November Poppy Fields ATCs

It's the penultimate collection for 2024!! How this has whizzed by this year. This theme is incredible and the cards so beautiful. I don't know about you but I have too many favourites to choose just one (not that I would anyway, they're like children - they're all my favourite). 

As always, the quality of these designs, the execution of the stitches and composition is just wonderful. They have had so much thought put into them and I really hope everyone is still enjoying their card making process. I love the landscapes and the close up details, the layers, the colours - shades of red and green are working beautifully together here - the iconic historical representations and the emotions that they bring with them. Poppy Fields as a theme was always going to be more than just a pretty image, especially as a November theme where memories and feelings and personal histories are brought to the surface for many people. 

It's lovely to have so many different textures brought into play - the cards use ribbons, stitched crepe paper, layers of sheer organza, embroidery threads galore, painted fabrics, crochet, beadwork, felts, fine cords, machine stitching and hand stitching. There are thoughtful layers and colours and different ways to represent parts of the scene. For example, Jacquie's card below has a beautiful layered sky with what looks like soft fabric papers torn at the edge and then feather-stitched to look like those wispy herringbone cloud formations you get when it's windy. That's before you get to the lovely green field below, possibly with hand painted or dyed colours of yellow on and little french knots stitched over. Some kind of woven tape or heavy cloth has been cut to form a wall or fence, layered with snips of red organza and more french knots over the top of that. It says a sunny and windy day to me, and I can imagine the poppy heads bopping to the tune of the whistling wind. 

Sharon's gorgeous sunset poppy design is very striking with that wonderful warm pink batik fabric sky, the bold golden sun and then the stitched detail of the poppies themselves. She's stitched petals with ribbons which have a beautiful sheen to them, contrasting with the matte and textured crepe paper that's been cut, crumpled and stitched into flower heads at the back. The sheen on the ribbon is almost exactly what poppy petals look like if you look really closely. I love photographing them when they appear in my parents garden and they are silky soft and slightly shiny like a satin ribbon. I love the ears of wheat she's stitched in as well. 

Michelle has gone for bold! Her beautiful crochet poppy is very reminiscent of those worn as brooches in November time. The use of the black and grey fabric behind is very striking too, really making that red stand out along with the border of felt circles around. 

These two cards are also scenes that you may be likely to see in documentaries, the war graves and marble memorials that just speak volumes. We can all see in our minds eye the fields and fields of graves and have probably all visited at least one memorial site with those thousands of names carved into stone or wood. There is a beautiful and quiet simplicity to these cards which is just lovely. 

I can't remember whether the slubbed material Jackie used for her close up poppy piece was actually slightly different coloured reds or if it's the way the light is reflecting off the fabrics as you can see in the photo that the fabric grain is going in different directions. It's a lovely lustrous material and contrasts beautifully with the silky stitches at the centre. So effective. 

These sequins are fab aren't they? I haven't seen any this shape before, they work really well - and similarly to the ones I put on mine, have been attached with a french knot through the centre rather than stitched over the sequin. It's a very neat way of stitching on the sequins, although with this shape it would be fun to experiment with stitching between the petals - perhaps even bending up the petals so that it's no longer flat! This is quite similar to Michelle's crochet poppy in terms of composition, with the lovely stitched poppy in the centre of the card and mini versions all of the way around. 

This card from Sam also matches the one made by Jacquie - I find it really interesting when cards are very similar but made in a totally different way. Sam has used knitting yarn for her fabric borders which gives great depth and perspective, then a layer of scrim at the front with the edges of that allowed to be wavy and wild, adding to her stems and leaves from her poppies. The scale of the french knots has worked well too, with small knots at the back (further up) and bigger ones at the front, ending up with felt circles with extra detailing.

This one from Abi is amazing! It's like tulip fields from Holland but with poppies! All of those woven wheel stitches and french knots! I love the variety of colour too, the warm tones work really nicely together, finished off with those little fluffy clouds. This was a great one to run my fingers over and feel the bobble, like a carpet of french knot flowers. 

What a great swap!

Made & Making Christmas

 

A couple of weeks ago now I had my last workshop of the year at Made and Making, this time on a Christmas theme! Seven lovely ladies came to create little miniature 10cm works of stitchy art and we very nearly got them finished too. There just aren't quite enough hours in the workshop to fully complete and it can be very difficult to judge how long you actually need as the workshop is open (and ideal) for all levels of stitcher, from speedy practiced ones, to slightly needy novice ones - see what I did there? 

We could probably have done with another hour in this case but they were almost there and I really hope they went home and just finished off the last few stitches and got the backs drawn up so they could be hung on a tree. 

