Erica's Stitches

A few months ago I reached into my stash for an new project and picked out First Step by Genny Morrow . You need a light, medium and dark of four colors.  I was in the middle of a color class so I picked a tetrad of yellow, violet, blue and orange.  This, for me, is unusual - no greens!  But, the colors do illustrate many of the concepts from the color class and it was an interesting exercise. I especially enjoyed the squares that where the same stitch but with different colorways.  They all look so different. When I was about  a week into the project I was having fun and happened to be by a needlework store.  So, I bought a second canvas and picked out colors for a second.  This time colors I felt more comfortable with. By now, I'm ready for something new but am stuck working another one. Note to self:  no matter how much fun you are having, the second one won't be as fun. This time I used earth tones and my favorite col...

I'm going to make a biscornu to go inside my sewing basket.  That's the lid of the basket on top. I'm using the red and green in the basket as a starting point for the colors. The darker linen makes it difficult.  Mediums tend to blend right into the background.  The picture makes it easier to see how the colors work together. There are actually four reds and I only need three.  The lightest and the darkest I'll definitely use.  Right now I'm leaning towards the lightest medium. I've decided I like the rest of the colors so I'm ready to start stitching.

A beautifully warm and mild March day brought me outside to inspect the garden. Instead of spring pastels I was greeted by purple and orange more suited to fall. However, it is bright and colorful and a sign of summer so I'll take it.

I've started on a small portable kit as portable kit as a travel project. I'll admit, I haven't done a kit like this in a while and I did toss the plastic canvas it came with and substituted an indigo blue Aida (which matches the background color eliminating 1/3 of the stitches). There were 2 greens in the kit so I separated them out and matched them to forest green (the darker green) and emerald green (the lighter green) on the chart and started stitching.  It didn't quite look right and I don't have the picture of the finished piece so I kept on stitching.  Then I moved to the next section and looked up the next color:  apple green.  Darn, I missed a green.  Closer inspection under brighter light revealed that I had two darker greens mixed together. My eyes are getting old.  I think the middle green is emerald and the one on the right is forest.  So, I'm ripping out and starting the greens over.  They were generous with th...

chokecherry red barn and grass green harebell blue-violet and sunflower yellow

The colors of the Blossoms Sewing Kit were accidental. If I were going to stitch it again I would not use the white ground fabric.  I would use a darker antique linen that was almost brown.  That way both the white stitching and the pink would show up better.  The two blossom bands would also be the same (not be the reverse of each other). But, it's really, really pink.  Way too pink for my tastes so I would probably use other colors.  I don't have the time to stitch it over, but I have the next best thing ... software. My first alternative color scheme is the colors of the sunflower.   A dark bright yellow and oranges and browns for the center. The next color scheme is a forget-me-not.  Blue petals with a yellow and white center. And finally, a darker red with the same yellow and white center that resemble no flower that I can think of. Once I got started changing colors I wanted to keep going - there are so many possibilities....

Randomness - Part 3 My Random Lessons were forgotten for years. Then, when I started doing my own designs and picking my own colors the old lessons were remembered. For the Royal Gorge Postcard I needed to stitch the wall of the gorge.  To start, I pulled out every overdyed floss I had that was remotely brown.  Some were dark brown, others light.  One was brown with yellows.  One was mostly tan and purple but there was some brown. Without looking too closely I reached down and pulled one out and stitched a row.  Then I pulled out another brownish thread and stitched another row.  Then I had to start paying more attention.  It would be easy to alternate 3 colors.  Instead I thought back to the random lessons.  Sometimes I used a floss that was dramatically different next, sometimes I used a similar floss.  Sometimes the same floss.  Any time I noticed a pattern forming I would use a different floss. I used the s...

