Water Lily Lagoon Stitchscape

 

A few days ago I finished this little example hoop that I'd put together as a demonstration of layering for a Made & Making class. It is loosely based on the Reflections Stitchscape that I'd made at the end of last year, but a little bit bigger and darker. I just loved making the water and reflections and ripples, and thought I could give it another go to make it better. 

I just love the colours that make up the water. They loosely follow the colours of the fabrics underneath but also try to be a reflection of the fabric they are meant to mirror. I've not edged the water fabrics like I did last time, but blurred the lines between them by stitching into the other layers to create that slight ripple. 

The dark blue water was fairly easy, lots of nice dark blues in wiggly lines or patches, all worked in long straight stitches following the line of the shore. The next fabric was slightly more yellowy so I've worked over the top with flashes of yellow to match the fabric (and maybe reflect the lilies?) but also a light turquoise to reflect the mirror fabric. Luckily I'd worked the water first so when it came to stitching that sky piece (2nd layer down from the top), I could add some little patches of discreet yellow seed stitch in with the turquoise to help match those two pieces up. 

The bottom water fabric is different rows of pale grey and throughout the whole water section I've experimented with using a DMC Silky floss in silver rather than a more metallic thread. It's a little bit more subtle. 

The lily pads have been randomly spotted over the water, drawing out the shapes first in back stitch, then covering them with a rough satin stitch. There are a couple of different colours of green used on these to make it look more natural. The flowers themselves are two sets of three detached chain stitches. Three larger chain stitches first, then filled in with three more small chain stitches to either make them look bolder or to hint at them being a sort of cup shape. 

They didn't look right just as chain stitches though and the bottoms were a bit messy so I've taken some artistic license and added a matching yellow bead to the bottom of each one. To help with a sense of perspective I've used larger beads for the closer flowers and smaller ones for those meant to be further away. The lilies in the distance have been made with a couple of stitches in green with french knots to show the yellow for the flowers. Buds have been made in french knots for those closer as well. 

The trees and bushes along the waters edge have been made by pulling one strand from a double knit acrylic yarn and allowing the other twisted strands within it to bunch up. These bunched strands have then been couched down so that they aren't quite in a straight line and there's a little wiggle happening there! Oily green beads have been added throughout to represent light reflecting off the water and into the trees. I've discovered that it often helps to lift a Stitchscape if there is something shiny in it, even if it's not an intentionally shiny piece.

The batik fabric for the mountains has mostly been left alone. I loved the colours that were already there so I've just filled in a couple of the easier sections, like the dark navy splodges, with rows of straight stitch set slightly apart. There were some areas which were slightly lighter that I've added a sky blue to, hinting at areas of sunlight. To create some movement across the layer, and also fill in some of the gaps I've added rows of running stitch - which remind me a little of marching ants! (But that could just be because we watch a lot of 'the ants came marching' music videos thanks to the small person in the house.)

The edging is a thin cord which I've couched on which has given a really defined hard edge. To be honest I'm not that keen on it, I'm wondering whether bullion knots would have looked better and bit softer but I've kept the cord in as the colours went so well. 

The very top grey layer is a discreet batik print and I've gone around all of the obvious pattern with a single strand of back stitch. The french knots actually also follow the pattern where there were some dots in the print and this one was edged in bullion knots. My little cross stitch kisses have been added top and bottom to blend in the calico backing (and I was actually reminded by someone on Facebook to do this when I put up a photo asking for opinions!! I love that it has become a little trademark of mine.) 

So there we go! Another Stitchscape to add to my collection. The stitch run down for this one includes; straight stitch, satin stitch, detached chain stitch, beading, french knots, running stitch, couching, back stitch, seed stitch and bullion knots.