Mini Mystery Monday Floral Surprise pt. 2

Now that you have your simple lattice foundation stitched, we can add a bit more stitching around it.

Here's the graph to follow for this week:

Outside your stitched box (the narrow borders) you need to lay a pair of metallic ribbon stitches "in the ditches", going the full length of your center box - as shown by the red arrow above.

Or, if you prefer, you can count up/over and stitch the outer scalloped border first, using 1 strand of your lighter green thread. If you stitch your scallops before laying the ribbon threads, just be sure to count carefully to leave/skip over enough canvas threads for your long ribbon stitches!  The green arrow above points to a good place to begin stitching your scallops.

After you have the long metallic threads laid, and the scalloped borders in place, you just need to add a bit of gold metallic accent stitches, as indicated by the pink arrow above.  First, place a straight stitch across the center, then add the elongated cross stitch on top, so it holds down the laid metallic ribbons, using 1 strand of your fine gold #8 braid.  While you're traveling around the square, you can also add the other gold accent stitches in the corners when you reach those spaces.

That's it for this week!  Next time, we'll start filling in the diamond spaces with a different little flower, which will get us ready for adding the special flower in the center diamond.....  Have fun!!

(P.S.:  If you're having trouble opening the graphs with Internet Explorer, try using Google Chrome or Mozilla Firefox.  My blogsite doesn't do well with Explorer, but interacts fine with Chrome and Firefox... go figure!! )

Mini Mystery Monday: A Floral Surprise

Now that Spring has definitely sprung, and we're fast on the way to full Summer, I thought a floral design would be appropriate for the next Monday mystery.  So grab a handful of threads and join me in this one!

There's no variegated thread in this one, but here are the threads I've pulled to stitch with:

I've grabbed some half-skeins of DMC #5 pearl cotton 3345, 3346, 797, 792 with Kreinik #8 Braid 3280 (that's just what I had laying around, but any other gold will work just as well)...

Basically, you'll need:
     -  TWO greens - one dark, one medium
     -  TWO blues - one dark, one medium
     -  ONE gold braid you have on hand
     -  and an 8" x 8" piece of 18 ct. canvas, either eggshell or sage green is fine for this piece

The size of this piece is apprx. 4.25" x 4.25" on 18 ct. canvas (and apprx. 3.5" x 3.5" on 24 ct. Congress Cloth, if you choose to stitch it smaller; if so, adjust your threads accordingly to finer #8 pearls or stranded floss/silk with a thinner #4 metallic braid).

And here's the graph you can start stitching from:

It's a standard grid/lattice formation that we'll have a lot of fun filling with our mystery flowers later on.  Here's how mine looks at this point, with half of the blue Smyrna Stars stitched:

Well, that's all for the first installment of this mystery project..... Enjoy getting your lattice set up and I'll see you next Monday for more fun stitching!

Friday Flowers: Pansy Faces

Last fall I planted lots of pansies/violas around my backyard, and I deliberately chose a variety of interesting colors and patterns.They settled in throughout the winter and then in spring they really started to flourish, turning up their faces to the increasing sunshine.  Recently, I went out and got down on my hands and knees and took up-close photos of all the different varieties of colors and faces and thought you'd enjoy seeing their amazing variety....  (And now when I go out in the backyard I feel like there are crowds of happy pansy faces all smiling at me!)

 

 

 

 

 And to end this post, here's Katie's pensive pansy pose:

HAPPY FRIDAY!

A New Summery Piece!

Are you having a wonderful Memorial Day weekend?  I hope you all are...

And to celebrate the unofficial beginning of summer, I've just finished a new design that is really, really summery -- and I call it "EBB TIDE" because it has such a beachy feel to it.  Here's what it looks like:

 I absolutely adore the Watercolours thread I built this design around (241 - "Shenandoah).  I've been eager to use this color thread for a project and this one is a perfect fit!   Because "Shenandoah" has a delicious watery turquoise paired with bits of white (think cloud whisps or the foam of ocean waves), and a smidgeon of sage green (waving dune grasses).  I then added some soft gold metallics that move throughout the piece like shimmering beach sand.

I picked out a handful of very fun stitches to use in this piece.... And because it's a geometric piece with symmetrical borders and sections, you know in advance that whatever you stitch once, you'll have to repeat three more times, in the other sections.  But I thought, "Hey, wait a minute... let's make it a bit more fun... why not create two slightly different border patterns, so they LOOK alike, but are actually stitched differently?"  So that's what I did... and I thoroughly enjoyed stitching the zig zag borders (in the north & south rows) and the wavy borders (in the east & west rows).  Here's a peek at the two different sides to give you some idea of how it looks:

And check out the fun corner blocks!  A simple Rhodes Diamond is surrounded by long diagonal stitches, then framed by some simple Jessica curves, with the remaining background sections worked in an alternating tent stitch with the fine Kreinik #8 gold metallic.  I love how those curves soften the hard edges of the corner boxes, and echo the gold circles in the rest of the design.

