All Those Lovely Ribbons...

One of my all-time favorite canvaswork designers is Carol Costello.

She was designing the most exquisite things way back in the '80s. (She printed her patterns under the name, Fancy Work & Fantasies.) And I still think they're the classiest and most elegant stitchery I've ever done...even now. I stitched several of her designs, and still love looking at them and marvelling at their intricate beauty. And best of all: THEY WERE SO FUN TO STITCH!!

My sister Diane went to college down in Irvine, California in the '80s. She was in her needlepoint phase back then (she's a fantastic art quilter nowadays...) and when she went looking for a needlepoint store in southern California she found Nantucket West in Costa Mesa. And she discovered Carol Costello, who was teaching classes there. When Diane came home for college breaks, or when I went down to visit her, she would be working on Carol Costello designs and I fell totally in love with whatever project she was doing at the time.

Working on Carol Costello designs opened up a whole new world of canvaswork for me (and I'm sure a lot of other stitchers). All of her designs were counted on canvas, usually on the basic tan canvas, since that was the only "color" available besides white. I, of course, changed the color palette of her designs and stitched with more colors (hers were usually ecru on tan or very pale colors).

In the photo above, the piece in the background was intended to be ecru on tan, but I did it on white canvas in pinks and greens (my all-time favorite color combination). That piece is also rather unique because it is actually a selection of blackwork patterns - but done on 14 ct mono canvas - something REALLY ahead of its time! I have both these pillows on my bed today, and still love looking at them...and they still have things to teach and inspire me...

I remember vividly how much fun I had stitching those Carol Costello designs. In fact, that feeling of stitching something wonderfully different - something intricate and elegant, yet NOT DIFFICULT - has remained with me during all my stitching years. And it has been the benchmark for all the patterns I have designed. I always strive to create patterns that are a delight to the eye but not so difficult that they make you weep in frustration!

The joy of stitching should be just that: A JOY. If it makes you snarl, curse, weep, or fling something across the room, you are NOT having fun. And stitching should always be fun. It should be fun to learn something new; fun to add a new technique to your stitching repetoire; fun to share with friends; and once finished, fun to look at years later and remember how much fun you had creating it....

And the Next Flower Collage Will Be...

I've had a few emails from stitchers asking how many flower collages I will be designing overall in the Collage series. Well, I was rendered speechless over that question. I'm planning to stitch as many flower collages as there are flowers (which is A LOT!), and for as long as I find them interesting to stitch (which should be forever). I'm guessing that I'll be designing flower collages as long as I continue stitching....(which, God willing, will be a really long while yet...)

But for you flower collage lovers, here's a peek at the latest flower collage that I'm currently stitching right now. Can you guess what the center flower will be?
(Pssst....HINT, HINT: It's the flower in the enhanced/blurred photo above.)

In this new design, I've created another yummy pair of ribbons that are really fun to stitch...

And in the lower left box I've stitched a simple bargello pattern that incorporates the variegated color in the top row of the flower bud (see how the colors move along the rows?)

And in the upper left box, I've created a very simple floral blackwork design (using the variegated thread) that echoes the tiny four-petal flowers found in the real flower.

I also enjoyed creating the large pattern in the upper right box. I wanted an airy lattice foundation (to suggest a garden lattice)....but I used the variegated thread for the foundations stitches (instead of the solid greens) and then added rows of flowers in alternating colors of lavender. Isn't it interesting how the variegated colors of the "latticework" really looks like sun-dappled light on a garden lattice? (And viewed from a distance, that pattern has a rather rich, medieval tapestry look to it...I really like it....)

And I decided to use the newest variegated floss from DMC - their "Color Variations" thread - for the pale background filling. It's a nice, soft watercolory wash of pale blues and lavenders using only 1 ply of the cotton floss in a simple 4-way stitch. (If you are a painted canvas stitcher, you might consider using that very simple 4-way stitch to fill in backgrounds. And you can use 1 or 2 ply of a variegated silk or cotton thread to create a soft, washed look - just like in the photo above.)

Well, that's all for now....time to get back to stitchin' and graphin'!

