print it out, pull some threads,

and start stitching!

Have a Happy Thanksgiving Weekend...

And don't forget to enjoy those yummy turkey leftovers later on!!

Fall Is In The Air

The hills and valleys of Sonoma County are ablaze with autumn color....

 Especially this week, everywhere you look the trees are bursting out in riotous colors...

Even the majestic old oaks are burnished in golds and yellow greens,

like this one I saw today when we went for our morning walk....

 Which reminded me to post this fun little Autumn ornament for you to stitch up

from threads in your stash:

Have fun with this cutie...

and Happy Fall Friday, Everyone!

A Little Friday Fun

Are you happy to see Fall creeping into your neighborhood?

I sure am!

Bring on the colored leaves, the crisp cool days, and 

those fat bright pumpkins!!

And to celebrate the changing of the seasons, I've designed

a cute little autumn ornament for you to whip up....

 

   

You can use whatever fall colors you have in your thread stash - 

solid colors or try mixing in some variegated threads

for a dash of excitement!

Have fun playing around with this little project...

and

HAPPY FRIDAY!!

Oh, Lovely Summer Days!

Today we had cool foggy morning, burning off to blue skies with none of the hazy smoke from northern fires.  The blue skies make me think of a favorite quilt design I created several years ago, for a store that requested a design that used a piece of rectangular canvas (for the leftover strip of canvas stores get from cutting many squares).  That design is called SUMMER DAYS, and looks like this:

I loved working with the variegated Watercolours 214 - "St. Tropez" because of it's muted blues, aquas and yellows.  I've always think it has a very French Provincial look, n'est pas??

And this was one of the first designs I used a "shiny" rayon Ribbon Floss in the background areas, to give it a different look and texture.  Here's an up-close look at the rest of the fun borders I enjoyed stitching around the central blocks:

Looking at this happy piece gave me the idea of quickly graphing a small freebie project for you today that uses the classic star block, as seen in the quilt above.... then adding a fun little border around it.  I'm calling it  A LITTLE SUMMER FUN:

I've graphed it in a fun red, white and blue color scheme, but you can use any handful of threads you want to play around with.  And I've given you two different border treatments to choose from: a striped one or a wavy one.  I've put them both in the graph, but you can just pick your favorite and stitch it on all four sides. Also, although I've graphed the borders in red and white, you could also stitch the red sections with your variegated thread, to spread the color out from the center motif and to give it a more monochromatic look....

Anyway, I hope this fun little project puts a smile on your face and helps you enjoy your own sweet summer days.   And, HAPPY FRIDAY!

Show & Tell Time!

Last week I got the nicest card from Anne Ward in Leicester, England. She wrote to tell me that although she's been a cross stitcher all her life, she's recently started doing counted canvaswork and is having a wonderful time working on canvas.

She kindly sent me a packet of photos showing some of her finished pieces, and I thought I'd share them with you.

Along with stitching several floral collages in my SECRET GARDEN COLLECTION, Anne has enjoyed stitching up the "freebie" charts I've posted on my website. Here are some of her pieces...

This is the small WILD GEESE design that Anne has stitched with Watercolours "Mediterranean". I love those blues, don't you? And I especially like the way she turned the acorns in each corner, too:


Anne has also stitched my series of freebie seasonal abstract designs (I love her wintry blue version of Winter Winds at the top of this post), picking out her own colors, and sometimes finishing them as padded box tops, like this Autumn Haze design (stitched in Caron silk Waterlilies, Sheharazade):


And here's another box top Anne stitched with silks, adapting part of the Autumn Haze design to fit on top of a beautiful oblong wooden box:


And here's a bit of blackwork disguised in a Springtime Square, that Anne has stitched with Anchor pearl cottons:


In her card, Anne says, "My husband says I'm addicted to your designs and Caron threads. True!" Well, Anne, tell your husband that there are a LOT of us stitchers addicted to threads and stitching and personally, I think it's really a wonderful addiction to have!

Thank you, Anne, for taking the time to share your pieces with me and all my blog readers. Your work is truly inspiring.... Happy Stitching, Everyone!

