We have been blessed with several absolutely fantastic sunsets this last couple of weeks. If it weren't for a nippy wind that brings the temperature on the balcony down to what feels like freezing, then I would be sat outside every evening (once the baby was in bed and the chores done) to stitch and watch the sun go down in a blaze of fiery colours.
My other half laughs at me because I get so excited by the view, which we are very fortunate to see from our kitchen/living area and the fire escape balcony that leads off of it. This whole half of our flat gets filled with deep orange or pink light for about 15 minutes a day as the sun has a last minute peek through our windows. The colours change constantly and the sky is still full of amazing pinks and purples even after the sun has dipped below the horizon.
Sun rays are fairly mathematical and it can look very odd if you try to guess the direction of the ray and work around the circle shape. It uses more thread but looks much better on the front if you block in your quarters, eighths, sixteenths etc and then fill in those gaps. I would recommend actually drawing little guide lines on the back of your calico too to keep you in check.
The old fabric had also included a fair amount of red so I tried bringing that in to some of those daisy flowers in the new piece but I have to admit it wasn't singing to me like the old one did.
After a creative discussion with The Mother to get her opinion, we decided that actually it wasn't working and I would have to start again (the penalty for not planning anything beforehand). She suggested less sun and more mountains, and pointed out that the top half of the hoop was so much more orange than the previous design, which had sort of got an ombre thing going on with the white and orange stripe bridging the white polka dot fabric and the bright orange floral background layers. I had also made the sun rays darker and orange which then blended in too much with the background so it was kind of lost. All very good points!
So, I started again completely from scratch, still using my new circular sun shape but making the grey polka dot mountains much taller to hide the sun behind. The benefit of keeping the sun circular is that then when everyone makes their own version, they can choose how much sunshine to include, plus it also makes the shape a little bit more realistic.
The orange layer underneath I've actually done the same as the original FF kit but, rather than following the stripe lines and stitching lines in orange, I've taken that ombre idea The Mother mentioned and made my own stripes in white across the layer. It helps drag down that paler colouring and means you can actually see the layer itself now which is better. I've edged it with french knots for texture.
The sun is also similar, using whipped back stitch to create the floral stems and french knots to add in the bud flowers. Running stitches go around the edge of the sun where required to hold that fabric down, and the cord couched around the edge. The sunrays still use the two colours of coton perle thread as I like to include different types of thread in the kits, as well as a yellow stranded cotton to make it slightly less orange and stand out from the background more.
As I've previously mentioned the lace has then been moved down a layer from the original because that was a fairly flat line and the lace sits more comfortably on the fabric.
Because the fabric pattern is fairly wishy-washy, you can make the flowers wherever you like really. Not all of the colour blocks work into a flower shape, and some you sort of have to draw a flower using the detached chain stitches out of a random splodge but it will all help to make each Stitchscape unique to you. I have taken these flowers over the edge of the lace too where applicable.
I'll leave it to you to decide - which do you prefer? Or do you like them both in their own way?
There are still some of the original Fire Flower kits available in my Etsy/Web shops and with my stockists. If you would rather hang on for the new one I still have the booklet to write up which I'm hoping will be quicker than usual as I can re-use some of the diagrams and wording from the original one. I will of course let you know when it's available!
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