Wednesday 26 July 2017

A Blank Canvas


Perhaps I should start putting Butterflies into my stitchscapes? What do you think? The large flower focused 'scapes like Cow Parsley and Hollyhocks might look sweet with a little Butterfly or even a Bumble Bee snuck in between the flower stems, or boldly perched on top of one of the flower heads...
Ignore me, I'm rambling. I just wanted to share these photos I found on my camera from the weekend whilst I was finishing off the Blush Sunset stitchscape in the garden. We had lots of these little Copper Butterflies paying lots of attention to the Lavender and Thyme flowers- herbs are especially attractive I think due to their strong smell and oils.



I actually hopped on here to share with you the start of not one, not two, but three new stitchscape hoops! The first one is my big, square, 30cm hoop which I am filling with nine stitchscape minis. The theme for this one is based on a kind of snowy scene with a light yellowy sunrise, all very pale and very simple fabrics. I have gone a little mad on the DMC embroidery thread stand for this one with lots of shades of pale yellow and every tone of off-white imaginable to match my fabrics.


I might have mentioned before whilst talking about my minis, that these are made slightly differently as the fabric slices tend to be a lot smaller. I still put all of my background pieces down first, but these are attached with Bondaweb (or Wonderweb, or any double sided, iron-on Vilene) which is ironed onto a block of my chosen fabrics first, then the little shapes cut out, the paper removed from the back of the Bondaweb, and the fabric ironed onto the backing cloth. It is very neat, very simple, and as long as you don't get it glued to the bottom of your iron, a great way of working up backgrounds quickly.



The other part of the theme, is woodland winter trees! It was good fun playing with layouts for this one and I am very interested to see how they look once I have stitched some textures and little twiggy branches onto the bare trunks.
This hoop is being worked on in the evenings as it is a little too large to travel on the bus with but perfect for evening stitches.



The second hoop I am sort of working on- as in, the background is prepped but I'm not actively stitching it yet- is a 20cm hoop. It is going to be a C*******s hoop, ready for my festive craft fairs. It's never too early to be prepared and as these take me a little while to do, I have to start early! The fabric for this one is mostly from a Moda charm pack The Mother bought me for Christmas last year that I haven't touched. The collection is called 'Winterberry' and was designed by Kate & Birdie Paper Co. specially for Moda so it's all super posh and snazzy, and terribly fitting for a festive stitchscape.
That one will be started once I finish my little 15cm hoop which is currently being taken around with me on the bus and stitched during lunchtimes so is coming on at quite a pace! Especially as the school children are on their summer holidays so there is more room on the bus and I can stitch morning and afternoon! All very exciting. I'm excited for the trees in this one, a little forest in a stitchscape!

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