Rainier

New RYO colorway called Rainier: 311/322/828, 961/962/963, 3844/3846/3811, 501/3052/524. These are the 2014 mandalas:

Where did October go?

Somehow in all the hubbub of preparing for the big Trail of Orts tour, I neglected to update the blog and the Roll Your Own Wiki with the latest mandala in the series. The charts went out to all the subscribers on October 1st, but nobody else got to see and I didn't preview it in the typical variety of colorways. October was the 7th and final installment in the Merry Go Round RYO series. These were all named after lines of latitude, and October was the Arctic Circle. Whether or not any visible cues from where I drew my inspiration still remain distinct in the design is open to your judgement, but these always do end up being a study in abstraction.

Arctic Circle in its titular colorway:
Navy 336/312/334; Christmas Green 701/703/472;
Jade 561/562/564; Desert Sand 632/407/950.

Here she is in some of our other colorways. It's always fun to see how the different colors tend to accentuate one part of the design or another. As usual, it's going to be a tough choice to pick colors for stitching.

Top Row: Clean the Fan, Orchids, Halloween
Middle Row: Zaszlaja, Basil, Tropic of Cancer
Bottom: Seahawks, Fall Daisy, Geode

RYO charts are now available only in printed form from your favorite shop or directly from my webshop.

The Horse Latitudes

Picking an obscure grouping for the 2014 RYO series has been an interesting and educational exercise. I probably should have confirmed ahead of time that there even were seven named lines of latitude that would provide inspiration, but this way I have the opportunity each month to do a little research, a bit of digging, and some playing around.

The titular Horse Latitudes are actually a matched set, between 30 and 35 degrees both north and south of the equator. Rather than one specific latitude, each is a band of latitudes characterized by the type of air current. Wikipedia offers much maritime discussion and a few different possibilities on the origin of the name which involve sailors and dead horses (both literally dead and figuratively dead.) See - you learn things when you cross stitch.

I've worked a team of horses into this mandala. They are subtle, and in fact are winged, as in the immortal (thus very not dead) Pegasus. I figure they can keep Draco company. As always with these RYO charts, any of the existing color palettes can be plugged in with an extremely high success rate.


The topmost version in blues and greens is called Door: 3750/931/3752, 3847/3849/472, 561/562/564, 500/502/3813. (Inspired by this Design Seeds Photo.) The second one down is in Geode: 347/3712/761, 3834/3041/3743, 413/414/415, 312/334/3841, inspired by this Design Seed photo.

Here is Horse Latitudes in Victorian (600/602/605, 349/351/743, 3842/3760/3761, 911/913/955.)

And of course, it's still fun to make new palettes. Here is a short example of how you do it.

1) Find a photo, a fabric, a flower - something that you like the look of. This example was suggested by a friend on facebook. I tried to find the original poster to give credit, but it has been share a ton through Tumbl and such and I gave up pulling the thread. It brought a smile to see the Facebook share had come to my friend by way of Patricia Polacco's page - she was one of the kids' favorite author/illustrators when they were young. I also particularly like the message in this photo. The news media seems to be a constant stream of bad things happening due to racism and intolerance. (Be good to each other!)

2) Find four distinct colors in the photo. You do not have to pick every color you see, just four dominant ones.

3) Now find a dark, a medium, and a light for each of those four colors. You do NOT need to see them in the photo, and the four you picked above can be the dark, the medium, or the light of their respective families. Access to a DMC color card or a drawer/wall of threads makes this easier.

4) Plug and Play.

Here are the six Merry Go Round mandalas in the "Human" palette: 355/356/754, 938/400/3776, 3340/3341/967, 838/840/842.

Here is another example, starting with a photo from the website Design Seeds. You might notice that I like that site and use it for color inspiration often: 

Bonus Bits that come with this chart!

Horse Latitudes in Carrots:
3340/725/727, 349/350/351, 895/3346/3348, 915/3607/3609.

I really like Carrots!

One more round to go with this series. 

