Silk Ribbon & Crazy Quilt: A Heart for August

I finished this last night, except for the beads, but Google was tired and wouldn't let me post the photos of the details of the white flowers.

Looking at it this morning, I'm not totally happy with these posies, and may take them out and do it again. One of my pictures had some little white generic looking flowers, and that touch was perfect to "cool off" the bright warm colors of the Glads. I have a different effect in mind, but still using the white flowers.
The first thing to do was to place the flower petals where they should go - and these are simply straight stitches with 4mm white silk ribbon.

I usually, for attempting good symmetry, make three in the form of a "fly stitch" and then fill in the gaps with three more. - Perfect symmetry wouldn't look hand made, so fortunatey, I'm a bit clumsy at it, a they are far from perfect. It's a good idea, always, to use a trolley needle or #18 tapestry needle under one petal while the next one is being made, to avoid pulling it all the way down and causing it to be skinny and disapper.












The illustration demonstrates the ease of making a simple flower petal - there are five here, but I like the look of six or more when using 4mm ribbon, unless a specific variety is being done.




This detail of the beading in progress also shows the centers and leaves of the white flowers. Centers are made with one ply of Soy Luster in yellow - two wrap French knots, and then on green one in the center.


The beading detail is to show how much difference the beads make in dressing up the "fabric" of this patch. You can see where the spaces are in comparison to the part already beaded. I used Sundance size 14 beads with a faint greenish tinge. My first thought had been to use peridot green beads, but that would have been very distracting with the chain of jewels that is the seam treatment. Orange beads wouldn't do either.


The ones I used here are from the category "silver lined" (which you can find on their web page), as they gleam and shine, but don't sparkle or glitter - an effect I like very much. Nothing here should sparkle but the Peridots!

My daughter had a party yesterday for the birthday of her Mother-in-Law, in addition to celebrating Father's Day - so here is a vase of flowers I found in the living room this morning. Good timing??

August CQ: Sword Lily in Silk Ribbon

"Sword Lily" sounds very exotic, but I had always known this flower as Gladiola, which I've just learned is the botanical, and not the common name. It's the flower for the month of August - and I have procrastinated for nearly a year finishing this one.

I was as intimidated by this one as I was the sweet peas for April. I had sent the picture - the one that is almost hidden, to Jean at River Silks, and she was wonderful at choosing the colors for me - really beatiful!! The 7mm was what was required to get the effect I wanted, but it's always a surprise when they take on a character of their own - usually not what I intended.

Anyway, armed with these photos and my beautiful ribbon, I started about two days ago to embellish and enhance with SRE. On this one, as well as the April birthday heart, I won't say it was "instant gratification," as I struggled a bit with the flowers to make them work.

The background patches have been finished since the end of last July, but I hadn't done the seam treatments yet - so that had to be accomplished. In this case, they needed to be simple and not compete with the brilliant colors of the flowers. The chain of peridots is quite effective, I think. (my daughter's birthstone).

















To begin the embroidery, the leaves for the flowers had to be done first - in 4mm green ribbon. I used the Japanese ribbon stitch, which was shown before on the sweet peas, but in this case, instead of leaving the small loop at the top, it was pulled all the way through to produce a folded, very sharp end on the leaf. I spaced the leaves, as I wanted to use three shades of green, inserting them between the dark ones, which were done first.

Next, the gladiolus flowers! I started at the bottom with the 7mm ribbon, and made big, loose 3 wrap French knots, pulling them progressively a little tighter as they went toward the top. The arrows point to the unopened buds at the top of the "spear." Against the blue patch, I had already made Fly Stitch around each little bud - you can see where the other arrow points how it looked before Fly stitch. Soy Luster was used for this - 2 plies. It's soft, flexible, and so great for this purpose.

The next detail photo shows the flowers completed.
This is enough for tonight. I'm almost finished with the little white "field flowers" that were needed on the lower orange/pink patch - and I've also begun putting beads on the yellow patch, and almost finished with that - tomorrow maybe!

The Enemy of Perfection: Silk Sweet Peas

One of my favorite quotes of all time was from the movie "Beau Brummel" when I was young and impressionable - about Beau Brummel, friend of George III of England. When being outfitted in that first tuxedo he created, he told his tailor, "Haste is the enemy of perfection."

I was looking at these silk ribbon sweet peas this morning, and thinking maybe I should have practiced a bit after I figured out how to do them - as this is one flower I haven't seen done before. However, if I had practiced and made them better, they wouldn't be "hand made" but would start looking like the machine made things.
I do love the charm of hand stitched as opposed to the regularity of machine generated embroidery.