A Simple Gift (in green & purple!)

Sometimes the simplest things can give the greatest pleasure.

I was reminded of that when I pulled out a small pillow I made many years ago, when I first started designing my needlepoint quilts. I had forgotten all about this little pillow, but when I saw it again, I still thought it was quite charming.


That's one of the nice things about those classic, traditional quilt blocks -- they certainly stand the test of time! And this little Lone Star block is one of my absolute favorites. How can anyone resist the beauty and simplicity of these stars?

Here's an up-close look at the Lone Star blocks:


As you can see, it was stitched with a "green and purple" thread - probably Watercolours' "Amethyst", which is one of my favorites.... and it's apprx. 3.5 x 3.5" on 18 ct. mono canvas. And hey, there's not even a border around this! (Which only goes to show how unnecessary borders, metallics, beads, or fancy stitches can be when something is a classic like this Lone Star block.)

Anyway, I was smitten once again with this little pillow, and decided to quickly graph it out to share with you. Please visit my website and click on the FREE PATTERNS page, and you'll be able to copy this "SIMPLE GIFTS" pattern. And, if you look at the top photo, you can also see how EASY it is to make a little pillow with this design. I used some odds & ends purple corderoy scraps - it was easy...really!

Anyway....this pattern is my St. Patrick's Day gift to all of you stitchers out there... Enjoy the stitchin' of the green (and don't forget a bit of purple!)

A Friday Treat

Last weekend, for Super Bowl Sunday, I had planned to have an all-day stitch fest (sort of a stitch blitz, if you get my drift...) Instead, I ended up with my laptop on my lap, designing several little projects, and leapfrogging back and forth between Animal Planet's PUPPY BOWL and Sci Fi's GHOST HUNTERS marathon. Never did get any stitching done.... Go figure.

Anyway, one of the little projects I graphed out was a fun little valentine treat that I'm sharing with you today.....in plenty of time for you stitch up for Valentine's Day next week, if you're interested, and need something else to stitch (ha, ha).

Here's a glimpse at the graph:


You can print out the complete pattern on my website, in the FREE PATTERNS page. The apprx. size is 4.5" x 4.5" on 18 ct canvas.

I haven't had the chance to stitch it up yet, and I don't give you any thread names, only the most basic color options. But I think this will be a fun pattern to play around with. At first, I thought it would be fun to stitch in assorted pinks or reds on a neutral background - like a traditional valentine. But on second thought, I remembered I have a piece of red mono canvas that I've never stitched on, and wouldn't it be fun to reverse the colors, and stitch a winter white valentine on red canvas (or any other dark-colored canvas)?

And of course, there are all sorts of ways to mix & match thread types. You can use pearl cottons for the scalloped border, a variegated thread for the inside diamond pattern, add some metallic sparkle (whichever is your favorite - Neon Rays, Ribbon Floss, Flair, etc.), work the background pattern in fine threads (like #8 pearl cotton, or maybe a fine silk) to give it a delicate lacy look..... any of these possibilities will work in this design. And for the center heart: how about creating a padded heart? Or maybe attaching a heart charm? A ceramic heart button? And if you're a bead person, there are lots of places to add your favorite beads. I'm telling you, once you start playing around with this design, there are all sorts of fun possibilities!

I still haven't decided how I will stitch my valentine, but I'm looking forward to playing around with it this weekend. Hope you enjoy stitching one, too!

Need a Little Christmas??

I've been very busy this season stitching up gifts, working on new designs for the coming New Year, finishing and mailing off models for the TNNA trade show in Jan. 2009, etc., etc., etc. . . . So guess what? I haven't had any time for leisurely blogging lately. Sorry about that....

BUT... I did take time to post on my website another seasonal freebie pattern for all you seasonal stitchers out there. It's called HOLLY & IVY and it looks like this:


It's a small 4.25" x 4.25" square, stitched on 18 ct. mono canvas. I used an assortment of Rainbow Gallery threads, as well as #5 pearl cottons. The original variegated thread I used - Overture V63 - has been discontinued, BUT, you can still get Encore E63, which is the same elegant variegated color, but a slightly finer thread, so use 2 ply of that instead of the 1 ply of Overture.