I have had some really lovely feedback about workshops this year. Quite often those who come don't want to leave and it's a wrench to get them to stop stitching! Even through lunch sometimes they carry on, sandwich abandoned to the side because they've had an idea. It really doesn't matter if they don't finish but it's getting that creative flow going - especially for those who arrive and say 'I'm not that creative'. 

For me, the joy of the workshops is seeing and feeling that buzz grow throughout the day. Most of the people who come have never met each other, and some may not quite know what made them sign up for the session so there is always a slightly awkward, overly-British polite start but, by lunchtime, there is a flow, the conversation covers all kinds of topics and, most of the time, it's a safe space for people to open up and share stories, swap advice, discover odd and mutual links between them, and create. These workshops are so much more than just sitting and stitching a picture. It's a community, an inspirational moment, a breathing space, an escape. 

Some people who come literally turn their phones off so that they can't be disturbed. No one rings them, they aren't worrying about the jobs they haven't done at home - because they can't. This slot is allocated for them to have some fun. And it shows in what is made at the end. 

Christmas workshops are slightly different as they are more about finding patterns you like and adding sparkle and fun trimmings that might catch the light on a tree or mantlepiece. There is no pressure on scale or perspective - although one lady did recreate a skiing holiday as you can see! This piece was going to be a gift for her partner to capture a memory of holidays spent together - and is a first for me as no one has ever stitched a ski slope into a Stitchscape before!! It looks absolutely fabulous!

Festive Christmas sheep!

They are really playful Stitchscapes and it was such a joy to help them come together. I sometimes feel like I don't do all that much really, hand out fabrics and hoops and then just kind of loom over people until they ask a question but I suppose I am a facilitator of creativeness, if there is such a thing. 

It's been a brilliant year at Made and Making and I'm very lucky to be able to tutor in such a fab creative space. We do have some class dates available for booking in 2025 if you would like to come along to one. They are classes that have run before - seaside and a general creative workshop, but I have also sent in some new ideas for classes which we may try. They are getting Christmas out of the way first and then coming back to me when the madness has died down a little which is fair enough. Keep an eye out on my events page for other dates - or sign up to my newsletter so you don't miss an event (you can sign up via my website).

Poppy Fields

Firstly I'm sorry these photos aren't quite as good as my usual ones. They have been taken on my phone as the cat decided to push my beloved camera off a desk and now the shutter button doesn't work!! I don't quite know what to do about it as everything else seems to be fine, just that button won't now 'click' so no photos are taken. The cat is very much in the doghouse about it. 

Anyway, these cards didn't end up quite how I'd expected them too. They are almost abstract with different layers of poppy-ness about them rather than the scene that had initially been in my head. It is a brilliant example of what happens when you just let things evolve. I don't ever really plan things out beforehand, unless it has a structure to it like a building or something, but in my head I was going to do more of a close view of a field and the poppy heads were all going to be in the red fabric layer, perhaps easing up into the layer above and the bottom layer would be stems and stripes. 

I started with the top green layer to add in some texture and I think when I added in the little french knots in red that's when the ideas started to change. The layer was covered in single strand seed stitches first off and then scattered across with the two strand, one twist knots. I've edged the layer beneath in a soft yarn which matches more of the colour of the top layer than the one I'm actually edging which plays a little bit with the perspective and almost pushes that darker layer back into a horizon. 

The dark layer I was initially just adding stems onto and then I was going to put little poppy flowers on top but I really liked the subtle texture of the stems so left it as just the long straight stitches, angled in slightly different directions and at different heights. 

Of course, then if those two layers weren't going to be more realistic in their interpretation, I decided to just have some fun with the rest of the piece, stitching rows of one strand back stitch in red between all of the spots on the red polka dot fabric below to make a diagonal cross hatch pattern. I started, and then regretted, adding in french knots in black coton perle thread in the spots where the threads meet. The dark green fabric, which is overlapped by the red polka dot, is a batik cotton which means it's more tightly woven than the craft cotton on the top and I really struggled getting my needles through these layers for the knots!! It took me absolutely ages as I had to do it in little instalments and I still ended up with blisters on my thumb. I should have gone and bought some long nose pliers to help me bring the needle through. Eventually I got there though and there were spots everywhere!

For the bottom layer I then had the idea of using small circles to create little poppy heads, and played around with the idea of using circles of felt, perhaps not evenly round circles, or hole punching red card to make little tiny spots. In the end I came across these flat sequins at work and decided to use those to add a little bit of discreet sparkle as well. I could have combined all three ideas which would have been interesting but I was running out of time to complete these cards before the deadline. Perhaps it's something that could be explored in a bigger hoop situation.

I would also have liked to use black or dark blue beads to hold the sequins on but I couldn't find any so I've used more of the black coton perle thread and made bigger french knots than those in the red layer to wedge the sequins on. 