I have to do this bit by bit, and then put it away for a few hours and look at it again to be able to tell what it needs next. I think a few more leaves, and it will be done except for whatever I decide to do on that blue patch on the left - has to be simple so as not to compete with all those dancing sweet peas.
The detail is showing the little curly thing that will attach the vine to whatever wall it's climbing on. This is just a simple back stitch made with 4plies of Splendor silk. I just kind of "drew" it with needle and thread - improvising. This is part of what is so enjoyable about surface embellishment with silk ribbon flowers!!

I've been out taking pictures of a few flowers I found in the neighborhood - Austin is already baking from heat and lack of rain, so I wanted to get what I could find so I can try to re-invent them in silk ribbon. I already figured out how to replicate the crepe myrtles, which have amazing tolerance for Texas weather.

A Mutant Pea Vine in Silk Ribbon

I have a better shot now of the placement of the needle in the center of the ribbon to make the Japanese ribbon stitch. Also, had an AHA! moment this morning when I wasn't so tired, and realized that putting a size 20 tapestry needle in the loop made it lie a lot flatter than the trolley needle, which is a size 18 or larger needle.
Also, by just using the tapestry needle, I could leave it in the loop until I was finished pulling on the ribbon. It looks so much better, that I pulled out the ugly one I made last night. You can see where the arrow is how much better it looks.


I won't point out ALL of the botanical errors on this, as maybe nobody will notice that the buds are larger than the flowers, or that the sweet pea blossoms aren't hanging in clusters. It's only needlepoint, after all, and it has limitations.

I'm hoping that they at least resemble sweet peas by power of suggestion - since diamonds are the birthstone for April, and the beads do rather glitter and sparkle. (Sundance size 14, #250 hex beads, crystal clear) It has a long way to go, but I'm trying to be patient and not force it. I'm looking at three print-outs on my table as I go that I found in Google images of sweet peas on their vines.

I'm beginning to "see" July in my head finally. It's my birth month, as well as five other people in my immediate family. I didn't want to make it the usual red, white, and blue with stars and firecrackers - as the flower is the lovely lotus, or "water lily" - one of Monet's favorites to paint. (out come the books again.) and the stone is the ruby. If I start on this, I can delay August and the gladiola a little longer. I finished everything but that sometime early last fall.

Sweet Peas and Silk Ribbon (for April)

I had put this thing away for a while, and didn't get it ready for April, as the sweet peas kind of had me stumped. I finally got it out again, and all the images I had printed out of sweet peas on vines - and this is what I came up with. It's a long way from being finished, but so far, I'm almost pleased with it.

I decided to make the flowers before placing the leaves and little curly-cue things that pea vines have - usually I do leaves first. Anyway, I needed to be able to make the tops flat instead of pointed, which isn't an easy task with 7mm ribbon (this is from River Silks).

Japanese ribbon stitch, without pulling the ribbon all the way down, made the top look like I wanted (almost) - and loose French knots worked well for the little trumpet shape of the blossom.

To get this flower started, the 7mm ribbon needs first a plain stitch for padding, as the ribbon wants to crunch up an make a skinny petal - then make another stitch over it, but go down with the needle right in the center of the ribbon.

The picture is terribly fuzzy, but I didn't look at it until it was too late to re-photograph. I use a trolley needle and/or a cable hook (from my knitting ) to hold the loop while I make the next stitch. Otherwise, the tiniest bit of tugging on the ribbon will pull it all the way through and ruin the stitch.


















I forgot to put up the picture of the seam treatments first - so here it is. The stitches are simple, as they mustn't, in this case, compete with the diamond chain or the sweet peas - it's a birthday crazy after all!! The buttonhole stitch above the white patch is made with Soy Luster - three plies. The white fly stitch is Kreinik #12 braid, color 032.

The Fern Stitch between the blue and green patches is Splendor silk, 4 plies. More on this in a day or two - Tomorrow is Monday, after all, and I need to paint a thing or two before I can declare "stitchin' time."

Silk Ribbon Daffodils and Beaded Jewels

The March version of "Crazy for Birthdays" is finished, complete with daffodils the way I remember them blooming in the pastures in east Texas long ago.

I left the blue patch on the upper left bare of embellishment, as it is the glorious spring sky! It's a little bumpy because it might rain. This stitch is a good example to show the difference in the intensity of a color when the light hits the long stitches, (light and shiny) and then is broken up by the tiny basketweave in between to be a bit darker and duller. The thread is Caron's Soie Cristale.

