Coromandel Part 1

C

Coromandel is proving to be a pretty easy stitcher. I really like having a defined area to try to accomplish.

When I get tired saying 'oh, I only have this much more to go and one whole box will be done' has proven to be an excellent incentive :)

Flutter On By, Done!

Flutter on By is finished and hopefully I'll have it framed this week. It was simply fun to stitch and I do like the 'box' style that lets me add colors and shapes that might not work as well right next to each other.

I can't help it, I have to start Coromandel next, the fabric and floss are ready to go and it is calling to me :)

"Trust" A New Design

Like One May Night, Trust is inspired by a particular scene from an opera.

One of the finest productions it has been my pleasure to see is the Tchaikovsky opera Eugene Onegin produced by the Met starring Renee Fleming and Dmitri Hvorostovsky. Not only is the music and singing superb but the sets are a feast of color in a minimalist design.

The story is a tale of unrequited love and the risk a young girl takes in sending a letter of love to a worldly young man she's just met. Tatyana is 17 and lives on a Russian country estate with her mother and sister. Her sister's fiance brings his handsome but heartless friend to visit and for Tatyana it is love at first sight.

In a beautiful set of cobalt blue background and a stage covered in autumn leaves, Tatyana writes her letter telling him of her love and impulsively sends it. It is a beautiful aria, sorry I can't find a clip with English subtitles, in which she pours out her heart and all its innocent love. She trusts him with her heart and her life and I hope you'll get a copy of the dvd and see what happens :)

117 x 117 stitch count, the words are framed by a border of bittersweet and an outer border of old lace. I plan on stitching it on royal blue aida and will post the floss I'll be using as soon as I choose them. The dmc is listed in the key to the chart.

email if you'd like a free copy of the charts for Trust

Flutter on By Progresses

This design is stitching very quickly and I'm truly enjoying seeing it grow. I'm pleased with the colors, the greens all have a slight blue cast to them that is working well with the butterflies.

I think you'll be seeing more 'box' samplers like this. Another feature that was new to my designs was the 'wallpaper' background of dots behind some of the motifs. I like the depth it gives.

Glorious Spring! Framed

Glorious Spring! is done and framed and I love this strawflower colored frame for it. The Frame Guys
on ebay never let me down and their prices are unbelievably low.

And as I'm stitching Flutter on By I found another error in the chart. It just doesn't seem possible for me to 'see' some of the errors until I am stitching the piece. I've sent corrected charts to those who had requested the charts initially for Flutter on By, but I am just as liable to make mistakes in my doing that! So please, if you haven't gotten corrected charts and you need one do let me know. I apologize for any inconvenience.

New Design! Coromandel

Last week I promised to introduce a new design and had one I intended to post.

But another design would just not let me alone and now the struggling is done and it stands before me complete and demanding to be the next one I introduce to you. Knowing it is always wise to heed such promptings :) it is my pleasure to present Coromandel.

What is Coromandel and what inspired it?

Coromandel is the western name given to Asian lacquered screens. Coco Chanel had a set of such screens that she prized highly and one of my favorite fragrances, Chanel's Coromandel, is named for them. It is a patchouli dominant scent, not hippie but think along the lines of Victorian ladies whose beautiful paisley shawls were redolent of the patchouli leaves strewn threw the chests in which they were shipped from India.

My idea was to design something reminiscent of such a screen, but it was simmering on the back burner when one day I received a spool of Vikki Clayton's Exemplar Black Iris Bud N Bloom silk floss. This is drop dead gorgeous floss and I knew at once it would be what I'd use for the monochrome design I had envisioned for Coromandel. After that the design had a life of its own. The motifs are based on some I've found in Edwardian and earlier era pattern collections combined and reimagined to become something that gives me the image I'd had in mind.

I hope to stitch this on a light yellow/gold fabric and while I think it could easily translate to whatever color one prefers, to me it needs that Exemplar Black Iris Bud n Bloom to feel like that lacquered screen. Btw, I see reviews at Vikki's site that say it is brown but to me it is all a perfectly variegated black/purple/mauve.

As usual, the pattern is free till it has been stitched. I hope you'll enjoy my fragrant lacquered screen :)

The pattern I'd originally planned to introduce this week is cooling its heels for a few weeks.

A Special Thank You!

It is my pleasure to introduce you to a very talented artist and to give him my most sincere thanks.

My husband, Terry, created this portrait titled 'Augusta' in colored pencils a good many years ago. He entered it into a competition judged by the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art and it was selected to be on permanent display in the Spokane WA City Hall.

He didn't have much time for his art during the years he was making a living for us, but since he retired a year and a half ago he's, thankfully, been able to devote more time to his art and we hope to be opening a website and blog for him before too much time passes. Here is one of his most recent works, it is done in acrylics and is titled 'Hollowed Home'.

I owe him thanks for so many things that I'd never get done if I said thank you till the end of time.

But right now, specifically, I want to thank him for this last month when he's sweetly and patiently gotten up in the middle of the night to help me put a surgical boot on and wheeled me to the bathroom or wherever I needed to go. For doing the laundry, taking care of the pets and the house and making meals with such delectables as tomato cheese gallette, mushroom ragu and the best buttermilk biscuits anyone has ever wrapped their lips around.

Most of all thanks for his support, encouragement and love not only now but for the almost 43 years we've been married. I can't wait for the world to get to know him and his art!