Sally Barton, the journey she took in my class Dare Design...

Sally tunes into my online class, Dare Design, all the way from New Zealand! Her journey has been really fun to watch. At first, it seemed that she was a bit intimidated, and perhaps not sure how brave she wanted to be with color, however looking at where she took her design, I see a daring designer in the making!

Here is one of her very first drawings. The goal was to look at triangles as a composition of shapes and colors. We played with possible tessellations of her shapes.

Above are her second set of drawings.

The triangles from above were tessellated and this is what Sally achieved:

Next Sally looked for the right stitches to convey the shapes she came up with.

 And after much work and trials, we charted her final triangles. She decided to work with two different triangles and bring them together in a complete design.

Her final master chart looked like this:

Here is her work in progress!!!!

It's quite brilliant!

Kindly remember!! 

We are all well aware of the importance of respecting the ownership of a designer's work. 

These designs belong solely to Sally Barton. 

Do NOT print or use these designs for any purpose without Sally's explicit permission!!!

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Just things and stuff

I hate it when a blog I enjoy following goes silent. That is usually followed by an apology which often is followed by another silence. I'm not going to do that. Apologizing may be bad karma in this instance so know that I am aware and feel bad about not writing in awhile and that even though I have been sick, nasty sick, that's no excuse and I'm not apologizing, even if I am really sorry for disappearing.

One of the great joys of my work has been the design class I am teaching online. What a fantastic group of stitchers! More than anything I admire their courage and am thankful for their willingness to go off on this strange journey with me. Not knowing exactly where I will take them, but coming anyway, is something I am very grateful for. We started back at the beginning of February and only now are we taking needle to canvas! We have been designing, and working hard, but only now are we going to see how it all comes together.

I  found a few more watercolor creations that I thought I'd share with you here. These are from a few weeks ago.

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Dare Design - amazing needlepoint in watercolors!

How do you teach needlepoint design? If you are me you take a road less travelled, some may even say strange.
In my new online workshop "Dare Design", I asked my students to paint triangles using watercolors. These triangles were to be filled with smaller shapes. Go wild with color and design, I said. They did.  Next, taking their triangle creations, we tessellated, turned, flipped, and manipulated. The results are knock out!
All of this happened before we talked about any stitches, certainly before we touched the canvas or threaded a needle.
This is not for the faint of heart...

Let me share some creations with you.

Here is one of Lauren Bloch's triangles and two tessellations of it below:

Here is a triangle by Ann Moody, tessellated in two different ways:

Melita Glavin's triangle has a kaleidoscope look that is dazzling when tessellated!

Susan Heider's example is of the same triangle, painted in two different colorways, and then tessellated together:

Sally Bee's triangle is another example of same triangle, two different colorways:

Mary Frances Kelly-Poh is in Brazil but that hasn't stopped her from working on triangles! The effect here is very almost like a weave.

Kari Hofer's triangles have a bit of fantasy to them. Two colorways tessellated beautifully.

Lynn Decker gave her triangle two unique colorways and they make for a very interesting tessellation.

Patricia Mott Karpenko came up with two colorways that could not be more different! Look at what happened here!

I have only shown you a small collection of these amazing pieces of art! 

There are many more to share.  The work presented by this group of students is spectacular. 

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Thoughts on design - an insight.

Geometric canvas designs are magical. They begin like a doodle game. I remember the days when there were only landline phones and you had to sit right by the phone because it would only move so far from the wall outlet.  There you sat listening to the person on the other end and your hands wanted to do something. I think that's when doodling was invented!
A large area, just a simple shape, began splitting into smaller areas that resembled a jigsaw puzzle. Any two smaller shapes formed a negative space and in turn that area would be a playground for some more doodling.
I use the practices I developed during the long phone sit ins when I go about designing a geometric.

Let's look at one of the more important parts of my Dare Design workshop, the watercolor part. You are given 25 pieces of fine quality watercolor paper for experimentation. Your large outer space will be a triangle.

I will begin with some dividing lines and I will split up the triangle to smaller parts.

I drew a line across the top of the triangle, about 1/2 way down and then drew some dividing shapes within the top triangular shape. And I kept dividing these areas up and filling the negative spaces.

I continue working on the areas I've determined, now with color.  Each section is given a color, some are repeated in a symmetrical fashion and I build up the top triangular area until it seems right. 

Of course there is much more I can do with the sections I have formed. But that will come later, on the canvas. For now I have drawn and painted a beautiful map which will be a guide when my needle hits the canvas.

Why don't you join in on this exercise? Look at the shapes I have painted and make some suggestions as to which stitches you would use to translate the shapes onto canvas.  I have numbered a few of the areas below. Reference the numbers and make your suggestions in the comments here on the blog.

This is a small sampling of what we will be doing in my Dare Design workshop.  Our journey will lead you to acquiring the tools to design your own geometrics. 

Can't wait to hear from you!! 

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$50 Thread Assortment purchase = FREE New Design Instruction Guide

Run on over to our Thread Assortment page and drink up the wonderful color explosion!

With every $50 Thread Assortment purchase you will receive a free PDF instruction guide for our new design "Triangular Trick"!

AND...  when you sign up for our new Dare Design workshop you will receive a 20% discount coupon for any of the items in our Thread Assortment page.  Upon completing this extraordinary design workshop you will need plenty of fabulous fibers for your own designs!

Click HERE to see the colors and shop for your favorites!

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So sorry!! I hope you can see it now!!! Video: Dare Design

SIGN UP HERE!

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My design process; the How and Why

I really can't say what made me design these segments. Why did I choose these threads, why did I decide to change direction on the canvas?  Why did I stitch the Jessicas below in the sizes and shapes I did and why did I fill them in with the stitches shown below? What was it about the overdye I used in the diamond on the bottom right that compelled me to use it and surround it by greens and reds?

The only way I can share why and how is if you are there with me when I make these choices,  when I experiment with them,  when I stitch them in and pull them out.

That is why I am offering a new experience, an online design experience.  You will be at my side as I work up a new design and as I bring it together step by step, you will stitch it along with me.  Read about it below...


"Over the many years I've been designing, one question comes up again and again... how do you design a new piece? No matter how detailed my answer is, no matter how hard I try to explain the process, I come away feeling a bit frustrated. Words can't always shed light on how a new design comes to be.
But there is one way you are sure to understand, and in fact be there as it happens! Come design with me! An online class where you buddy up with me as I design a brand new piece!! On a private dedicated Facebook page, whatever I do, you will do, as I do it. As I come up with each step, I will send it to you, charts and explanation. Step by step, stopping along each time to bring what I do to you, we will stitch a new design together.
You will recieve 18 count mono canvas and a lovely group of fibers. This "mystery" class is different from other mystery classes. In this class I don't know what we are doing either. But it will unfold and you will be there with me to stitch each step and discuss the process. You will receive the kit and a start date, (June 12th). You will also get an invitation to a private dedicated Facebook page where we will meet to talk about the process and exchange thoughts. Don't worry if you are afraid you won't be able to keep up due to your own time constraints, stitch when you can and join us when you have the time.
See you at the drawing board!!"

Sign up for this experience HERE!

You can read more HERE, and always ask me questions!

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Cyberpointers

A great opportunities is about to expire ... Tomorrow registration ends for my class with Cyberpointer's. UP NORTH Colorway TIKI Colorway My design, "Victory Gardens" , is an online workshop, (February 1-April 15, 2016), which you will enjoy and learn from!  Find all the information HERE, but hurry, registration closes tomorrow!

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