Carolyn’s Balloons is the brainchild of good friend Carolyn Zook (CZookStitch on YouTube and Instagram.) She requested a design with hot air balloons and autumn coloring. Carolyn helped me pick the colors and after some tweaking of the design, I came up with this.

It was a hit at Needlework Expo 2022 and I decided this would make a great seasonal piece. There will be 3 more designs representing the other seasons with the winter one being released in November 2022.

This is stitched on 46 ct Light Nougat by xJuDesign in overdyed flosses. There is a conversion to DMC also included in the chart. WDW = Weeks Dye Works, CC = Classic Colorworks, GASHAK = The Gentle Arts Simply Shaker Threads, GAST = The Gentle Arts Sampler Threads

If you are unable to find the called for fabric, please know that you can stitch this on any light color fabric and it will be lovely, especially if you can find one that has a light tint of any of the autumn colors like gold, peach/orange, a pale green or even a pale blue to represent the sky. The light nougat actually has a slight pinkish tone to it, so any pink fabric would be very pretty as well.

This is the second in the series, Winter. I am having great fun designing these pieces, and in this one, I even added a kitty! Can you see him? This is stitched on 40 ct Stone by Fiber on a Whim in overdyed flosses. There is a conversion to DMC also included in the chart.

You can find Carolyn’s Balloons at many fine needlework shops as well as my Etsy shop as a PDF. If your favorite shop does not carry it, you can ask them to order it and let them know that is easily available from Hoffman Distributing.

Happy Stitching!