Story of the Stitch: Aunt Bea

Aunt Bea

Once upon a time there was a young bride who wielded a brush and painted cute little signs with silly sayings on them. Sayings like, "If Mama Ain't Happy, Ain't Nobody Happy".  She would paint all sorts of barnyard animals but far and away her most popular character was a chicken known only to herself as Aunt Bea. Aunt Bea sold many a sign and took an early retirement when a cute little baby showed up on the scene and took the young bride off into the world of motherhood. 

Aunt Bea waited patiently in the background of the brides mind manifesting herself as a real chicken when homeschooling brought real chickens into the backyard. (You can read all about our chicken raising days here.)

The Real Life Aunt Bea

And then one day the real life Aunt Bea became egg bound and went to that big chicken coop in the sky where her wings weren't clipped and she could catch all the worms she wanted without fear of her sister chickens stealing them from her. 

So Aunt Bea returned to the back of the bride's mind. The children grew and needed less direct attention from the bride and she decided to go back to her crafting ways.  (You can read about that here.) It seemed only natural that Aunt Bea would once again make an appearance only this time she would be rendered in thread. And she would have a newer, hip saying..."Fresh". Because if ever there was a hip(ster) chicken it was Aunt Bea. 

Aunt Bea

And in case you wondering where her name came from and thought perhaps of another Aunt Bee from a certain 1960's series....you are right. She is a bit of an homage to Aunt Bee from The Andy Griffith Show. And so was the original painted Aunt Bea. And there were other members of the female cast that showed up in our little backyard flock as well! (Thelma Lou, Helen, Skippy and Daphne (the Fun Girls) and Clara...all chasing worms in chicken heaven now.) 

And that, in a corn kernel, is the story of Aunt Bea.  You can find her in my Etsy shop, LuhuStitches, as a PDF Instant Download and very soon she will be available as a hard copy pattern that will also be available in my Etsy shop. 

Aunt Bea

Story of the Stitch: Modern Love Birds

This is the first in a series of posts called "Story of the Stitch".  In each post I hope to give a little background on what inspired the design and how it goes from being an idea to a finished piece. 

Modern Love Birds by LuhuStitches

I have always loved color. My Mom used to tell the story of one my earliest coloring projects in which I was coloring a birthday cake and put together almost all the colors from my crayon box on the cake and, she says, made it look great.  Of course your mother always likes everything you do but as I grew up I did notice that others would come to me for advice in choosing colors for their own artistic endeavors. My Mom considered it a bit a coup if she could have me along for the choosing of fabrics/colors for any new quilt project.

And my favorite class in design school was color theory.

With that said, the inspiration behind my Modern Love Birds pattern was a very colorful bird tray that I purchased at IKEA.  The birds on it are lovely bright colors that makes one think of a fiesta.  In fact one of my favorite things to serve on it are the toppings for tacos. Yum!

IKEA Bird Tray

I wanted very much to capture the spirit of that tray and somehow translate it into a cross stitch pattern.

I sketched out a lot of ideas before I landed on the idea you now see. In looking back at my idea book I think what helped me get there was the fact that near my sketches of the birds I had sketched some more traditional (as in tole painting traditional) motifs.  The thought occurred that I could maybe marry the two in some way.

Final Love Birds Sketch

The colors were inspired by Valentine's Day.  But I didn't want it to seem too Valentine-y so adding the blues, yellow and green help keep it from being exclusive to any one season. 

When I choose colors I usually begin by coloring my sketches with my Prismacolor pencils (absolutely my favorite!) and then using my DMC Thread Book to help me find just the right shade of thread. This particular pattern uses only DMC thread but my personal selection of "fancy threads" is growing and I'm beginning to draw from them more frequently for new projects.

Close up shot of Love Birds

Choosing color feels very intuitive to me but I know that it is also informed by my color education.  I can at least explain why some colors work together better than others and how their value and hue play a part in that.  (For more on color theory stay tuned for future posts!)

I did not end up stitching this piece as at the time I was working hard on a couple of other projects and was keen to get more than five patterns in my Etsy shop. My sweet Mom, who has since gone to heaven, stitched it for me, which, of course, makes it all the more special to me.  I even recall her saying to me, "Cyndy, I would have never put these colors together but they work."  She may have even told me the coloring book story again.

If you want to stitch up these pretty little Modern Love Birds you can find the pattern for them in my Etsy shop as an Instant Download PDF.  Coming soon-ish will be a hard copy!