Mini Mystery Monday for October, pt. 2

For the second part of your mystery piece, we're moving to the outer border and getting that stitched and in place.  Here's the graph to use this week:

Again, it's a partial graph of the whole design, but you should be able to use it to stitch the whole border.

Here's an up-close look at the basic border elements:

Notice that your "dimpled" squares change direction on each quadrant of the design, so be sure to make those directional changes as you stitch.  Each of the corners has a nice elongated cross stitch (over 10 x 1 canvas threads) that is tied down with three small straight stitches.  Use your metallic thread to work this element, and add a bit of bling to the corner areas:

I thought it would be good to get the borders out of the way this week, so you can have fun next Monday filling in the jazzy central motifs that really make this little design POP!  And by the way.... as you're working this border pattern, consider how easy this would be to use as a finishing border around other ornaments, or small pieces (that are on the diagonal, or on point).  When I finished stitching my border, I really liked how it looked -- it's fast and easy, yet fun to look at -- and I am going to remember to use it again as a way to finish smaller geometric pieces.

So for now, have fun working your borders, and I'll see you next time, okay?

Friday Flowers: End of Summer

By this time of year, my garden has taken some hits from the long hot days of August.  There are a few roses blooming, and the end of the summer flowers, but they are looking a bit weary and heat-scarred.  Here's what's left blooming now:

Time to start planning and shopping for my winter flowers, so I'll have a fresh batch of flowers to cheer me up when I look out in the yard.  Hope you're enjoying the last of your garden before winter arrives...
And of course, HAPPY FRIDAY!

Mini Mystery Monday: October Treat

'Tis the season for falling leaves and other surprises, so I thought I'd treat you to a new little mystery that will be perfect for this month.

Grab a handful of threads that have a fall colorway, so you have on hand:
-  a variegated #5 pearl cotton (try finding one with fall colors, and you'll only need 1-2 strands)
-  a dark solid color #5 pearl cotton, for the outer borders (think dark green or brown)
-  a bright solid color or variegated #5 pearl cotton (think autumn leaf color of oranges or reds)
-  a metallic ribbon thread (or braid) in gold or copper
-  and then cut a piece of 8" x 8" 18 ct. mono canvas, in eggshell, sandstone ,tan, or sage green
-  you might also want to grab some matching beads, two sizes, for finishing touches at the end!

Now here's your first graph to follow:

It's not a complete graph, because I'm trying to keep the graphs as small as I can so they are easier for you to see.  You should be able to work the remaining areas using the stitches shown above.  Also note that this is NOT the finished size of the piece; there's still a few more borders coming up along the outer edges....

Anyway, find the center of your canvas and count outward to stitch the four variegated diamond shapes, using just 1 ply of your 3-ply Watercolours (or whatever thread you choose). [FYI: this is the only place you'll be using the variegated thread.] I've included a few of the metallic stitches in this first graph, so you can use them to connect your four diamond shapes. Here are those stitches up-close, and please use 1 strand of your metallic ribbon or braid to create these:

Then move on to stitch the easy narrow border that surrounds your variegated diamonds - straight stitches over 3 canvas threads -  using 1 strand of your dark solid color pearl cotton.

Once you get these elements stitched, you'll be all set to do the next set of borders that I'll share with you next week.  Have fun stitching this up, and I'll see you again next Monday!

Happy October!

Uh Oh! It's the start of October, and you know what THAT means: a month filled with black cats and bats and witches' hats, right?  Are you stitching on something black and orange right now?  Are you pulling out a new Halloween design or perhaps getting back to work on something you started last October?

As for me, I was switching out my framed seasonal stitchery pieces, putting away the summer ones and hanging up the autumn pieces around the house.  One of the designs I put away was the LONE STAR COTTAGE, with its cheerful summery flowers (yellow roses, cone flowers, and black-eyed susans):

And all of a sudden, inspiration struck!  Why haven't I designed a Halloween-themed house?!?  Well, DUH, how much fun would that be to stitch???  So I whipped out a bunch of autumnal colored threads, a piece of sandstone canvas, did a bit of graphing, and started stitching.

