Not A Fire Flower Stitchscape

I don't usually plan my Stitchscapes. As in, when I'm starting out I might not have an idea of the scene that I want to make, or I might just have one fabric to work a whole landscape around. Rarely something might be roughly sketched out - usually if I'm incorporating some kind of building and I have to have some kind of templates for specific shapes. 

This lack of planning also generally goes into kit designs. I do have to collect the fabrics first because I need to buy in bolts of multiple metres so I basically spend months building up a collection of fabrics and then select some to turn into a kit. The Fire Flower kit was theoretically easy to re-make because I had some of the fabrics already there, and I also had the template design to just recreate and improve but I wanted to try and change up some of the thread colours used to match the new fabrics and make things a little different. But, for this first re-draft, my winging it and seeing what happens didn't work! 

I chatted it through with The Mother at the time and we decided that there was too much sun centre and not enough rays, and the red flowers were too red and the purple, whilst nice, was perhaps too much of a contrast....it was enough to make me start again with the redesign and I'm thrilled with how it turned out, but it left me with a mostly finished Stitchscape that then looked so sad and neglected on my windowsill. 

There is nothing wrong with this design or these colours. (I never tell anybody that they are wrong and in my workshops I always say that there is no right and wrong.) It didn't have the kit qualities I wanted but there wasn't anything that I would unpick and do again. So instead I had a little fun with it!! I added extra colours in (more than I would a kit) and also added some green stems to the yellow french knots that I'd scattered between all of my detached chain stitch daisy flowers. They're a darker green than that in the print but I was using up some leftover threads and I think the contrast works well as the darkness doesn't pop so much and all of the 'popping' is done by the sun. 

I've also used up several colours of yellow and orange for the french knots on the stems over the grey lace, and added fly stitch birds over the sun rays in dark charcoal grey. 

Of course, if you purchase a Fire Flower kit, either the original or the new version, there is nothing stopping you from adding, adapting and changing the thread colours as you would like. I really try to encourage individuality and although most of my kits give you layer by layer instructions, it doesn't mean you have to follow them if you have a better idea or would like to try a different technique. 

I really like this Stitchscape, I like how the pattern of the fabric in the sun looks like a tree is growing up through the middle of it, and I like all of the colours in the daisies at the bottom. It reminds me of a wildflower meadow. 

Interestingly, the colours of red and orange and purple as a combination seem to be often used - both Fire Flowers have this colour combination in the bottom fabric, but I've not embellished the purple on either official kit. Would you have added the purple in do you think?

So, most of these stitches are the same as the kit but the stitch run down for this piece is; running stitch, couching, seed stitch, french knots, whip stitch, straight stitch, back stitch, detached chain stitch and fly stitch. 

It's currently hanging up in my hallway so I see it every time I walk through the front door so it's not such a neglected hoop any more!