Claire's Rose

This bouquet of mixed flowers is special. Not only, because the centre piece is a beautiful rose, but because it was assembled and designed by an incredible woman, who have been my inspiration for a long time. Her creative space is full of colours, ideas and stories. When you visit, you can not leave empty hearted. There is so much love and inspiration there. It is my sacred attic, where I find piece and calmness. 

I look back and see one beautiful image in my mind - an image she painted with not other tool, but her machine. She used thread as a sharp pencil to drew with, and then painted the shapes with tiny pieces of cloth. 

I wasn't sure what to love more - her "capturing the moment" gift, her artistry, or the sentiment in this image. But I fell in love in all that this picture represents, including the little happy princess. I have 'seen' Claire growing up, changing from the baby girl she was, carrying the beautiful totes and box bags, her mom made for her play dates, into the incredible young girl, who notices the delicacy of the flowers, tries her mom's sewing illustrations, picks her own colours and creates her own designs. 

Claire notices the Beauty. She was the one, picking the rose for a centre piece in mom's bouquet. I wanted to make her rose special. Children see the world unfiltered. They don't judge, they accept. Even their colours are purer. Their ability to see the things brighter and happier is unique. So I asked Claire what colour she would choose for her rose and she answered - light pink. 

The task itself is quite challenging - I can not disappoint Minki... Choosing the colour palette for the bouquet took me two days. I was going through all the DMC colours to pick the right ones for the minor flowers. The rose ... oh, my... My brain was about to explode. Light pink is a challenge to create. I picked all the light pink DMC colours and chose a shade to stick to. I did not want the yellow-ish shade and definitely wouldn't use the cold blue-ish pink there was. So that limited my options a lot. But since this was Claire's colour, I introduced the happy candy pink for depth and texture. That is how I see it through her eyes :) 

DMC floss for the rose used: nine shades of pink + yellow and green for the front left leave

DMC floss for the leaves used: nine shades of green + two shades of rusty brown-pink for the thorns and stains on the leaves

DMC floss count for the whole bouquet: 42 colours

I have changed Minki's design a little bit (with her permission). The most noticeable thing is that my bouquet is upside up. My heart couldn't let me turn the rose upside down. But needle painting and sewing illustrations are completely different techniques. Each represents the flowers differently and creates a different feeling. Also, I did not add all of the additional flowers, but just enough to support the rose presence, and not too many to over-shine it. After all, it is all about Claire's rose :) 

I chose warm purple for these leaves that nicely contrast with the snow white on the Snow Balls and add a colour to the bouquet.

The "Old" yellow on the left is again - a colour pop, but also, a way to show the season. Claire picked this rose in autumn, when the leaves were changing colours and the trees were preparing for their winter dream. I find the roses bloom perfection in early summer and late autumn. They are most beautiful in autumn - last colours before the snow. Sometimes, their blooms got burned by the early frost. Probably, Claire's roses never get to experience that on the West Coast, but on the East Coast of Canada, sometimes the frost bites in October. Roses' late blooms got sad and fragile, some of which managed to complete their life and hide under the warm protection of the rose hip, preserving the seeds. 

I love this little bouquet! I love every stitch of it! I truly hope, one little princess likes her rose.

With love, 

to Claire,

♥ Ivelina