I really like these little cards, they have come out exactly as I envisioned them with the big Snowdrop at the front, smaller Snowdrops slightly further away and tiny Snowdrops in the distance. I have represented them in three different ways, with the big felt structure, detached chain stitches in groups of three and french knots to show less detail as the flowers are further away. I kind of showed how this design started out back in this post, where I was selecting fabrics and working on templates but I never really completely know how it will look when finished as I don't pre-plan the stitches used or colours picked out of my tin.
These are quite dainty I think. The palette is muted and pretty with the greens and pale blues of Spring time. The stitches have stayed quite delicate too and I've used quite thin strands here so that nothing is really too bulky.
Starting at the top layer, I haven't done much to this as I liked the faint leaf pattern on it - almost like little budding branches viewed up high in the sky from the floor down below - so I have just added a few rows of running stitch, fizzling them out after a couple of solid rows. I wanted to add a little tiny hint of sparkle somewhere in here too so I've popped a few tiny little beads in this layer, like bubbles of sunlight or perhaps a late snow flurry?
The green layer underneath is a polka dot that I've used a single strand of thread to work into a diagonal cross hatch to give it some texture. I've also used a narrow acrylic yarn doubled over to couch to the top of the fabric, hiding the rough edges.
Most of the slightly more yellow green was taken up with the stitched stems and petals of the felt Snowdrop so I haven't added any more here, other than to just neaten up the top with a two strand blanket stitch. The bottom of the layer has been blurred with the darker green base fabric by alternating straight stitches so that they are different heights and blend the two colours together. I've used these as my stems for the farthest Snowdrops and topped them all with two strand, two twist french knots.
The closer Snowdrops have had their stems made with a strand of coton perle so the thread is naturally thicker and has a different lustre to it, making them slightly shinier. Here I've used two strands to create the petals, mirroring the use of three with detached chain stitches and alternating the direction of the flower heads.
From the previous post about these cards, you might also have noticed that some more felt stems have appeared from when I last spoke about them, and that's because it just looked like something was missing - the composition wasn't balanced enough. Once I'd added some shorter stems it really helped to pull the card together (luckily I'd decided this before I'd started with my flower stitching!).
I took the cards out onto our balcony garden for a little photo shoot. We don't have any Snowdrops but do have Daffodils and Hyacinths just poking out of the soil, and Primroses flowering in all sorts of colours!
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