Snow white and Rose red

Wondering what this post is about?  It is certainly about art and craft and not about the two pretty German girls from Grimm's fairy tales!!

Red and white make a striking combination and I tried out these colors in various techniques.

Satin stitch embroidery 

Here for example,  I have embroidered a table cloth on a red background with white roses using Satin stitch.

Satin stitch embroidery

Closeup of the Satin stitches

Autumn leaves

Closeup of the leaf imprint

"The falling leaves drift by the window

The autumn leaves of red and gold

I see your lips, the summer kisses

The sun-burned hands I used to hold

Since you went away the days grow long

And soon I'll hear old winter's song

But I miss you most of all my darling

When autumn leaves start to fall..."

- Lyrics of Nat King Cole's song  'Autumn Leaves'

Autumn leaves imprint

A beautiful and soulful song, don't you agree?  Well, Autumn is not just about sentiment, it can also inspire beautiful art pieces. Now that autumn is approaching, hope my creation here will motivate you to do something creative with all those beautiful leaves before throwing them away....

I tried out this age-old kid's project technique of collecting fallen autumn leaves and imprinting them onto a tablecloth with fabric paint.  Here I used horse chestnut leaves coated with white paint and impressed them onto a red colored tablecloth.  Check out the eye-catching results..
Here is a diagram I found which shows the various kinds of autumn leaves and their shapes, which can inspire one to try them out in different settings.

Maple leaves especially make wonderful outlines due to their attractive shapes.  Check out this beautiful free cross stitch chart of maple leaves.

Hairpin Lace doily

The colors of Red and white can be combined to a nice round doily with Hairpin Lace like my piece here.

The Hairpin Lace technique is quite easy to learn if you already can crochet, and you can graduate to more intricate and complex patterns once you get the hang of it.

Here is a simple start chart for beginners,  and you can browse this site for more instructions and patterns.  Youtube offers detailed videos and you could surf the web for beautiful patterns.

You can also join the Yahoo Hairpin lace group for inspirational projects.