The flowering peach tree branch is now against a background of dewdrops - the clear Sundance beads, #250, which were applied with DMC floss in the yellow to match the yellow petite Very Velvet.
I really enjoy using these totally clear beads, as so many different effects can be achieved. I would not have used the hexagonal #250 here, as those glitter beautifully, but I wanted dewdrops and not icicles.

I may decide yet to put a little spray of wisteria hanging from the top of the blue patch - later. It could probably be done with the needle blending technique and cotton floss that Anne Stradal uses to make skies for her lighthouses - I would make the flowers in French knots, and progress from darker purple at the top down to white at the bottom of the blossom.

I forgot to mention the bracelet of aquamarines - I used beads for these, as they needed to sparkle. I did look up the symbolism for the daffodils and aquamarines, but forgot where I put it. Oh well.

New DMC and Crazy for March!

I discovered last week that DMC has a new floss out called "Satin Floss" - This is a rayon floss, but many many times better than the old one they discontinued. I remember trying to use that about ten years ago, and giving up - great colors and wonderful shine, but difficult to work with. This new version is slippery, as rayons are, (Neon Rays and YLI Ribbon Floss) - but is a smooth, firm thread with six plies, so is much more versatile, and easy to handle - can also be used on different canvas meshes.

My new practice supply came just in time to use it on the March "Crazy for Birthdays" heart, where it gave me a bit of fine looking shine on the purple fly stitch between two silk patches. I used two plies, doubled, and a slip knot next to the eye of the needle - (4 plies) - and it worked fine.
The contrast against the dark green PVV is especially nice. I didn't want to use metallics on this piece, as I felt that wouldn't look like spring.

Here is the entire heart showing the embroidered seam treatments - instant gratification!

















As I was imagining the display of daffodils I plan to do tomorrow when I'm rested and can concentrate, I looked out my studio window, and there was a peach tree flowering already - the perfect thing for the space on the lower right!!
At first, I got out a skein of overdyed silk ribbon, but realized the flowers would look more like roses than peach blossoms in the little two wrap French knots I like. The next choice was Caron's Watercolours, which worked fine. The branch is DMC cotton floss in stem stitch - I just painted it on with my needle and thread as one would draw with a pencil on paper. Not difficult at all.



















I'm off to read and relax now, and plan to do the daffodils tomorrow after coffee. I have the December heart to look at, as the daffodils will just be the same thing, but all yellow with the trumpet a tiny bit larger.

Working on Birthday Hearts

Now there are four in progress! The background on March is finished, and August almost. Time to start the embellishment with silk ribbon, which is the fun part.

I got distracted from January and didn't get it finished when I needed it - but it's moving along nicely now. I changed the colors a bit from the original start. It's strange how I can feel and "see" the colors for each month before I start them.

To explain, I'm seeing January as cold with the colors rather low intensity - and the greens are the colors of pines and spruce trees (I loved Tyler, Texas and then Tallahassee in the winter when I lived in those places.) Also, these greens will be beautiful background for the January flower - the carnation.

The two whites are just two different textures for snow and ice, which is wishful thinking living in Texas. I used one of my favorite techniques on the Petite Very Velvet white patch - where you see the little blue dots. I put the Sundance #250 clear beads there - not the hexagonal but the plain ones, as I didn't want glitter as used on December. The garnets were made with beads, and that would have been a distraction.
April is just far enough along to have the colors and stitches selected and placed. The colors appear much like January, but at higher intensity (brighter). This is how I see this, my favorite month of the year - bright and beautiful spring with blue skies. Also, these colors will be wonderful with the colors of the sweet peas.
When I saw the bricks in this picture, I knew the effect was too good to lose - but instead of making actual brick-like stitches, I decided to use a subtler effect - can't remember the name of this stitch, but I've used it before and like it very much. It is a slanted stitch, but has the appearance of being upright.
And last is August almost done - but I can go ahead and start the silk ribbon features. I'm really looking forward to adding the gladioli - Jean at River Silks helped me choose the ribbon, as I just sent her a picture of the flowers, and she matched the 4mm silk ribbon to the real flowers - gorgeous!! I hope I can do it justice.

"Crazy for March" the background

The background is finished for March, and I think I'm pleased with the colors - which remind me of early spring when the wild daffodils bloom in the fields. Even the intense blue of the sky seems right - (Soie Cristale by Caron). I have to make these patches a lot simpler than for the regular crazy quilt pieces, as the jewels and flowers are the most important elements for this series, along with the seam treatments. I can get a bit more imaginative with the crazy quilt ornaments not intended for a theme.

