Ah I love these cards together, it's such a pretty colour palette with those warm neutrals, greens, blues and pops of colour. Unfortunately you'll notice that there are two of my cards in there - although I've tried to choose two which are as different from each other as I can - because there was a disaster in the post and one of the lady's cards did not arrive in her envelope! The side of the envelope had split open in transit and the card had snuck out, leaving the self addressed envelope behind. She opted not to make another one so I put in two of my own to the swap so that she could still have a card back (which is exactly the reason why I make extra!) I should have asked her if she had a photo of the card so I could add it to the album, never mind.
Several of these cards are based on actual castles, like Pevensey, Corfe and Knepp. In my last post I mentioned that I'd thought about basing the cards on an actual place but ended up making my own - I wonder if it was harder to copy a castle than just invent one?
The one above is was the one inspired by Knepp Castle which, according to Wikipedia, is a 12th century castle, west to the village of West Grinstead in West Sussex (that's a lot of wests!). It continued to be used until the 14th century for various things and then just kind of fizzled out, was mostly destroyed by the 18th century and then plundered for its materials to build a nearby road. What I particularly love is that if you Google Knepp Castle, you get exactly this image that has been so cleverly recreated in fabric and thread! It seems that the small piece that is on the card above, is all that is left of Knepp Castle in real life. How cool is that?
Now this one I remember as being Pevensey Castle with its lovely moat around the outside. I have visited Pevensey Castle, as it is fairly near to me and we have relatives living nearby. The water in this moat looks to have a lot of movement - especially with the two colours used in the needle at once to create light and dark ripples. I love the way the fence has been created as well with the rope and stitches over it. I shall have to go back to the real place and re-visit!
This castle card is very clever and has hidden depth to it which I haven't photographed very well at all (sorry Jackie). The turret, or tower on the right hand side is slightly padded so it actually comes out in a round lump from the card itself creating fantastic three-dimension. The stitching is wonderfully done with the hint of stonework and lovely textured foliage. On the back of her cards, Jackie writes the list of stitches she has used so, on this one, it lists; fly stitch, blanket stitch, straight stitch, couching, stem stitch, colonial knots, detached chain stitch and back stitch. Can you spot them all?
The perspective in this beautiful card is gorgeous. Just a simple view from a castle window but with lovely colours in the variegated thread that make it look like autumn. I particularly enjoy the back stitched stone work making that arch around the window opening and that it isn't symmetrical! I've often noticed with real castles (we visited a lot of English and Welsh Heritage sites when I was younger) that they aren't symmetrical but used the stones that they had at the time so there is a wonderful realism to this design.
I think this card (above) was the Corfe Castle card, and you can tell that from the shape of the cut paper/card there. I visited Corfe on a Dorset holiday a while back. It's National Trust owned now and is perched right on top of hill, as all of the best castles are. I remember there being absolutely incredible views from it!
I've just searched for it on my blog and come up with my post about it from August 2013!! You can see it for yourself
here if you are interested.
Castle windows really appeal to me. Not only do they usually have cracking views due to their locations, but it also makes me wonder how many other people have looked through that window. What were their situations like? What were they wearing? What did the world look like? Were they a servant person wishing for more in life, or were they happy with their lot? Perhaps they were the lord or lady of the house and all of the responsibilities that brings. Did it have glass panes? What did the room the window is set in look like?
It's times like that you really wish time travel wasn't fictional and you could just peek back and see what it looked like - actually looked like, not just what historians are supposing it might have looked like.
With beautiful roses like the ones above, set over lovely warm batik stone walls, I would have been very happy to sit on a window seat by that window and stitch and stare out at the view.
It is a shame that we lost a card on this swap, but I hope you'll agree the ones that did make it through are simply stunning!!
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