Color - my new color wheel!

I love the fact that embroidery floss comes in such a huge variety of colors. I know that one of my favorite parts of embarking on a new stitching project is the process of selecting colors. I want to learn more about color theory and color relationships and so I bought this color wheel. It is so much fun to use and has so many interesting color facts and advice. For instance, I have this little stitching project from "Shhh...Baby's Sleeping":
What colors to use? I know I want to use this beautiful blue as this is for a baby boy.
According to the color wheel, a nice relationship would be a triad of colors. That means three colors that are evenly spaced on the color wheel and will always look pleasing as a combination:

So the other two colors in the blue triad are red:
and yellow:

I think that makes a beautiful color combination!

I am using the blue to outline the ball in back stitch:
and red for the stripes - I used the split stitch here:

now all three colors for the french knots and
satin stitch stars!

I think I am really going to enjoy this new color wheel and all the new color combinations it suggests! Speaking of color, I have to include this picture of my sweet pea bouquet looking so pinky and beautiful on my shelf!

100 Stitches - Closed Buttonhole Stitch

Here is my version of the Closed Buttonhole Stitch!
This stitch is the next stitch on my 100 Stitches list. Here are three of my practice lines of stitching...I had a lot of trouble with spacing, floss tension, and consistent stitch sizes:
I started with 100% cotton, quilting weight fabric. I used a #24 chenille needle and dmc #4240 color variations perle cotton floss.
Step one is to come up through your fabric:

Now go back down through the fabric above where your floss came out, but at a slant back towards where your floss came out:

Bring your needle back out right next to where you first came up through the fabric. Notice in the picture - make sure the floss is UNDER your needle:
Pull the needle all the way through:

Now go back to the top of the stitch and go back into the fabric at a slant, this time slanting in the opposite direction:
Bring the needle out - and make sure the floss is under the needle again:
Pull the needle all the way through:
And go back into the fabric again at a slant:

Come back out, keeping the floss under the needle:
Pull through:
Onto the next slant- remember, keep the floss under the needle:
and just continue on:
I love the color variation floss - it makes this row of stitching look so interesting! This stitch is easy to learn and do, and I think I am doing it correctly, but I just can't seem to make it look right. 100 Stitches describes this stitch as being stitches made in pairs that form triangles. Mine sort of look like triangles! I think one mistake I made was not drawing stitching lines. I should have put a double row of stitching lines to mark the top and bottom of each stitch. As far as the floss tension goes, I don't know what I am doing wrong. The stitches look too loose to me! One interesting thing about this stitch, is how good the back looks!
This stitch is #24 and is in the looped stitches section of 100 Stitches.

Summer teapot wip and two sweet garden helpers!

Here is a little "summer" looking teapot wip. I love this aqua and pink color scheme! I think the french knots all over the teapot make it look like a fun, casual teapot you could take outdoors. In addition to the french knots, I used the chain stitch to make the decorative lines on the body of the teapot.

That is the back stitch you see outlining the teapot body. I also used the backstitch for the flowers and the lettering. Now the question is, what am I going to make with this? I had originally planned on a tea towel. I would just hem it and add some trim. This would make a really cute towel - I stitched this on a really big piece of fabric so I could make something bigger. I was thinking I might want to use these little pieces:

There is a creamer, sugar bowl, and two matching tea cups. I think these would look perfect on the other end of a towel or perhaps I could make a small table cloth? I will post a picture of whatever I come up with! Now onto some nice summer garden pictures! Remember my pea project?
My pea plants are all in full bloom, taller than their supports and are producing yummy sugar-snap peas!
I also have started some nasturtiums:
And this is a non-edible sweet pea. This is the first flower of this plant to bloom. I have these planted in front of a trellis so that I can support them as they grow tall and hopefully produce tons of flowers! Sweet Peas smell so good and they make really nice cut flowers.
We had a cold, wet and rainy June, so my roses have not been doing very well - however this reliable yellow bloomer always has beautiful blooms:
I also wanted to post pictures of my two garden helpers. They always keep me company and are interested in everything that is going on. This is Berit
and this is Rego

100 Stitches - Portuguese Stem Stitch

The stalk on this sunflower is stitched using the beautiful Portuguese Stem Stitch!

Doesn't this stitch make such a beautiful detailed line?:

And from every angle!
This stitch is the latest stitch I have learned on the 100 Stitches project. I am posting some demonstration pictures to show the stitch step by step.

I am using dmc #4180 variegated pink perle cotton, a #24 chenille needle and I am stitching on quilting weight 100% cotton fabric. The first step is to come up through your fabric and line everything up like you are making a stem stitch: Pull the floss through to make a stitch and then position your floss perpendicular to your stitch and stitching line:

Now bring your needle under the stitch you just made. Slide the needle under the stitch, don't pick up any fabric:

You are just wrapping the floss around the stitch. Do this twice!

Now take the next stitch just like your first stem stitch:

Notice that the floss from both stitches is going to have a small side by side overlapping area:

You can really see the side by side overlapping area here:
This is important because now your are going to slide the needle under BOTH the first and second stitch in the side by side overlapping area:
Again, go under the stitches, not catching the fabric, just wrapping the floss around the stitches - and again do the wrapping twice:

Just continue this same way along your stitching line:

Until "parabéns!" you are doing the Portuguese Stem Stitch!

This is such a beautiful stitch - I think it is almost as beautiful as the scroll stitch! This stitch looks complicated but is really very easy. I am surprised at how quickly you can stitch with it too. This stitch is #22 and is in the flat stitches section of 100 Stitches.