(P.S.: If you have any favorite flowers you'd like to suggest for future flower collages, let me know.... I'd certainly appreciate hearing your ideas!)

Oh, To Be in California When the Irises are in Bloom...

The irises are blooming now in Northern California.
It's so fun to walk around the neighborhood and see all the colorful irises in bloom. I never can decide which colors I like best - they're all so luscious. And they all seem so fragile, you have to enjoy them while they appear, for they are gone from the garden so soon...

Here's an iris that's blooming in my neighbor's yard. She has drifts of purples, yellows and even some coppery bronze ones that are very different.

And look what I did after playing around with the iris photo in Photoshop... I used one of the artsy effects to create this painterly version of the iris. I just love the effect! It reminds me of a pastel drawing, or maybe a bold watercolor painting...

I can visualize this translated into a quilt, using batik fabric. But I'll have to think about how you could translate this image into a stitchery piece. The blurred edges are so soft and very Monet-like....I'm not sure how you could stitch that effect, but it's worth considering using blobs of color, outlined with light, to create that halo effect...hmmmm.

And as long as I'm mentioning iris, here's one of the first flower collages I stitched: the Bearded Iris Collage. I used a soft variegated thread (Watercolours' Harvest) that had soft apricots and lavenders. Although I stitched it to hightlight the apricot iris, you could certainly use lavender colors to create a lavender iris in the center instead.!
I wish I could stitch it up BOTH ways, to see both versions....(and then of course you could also try a pale cream iris too)...sigh...there's just too many yummy possibilities sometimes, and it's hard to pick just one to stitch...

And because there are so many different types of irises, I'm planning to stitch another iris collage sometime - I'm thinking I'll do a Japanese Iris or my favorite, the Pacific Iris (both flatter flowers that you view from above)....

Half-Cross, Half-Pint Garden

I really love stitchery gardens!
I simply can't resist buying patterns that have gardens in them. And I especially love aerial views of gardens. They're soooo precise and delicious. And knot gardens make me truly weak in the knees! One of my favorite stitchery garden designers is Liz Turner-Diehl. Every time I went to a Stitchery Festival, I ended up with one or two of her newest garden patterns. I think her colors and garden details are absolutely delightful....

So a few weeks ago, when I was in a real gardening mood, I decided to pull out her patterns and stitch up a small one (as a "break" in between stitching the larger and more complex pieces that I was designing).... I chose the "Emerald Garden" because it was so small, and I wanted to try a different technique other than cross-stitch.

Instead of using cross-stitches, I wanted to try using a HALF cross-stitch thruout...in other words, use a plain ole Tent Stitch (the basic needlepoint stitch). I chose a smaller weave fabric: an 18 ct. cream Davosa, but I only stitched over ONE thread of fabric. And instead of backstitching everything, I didn't do any backstitching around the items - only where absolutely necessary (the water pond, the iron gate.)

Here's a closer look at the little garden areas.
You can see on the bricks (that I stitched with a variegated thread, as well as all the greenery) how the half-crosses look. A little sketchy, but still acceptable as far as I'm concerned. And I was able to work all of the specialty stitches as well, adapting them to the over-one weave wasn't hard at all. (Although the tiny Spider Web trees at the top were a bit tricky, so I switched over to French Knot trees in the bottom section.) And it didn't take me that long to stitch - under a week, while watching HGTV (of course)...

I use this technique quite often when I want to do a cross-stitch pattern, but don't want to actually do all that cross-stitching. I call it my "Half-Cross, Tent Stitch Quick Stitch Method." Because only stitching half crosses cuts the stitching time in half....so I can finish them quickly and then go on to start another new project (truly my FAVORITE part of the process)....

You might give this technique a try when you want to stitch up something fast. It's not only fast, but it's fun as well....and as you know, the quicker you finish your project, the sooner you can start another one!

Hoppy Hoppy Joy Joy!

I've made a new bunny-lovin' friend named Lisa who sent me this cute bunny card. She says she has two bunnies who look just like this. And she is also a bunny rescue volunteer...I never realized how many bunny lovers there were out there! I never thought about myself as a bunny collector, but as I bring out all my little bunny items for easter and spring, I realize I do have quite a nice bunny collection.

