I often end up with a few little half finished hoops or little kits that I put together for a special workshop that are then left over and, after having them for a while, I like to make them into something and finish them off. It seems only fair. The fabrics for this hoop were put together in 2017/8 I think for a workshop with Bridge Arts in Uckfield and the pack has been kind of hanging around since then so I figured it was time to do something with it.
The two top fabrics and the two bottom fabrics are the same and are mirrored, but I've made it so that the green mountains appear dark blue in the hopes that it will really look like a shadowy reflection.
Each of the three reflected layers have been treated in the same way, with strands of long straight stitches worked horizontally across the hoop. The stitches aren't regular in length or in distance from each other so it really helps to make it look like little ripples working across the surface of water with the breeze. The colours of thread used in each layer have changed slightly to match the colours underneath, and I've added a thin strand of green in the mountain reflection to pick up on the green in the fabric above. The fabrics have been edged so they are treated completely individually in that respect, the long stitches don't cross over fabric edges, and I've used couching and bullion knots for this.
All three layers do have a single strand of a metallic blue thread stitched through them to add a reflective element and a little bit of sparkle to the water which is quite discreet but definitely worth adding.
The light blue fabric has had a single strand of running stitch worked in rows following the line of the top edge. I could alternatively have made the running stitches follow the line of the mountains but I wanted to mirror the lines of the water below.
And the turquoise floral fabric at the top, which is actually the reverse of the print has just had the faint lines of a flower worked in a single strand of back stitch because I thought they looked quite cloudy? The cloud element has been added in again with white fluffy french knots along that top edge. I haven't stitched across this whole layer because I just wanted to pick out the flower element but I could have chosen to edge that leaf print as well. I love that there are always so many options for these pieces. I could equally have edged the flower in white to make it look more like a cloud but there isn't that much white elsewhere in the piece so again the turquoise colour is balancing against all of the blue tones lower down in the piece. If I had done the sky first and used white, I would probably have used white in the reflection as well to help balance it - it all depends on which section is stitched first.
Funnily enough though, at some craft fairs I've been to, I am occasionally overlooked (quite loudly) as 'just another painter' by people who don't come close enough to look so it seems like I can't win either way!
So all in all, the stitch run down for this piece is; straight stitch, french knots, back stitch, bullion knots, running stitch, seed stitch, whip stitch, couching, beading, satin stitch and detached chain stitch. Nice and easy.
I would definitely class you as an artist, and would visit an exhibition of stitchscapes very happily! 😁
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