RYO charts are now available only in printed form from your favorite shop or directly from my webshop.

St. Charles Recap

Jiggity Jig. I'm back from market. Whee Whee Whee! So, you ask, how was the trip? What did you buy? What did you sell? What freakishly large stinging insects did you encounter?

An extended flight delay was brightened by a
troop of Elvii on their way to Las Vegas.

New stuff from Ink Circles:

Bee's Knees

Another Bad Neighborhood:
Miracle Grow
#5 in the series
As always, you might have to look closely to get it.

Rejoice in the variety that abounds -
Diversity in Beer

The Big Red Ship of Life is sailing into a port near you.

Northwoods
My attempt to tastefully use WDW Blaze Orange.
Only available through shops that attended this
market for the next 30 days.

2014 RYO Mandala Series
made the move from PDF to print only

Can't help but bring a few things home.

New colors from WDE, Gentle Art and WDW
SamSarah's Steampunk Sea Serpent
Heartstrings' His Eye is on the Sparrow + threads

And a few things for Mum from Gigi R. and Queenstown Samplers

And I leave you with the thought that these things are merrily buzzing about in downtown St. Charles. I like last year's katydid better.

And I don't think he grew up in Bad Neighborhood #5.

Happy stitching, and may your needle be the worst thing that gives you an accidental little poke.

Monthly Mandala: August 2014

As summer zips by and we flip another calendar page, I roll out the next installment of the Merry Go Round series. Stitchers are still welcome to join us, although the "mystery" part of things is 71% out of the bag (i.e., 5 of 7 revealed.) It costs $35 to join, or $25 if you do/did the 2013 series, for 7 of these color customizable charts.

August's offering is "Tropic of Cancer," being named after the latitudinal line as all of the other circles in this series. You may think I missed the boat because the zodiacal calendar has Cancer ending not in August but on July 22nd, but perhaps I was deferring to the Sidereal calendar which puts August 1st smack in the middle of the sign. Whatever your opinion on my astronomical and geographical ramblings, I hope find that the chart speaks well enough for itself.

Tropic of Cancer: number 5 in the 2014 Roll Your Own series
New colorway: Cancer -  817/350/352, 935/469/471, 3834/3835/3836, 632/407/950

This one seemed to look great in every palette I tried on it. Here are 15 of our established combinations to get you started (or to hopelessly bog you down in equally wonderful choices.)

Too many options? I think not!
Row 1: Candy Ducks, Long Jacket, Floral Hues
Row 2: Owl Optimizer, Solas, Poiple
Row 3: Garand, Honey Bee, Anchor Moss Rose
Row 4: Revenge, Emerging Hues, Halloween
Row 5: Buried Jewels, Darkside Duck, Orchids

Your stitching horoscope: I see all of your x's crossing in the same direction and little pieces of colored thread everywhere. You are having trouble locating a particular skein of floss that you bought. You will clean half of the house looking for it, then decide to go the the LNS and buy a duplicate. While there, you will decide to reward yourself with a few other goodies as a reward for doing that housework.

Enter the Dragon

Here is the July installation in the RYO Merry Go Round series. If you are wondering what this project is all about and want to join, I've written up a Wiki page with the relative information just for you. 

Constellations, not just earthly locations, can be associated to latitude positions. Good thing, because there aren't as many interesting latitude lines on earth as I'd hoped when I themed the 2014 series. Astronomer David Pratt offers, “The north ecliptic pole lies in the constellation Draco, and has the equatorial coordinates 18h (270°) RA, +66.6° decl. “ The word “Draco” is from the Greek draconis meaning “dragon,” and the constellation is symbolized by a coiled serpent or dragon. At one point, numerologists were all abuzz that "666" (admittedly 66.6) corresponded to the Dragon.

Draco 66.6 for July 2014 Merry Go Round series

Don't worry if you're not into numerology, astronomy, dragons, and such. I try to keep the imagery suggestive at best and completely subliminal if the color are chosen in certain ways. So perhaps you see the dragons and the ladies - perhaps not. It stitches up beautifully in any case.

