Lovers Lane ATCs

February's Stitchscape Swap theme was Lovers Lane and, for the life of me, I can't remember how I came to that as a theme title. It didn't fill me with a huge amount of inspiration, but that is probably a good thing to push my boundaries and make me think more rather than always going with themes that I'm really inspired by. It's only fair. 

I had a look online to see if I could kick start any inspiration but there wasn't a lot going that spoke to me, and I think in the end the idea came from looking through trees on a bus journey, to make a path through some trees where the branches met in the middle and formed a sort of heart shape. 

I enjoy that the front and back sort of have the same story going on. 

The trees aren't completely heart shaped as I thought that might be a little bit too twee, but there is enough of a curve on each side to think of hearts, and then with the sweet pink fields in the background as well the colours sort of look lovey-dovey so the theme is hinted at. 

I've stitched the trees with blanket stitch, varying the length and spacing so that the blanket stitch becomes both the fabric edging and also a bark texture. The same fabric has been used for every tree but it's quite a bold print which changes shade and has gold elements to it so each tree has its own personality. I didn't want to go too hard on the leaves so they've been made just with some french knots in tapestry yarn to give a canopy over the path. 

Both of the fields have been covered in seed stitch, the light pink one (further away) only has single strand stitches whereas the dark pink (closer) has two strand to visibly make it appear closer. I don't really know what kind of pink flower would be grown in that quantity in a field...any ideas?

I was given a really fun tin of things from a lady whose friend had sadly passed and she had been entrusted in giving her friend's stash to good homes and this tin was full of green threads and textured fabrics. The fun yarn/thread edging the top of the path came from the tin and has a slight silkiness to it which contrasts with the matte green of the tapestry yarns (also from the tin). In fact, I think the lighter green thread edging the path on both sides is from the tin, as is the crinkled fabric I've used at the front to be bushes - thank you very much to that lady for thinking of me, I hope that you and your friend will appreciate how these threads and bits are being used!

The path has two colours of thread used just in straight stitches across it to build up texture. I've tried to add perspective by using both one and two strands, tailing off the two strands so that by the time you get to the top of the path (further away) it's just single strand stitches, spaced out a bit more as well. I've added in some pebbles with little two strand, one or two twist french knots scattered across it. 

The grass next to the path has similar straight stitch lines to kind of keep that movement the same so that the landscape is all travelling together in the same way. 

I have no idea what the fun crinkled fabric is. It has a sort of hand painted look to it and is very crinkled like a kind of taffetta maybe? I have stab stitched this down just to hold it in place, hiding the stitches between the crinkles. Then, to bring down the pink and to add a few more discreet lovey-dovey hearts, I have used detached chain stitches in pairs to make heart flowers growing on the bush. 

Having come from no inspiration for this one at all, I'm really pleased with how they've turned out. It's sweet without being sickly and, hopefully, you might reach the conclusion that it's a lovers lane without it having to be specifically spelled out for you. 

The stitch run down for these cards is; blanket stitch, french knots, bullion knots, seed stitch, couching, straight stitch and detached chain stitch. 

Little Fox Stitchscape

This little cutie was started a few weeks ago after I picked up the gorgeous fabrics at the Ardingly Quilt show. I tend to pick up most of my own personal stash fabrics at this event (and try to stick to just this event if I can to stop things getting out of control) and the little foxes were too hard to resist! 

Isn't it annoying when you've taken some nice photos - then notice there's a thread across the hoop! 

I love the flower fabric, it is like a huge tulip field and has stripes of flowers in different colours across it. If you look closely you'll note that I've accidentally used the fabric in two different directions so on the pink flower layer the french knots are at the bottom, and on the blue flower layer they are at the top. I don't think it detracts from the hoop though - if you even noticed it without my pointing it out. Both of the flower layers are very true to the pattern underneath, covering the shapes in a near matching colour with satin stitches and then popping a french knot in the alternative colour. The knots don't always cover that colour completely but I like that you can see the print underneath. 

Little green stems have also been stitched over with straight stitches following the pattern, and I've edged it with french knots in the same colour I've used in the top layer so that it blends in more rather than having a hard edge. 

That top layer just has criss-crossed straight stitches overlapping each other and pulling out some faint lines in the fabric, keeping things simple because there's a lot going on everywhere else! It's been edged with bullion knots with my tiny crosses at the top on the calico. 

I really enjoy the trimming between the pink flower and fox layer. It's a little bit bonkers but nice and thin and the curled threads allow for the stitches underneath to show through and make the division a little softer.  

The fox fabric itself is little foxes in various positions interspersed with pink foxgloves and a lot of blank space around them. I haven't stitched the fox gloves themselves because I didn't think I could do them justice as they're fairly small and faint, but I have taken inspiration from the colour and have made french knot tapers which are kind of foxglove-y across the space instead, adding in single strand fly stitches and also single strand pistil stitches. The fly and pistil stitches are actually different shades of green but you can't see it that much in the photos. 