Anyway, I stitched this cutie several years ago, and came across the model a few weeks ago, remembered how much I liked it...and thought I'd share it now with you.

And if you want to stitch up a matching companion piece for it, check this out:


It's called HOLIDAY SQUARE. For this freebie, please visit Rainbow Gallery's website: www.rainbowgallery.com and click on their FREE PATTERNS page. You can download this pattern, which I recently sent to Rainbow Gallery as a special seasonal treat.

HAPPY STITCH-FILLED HOLIDAYS!!!

An Autumn Surprise!

I was rummaging thru my heap o' models the other day and came across an old favorite of mine, MINIATURE WILD GEESE. This was one of the very first patterns I designed using Watercolours variegated pearl cotton.


As you can see, I stitched it on the plain brown mono canvas (18 ct.) because that was all I could get in those days. And I used just one skein of the variegated thread, and a few skeins of ecru #5 pearl cotton. That's it -- no other colors or metallics -- because I was focused on highlighting the beauty of the thread with the classic simplicity of a traditional quilt pattern. I still love looking at this piece. And because it's such a simple, elegant design I decided to stitch it up again... but THIS time I wanted to try it on 24 ct. Congress Cloth and use Caron Collection's Impressions thread, which gives a much softer look to the piece.

And, oh yeah, I couldn't resist adding one solid color, one metallic accent color, and a few little acorns in the corners! It's the same pattern, just done in a totally different way:


Stitching this up on the smaller 24 ct. Congress Cloth made the little piece only 5" by 5" (unlike the larger version at the top, which was 6.5" by 6.5." on the larger 18 ct. canvas). Very cute, don't you think? (Would be perfect for a box top or pillow inset.) And if you really want to have a more contemporary look, you can omit the ivory background stitching and just leave the canvas unstitched - it looks totally fresh and modern that way, too.

Anyway, as a HAPPY THANKSGIVING TREAT FROM ME TO YOU: I'm sharing the "new, revised" pattern with you on my website. Check out the FREE PATTERNS page, and then print out the pages, if you want to try stitching this cutie up yourself! You can certainly stitch it up plain and simple - like the top photo - or you can choose the "jazzier" version....it's all up to you. Consider it a seasonal "THANK YOU" to all you stitchers out there who have been kind enough to buy my patterns all these years!

Feeling A Little Batty?

It's that time of year when stitchers start to get a little batty... or even a little witchy... Yup. It's that wonderfully purple and orange time of year: HALLOWEEN!

Time for all us stitchers to look thru our stashes and pull out our fun Halloween canvases.... or grab those purple, orange and lime green threads and start to work on a fun and/or spooky stitching project!

In keeping with the spirit of the season, I've posted a free little Halloween project on my website: www.ljperindesigns.com under the FREE PATTERNS page. It's my CATS & BATS freebie. Check it out!


Here's the story about this little bat: A few years ago, when I was going to local quilt and craft shows, I would design a little freebie handout for the shoppers passing by my booth. I made this little bat design into a pin that I could wear (I turned it on point, and added a pin back). It was a very fun and easy project. Other stitchers even stitched just the outer border, and then added a fun fimo, porcelain, or wood button in the center - a very cool way to show off a special Halloween button!

I stitched this 3" x 3" design on lavender 18 ct. canvas, but any color would work. And while I used #5 pearl cottons, you could also use 3-4 ply of floss if you prefer.

Anyway, I thought I'd share the pattern with you (there's also a black cat that you can stitch in the center, if you prefer cats to bats)....so you too can whip up a new little project just in time for Halloween!

Psst....

Want to see some neat old embroidery charts that have been digitalized and offered free to the stitchers of the world? Visit MY AUNT'S ATTIC (click the link on the right.) You can then click on the charts shown and they enlarge for you to view them and THEN you can copy them to stitch!

Or like me, you can just browse through them and let their old-style beauty inspire you to pick up a needle and thread and START STITCHING!