Misty Shadows

 

The last swap of 2024!! Amazing to think that this is the 36th theme I've made cards for. Who'd have thought there even were 36 different themes? There is a slight similarity I think between these Misty Shadows cards and my December card from last year based on Still Reflections (you can see it here and let me know what you think). It's the silvery tones for me I think and the idea of water at the bottom of each card. Even the December cards from 2022 have a similar silvery background, it must be an unconscious colour choice that I keep coming back to - probably inspired by the mists and rain and general dark silveriness that comes with winter. 

These cards are bluer though and I was going for a sort of misty hill and valley type look, layering pale colours for the sky then a looming dark batik hill line and softer blue/grey fabrics coming forward. It's a bit like the view I have out of my kitchen window of the South Downs, lots of layers of tree lines and fields, building up in shades of greyish blue. Sometimes the mists sit in the valley and there's one bit that pokes out, making it suddenly look like an island surrounded by water. In the sunshine of course it's transformed and you can clearly see the browns and greens of the bracken and scrub and trees, but it does look very mystical at times. 

I've tried a little bit of extra layering on these cards - the challenge is keeping it flat enough to be posted as a normal letter (not large letter) as it goes out in a pre-stamped envelope. The background fabrics have been layered and stitched with textural embroidery stitches as normal; nothing on the top (not needed in this case), single strand running stitch in the next layer down and edged with couched yarn, single strand back stitch around the batik splodges but nothing on the fabric edge in the next layer, followed by seed stitch with a french knot edging, just a blanket stitch edging with a single row of running stitch to help hold the bottom of the fabric, and nothing really on the bottom layer. Instead of a texture stitch on the bottom piece, I have edged it with a really lovely trimming which is like a puffy ric rac but has a slight sheen to it which is gorgeous, and lovely muted colours. 

Over the top of the trimming I've made some straight stitch clusters to be reeds or scrubby plants (depending on whether you think the bottom layer is watery or not - I leave it open to you), and then I cut up some wide, silvery organza ribbon to go over the top of that. I've cut the edge off the ribbon, cutting slight wiggly lines into it and then layered it over the top of the fabrics, stitching them down with big invisible thread stitches. I've tried to make it a little bit three dimensional by pushing the second side in towards the first as I've stitched, puffing it up slightly and then stitching through it again to make less of a bubble and add interest with my invisible thread. There are three pieces of ribbon per card, criss-crossing over the fabric layers and overlapping each other in some places to make a more dense mist. 

Working back over the mist at the bottom, I've made more straight stitch clusters over the top of the ribbon, and then also added in some little grey beads to be rocks or bubbles at the bottom of that just to give a different sort of shine to the lustre of the ribbon - and also the silvery print on the bottom fabric. 

There's quite a lot going on in the card but I think it calms and comes together in terms of colour and tone. The organza ribbon blends and hides all of the stitches beneath it, but not completely so it wasn't a waste of time to embroider first. I actually really like the bold horizontal lines of the couched yarn, french knots and ric rac trimming - even the beads a little bit. It gives a really nice sense of order to the card and that layered look I was going for when thinking of looking off into the distance and seeing the lines of shaded trees and hills. 

I think my only change, if I were to do it again, would be to not make such big invisible stitches through the bobbled ribbon because I don't like how you can see them at certain angles. I could also perhaps try mixing different colours of organza ribbon, like pale blue or white, to see what effect that makes. There are always things you can think of to change when you've finished a project though, it's what keeps it interesting!

So, the final stitch run down, for the final swap theme of 2024, is; couching, running stitch, back stitch, french knots, seed stitch, blanket stitch, straight stitch and beading.