I am quite pleased with how these turned out. It kind of gives hints of poppy field-ness without actually saying it, and there's a slight air of sketchbook experimentation about it, trying to translate the theme in as many ways as possible and then layering them together. My university tutors would be very proud I'm sure. 

The final stitch run down for these cards is; seed stitch, french knots, couching, straight stitch, back stitch, and bullion knots. Possibly the least number of stitches I've ever used in a set of cards! But hopefully they aren't too boring and fit in with the rest of the cards coming in from across the country for the swap. 

Counting Down

How is everyone doing? Are you all ok? I'm definitely feeling very swan-like at the moment, seemingly coping very well on the surface and juggling all my balls but underneath there's a lot of frantic paddling, unsettled nights, endless to-do lists, hours and hours of wrapping presents and trying to make sure I haven't missed anything. I haven't properly sat and stitched or relaxed for what feels like weeks, my evenings being taken up with admin for end of term Guiding, writing risk assessments for cinema trips, writing cards, packing online orders, filling in forms and goodness knows what else. 

I think it is perhaps worse this year because for the first time we have little nursery friends for Baby F to write cards for, teacher gifts to think up, extra Christmas parties and events that we're attending and our weekends haven't been free at all for us to take a breather. We've seen Santa in various places, just keeping bumping into him(!) and have attended Baby F's first ever Nativity! In which he was Rudolph...the Grinch was also present at the birth of Jesus which was very interesting. 

The weather has sunk into a gloomy, wet and windy mood which probably doesn't help. We had a fantastic randomly sunny day at the weekend and managed to take advantage of it with a quick half an hour at Sheffield Park to feed the ducks, look at their Snowman trail and let the sproglet run off some steam. Since then it's just been dismal and doesn't ever seem to get light. We have to keep our lights on inside the whole day!

 

Baby F is absolutely loving nursery and has made several friends, including his main supervisor Jade (who he calls Lily??? Reason unknown.) who is brilliant. The other week he brought home the nursery dog, Frank, who has a diary that he likes you to fill in after your week together, showing all of the things that you've done and places you've been. Reading through Frank's previous diary entries, he spent 10 days in Egypt earlier in the year!! I'm not sure we can top that but he did come with us to the Uckfield Late Night Shopping event, and to the Festival of Christmas Trees at Holy Cross Church, and then to a party with a bouncy castle and scooter things. Baby F was super excited to have him stay and introduced him to all of his other teddy bears and stuffed toys the minute we got home - before settling down for a movie and popcorn night together which was very sweet. 

The Christmas tree festival is always very popular and you have to get there quite early to avoid the queue. We didn't go last year because you could see the queue was enormously long but this year we thought Baby F would have the patience to sit and wait in it so took our place in the line. 

It was lovely to see the church all lit up and to walk along a path lined with candles in jam jars, very festive. Inside was incredible - they have over 100 trees crammed in there. I had been during the week to decorate a tree for Girlguiding Uckfield District so I had an inkling of what it would look like, but to be there when it was all fully decorated and lit up was brilliant. 

We only managed the bottom floor before a certain small someone decided that he'd had enough - which was fair enough as progress around is slow whilst you wait for those in front of you to move on and 2 year olds aren't known for their tolerance and patience. One day we will get round the whole thing!

Frank had a nice time too. 

My stitching time is mostly limited to my coffee mornings, but I did snatch 10 minutes on the bus the other weekend as it was daylight and I could see what colours I was using. We are nearly at the shortest day now, huzzah! The worst bit about catching the bus is when you get it in the dark at both ends of the day. There aren't even any fun sunrises or sunsets to inspire you this time of year. This hoop has been hanging around forever and really needs finishing off! I might get some time to do that this evening perhaps which would be nice. 

We are definitely winding down for Christmas now. I keep thinking it is on a weekend this year but it's a week today to Christmas day!! Ours will be slightly different from our usual as some of Reece's family plans have changed and we are having a rather quiet Christmas day round my parent's house as just us five. Reece and I are cooking fish for Christmas dinner (crusted sea bass most likely), but then on Boxing Day my sister and brother and families are joining us for a belated 'traditional' Christmas dinner and present opening session. 

Before then though we have most of Reece's family squeezing into our flat for a pre-Christmas, Christmas shindig in lieu of the actual day so the children can open their presents and we can celebrate together, then we have an uncle's birthday party on Christmas Eve, followed by a Christmas Eve evening at Bedgebury Pinetum to see the lights!! There's a lot to come in the next seven days. I'll have to see you on the other side!

I will hopefully have a few other blog posts coming out in the next couple of days as I can catch up with those this afternoon but they have more specific topics rather than a chatty catch up so, have a very Merry Christmas!! Just keep paddling.