I have completed the Laura Perin piece called Ribbons of Harmony. Laura did hers in beige and aqua. I changed the colors to olive and apricot.
I wanted to use what I had on hand, but did make a trip to the LNS to see if I could find a Petite Very Velvet in olive, which is one of the threads used by Laura. There is nothing even closely matching the olive colors I would be using. So back home to find what else I had that I could use. I pulled out everything I had in olive and then picked out the threads I would use. I had the dark olive Ribbon Floss so I didn’t need to substitute for that. I also needed a Petite Sparkle Ray and Fyre Werks in olive. I couldn’t find a Sparkle Ray that would work though I did have a Frye Werks. Then I tried the two shades of Neon Rays + (one light and one dark). I decided they worked well with the olive perle I would be using. I decided to use both of these instead of the Petite Sparkle Rays and Fyre Werks. That left a decision on what to use for the Petite Very Velvet. I ended up using Frosty Rays. I think it works well with the other colors. It was used in all three of the wider ribbons. The overdye is Watercolors – Prairie Grass. I like the way it turned out, using colors of my own choosing and a few change in threads as well.
I’ll use the apricot colors for the borders around the outside of the project and the borders for the ribbons that will be stitched on the inside. The outside border is just about done, using only perle cotton #5.
At our next meeting we’ll work with Laura to create all the ribbons. As you can see from the threads I chose, the ribbons will have lots of olive green. Most of the greens are metallic ribbons. Petite Very Velvet is suggested as one thread to use but I couldn’t find a green that would go with the ribbons I had selected.. We’ll have to see what I come up with for that part of the design. I’ll post again when the piece is completed next month.
Laura calls this a Color Study, so I decided to change the colors to do a little studying of my own. You start with an overdyed thread and then pick colors from that thread to create the design. Laura also suggested putting in one color that was not in the overdye, as an accent or surprise. Laura used green for the surprise color in her stitched design above. I decided to stitch this on Congress Cloth instead of 18 ct. canvas, so the threads I selected were floss, perle cotton #8, and Kreinik #4 braid. I started with my overdye.
This is Wildflowers from Needle Necessities (1062 – Pastel Sunset from ThreadWorX). I wanted to use yellow as the main color, but there aren’t a lot of shades of yellow and it would be hard to tell them apart in the piece (light and medium just look too much alike). I picked the blue-green as the main color and added yellow, rose, and a touch of peach. Then I needed my surprise color – I picked orchid.
This design is done in two passes. The first pass puts in the main quilt designs. The second pass fills in around them. I enjoyed stitching this and like the color combination. I don’t do much stitching with yellow, but now that it’s done I think I’ll call it “Sunny Days” as a compliment Laura’s design. It’s fun to see it come alive as you stitch. When you start, you’re not sure exactly how it will look when it’s done (if you change colors like I did), so it keeps you moving to see what will happen next.
