New Design: Autumn Arrows

A few months ago I posted about a new Geometric Series stitched primarily with Treenway Natural Dye Threads.  The first one is now stitched....Autumn Arrows.

This design is 5" X 5" and is stitched using Treenway Harmony and Zen Shin threads in four natural-dyed colors, one Stef Francis Silk Perle and one Kreinik Tapestry Braid.  I am working on the instruction book now and hope to have the first kits ready to ship by March 1st.

Now I am off to Callaway Gardens to teach but will begin the second in the series upon my return.  

As I write this most of the country is struggling with extremely cold weather,  so I hope each of you is staying warm!  Even though it has been colder here at night than anyone remembers, we are much warmer than most of you.  Our worry is how many plants we might end up losing due to the prolonged cold.  It looks like this spring we will be looking at choosing different plants to re-plant.  We are also working at keeping the seed feed and hummingbird feeders filled and we are having a lot more visitors!

Just one more note.......9 Mediterranean Squares complete thread kits remain.  

New Geometric Update

I have begun working, again, on the geometric I posted in September.  It is going slowly, but now it seems to be taking shape, or at least in mind......if not where everyone can see.  The stuctural outline has not changed, but the bargello theme I had in mind seems to be changing somewhat.  The colors are still the same too.....with a few darker colors yet to be introduced.  I used Copic markers for the center square and probably will have a few other small areas with marker.  As you can see, I am trying out some different thread counts around the center. And, there are a few long narrow rectangles, yet unstitched, that will be filled with bugle beads.  More to come. By the way, the tentative design title is Baroque Diamonds.

Also, now Thanksgiving is behind us and many of us are in full gift-buying mode, there are some lovely examples of handmade scissor and stitch fob sets on the website at http://www.terrydryden.com/handmade-stitching-accessories/.  Only the Milefiori set below is available here, but McCall will also take special orders up until December 13th for Christmas delivery.

Check out her Etsy website for more details: www.mccallmillerdesigns.etsy.com.

We are also working hard to ship out the last batch of kits tomorrow for the upcoming ANG Cyberworkshop. Moroccan Sands' first lesson will post this Saturday, December 1st.  We will be working with a few fairly new threads as it was necessary to replace about six or seven discontinued colors or no longer available threads.  It will be exciting to see how these subtle changes in colors and textures will come together.  

The holidays can be a stressful time, so try to make time for some stitching time.

Working on a new geometric design

Now that I have returned from ANG Seminar, and before I leave on my teaching trip, I have been working on a new design proposal.  Stitching finally begins this week!!  

Several people stopped me, while at seminar, to request I do blog posts more often, particularly related to what I am current working on.  So, I just took photos of most of the currents elements I have collected so far.  In general this might include any of the following:  sketches, marker or paint color samples, a selection of beads, threads I am "auditioning", stitch sketches, overall design sketches, etc.  

Let's start with the color inspiration.  I already had the colors in mind when I saw this Design Seeds images with the colors.  So, I printed it off and carried it with me at first to get going with choosing a thread palette.  I always begin by collecting at least twice what I end up using.  

Next is the (very rough) original sketch and later I added some Copic markers to help block in areas of color.  The actual size of the sketch is about 2" X 2".  The actual design will be 8" to 9" square.

Here are the Copic Sketch Markers applied to 18-count eggshell canvas that I am considering......and will probably only use 2 or 3 of them in the end. 

While collecting supplies I found some great beads I had never seen.....some very small triangle beads.  Loved the colors and bought several tubes (just in case).  There are also several bugle beads in the mix, which i definitely plan to use.  *** The triangle beads are the two center tubes, and the tube on the right are Tila beads.

Now, last but not least, are the threads I have collected.  They are separated into three groups:  purples/blue, burgundy/rose, and rust/golds.  The threads include the Painter's Threads ribbon with metallic, Treenway 20/2 silk, Planet Earth PepperPot and 6-stranded silk, River Silks, Gloriana 12-strand silk, Kreinik 1/16" ribbon, Rainbow Gallery Spendor and FyreWerks, and a new Bijoux color and Valdani silk.  

These are different colors than I usually use and I am looking forward to seeing how the colors, threads and stitches all come together!!  Now that I have made an official record of the "starting" palette, it will be very interesting to see how it compares with the "finished" palette.