I decided to make it my STITCHING CHALLENGE for this week, to see if I could "marathon" and get the model stitched and the pattern finished so I could release it this month.  Pant, pant, pant.....After a week of stitching, here's a peek at what the model looks like so far:

I've decided that this house will have a definite Autumn-y feel, but not precisely Halloween-y.  I like having something that can be displayed for a few months during the appropriate season, so this will be nice to look at during October and November....
 
Yesterday, while watching the Ryder Cup finals, I got the trees stitched, the owl (hidden in the tree), the pumpkins, the cattails on the porch, and the start of the lawn done.  Still to go: the flagstone path, the black cat (of course!), the rest of the lawn, chrysanthemums on the bushes,and itty bitty pumpkin stems.  Whew, almost done! .... Then it's on to the instructions to get everything on the Main Graph and all the text written.  It's a scramble, and I usually give myself a LOT more time to get patterns done, but I feel confident I can pull this one off in time! 

Oh, and by the way, I think I'm gonna call this one "HARVEST MOON HOUSE" (cuz there's a big fat moon hanging above the house).... Stay tuned for further developments on this new piece....

Harvest Time!

Here in Sonoma County, while the afternoon heat warms the land, grapes are being harvested in the vineyards, and the roads rumble with big trucks carrying bins of just-picked grapes as they head off to be crushed for wine.  And it occurred to me that it's a perfect time to offer an "encore presentation" of one of my most popular cyber classes: HARVEST TIME.

HARVEST TIME really is the perfect project for this time of year, because it has lovely autumn colors, plus lots of small, medium and large grapes on it!  And with just three emailed lessons, it's a short and sweet class that you can easily finish in a very short time...

It's a 7.5" x 7.5" piece stitched on 18 ct. sandstone mono canvas with one Watercolours (047 - Camouflage) and a handful of #5 pearl cottons (in greens and burgundys) plus two different metallic ribbons (burgundy and gold). Here's a peek at it up-close, so you can see the different sizes of grapes in the piece:

If you want to read more about HARVEST TIME and sign up for this popular class, please visit my website and click on the LJP CYBER CLASSES tab. (And if it makes you want to pour a glass of wine and contemplate the changing of the seasons, you can go right ahead and do that too!)

Mini Mystery Monday - final installment

I hope you had fun filling in all your blank spaces last week!  Is your piece starting to look more vibrant and elegant now?  Are you liking the variegated colors you've chosen? 

Let's finish up by adding the final touches -- a bit more metallic, as well as a handful of beads.

Here's the final graph for you to study and follow:

As you can see, there's just a few more things added to this graph:

First, there are some fine stitches added around the central cross box, using 1 strand of Kreinik #8 Braid.
I also added a really long metallic stitch down the "ditch" where the quadrants meet each other (see the photo of my stitched model further down this post) - which you may or may not want to do as well.

Second, there are the beads to be inserted wherever you can find places to put them.  I added gold seed beads in the places noted on the graph above.  But there are other places to sneak in beads, and I've indicated an "optional" line of beads in the Tied Triple Cross row, as shown in the graph above.
You may find even more places for beads, and by all means add them!  If this is going to be a sparkling hanging ornament, you can't have too many beads, can you?  So bead away!!  (Maybe you can use both large and small beads in your piece.... so please have fun beading this design...)

Third,  I've added an additional line of backstitching along the outer edge of the woven border - just because I wanted to finish off the edge and was curious to see what it might look like.  Use 1 strand of whatever pearl cotton color you used for your woven border, and place the backstitches as indicated on the graph above.

Here's what my finished model looked like (I used a variegated thread I hand-dyed myself in fall colors):

I'm planning to finish it with a tassel hanging from the bottom point, so I can hang it on a door or drawer pull....

I hope you've enjoyed working on this diamond-shaped project and will consider stitching it again in some different colorways.   You can even try it with solid colors (not variegated) and alternate the colors in each quadrant, so you have a true "harlequin" ornament.  Why not create a red and green Christmas version?  or maybe an elegant black & white version, with touches of gold?  oooooh, there are so many intriguing possibilities with this one design.  I hope you have time to do some exploring.....

In any event.... I'll see you again on a future Monday with another fun Mini Mystery project!

Friday Flowers: Pinks & Golds

 

 

 

 HAPPY FRIDAY!