Bluebells

There are Bluebells everywhere at the moment! In gardens, verges, hedgerows, woodlands, flower pots, pavement cracks...little splashes of blue with their down-turned bells nodding in the breeze. On the daily bus commute I pass at least five separate patches of Bluebell Woods, some of which are a thick carpet of deep blue coating the leafy floor, and others are a slightly patchy version as the flowers cluster together in pools of sunlight filtering through the canopy above.

I find it quite amazing how each section of woodland can appear to be a different shade of blue. There is one in particular that is so rich and deep in colour that it appears almost purple, whilst others are much lighter and more of a sky blue- perhaps it is to do with how light touches the space, or possibly the soil quality, does anybody know? Certainly in our garden there are actually completely different coloured Bluebells; at one end they have self seeded in this lovely blue colour, and at the other end they have self seeded in a light lilac colour, completely different!

My stitchscape Bluebells are definitely blue, and I have been working all week to create a dappled light effect with five or six different shades of blue thread, beads for added sparkle, and some different yarns/threads/cords to create the green of the leaves. In my box of bits, I came across some little wire stamens in white which I have also added in a sort of Lily of the Valley kind of flower. The stamens were stitched down in groups of four, stacking above each other, and the rough edges and stitches were covered with a twist of bright green ribbon. I really like how they look against the blue, adding a little bit of extra interest.

Also in the box I found some thin slightly shiny cord which I've couched down in places to try and represent where the sun would light up leaves through the trees. I've tried to enhance this effect by making the Bluebell heads out of bugle beads, and am really pleased with how they catch the light.

This is the sort of effect I have been trying to recreate- these are what the Bluebells are currently looking like as I type this in front of the window overlooking the front garden. The sunshine is coming in at a slight angle and the flowers are quite literally glowing!

Aren't they beautiful?

Last night I finished the Bluebell section of this stitchscape so now I just need to revisit the top of the piece and work a little bit more into the trees as I'm not entirely happy with them. It needs skinny branches I think, and perhaps some little leaves put in there somehow. I'm going to mull it over for a little while.

The texture in this piece is really lovely. I went slightly mad with the bullion knots and they are all overlapping each other and almost popping out of the hoop. As well as the beads and DMC embroidery thread, I've used a couple of DMC silky threads (nearly an entire skein of the darker blue colour!) to add lustre to the 'carpet'. My final touch was to add little green beads to the base of the stems and flowers which also catch the light and add texture which has really worked well! What do you think?