Autumn Blaze ATCs

These cards have been finished for a little while but, because I make two different batches (two themes) at a time in a large hoop, I have to have them all finished before I can cut them out. It would be nice to be a little bit more prepared like I was at the beginning of the year but it's had to take a bit of a back burner, for obvious reasons to long time readers (new baby, for others), and I am on the line with finishing these! 

They are quite out there in terms of colour and texture. It's a bit of a riot and there isn't a lot of breathing space for your eyes in the composition. The background fabrics are mostly patterned with print or ink stains, there are two rows of the fuzzy eyelash yarn waving at you like fluffy grasses and the scale-like leaves burst from the felted tree trunks. 

The colours are all very similar as well and, in my mind's eye, I can see the autumn woodland scene I wanted to portray. I think I've managed to capture it - imagine yourself immersed in woodland. Yellowy leaves cover the usual woodland path, turning brown and sludgy as they start to decay and return to the soil. Lifting your eyes from the floor, crispy ochre leaves wave and flutter at you as they cling to the branches waiting for a strong gust to come through and give them a ride to join the others down below. They rise higher and higher, the colours of gold, bronze and russet a kaleidoscope of constant movement as the breeze gently toys with them like fingers running through strands of hair. Patches of dappled sunlight filter through the canopy, lighting up the occasional branch so that it gleams and glows brighter than the rest; one final moment of glory before it will all be gone in a few days' time. 

That's all a bit poetic but I think these cards would fit that bill and I hope you would agree? I'm still slightly concerned that the regular circles of paper are a little fish-scale like but, overall, I'm really happy with the texture they've created and the way they do move and rustle when you touch them. I've used a couple of colours of sugar paper, one translucent thin paper and a handmade, more rustic paper to give different effects. 

There isn't really a lot of stitching in this one (by my usual standards that is). There is no stitching on the top yellow layer at all and the reddish leaf print layer beneath has just been edged with a flat fancy yarn. The leopard print layer under that has been edged with bullion knots and some rows of running stitch added to the top and bottom to help hold the fabric down, with blanket stitch edging the yellow leaf print layer below. 

The bottom layer has been trimmed with the fancy eyelash yarn at the top and bottom, which has then been randomly snipped so that it doesn't have a flat top to it and looks more grass like with different heights and directions. Now that was a messy job with little fibres floating all over the place!

I stitched the leaf litter to the bottom of the card, over the top of the eyelash yarn and added french knots to it to help it look more grounded. On three of the cards I added smaller, two twist dark brown knots among the mustard colour ones but, right on the last card, decided that actually I preferred the look of the skinny straight stitches! It was too late to go back through and snip out all of the knots as I'd stitched two of the backs on by that point, but I don't think they look bad - I just prefer the last one once I'd thought of it. What do you think? Spots or lines?

The trees are just felt which have been back stitched all of the way around and infilled with straight stitches to add texture. The leaves were stitched from the tips of the branches in toward the centre and it's just one little over stitch on each leaf (using one strand of thread). 

I've seen some of the other cards that are coming in for this swap and there are lots of pumpkins among them. Amazing really because pumpkins didn't really cross my mind when thinking about this theme, I was totally fixated on the vision of autumn woodland-ness. I can't wait for them all to come in so that I can show you!