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!

Inspiration

"Genius is 1% inspiration, 99% perspiration."

~Thomas Alva Edison

This is certainly a true statement.  It takes only a split second to be inspired by something, but it can take many hours and many attempts to bring something to fruition. Whether that is the electric light bulb or a simple cross stitch pattern.  

In fact finding the inspiration can in itself cause a lot of perspiration.  I have recently gone through a rather dry spell in which it felt as though literally nothing was inspiring me.  Then one day I was scrolling through my Instagram and came across a picture of the book below.

Colour Confident Stitching - Karen Barbé

I have long been inspired by color.  As a design student in college one of my required classes was entitled Color Design and was a prerequisite to all my other classes.  I have played with and worked with color my whole life.  However, even color confident people can use a refresher course every now and then so when I saw the title I immediately looked it up on Amazon.  There it was!  Of course, owing to the fact it is a published in the UK there was a wait time.  I didn't hesitate though and went ahead and ordered it.  

Last week it finally arrived.  I couldn't wait to open it and dive in.  Well, life has conspired in such a way that I am more or less wading in, but I am impressed.  This is a color theory book of the highest caliber.  From the most basic description of the color wheel to how to create a palette, the explanations are clear and succinct.  And at the end of the book are a few patterns that one can practice their new color expertise on.

This book has definitely inspired me.  

Other things that have been inspiring me are all the beautiful spring wildflowers that are starting to pop up in my little corner of the world.  Yesterday our family took a hike to find and enjoy as many of these beautiful creations of God.  The blues and purples were so rich!

Maiden Blue Eyed Mary - this is my favorite

Lupin - looking spectacular

Shotspur Seablush - en masse most impressive

Common Fiddleneck - the yellow is so rich

Yellow and purple are opposites on the color wheel, beautiful

And my family, who are my biggest inspirations

 Above and below this paragraph are my biggest inspirations.  My family.  The picture above was a rather hilarious attempt at a timer photo on my camera which was somewhat precariously balanced on an outcropping of volcanic rock...which may explain why it is not centered. I am blessed with a wonderful husband, Tom, who encourages me daily, two beautiful daughters, Gladys and Olivia, who keep me young and a little exhausted, and a wonderful son who is out on his own and so gets his own picture.

My son, Isaac

With all this inspiration in the last few days I am happy to say there are ideas bubbling around and spilling out onto graph paper. 

What inspires you?