I wasn't sure what was on my mind with the light purple patch until I finished the whole thing - but now I see it is like the wisteria that blooms and cascades from every tree and telephone pole this time of year (at least in Tallahassee - not in Austin).

I'll start the embellishments tomorrow, I hope, and then get back to April and it's diamonds and sweet peas.

Crazy for March: Progress!

I had to put the Crazy for Birthdays series aside for a while, as I got really busy with other things - including the Pueblo pottery pieces with beads. Then I spent some very enjoyable time stitching on Gail's beautiful sea creatures - but now that I'm behind a few months, I need to get back on this project.

I already had this drawn on canvas and the beads for the "aquamarines" chosen - and of course lots of threads in a clear bag. As usual, none of them suited me when I dumped them out, so I started over on the threads and colors. As I've said before, these birthday crazies have a mind of their own, so I just proceed one patch at a time putting in the colors until it looks right.

After doing "December," I have fairly well worked out the daffodil thing from doing the narcissus (same flower, different color), so it shouldn't be too difficult. Here is the picture I have put back to work from.

Now I need to go back and finish "August," which only lacks the gladioli, and then finish "January," which is only half done. I'll next jump ahead to "April," which is already on canvas with the diamonds worked - and that should fairly well catch me up. June is finished, of course, so I need to get going on May and July when I start "seeing" them in my head.

CQ Birthday Heart: January

Lately I've wondered if I started my Freebies blog just so I could change the header every month and use the Crazy of the Month. I just realized that for needlepoint purposes, January is almost here - and I have no CQ heart to celebrate.

During the last few days, I have started "seeing" the images in my head, so gave in to it today and made the sketches. I had already looked at images and symbolism for garnets on the internet, and have felt that only the antique jewelry would do for this. (I had a college roommate who collected antique garnet lavoliers - beautiful things!) Anyway, this one took some serious doodling on scrap canvas to get the effect I wanted. The beads were already in my stash - the Sundance size 14, color #315. For the first time in quite a while, I was unable to see a curved seam on this crazy quilt.

The next step was to go ahead and draw the heart onto canvas, and place the "necklace" - stitch by stitch. Being an impatient person, I had to stitch the gold (Kreinik metallic braid V002) and a few "jewels." The beads were such a perfect color I didn't dig any further into my stash for the garnets! So far, these are the colors that seem right for the project - but, as always, I'm sure the thing will have a mind of its own, and will dictate what goes where as the work progresses.

Carnations are the flowers, and I have chosen probably to use the traditional shades of pink and white - and will do them with silk ribbon, of course. Seam treatments will be stitched on top of the work when it's finished.

T.I.P.'s and Coming Attractions

The first of the Mimbres Pueblo pottery ornaments is finished - all complete with beads, (Anne Stradal's Design - see more here), so it is no longer a Thing In Progress, but a Project Accomplished. Only two more of these to finish, unless I can manage to beg her to drop everything and paint the little canvas with the insects for me.

The mermaid (Gail Hendrix) is next, and I think I'm seeing the end of this one soon - but have thoroughly enjoyed the gorgeous colors! Since taking this picture, I have started stitching the arms and body - using Anchor floss, as I like the rather matte finish of the cotton as compared to the shine on the ribbon floss.

In this detail, you can see that I used (besides the honey/copper Ribbon Floss) on the tail, a bit of Accentuate for blending filament, along with Splendor silk, just on the darker shading on the tail fin. There is enough sparkle and shine on the rest of the figure, that making the entire tail sparkle too would destroy the effect.
The third "thing in progress" is the August Birthday crazy quilt heart that I had put aside - and now it's past time to start on January. (it's good to be busy.) I drew the arrows to point out the "seam" that isn't quite on the 45 degree angle - and also the dots I made on the patch with Hungarian Criss Cross, where beads will be placed.





The green diagonal mosaic was worked with the canvas turned, as it would not have been pretty going the other way, due to the angle not being exactly on the diagonal - but mainly because this stitch creates a strong direction, and looks much much better this way for this design.

The coming attractions include a series of beautiful little sea critters to swim with the Mermaid (Julia). The first of these on my work table, accumulating the necessary threads, is a pink blowfish, carrying quite a load of shimmering pearls. A delightful small project!



