Stepping Stones ATCs

I loved making these ATCs. I wasn't sure it would pan out with the felt stones but actually I really love them and the way the different textures cast shadows and give it an overall three-dimensional effect. 

The colours really appeal to me as well. I have a little stash of small offcuts of felt which I purchased as a bundle and included a whole rainbow of colours so there's always one that fits my needs and for this one I had a few options to consider - sandy beige or a dark brown or a moss covered green. Strangely it was this bluey/grey that spoke most to me and I love how it seems to reflect the blues of the water. 

Each of the three stepping stones have been stitched with a different stitch to make them look slightly different. The bottom one is textured all over with seed stitch, the middle one edged with blanket stitch and the top, smallest one, outlined with back stitch. I think if they had all been done the same it would have looked a bit odd so I'm glad I took the risk of making them different. To help with the perspective and give distance, they also get slightly smaller the further away they go (or the higher up the card they sit).

They have all been given the same french knots at the bottom though to bring them together. I'm not sure what the knots are representing really - bubbles or lichen or just knobbly bits on the rocks, but they look cool so that's ok. 

There is fairly simple stitching on the rest of the card. The top fabric has no real stitching on, the green grassy fabric already has a grass texture print on it so all I've done is add some single strand straight stitches just to emphasise the grassy-ness of it, and there's a wonderful shiny textured ric-rac at the bottom to mark the edge of the bank. It's probably a bit chunky for the piece really but I loved the metallic strip going through it that I thought could reflect the water below, and the colours went so beautifully with the greens above. 

The two blue fabrics have been divided by a strand of Stylecraft Moonbeam yarn which I couched down before stitching the central stepping stone on so that it was pushed into the background. Stem stitch in a darker blue thread has been stitched to make ripples curving around the stones, and then a single strand of metallic thread has been stitched in random horizontal straight stitches to act as the water running through. I did actually add these in after my green stems so I had to slide my needle underneath the green reeds to make some of them, rather than leaving lots of gaps behind - it makes it look a little bit more natural as the slight metallic sheen peeps through.

Whilst the stems further away have been made with two strands of stranded cotton, I've used stranded cotton and cotton perle threads at the front to make the reeds chunkier and seem closer to the viewer. Glorious flower sequins have then been stitched over the top. I think these are super sequins, they have a slight cone shape to them so they aren't flat, and the petals are translucent and slightly pearly so they catch the light in a really delicate way. I would love to find out a big supplier of these to be able to offer them in my shop but I've only come across them in small packets at stitching shows, they don't even have a supplier name on to help me track them down. If anyone knows - clue me in!

To stitch them I have used a single strand and stitched between the petals into the central hole, then made a tiny french knot (one strand, two twist) in the centre to finish them off. 

I love the movement in these, and the fact that there are shadows cast which helps to give it life. You can almost hear the water trickling through the stream as you hop over the stones. 

To finish, the final stitch run down is; seed stitch, straight stitch, french knots, stem stitch, couching, blanket stitch and back stitch.