A few more colorways:
Original Draco /  Revenge / Long Jacket
Mardi Gras / Candyduck / Starfleet

And not to worry that you're not getting any bonus corner chips this month. The old ones pop in without a fuss and look great, keeping the overall square to the same 115 stitch size.

Draco in the In Memoriam colorway with corners from Equatorial Orchids

Draco in the Buried Treasure 2 colorway with Capricorn's corners

Equatorial Orchids

It's spring and everything is fresh and new. Too new - I've got too many fresh ideas that I'm having a tough time juggling them all. The Roll Your Own series, is one with published deadlines so it rises to the top of the to do pile. Even so, I introduce the June installment a day late.

Equatorial Orchids - #3 of 7 in the 2014 RYO series

For some blindingly brilliant reason, I decided these should all be named after lines of latitude. Something punny about "great circles," I imagine. So this month, I picked the equator and tried to convey some lushness of the tropical flora. Shown above it a new color scheme called Orchids, but as you'll see below, it looks great in other combos too. The more color combos we make, the harder it gets to pick one.

Equatorial Orchids in the following RYO colorways:
Garand, Candyfloss, Owl Optimizer
Solas, Darkside Duck, Lemony Hues
Revenge, Bridal, Buried Treasure 2

RYO charts are now available only in printed form from your favorite shop or directly from my webshop.

Although I didn't break it out in each separate preview above, the corner chips and the center bit can be used to make additional options as in past rounds.

Extra things you can do with the center and corner chips.

Have fun. Stitch faster.
Tracy

Merry Go Round

Introducing... a new series of Roll Your Own Mandalas. Join me for a ride on the RYO Merry Go Round. This series will feature round stained glass style mandalas. Most will be the same diameter as the previous group of square ones (115) but I'll be sure to sprinkle in some smaller rounds, as well as some corner chips to play with.

The first installment in Buried Jewels colorway

Pick a color, any color (actually you need 4)

We have a Yahoo group and a FaceBook group to share color ideas, progress shots, and wild hairs.

Details:

• You do not have to be part of the original RYO group to join. (Pick the $35 option below.)
• Patterns and instructions will be delivered in PDF format via your email. I will use your PayPal email by default, so tell me if you want them sent somewhere else.
• These will use the same palette as the first group, so all of our 100+ fabulous previous combos will work.
• There will be 7 total installments. You're looking at the first package. The other six will come out monthly at the first of the month starting in MAY.
• Price to join the series is $35 for all 7 patterns (some of which, like this one, have more than one mandala.) Patterns will not be available individually - it's all 7 or none.
• Bonus discount - if you did the RYO 2013 full series, I will give you $10 off - pick the $25 option below for seasoned RYO'ers.
• If you've just discovered this RYO thread and need them ALL, you can pick the $60 option and get all 7 square installments and be signed up for all 7 round installments.
• As always, buying in gives you access to the full library of color combinations, as well as my assistance in generating custom combos. In fact, custom work is encouraged. As we work together, I will generate and post photos of the mandalas colored with the new palette. And, within reason, am happy to adjust/tweak combos to get just the look you want.

This is what the original series RYO2013 ended up being. And remember any mandala can be redone in any color combo.

RYO charts are now available only in printed form from your favorite shop or directly from my webshop. 

Roll, Roll, Roll Your Boat

Hey, I've just rolled out the final Roll Your Own 2013 Sequel installment (RYO Rematch - top right in the picture below.) There were 7 total, or more accurate to say 6 and three thirds. I'd like to point out that this was a fantastic deal for these charts in pdf form at $35 for the lot, with custom colorization assistance and bonus WIPpy drooling and cheering. Woot!

All of the RYO 2013 mandalas

What a lot of fun it has been in the group, and will continue to be for the next 6 months or so as we continue to stitch and mashup colors. If you've somehow missed out on joining up to now, the group is still open to new members. If you're waiting for some sort of printed version - that will be next year sometime (and won't include the 100+ color combos we've test driven.) Big thank yous to everyone who's been a part of this project.