The next picture is a scan I made way before I had a computer and digital camera, so part of it is missing. This cross is 13" high on 18 mesh canvas, and will go to Houston when I'm finished with the painting. I'm awfully glad I won't be stitching it myself. It's enough work just to put it onto canvas, as everything on it is stitch counted and painted for symmetry of design. The inspiration for this cross came from a book I have owned and enjoyed for a number of years, "Faberge and the Russian Master Goldsmiths" - one of the best on this subject! The enamel cloisonne' and jeweled boxes, tea services, and other pieces are absolutely beautiful, and have furnished me over the last ten years or so with many many motifs and color combinations, mainly for crosses.


And now off to bed and the T.V.! Saturday night, and I have actually watched two movies I've never seen before. Remarkable - and I'll spend the time stitching. (No idle hands here!) Incidentally, I have no idea why there is a huge, long blank space under this entry - it has happened before. Oh well. Someday I will have this computer under my control. Maybe.

Crazy for December Finished!

It's all done, and I have to remind myself that I like the "hand made" look vs. machine - so forgive myself for some of the irregularities I couldn't avoid. Like the raised spider webs not being equally spaced. I usually do the two outside ones first, and then center the middle one - but "haste is the enemy of perfection," and I was tired and not thinking. Oh well. It's pretty.

I have really enjoyed researching the symbolism for December. The narcissus and mistletoe have been done, and now the holly: In many ancient cultures it has been a symbol of the waning solstice, which ends at the winter solstice - the shortest day of the year, when it begins to wax again. The Druids believed that the evergreen nature of the holly made it sacred, as it remains green throughout the winter and keeps the earth beautiful. Holly was used for decoration throughout homes with its being used for boughs over entrances or for wreaths on doors. This custom originated in Ireland, since holly was one of the main plants that was green and very beautiful with its red berries at this of year, and gave poor people a means of decorating their dwellings. It was also believed to give the inhabitants of such a dwelling prosperity and peace for the coming year.

As for the turquoise, throughout history and in many cultures, it has represented the earth and sky, and protection of the body and soul. For a really really interesting read on this, click on this link and enjoy! (go to "spiritual belielfs and symbolism) As this beautiful stone is found all over the planet, many cultures have spiritual symbolism attached to it.

Silk Ribbon Narcissus for December

Getting the information together about the narcissus - the birthday flower for December - has been interesting! It is pulling together things I had never really thought about before. My mother used to always force bulbs in a shallow dish she had especially for this, and it was a ritual with us to go to the garden center every year in November to buy them. They were placed on top of some aquarium gravel in a very shallow dish with water, and the timing was intended to make them sprout and bloom by about the last week in December. I never questioned the "why" of it, and she probably inherited this tradition from her mother as well. It seems that the narcissus/daffodil, as it blooms very very early in the spring - sometimes while there is still snow on the ground - has been a symbol of new life and rebirth for many cultures.


The Druids adopted it as their national flower, and regarded it as a symbol of purity.The narcissus also symbolizes self-love, from the Greek myth of the youth who fell in love with his own reflection, and was reborn as a flower after his death - so the symbolism here is the triumph of divine love and sacrifice over death, selfishness and sin. Interesting! As for why we force the bulbs to bloom at holiday time, the Chinese believed that by forcing the narcissus to bloom at the New Year, they were assured of good luck for the coming year. I had never really thought about the different shapes and colors of this flower, as Mother's bulbs always produced the very sweet smelling ones with yellow "trumpets." My grandmother, however, had what we called "paper whites" in her garden, which had tiny little white centers with no yellow at all. I looked at hundreds of images before starting with the silk ribbon, but didn't take into consideration that creating a narcissus in SR on needlepoint stitching was not easy - so this is what we have! I used the 7mm white, which had to be stitched over for each petal to make them fluffy - and then the 4mm yellow for the centers, which couldn't be made any smaller. Oh well. The effect is what counts. They are a bit messy, I think - but will pass for narcissus. I may put one or two more, but will put it away for a few days and decide when I'm not tired of looking at it.

Mistletoe in Silk Ribbon

Working on the holly and mistletoe again today after "chores" were finished. (painting)

I am actually rather pleased with the mistletoe! In this version, it looks like the mistletoe of my childhood in the rare years in west Texas where it actually rained enough during the previous summer to produce lots of the little white, waxy berries that make it so pretty at holiday time. There, however, it grew in the mesquite trees rather than oaks - there weren't many of those in Abilene.


