Summer Meadow July ATC Swap

 

I think that this swap may possibly be the prettiest of them yet, and it's interesting that you could almost split the group into three types of scene/landscape/composition created. There's the pink and white flower close up collection, a blue and red flower meadow collection and then more of a poppy/wheatfield collection. Do you see what I mean? There are a couple which don't really fit into these categories, but they are beautiful nonetheless - what is fascinating is that most of these cards aren't shared before being made so all of the designs are unique and yet still similar. Perhaps there is some subconscious universal representation of summer meadows...? I may be rambling, it's been a long day and it's now quite late at night as I type this!

The textures in these are lovely, scraps of fabric have been used as bunched up flower buds (like the frayed silk stem in the top of the above photo), cut shapes stitched down with a knot or tacking stitch, or as textured backgrounds. One of the scenes is embroidered directly onto painted card and paint has been further used to enhance some of the fabrics; felt has been used in some for a thicker texture (mine included) and the stitching itself, across the whole board, is exquisite! Lots of lovely lazy daisies/detached chain stitch, french knots and satin stitches to create the flowers and even some beautiful bees.

We also had a new participant join this month which is super exciting - I love that people can just jump in whenever they like, you don't have to sign up for the whole year and can skip a month or two if you need to. I'm really hopeful that we could maybe continue this swap next year with some new themes - I have a list of ideas ready to go!

The end of July felt really rushed for some reason - possibly because we were 'staycationing' with my family and were out every day to various places so we left early and didn't get back until fairly late. It was possibly more exhausting than an actual holiday as at least you would spend time in the holiday home and not keep rushing out everywhere. 

I photographed, swapped, spreadsheeted and posted these around the hectic holiday schedule so I don't feel like I was able to truly sit and appreciate them like I usually do so it's nice to have the photos to sit and look back on for inspiration. 

I always seem to end up photographing one card upside down as well! Which I only notice when I'm checking through the photos at the end, meaning I have to go back and set everything up again. This is the second month in a row that I've done that!! I wonder whether you can guess which card ended up upside down (I've corrected it in these photos). 

Here are some close ups of the gorgeous creations and, as always, you can see the full year's collection on my website!