Harvest Sun Stitchscape

I've finally finished it! My Harvest Sun Stitchscape is completed - this was only the second attempt, and I've still got to finish the first one which has been discarded in a heap (otherwise I'll feel too guilty). The pressure was on with this one because I want it to be a kit and my biggest kit design yet! After this one I'm going back to small and easy kits I think, there was a lot going into this one. 

I don't want anyone to be put off though, each layer has lots of different elements and I think they're quite pretty on their own! I have been considering this as like a stitch-a-long, or those magazines where you get a panel to stitch a month and then it all gets joined together at the end. I feel like this would make a good stitch along because you could do it over 7 weeks (putting the sky and sun as the first week). Let me know if this is something you would be interested in, it would be a good summertime project because of the long, light evenings - although I'm nowhere near ready with the kit booklet and instructions so it may be a late summer project!

There are lots of flowers in this hoop and it is just so pretty. It does remind me of a patchwork of fields - if you just glance at it you get an idea of the field layouts and the rough colours, but if you look up close you can see the details of the flowers and plants which is exactly how it would be in real life. I'm looking forward to going out and having a photoshoot with this somewhere in the countryside. 

Starting with the bottom layer for a change; this is edged in a really pretty, delicate cotton lace which seems to have petals of its own, mirroring the petals everywhere else. The daisies have been made with cotton a broder thread which I mentioned in my last post about this hoop but is a new thread to me. It's very smooth and you use the whole thread as it is (not stranded) but it hasn't got as obvious a twist in it as a cotton perle - you can see the two types of whole thread in the below image; the green thread which has been doubled up to edge the middle layer is a coton perle thread, and the white chunky daisies is the coton a broder thread. 

Inside the daisies I've used two slightly different seed beads, one a solid colour and one frosted. The solid beads I've added two stitches to to try and keep them lying flat so you can see the hole, and the frosted one I've just popped in one stitch so you don't get the hole showing. I'm not sure it's made that much of a difference but it's always good to give it a whirl. 

Little yellow french knot clusters have been added in any big gaps between the daisy flowers just to fill those sections in, and I've added some stems in green tapisserie yarn for thickness in any gaps going over the lace, then layered that with stranded anchor thread in green (just long straight stitches) in a couple of colours to try and build different a different light into the clumps and a single strand of lighter green thread to make pistil stitches. These have then been 'bedded in' with french knots in a lighter green tapisserie yarn. Basically I've been trying to build in a variety of textures and tones to create the idea of light and dark, and also scale. The thicker threads down here also help to balance the piece as they've been used further up in the hoop as an edging.

There are two fabrics which sort of overlap in the middle to create the next couple of layers up. For the slightly stripey linen texture fabric on the right hand side, I've kept this much more simple, adding cross hatched straight stitches in a single strand, little blue french knot Cornflowers and edged with bullion knots. 

On the left hand side, I've worked whipped back stitch along the swirly stems, then a single strand detached chain stitch in the leaves, yellow straight stitches following the petal lines in the print and a dark yellow french knot in the flower centres. I've then used the pale yellow again to couch two strands of coton perle thread along the raw fabric edge to make it more of a decorative feature and perhaps a little bit fence like?

Above that is more of this lovely golden yellow - the colours are balanced across the layers to make the whole scene easy going to look at with a path for your eyes to bounce along. The flowers in the print have been covered with detached chain stitches to make lazy daisies, and again centred with french knots. The leaves have a single strand straight stitch from one end to the other - two if the size and shape of the leaf needs it. I've ignored the white flower buds so they stand out on their own. Then the layer has been edged with bullion knots using two different yellow colours in the needle at once for a bit of subtle interest. 

Moving up, my green linen texture type fabric has been textured further using seed stitches, two strands in a matching green colour and one strand in a lighter one to provide little cloud shadows or blowing grasses - whatever you think it reminds you of. And there is a gorgeous mini ric rac trimming edging this layer, stitched down with a single strand of each of the aforementioned colours worked in a zig zag effect over the ric rac to hold it down. 

Above that is a really interesting fabric print which is sort of floral and sort of not. I have used a single strand and worked straight stitches from the tip of each petal and working inward - all of the central stitches have gone into pretty much the same hole in the fabric, although in some places I've had to make a second hole to reduce the lump of threads. Because some of the flowers aren't complete, each little section is slightly different and you can almost make up shapes if you needed to. Again these have been given a little centre with a french knot (which also hides any untidy middle bits). I've edged this fabric with two colours of tapisserie yarns, deconstructed a bit and put together to make them fluffy and slightly bobbly when couched down. 

The final green layer again follows the fabric pattern quite closely. This time working single strand whipped back stitches along the stems - in two colours where the colour in the pattern changes so on the light coloured stems you use the lighter coloured thread, and make clusters of dark french knots at the ends, then the colours swap on the printed darker coloured stems (so dark coloured threads for the stems and the lighter green for the french knots). This edge uses couched embroidery threads to give it a neat and discreet finish. 

The blue sky has a single strand row of blanket stitch along the raw edge which holds it down in case it's not all covered in sun rays, and a line or two of running stitch at the bottom following the lower fabric edges. The sun centre has been textured with seed stitch - making sure to take the stitches over the fabric edge so that when you come to add the bullion knots around the edge, it keeps everything nice and neat and tidy. Bullion knots hate mess and loose threads! The seed stitches have also used two slightly different shades of yellow thread in the needle at once, although I'm not sure if that really shows up or not. Similarly with the bullion knots and the two colours. 

The rays use three different colours and in either one or two strands worked round. I've discovered the best way to work out sun rays is to be quite mathematical and divide the shape up into quarters first rather than trying to work your way around it and hope for the best. All tips and diagrams will be in the booklet when I get around to it, and I would also recommend to keep any likely length of thread left over in your colours, then you could go back at the end and add some other shades of yellow in, if you wanted to, to build it up further. 

So there we go! I would say, just like that, but this one is a bit more involved and more like a Stitchscape I would make for myself with a whole number of colours and threads - usually I've tried to limit myself when making kits before but this one is a little bit all out! It may need two thread cards in the kit, one with the stranded cottons and one with the other types of thread.

The stitches are still easy (I think - aside from the knots which take a little practice) and there is lots of repetition as well which will help new learners. The stitch run down is; blanket stitch, straight stitch, bullion knots, seed stitch, running stitch, whipped back stitch, french knots, couching, detached chain stitch, pistil stitch and beading. 

I really hope it won't be too long now until I can finish a kit for this but June is really busy so I'll have to see how the rest of May goes!