I researched the meaning of the holly and mistletoe, as I was curious why they are used as the birthday plants for December - besides the fact that that's when they are at their most beautiful. There are many holiday traditions surrounding the winter solstice, and the Druids believed that anything that grew on the oak tree was sent from heaven - so mistletoe found growing on oaks was especially sacred. In the Celtic language, mistletoe means "All heal" and it was thought to possess miraculous healing powers and hold the soul of the host tree. It was a token of good will and peace when hung over the entry to people's homes.

It is said that when warring Viking armies met under a tree in which mistletoe occurred, they would cease battle for the remainder of that day. Today, many people still hang mistletoe in their homes, and couples kiss when they meet under it. There is a myth associated with this practice that stated if any unmarried women of the household went unkissed during the hanging of the mistletoe, they would not marry in the coming year. Oh Dear!!!

So much for the Winter Soltice celebrations and the legends - This mistletoe was constructed with 4mm silk ribbon from River Silks, with berries made of French knots in 2mm white ribbon. The little green stems were done with 2 plies of Soy Luster.

Glitter and Sparkle: (Beads for December)

I worked on this a little bit last night and today as a break from "priorities." Never mind that the Holly looks somewhat like a climbing rose - I couldn't find any overdyed 2mm ribbon, (which would have made better holly berries), so I used the Caron Watercolours overdyed cotton - and they look more like roses than berries.

The leaves are made with 7mm silk ribbon, which was another great favor from Jean Krynicki at River Silks, as I asked her to send me something that looked like holly, and it's perfect! However, my aspirations of making little spiky looking edges failed - the leaves are small, as is the area, and all I made after an hour or so fooling with one leaf, was a big mess. When doing these things, I search the internet for images of the real plants and flowers rather than going to books on the silk ribbon version. I learned the stitches from my favorites - Judith Baker Montano's SILK RIBBON EMBROIDERY and ELEGANT STITCHES. After that, I prefer looking at pictures or at the real thing and making my own interpretations with the stitches I've learned. In this case, I failed miserably at spiky leaves. Oh well. It gives the impression, hopefully, of a spray of Holly - it IS green with red berries.

I used a burgundy color Kreinik Vintage metallic braid to make the chain stitch seam treatment, as I needed something close to red in this area, but not exactly bright red- too distracting. You can also see the beginning of a branch of mistletoe, but it will probably get lost in the leaves and berries. At least it gives me a placement direction.

As for beads, I used the glittering Sundance #250 hexagonals applied with white cotton floss - against the white Petite Very Velvet, they make an effect like sun sparkling on new snow. Notice in the close-up that the beads are NOT placed end to end, which would be crowded and not nearly as attractive.

The blue patch, which will have an overflow (hopefully) of narcissus, is beaded also with Sundance #250 beads - but in the plain finish and not the hexagonal. They are applied in this case with blue cotton floss about the same color as the Petite Very Velvet background. This is so much more subtle than using blue beads - much prettier, I think. Also, these clear beads have an iridescent finish that takes on the background color. The patch needed some texture, but not as in textured decorative stitches. I always have to cheat in that I want to see what the beads are going to look like - and this is O.K., as long as the beads won't intrude where silk ribbon embroidery will be placed. It would waste time, effort, and beads, and make it difficult for the ribbon to lie where it should.

Cheating is good for impatient people like me.

Blooming Roses in SRE - June CQ finished!

The rose bush is finished with mainly spider web roses, but a few French knots included. I chose the background colors, I think, for compatibility with this gorgeous Tropicana Rose I love (as well as for the soft colors of early summer on the beach) - my sister used them in her wedding.

The leafy vine below the rose bush is for the memory I have of my mother's beloved "Lady Banksia" that she trained on a trellis outside my bedroom window when I was a child. These roses were yellow, of course - but I didn't want to introduce yellow into this color scheme - just used the image in my head of those cascading branches with clusters of little roses throughout the length.I think the use of the "trellis" effect on the upper right side is probably from another image of these roses in my head.

I used my favorite effect here for a bit of sparkle/shine in a subtle way - the clear Sundance beads #250 applied with DMC floss in the lighter color - great look without creating something too busy.

There was another popular climbing/cascading rose at the same time that crawled across the entire back fence - "Paul Scarlet." These were a gorgeous red with overtones of pink. The effect of the cascading branches was the same.

I totally enjoyed working on the June birthday heart - the colors were pleasant and the stitches were simple, as I didn't want the embellishments overpowered by texture.

Now - on to December. Then I will back up and do August, as it, too, has bright and wonderful colors - those of late summer!