And, like lots of other stitchers, I certainly find those bunny canvases DARN CUTE!

A while ago, I bought a bunny canvas off ebay, and when I received it, I realized it had been printed off an inkjet home printer. I was so intrigued by the possibility of printing my own canvases that I looked thru a bunch of clipart collections and found a GREAT image of a rabbit in a garden that I thought would be PERFECT for a needlepoint canvas.


So I printed it, then I stitched it (using wool thruout the whole piece: the rabbit in long&short stitches; adding sparkling green ribbon floss for the lettuce outlines; and adding speckles of Kreinik blending filament in the dark sky)...
and finally sewed it up into a great little totebag (using scraps of chintz fabric for the lining) and VOILA! Here's the first of my very own homemade totebags!


The great thing about this project was that I hadn't paid a small fortune for the canvas, and therefore I was able to "play around" with the stitching....trying out different stitches and just enjoying the creative process. If I messed up, I figured it would be okay...(and I could always print out another canvas....)

HOPPY STITCHING!!

No Gnomes In My Garden

Some gardens have gnomes hiding in them.

They peek out from the flower beds, or even hang in little swings from the trees.

But my garden has a very small bunny I affectionately call "Bun Bun", after a rabbit my cousins used to have when we were growing up.

My Bun Bun pops up in lots of my garden shots because... well, he's just so darn cute!

Here he is in a patch of sweet wild violets that are scattered around my yard.

And he's joined by a rather large ceramic tortoise I just call Mr. Turtle. He's a very special turtle, because he was handmade by a very special artist at The Neighborhood Center of the Arts, in Grass Valley, CA. When I lived up in the Gold Country, I worked as the office manager for that art school for developmentally disabled adults. When I left NCA, they gave me Mr. Turtle as a parting gift....and he's had a special place in my garden ever since.

(He's got a goofy grin on his face because I guess he's been sniffing all the spring flowers!)

Anyway, I wanted to introduce these garden characters to you, because you'll surely see them again in whatever flower or garden shots I include here from time to time.

And always remember Bun Bun and Mr. Turtle's advice: DON'T FORGET TO TAKE TIME TO STOP AND SMELL THOSE FLOWERS....

Meet Miss Daisy O'Hare

What better time than Easter to introduce my first counted canvaswork character: DAISY O'HARE.....Yes, she's the first (I hope) of many other characters that can be stitched BY COUNTING!!! In other words, she's not a painted canvas - she's stitched on a blank piece of pink 18 ct. canvas and counted from a very detailed stitch graph(printed in color.)

Here's her story: I do love painted canvases and truly have a weakness for canvases with bunnies on them (how much cuter can a canvas get?!?) Anyway, as much as I love them ALL, I can't -alas - afford to buy them all, so I thought, "Why can't I create a counted bunny canvas that has just as many delicious stitches as a hand-painted & stitch-guided canvas? Let's just see what I can come up with..."

So I started to stitch Bunny O'Hare (what I originally called her) by first finding a springy variegated silk thread (used in her skirt and along ribbon edges), then matched a bunch of pastel silks to that. And I was off and stitching...

I wanted to create an Easter ribbon border, so I went on to work on that, leaving room to add inset sections of something springy.... I first thought to put eggs in those inset panels, but as I "fleshed out" Miss Bunny I realised that the flowers on her skirt and apron needed to be repeated in the border. So I stitched a feminine bouquet of bullion roses and lazy daisies and then realised by doing that, her name had changed to MISS DAISY O'HARE. I also added sections of stitched gingham done in four different spring colors, to give it a rather springtime, patchwork feeling!

And voila! --- Miss Daisy O'Hare is ready for sashaying along to the Easter Parade. (Yes, her hips are a little wider than I planned, but with nibbling on all those chocolate eggs, she has quite a bustle, doesn't she?) And she's sure to catch the eye of batchelor Buster O'Hare (who I've started stitching on light blue canvas. Buster is a farmer bunny who wears blue overalls and carries a basket of veggies - quite the catch!)