Crazy for Birthdays: September

One thing leads to another, and it occurred to me as I was working on my "jeweled chains and trims" series, that the jewels could easily become part of needlepoint crazy quilt! My older daughter has a September birthday, so it seemed a great place to start. Of course the research had to be done into the "why" of the stones and flowers, and I found that the origin of assigning precious jewels to each of the 12 months, apparently has it's beginnings in the Bible, as 12 precious stones were assigned to each of the 12 apostles, - and earlier, to each of the 12 tribes of Israel, beginning with Aaron, the brother of Moses. The use and meaning was interpreted differently in different cultures - as they also were assigned to the signs of the Zodiac.

The birth months are also represented by flowers, which is mostly derived from the Victorian love for floral symbolism. The flower for September is the aster, so I found this picture for color and for form - and will use 2mm silk ribbon to get the effect (as well as having chosen the thread colors in this palette). As always, for the crazy quilt thing, I dig into my stash for everything I can find in the colors that might work - but always end up discarding some and adding others, as it changes as I start stitching each patch.























Next, a pattern is sketched onto tracing paper, and then inked when it suits me. The basic heart ornament shape (5 1/4" wide for this one) that I keep on file is drawn carefully onto the canvas, and then the lines are traced onto it from the paper pattern (as always, using the Pilot ultra-fine point permanent pen that I prefer.)





















You can see that I have already added a color or two and subtracted another. I do like the effect of the sapphires, which were acheived with Renaissance sprinkles for the big bump stitches, and dark blue beads for the little links on the chain. I haven't decided what color the beads will be on the white Petite Very Velvet - that will come later, but the beads on the green patch will be my favorite effect with the clear (#250 Sundance) attached with green floss. So now I'm off to stitch some more. I already have June ( pearls and roses) drawn, and also October (opals and calendulas). Figuring out how to make "opals" has been interesting, to say the least.