Reflections Stitchscape

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. 

There were only the four fabrics you can see in this pack as it's a 10cm hoop, but I've used them in multiple layers, featuring both the front and the back of the more patterned floral fabric (the back at the top where it needs to be lighter, and the front in the reflection in the water). 

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. 

I think what really makes the bottom half look watery is the little waterlilies. They are so sweet! I made the lily pads first with a kind of rough satin stitch, then did two rows of detached chain stitch overlapping each other in light pink for the flower. I was going to leave it there but the bottom of the stitches was a bit rough and ready so I've added a little french knot to each in a darker pink which has really helped to finish those. They also overlap some of the layers of reflection so it has helped to bring the fabric pieces together.  

My line of trees at the waters edge has helped to soften the hard line of where mountain meets water and for this I've used three different colours of Stylecraft Special DK acrylic yarn and made them into rough french knots (stripping down the three strands to two to make it easier pulling through the layers). The yarn is quite matte so I've lifted this line with some little green beads to add a sparkle that hints at sunlight reflecting off the water and into the trees. 

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.

Working upwards, the mountains have been seed stitched all over using a variegated greenish yarn which reminds me of sun and shade. I've gone over this again with a single strand of vertical whip stitch to make my favourite bunny run texture and edged it in the same thread, having first separated all of the strands to try and get a bit of movement/fluffiness in the thread. 

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. 

It always amazes me that from a few layers of fabric, and some thread, can come this beautiful scene which you could lose yourself in, despite its small size. I was having a discussion the other week with members of Victoria Pavilion Arts that, although I would say I was an embroidery artist, my work isn't always seen as art and I generally feel quite unwelcome at galleries or art exhibitions because they tend to lean so heavily on painters as artists. What would you class this piece as? (And would you go and see an exhibition of Stitchscapes if I managed to find somewhere?) 

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!

My photography of this piece isn't as good as usual as it is about 0°C outside, even though it is sunny, and we've had some baby snow flurries so I wasn't all that keen on getting outside to freeze my fingers off today - the sunny window ledge of the living room will have to do! 

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.