The fox itself I've covered in satin stitch, following the pattern exactly. I've added some extra shading in a different orange where the light might hit but again you might need to look a bit closer to see it. There wasn't a lot of definition around the legs (he only has three legs in the fabric print, I've not ignored one) so I added some single strand back stitch in black to try and separate those out a bit. He looks a bit cheeky, don't you think?

A proper hoop butt photo for you! You can see just how much stitching has gone into this little 10cm hoop. 

The blue flowers have been made in exactly the same way as the pink ones, although obviously they're the other way around, almost like a reflection. The green stems are darker as well so it's quite a shadowy bottom section, slightly in the shade perhaps. 

I happened to have a Barton Studios frame in the exact right size just waiting for a little hoop to fill it and I think this looks fab! I'm really chuffed with this piece. My little fox looks like he's about to run off and disappear into that flower field at any moment!

So, the stitch run down for this piece is; bullion knots, straight stitch, french knots, satin stitch, couching, pistil stitch, fly stitch and back stitch.

ACEs Workshop Part Two

In February I was back again in Barnham for a second workshop with Arundel Creative Stitchers (ACEs) and Barnham Buddies (you can read about the first workshop here). Some of the ladies had come back for a second time so it was a really lovely convivial group and felt like we'd known each other for ages. Others I'd met at the talk in Arundel museum last year and some had even emailed me before the workshop so there were lots of familiar names and faces. 

My space was once again set up as before. I probably take too much with me to these workshops but I like for there to be lots of inspiration and ideas on show. It helps me to explain certain techniques if I have an example, and people also sometimes take a hoop to their work area so that they can take direct inspiration from it which is lovely. The displays always generate a lot of discussion, and in the last ACEs workshop (I forgot to mention), one lady treated herself and purchased my Bluebell Blues Stitchscape! It's so nice to know it has gone to someone who will truly appreciate it. 

It's quite rare to sell an original embroidery so my collection just grows really and I would rather they come out with me than just sit in a dusty box all of the time. 

We had some different approaches in this class. Because it was so mixed some ladies were starting from scratch and bought a workshop pack, some who had been before just carried on working on their previous piece, some had even finished their last piece and started a new one(!), either with a workshop pack or by using fabrics from their own stash and coming in prepared with the hoop ready to start stitching, and a couple had purchased my proper Stitchscape kits and started working on those. It created a real hum and buzz as everyone got on with their own projects. 

I wasn't so good at taking photos this time but I did manage to grab some at the end. 

What's nice is the stories and elements that evolve as the Stitchscapes grow. This lady didn't have any ideas of what to do when she started, but then when she got to thinking about it she was creating a pathway, with particularly cut hedges at either side, then when she came across the pearl bead trimming, it inspired a shell lined pathway made with the trim. 

The colours in this one are lovely, and I really enjoy the different coloured pistil stitches embroidered over the pattern in the fabric. The beads and shells and trimmings are starting to add lots of fun textures too!

This lady had been in the previous class and this time she came already prepared with the fabrics in her hoop ready to go. That batik fabric is the perfect backdrop for a pine forest, and her little freehand sheep are so cute! Several of the ladies had brought in embroidery books of stitches and were looking up new ones to use which I had never heard of! (There are so many, and I really only use a handful of them.) The sheep heads are a particular type of knot which leaves those two little sticky-uppy bits which look exactly like ears! Unfortunately I now can't remember the name of the knot, although I'm wanting to say a Danish knot? Don't quote me on that. 

Some of the pieces weren't quite so landscape themed, but more of a play with colour and that is absolutely fine. This one is gorgeous with the different bold colours, almost jewel-like! 

A Woollydale II being created!

The above piece was also one that wasn't going to be based on a landscape, yet somehow, those orangey colours in the top half, and the addition of those layers of the eyelash yarn shout out a volcano erupting! It's so dark and moody, with the fiery splashes of texture that, to me, look exactly like larva spraying up over those unsuspecting pink flowers. They do clash a little bit with the other half of the hoop, but embroidery stitches and thread colours could be used to blend them back in together a bit, and the contrast really makes the erupting volcano look for me. 

A Bluebell Garden kit being created as well! Although this one is different because some of the fabrics have been swapped around or used elsewhere - that sky fabric isn't included in the kit at all so it will be interesting to see how closely the rest of the instructions will be followed - if at all. 

This one cracks me up. We had three generations in this workshop and this mermaid piece was by the youngest generation who was fairly adamant on mermaids and sheep in her hoop. I love the curly knotted hair on those mermaids, I'm not sure what the shell hats are for because they do have full heads of hair that the shells are covering. I would love to see this piece finished and to see how it evolved. 

It was such a lovely day, I really enjoying myself and I hope that the ladies did as well. 

This beautiful piece was brought out at the end and had been started in the previous workshop and continued at home in the four weeks before this workshop. Apparently it had got the lady through some slightly tough days and I love that it has such a serenity to it - like she was stitching her own happy place to escape to when it got rough in the real world. That is exactly what mindfulness is and is exactly what embroidery can do for you if you let it. 

It's so soft and beautiful - with the smallest and neatest bullion knots I have ever seen in that gorgeous, textured flower bed at the front there.