Also, a basic four-way stitch is used in the center block area (you can see it in the lower left of the photo above) and is embellished with two types of gold metallic thread. AND instead of stitching the same pattern in all four sections, I've decided to create TWO slightly different versions that you alternate, to make it a wee bit more fun to stitch.

As for the gold metallic circles that are the focal point of the piece, when I stitched them and left the centers uncovered, they looked a bit like sand dollars or round sea urchins.  But having found a terrific source of dazzling Swarovski crystals, I was itching to use them and decided to finish off the design with a few well-placed crystals -- and they are included with the pattern!

So if you want to kick off your summer fun with a new stitching project, please visit my website for more information on ordering the new EBB TIDE.... and enjoy the rest of your long weekend!

Mini Mystery Monday #8, pt. 4

We've reached the end of another mystery piece....

There's just a bit of embellishment to add, and then you're done!

Here's the full graph of Version A, with the triangular "flying geese" border and all you need to add are the metallic Rhodes Diamonds that fit within the empty diamond boxes around the border:  

You'll notice that I've put in the background stitches in two of the four quadrants, just to show you how to stitch the background if you want.  The nice thing about using a colored canvas is being able to omit those last background stitches and save yourself some stitching time!

I've also suggested some places to add beads, but you can put them anywhere else you can think of yourself....  Here's the quarter-sized graph (with the background stitches) for you to study up-close:

And here's the full size graph of Version B, with the wild metallic fanned border:

Not much left to do here but add some beads... Although I've added the optional background stitches in the center block area to show you what it might look like.  Again, leaving the background canvas exposed is perfectly fine for this piece and shows off the stitch texture much better, I think.

I've chosen some possible bead locations, but feel free to find your own as well!  And here's a quarter graph for you to study up-close:

Here's what my finished piece looks like (without any beads or background stitches):

Since I was in a very springy mood when I started this piece, I used a handful of pastel threads on pale pink canvas, which doesn't show very well in the photo (pastels never have the dramatic impact that bold or jewel colors do, alas).   And now  I'm thinking that this design would look particularly good in autumnal colors, to show off the Southwestern look of the different stitches.

So I hope you've enjoyed working up this design and will fiddle around with the different borders and try a few versions for yourself in different colors.  And I'll see you again when I have another Mini Mystery worked out for you!

A Reminder

Just a reminder:  today's the last day of registration for my new Cyber Class: "FLEUR-DE-LIS".

It's a sweet little botanical piece  8" x 8" on 18 ct. canvas) that has an electric blue (or purple if you prefer) iris in the center, surrounded by a handful of fun patterns.  The class will run for four weeks - with email lessons sent each Saturday.  You can stitch along with the lessons, or just print them out and go at your own pace.... or just tuck it away in your stash for a future project!

There's no pressure in this class - just lots of stitchy fun!  So visit my website and sign up if you're interested.

Mini Mystery Monday #8, pt. 3

Have you completed your center block yet?  (Or at least got it well established...)

If so, you're ready for the next part of this mystery: the surrounding border.  And surprise, surprise, you get to make a decision about what type of border you prefer around your block!  The border area is only 8 canvas threads wide, but within that limited area there are still lots of things you can do to change your design...

The first version that I came up with has a more traditional quilt-y border, using those happy "flying geese" triangles that I'm so fond of stitching. And notice how this version has little bits of metallic sparkle added in the flying geese triangles, as well as metallic boxes in the corners -- just one way to make a simple design as interesting as possible.... Here's what VERSION A looks like:

And here's a quarter section graph, so you can see the stitches a little better:

Then I thought it would be fun to create a jazzier border that includes more of the metallic "fans" that are in the corners of the center block.  Because I think of these small designs as perfect for stitched ornaments, I try to sneak in as much glitz and sparkle as possible.... Also, I've used the thinner #8 Braid for the fans in this graph -- with the metallic ribbon used inside the border triangle areas, but you can reverse the thread types if you want, using your metallic ribbon for the fans and the thinner metallic inside the triangles. Either way will provide plenty of sparkle!
So here's what VERSION B looks like:

And here's the up-close look at just one quarter of the design:

Pretty snazzy, huh?
I hope these two versions give you plenty of ideas and even some inspiration to try both designs in different types of threads.

Have fun working with these different elements and I'll see you next Monday, where we'll complete this pattern with just a few more finishing touches.  Happy Stitching!