Blush Sunset Stitchscape

It was a very relaxing weekend, and one that gave me a chance to finish my Blush Sunset Stitchscape, so named by some of my Facebook friends.
Yesterday morning the sun was out and I sat in the front garden, surrounded by the Dahlias and Agapanthus mentioned in my last post, stitching quietly by myself and listening to the mellow sounds of Sunday morning. Sunday has its own sound, don't you think? It's when people potter around doing garden-y things, mowing the lawn or doing a spot of DIY. You can almost hear the Sunday papers being rustled over that second pot of coffee, and church bells sing in the distance, the sound echoing in the valley. It's all so poetic.

I really love the vibrancy of this new stitchscape. I think it's possibly the brightest one I've done so far, and all because the fabrics looked so lovely stacked on top of each other when I decided to sort out my stash. That Kaffe Fassett flower is really something isn't it? I was channelling my inner Kaffe the whole way through this embroidery and I hope that he would be proud of my efforts. I haven't really touched the flower other than to outline it with back stitches in matching threads, it seemed almost sacrilegious to consider cutting it up into a strip and I couldn't cover it with my bullion knot flowers either. It's big and bold and beautiful, and I love it!

This stitchscape used all of my current favourite stitches discovered through recent other stitchscapes. The not-quite-satin-stitch golden leaves, the actual satin stitch purple splodges, pistil stitch flowers and the whip stitches over horizontal running stitches. It always amazes me that I can use the same stitches over and over again and they never get old or tired. Each time something ever so slightly new happens and the stitches evolve and grow, developing into their own thing with each new 'scape.

Of course this piece wouldn't be a sunset piece without that glorious blazing sun! I've watched many sunsets over the years and the best ones are when the sun burns iridescent orange with streaks of brilliant red, staining the sky with those glorious blush colours- the namesake of this 'scape. Not a lot needed to be done here, the colours said it all, which is pretty much the theme of the entire embroidery- I've left a lot of the fabrics as they are so that their colours can shine through. There are three different coloured strands of DMC embroidery thread making up the rays of the sun, and I have filled the lighter batik print areas of the sun itself with a pink satin stitch. Behind the sun's rays, I have followed the vague lines of the sunset print with simple back stitch, which reminds me of when those little wisps of cloud that appear in the evenings are highlighted with silvery light. It's quite realistic I think.

I just had to show you the back of this piece. It's incredible and so unintentional as a by-product of creating the front side! A happy accident.

This is one of my bigger pieces, stitched in a 30cm hoop. The stitch list is; back stitch, whip stitch, pistil stitch, long stitches, seed stitch, satin stitch, french knots, running stitch (kantha), bullion knots, cross stitch and couching. Not a great variety considering what I have managed to cram into some of my other 'scapes, but I don't think much more was needed, the colours sing out all on their own.