A big one finished!! It's been an age since I did any stitchscapes bigger than 15cm in diameter, but I was prompted to prepare some larger pieces in the run up to my demonstration event at Closs & Hamblin Tunbridge Wells a couple of weekends ago as part of their 'Make-It March' event. At my recent visit to the Ardingly Quilt Fair, I ended up collecting a whole bunch of very sunshiny and sunny fabric prints, and as one of them was a print of a giant sunflower, this theme kind of brought itself together! The layout is a second attempt at my Fields of Flowers Stitchscape which you can find an image of over on my website, with the bottom half splitting out in a fan and the top half staying as the more traditional horizontal layers. I think that this has worked really well, and has allowed me to try different types of stitches in each 'slice'- especially some that I have been practising in my #inthehoop 'scapes.
This technique with the repeated detached chain stitches worked so well last time I just had to do it again here, and this time used a dark gold, and a variegated yellow thread to get the difference in shade and the lighter/darker tones.
Originally I was just going to keep this section quite plain with just the whisper lines of single strand back stitch, but actually it looked empty against the more tightly packed sections so I added in some pistil stitches in the same colour variegated thread as in the Dahlia section which blends the two fabrics together nicely.
Variegated threads were out in abundance here as I think I used at least four of them. The thread on the right hand side has all of the colours of the batik print fabric; pink blue, green and yellow, and these have been worked into satin stitches covering the splodges in the print. It has worked better in the small splodges I think as the larger ones show the stripes of colour rather than blending in. The thread on the left hand side was also chosen for its perfect match of colours, and has been used for both the back stitch stripes following the strong lines of colour, and as rows of French knots following tidemarks. I like to think of them as Sunflower seeds being planted in rows.
The sunflower print has been treated with some messy satin stitch in various block coloured threads and is quite simple. I haven't touched any of the green colour, and have splashed out on French knots in the centre- incidentally matching those in the Dahlia print. A nice bit of continuity there.
Up at the top things are much simpler and less shouty. Seed stitch, French knots, running (kantha) stitch and lime green satin stitch splodges complete the sky section. I really like the splodge fabric here actually as the colours bring the top and bottom together nicely.
The middle is more chaotic with waves of fancy yarn grasses, posh ric rac hedges and a solid line of suede cord, couched down into a discreet fence. I went a little overboard with my embellishments here but I love it! The way the looped fancy yarn has been set out helps give some perspective and creates an inviting pathway into fields beyond. The bottom of the loops has been bedded down with French knots, and some golden pistil stitches add a splash of colour to an otherwise very dark green section, helping light the way like little streetlights. The harshness of the straight cord has also been disguised slightly by the golden pistil stitches in the foreground, helping to blend the two sections together.
So there we have it. This one is, unsurprisingly, called Sunflower Meadow is and is super sunny on this grey day. Even the back of the embroidery is sunny and joyful- it actually reminds me more of the beach from the back. What do you think of this addition to my Stitchscape collection?
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