RYO charts are now available only in printed form from your favorite shop or directly from my webshop.

Keep Those Doggies Rollin'

Rollin', rollin', rollin'! (There's way too much punctuation in those lyrics.) So, what exactly are we rolling? Here is the low down for those of you who have been hearing snips and bits about this Roll Your Own project.

I like mandalas. I draw mandalas. I paint mandalas. I stitch mandalas, and when I do, I chart them so that you can stitch them too. I do other stuff too, but we'll talk about that later. One of the hardest, yet funnest, part of making mandalas is deciding which colors to use and where to put them. For some of my stitched mandalas, I had been giving you explicit instructions on how to color them. Every stitch corresponded to one specified shade of DMC floss.  Here is an example of a mandala like that. Everyone who stitches it creates something virtually identical:

Kaleidoscope, using the 31 shades of DMC that I specified

I did a little project with an LNS up in Canada where I tried something new. I created a "generic" mandala that could be colored in using a special system. Stitchers could pick their favorite colors and create a custom looking mandala, the system took care of all the shading and the color placement. It went over really well and the SAL group made some fantastic pieces.

The same mandala colored with 9 different palettes.
This is the newest installment: "Return of RYO"

Expanding on that idea and refining my system, I've made more of these mandalas and am hosting an interactive coloring experience. I've set up a Yahoo Group that we use for sharing the basic files and photos. It's $15 to join the group. Once in, you have access to the chart files (pdf) for the first of the mandalas and instructions on selecting the colors.  You can select colors one of three ways: A) Copy one the existing 100+ combinations that we have posted, B) go to your DMC box/rack and pick 4 different (not shades of the same color, btw) colors that you think look nice together, or C) Send me a photo or describe something to me that you would like to inspire your palette.

These four colors become four sets of three shades each, for a total of 12 colors (+ black). As we assign them to the color key for the stitching, the shading happen automatically. I will run a computer-generated preview and share it within the Yahoo Group's photo albums and add the list of specific colors used to our database so anyone else who likes those colors can use it. The process can be iterative, if you request, for example, "Can you make those purples a bit more towards the blue side," or "What if we swapped the pinks and greens?"  When you're happy, you can stitch it. You can stitch the mandala as many different colorways and times as you like.

In some cases, more is better. We started the group with one mandala that everyone was working with. I've since expanded the concept into a whole series.  There are 6 sequels to the original mandala, coming out monthly.  I've just released the penultimate chart (the 9-piece montage above); one month left to go.  The mandalas all use the same coloring system, so you can use any of the colorways we've established in the group. You can make them all the same or you can pick new colors each time.  Once in the group, stitchers can buy into the sequels for $5 an individual chart or $20 for all six sequels.

Here are some of the other mandalas in the series, showing off a variety of different color ideas.

Bride of RYO

One month, I did 3 minis instead of a big one: "Spawn of RYO"

Revenge of RYO

This is the Original RYO

RYO Reloaded

RYO charts are now available only in printed form from your favorite shop or directly from my webshop. 

RYO, Back with a Vengeance

Today I'm releasing the 4th of 6 sequels to the Roll Your Own Mandala design, Revenge of RYO. Ordering info is at the bottom if you'd like to join the fun.

Revenge of RYO (September)

Here is the same color scheme and a recap of past sequels.

RYO (original - May)

Reloaded (July)

Bride of RYO (June)

Spawn of RYO (August)

This chart and the variations are being managed via a Yahoo Group. Group member pay $15 to get in, and get the original chart (plus the middle of the three Spawn charts that was a bonus.)  People already in the group can pay an additional $20 to get all six of the sequels, this being the fourth, or $5 to get just this one sequel. You can read more about the group here:

RYO charts are now available only in printed form from your favorite shop or directly from my webshop.

And here is the new chart in a few different schemes...

Bridal colors

Emerging Hues

Halloween

Long Jacket