Many people think cross-stitching is a mindless activity done while watching TV.  For me, it's not.  I either end up abandoning my stitching to watch a show or I end up tuning it out and missing the ending. My mind is constantly thinking about what I'm creating.  Here's an example from when I was stitching my Coneflower Biscornu : This is the first side.  The border is made up of many quilt blocks.  I stitched all the pink and yellow first. I like this border.  It would be fun to use this as a frame for something else.  When I was designing I was using whole blocks and didn't see this possibility.  Is the pink too light?  What will it look like when I add the green?  How will the yellow look when the green is added? Now the green has been added. It looks totally different now.  The pink is definitely not too light.  The look of the "frame" has changed and is totally different.  It would be hard to pick which...

Here is my Snowflake Sampler.  It is available for sale from http://www.patternsonline.com/ This time, instead of making up the snowflakes as I stitched, I drew them on graph paper.  Since I wanted the snowflakes to be reproducible, it was much easier to graph them first and stitch them second. The only thing I didn't design in advance was the bead placement.  It's much easier deciding where they go on the actual stitched piece instead of a pictoral representation. One of the hardest things about designing your own sampler is deciding on colors.  I started with 2 doodles.  One on off-white linen in light blues and one on lavender with white and darker blue snowflakes.  It was a hard decision, but I finally decided to go with the off-white and light blues.  The result is low-contrast snowflakes.  I now think my model should have been in the higher contrast colors.  Whenever I decide to go with the safer colors I end up deciding that...

Last Christmas during an ornament exchange I recieved one made in a technique I did not recognize.  I've been stitching a long time now and this doesn't happen too often.  I tracked down the lady who made it and discovered it was the Aztec Stitch.  Some quick googling revealed information and a free project from Piecework Magazine that I quickly printed out.  I didn't have the supplies on hand so it was put aside, but not forgotten. My EGA (Embroiderers' Guild of America) Chapter was looking for program ideas so I suggested the Aztec Stitch.  Patience paid off and the program was a few weekends ago but I had to miss it.  I picked up the canvas and instructions last weekend and dropped everything to get started.  This bookmark is stitched using 18 count canvas and #8 pearl cotton. Canvas threads are removed and the design area is outlined with nun's stitches.  Then the fun begins.  Alternating stripes of wrapped b...

I had been doing my small color experiments with different color combinations.  For the next one I decided to stick with the same color family.  I had an overdye that ranged from bright red to white with various hues between.  I added maroon, magenta and some pinks.  While I stitched the outside border and inner cross the colors reminded me of Valentines Day so I changed the inner shape to be a heart.  What fun!  The idea also worked for monochromatic color schemes.  I immediately started thinking of other shapes and colors I could do the same thing with.  They are all still ideas in my head, but I did make some more hearts with different colors and talked a friend into doing some.   The pattern makes a cute valenitnes day cards.  This pattern is for sale at patternsonline.com.

Sometimes it's hard to come up with a new color scheme.  Sometimes it's easy.  One recommended method is to start with a known color scheme and work from there.  Quilters will find a fabric with a bold, colorful print.  The rest of the fabrics will include shades from the first fabric.  Embroiderers will start with a colorful overdyed thread and use it to select more colors. I did one such project a few years ago.  We started with an overdyed thread and then chose 4 or 5 colors from that overdye.  The project involved an oak/acorn theme and I wanted green and brown to be included in the colors.  I chose this beautiful overdye: Besides brown and green, there was red, orange and yellow.  With great excitement I started stitching.  I stitched some more and something happened - the colors where changing and not in a good way.  They began to look like a bad 70's color scheme with rust, harvest gold and avocado.  My excite...

This flower is from my "Antique Flowers" Sampler.  It is very similar to another flower in my "Les Fleurs des Bois Sampler". Whats similar?  The flower shape is identical.  What's different?  Color - the antique flower is stitched with a dark muted purple.  The contemporary flower is stitched in multiple brighter purples.  The stems are very different.  The antique flower stem is stylized and made exclusively from cross stitches.  The contemporary flower uses a few cross stitches with some backstitches and half stitches thrown in.  It is more delicate and realistic. A few simple choices drastically changed the look of the flower.  Whatever shape I design, either simple or complex is shaped by many decisions.  Color affects the mood - pastels, brights, darks all have a different look.  What stitch do I use?  All cross stitches?  Do I add backstitching or not?  The half stitches are more work but they ...