February Lovers Lane Stitchscape Swap

 

What a sweet little collection this is - all based around the Lovers Lane theme. Lots of different lovers are represented here, with Welsh love spoons, sky love messages, love birds, love hearts, bowers and arches, golden lit pathways and the constellations of Andromeda and Perseus - the lovers. 

I thought that there would be more pink in these cards actually, but there is probably more green than pink which, if you thinking in an art critic kind of way, would symbolise new growth and beginnings, Mother Nature, loving the natural world and all that kind of stuff. 

The prompts given by me included country lanes, signposts, heart flowers, silhouetted figures, lovebirds, hearts, love knots, entwined branches, and I think we've pretty much covered all of those bases. Spoons and constellations weren't on there though so that's excellent thinking outside the box!

The spoon itself has been beautifully crossed stitched with lovely shading and french knot flowers and tiny heart buttons. 

These constellations are rather lovely, what a fab idea! I've had to Google Andromeda and Perseus as I'm not that clued up on their story. Mr Google says that;

• Andromeda's mother, Queen Cassiopeia, angered the sea god Poseidon by boasting that her daughter was more beautiful than the Nereids, Poseidon's sea nymphs. As punishment, Poseidon sent a sea monster, Cetus, to ravage the coasts of Ethiopia, where Andromeda's parents, King Cepheus and Queen Cassiopeia, ruled. An oracle advised that the only way to appease the gods was to sacrifice Andromeda to Cetus. King Cepheus, unwilling to sacrifice his kingdom, chained Andromeda to a rock on the shore, hoping to appease the gods by offering her to the monster. 
Perseus, flying over the area, saw Andromeda and fell in love with her. He asked her parents for her hand in marriage if he could save her, and they agreed. Perseus, armed with Medusa's head (which could turn anyone to stone), confronted Cetus and turned the monster to stone, saving Andromeda. Perseus then claimed Andromeda as his wife, fulfilling his promise. 
Perseus and Andromeda had a son named Perses, who became the ancestor of the Persians. After their deaths, both Perseus and Andromeda were placed among the constellations in the sky. 

• 

Amazing to fit that whole story into one card! The rest of them are all really lovely too - check them out...

The card above sadly got caught up in the post and didn't arrive until after I'd swapped the others out so it didn't get a chance to be included in the group photo. Luckily this is the reason why I make extra cards so I could do a straight swap and Sharon didn't miss out just because the post was slow. And I get to keep two cards this month!! It's a win win situation. 

Several people said that they weren't particularly inspired by this theme and found it quite hard - this year seems to be a year for slightly harder themes, but I think everyone did fantastically well! What a fun group of little artworks.