Turning

It's been an absolute age since I did a blog post just commenting on the state of the garden and briefly bringing you lovely readers up to speed on the projects I'm doing- even if I haven't actually touched them since the last time I showed you!
I used to write this kind of blog post all of the time, sometimes the blog could go for weeks without a single mention of a creative happening, but concentrated instead on the turn of the seasons and the flowers that were planted, or even just the colour of the sky! What I am doing is very much reflected on here, and as I am putting so many more hours into sewing and stitchscapes, I'm afraid that is pretty much all you have been getting. My crochet has stopped completely, although as the days get shorter and evenings cooler, I have been having small thoughts about finishing off some of my many crochet WIPs. I prefer making blankets and it is the best activity to do during the winter because you can snuggle underneath it whilst you go.
Instagram has had a lot to do with the blog changing as well I think as I am still taking quick snap shots of things I see, but taking the image on my phone and immediately uploading it to a portal through which you can all view them, whereas previously I would rush inside, grab my camera and then have lots of stored images to go through when I wanted to write a blog. I try not to cross my Instagram and blog images too much as it would be boring to have the same ones, and I can get a lot more detail in from my camera.

But anyway, today I have made a special effort- especially as the sun is shining so beautifully! It has been a gorgeous week, weather-wise, slightly nippy and a bit breezy but the sun has shone throughout and in the middle of the day it is actually very warm for this time of year. Hopefully we can hang on to it as long as possible! The mornings have been spectacular with the most amazing sunrises (photos of which you can find on Instagram as I don't have time in the morning to rush inside for my camera) whilst I eat my breakfast and leave for work. They have been quite misty so there are layers of  low-lying, swirling mist, tinged just the palest shade of yellow with the big circle of sun just behind, trying to burn it's way through. The spiders are out in full force and the webs starting to coat the garden were all sparkly with dew droplets, it was really pretty!
Bartholemew's Oast House is so near completion but I have had to pause in my efforts to concentrate on more seasonal Christmas projects. It doesn't really matter, he's on holiday for a little while yet but it would be nice to get him finished as soon as possible. I have started on the blue flowers at the edge of the woodland, with a big detached chain stitch daisy flower, some satin stitch and french knots. After I finish the flowers there are leaves to go on the trees, and perhaps (now I look at it) some grasses to grow up against the fence as it looks a little bereft all by itself. I will make time for it soon.

The reason poor Mr B has been abandoned is because of these. I made some last year as a very last minute Christmas idea and it would seem I am repeating myself as I promised Christmas would be done and dusted by August (lies, all lies!), whereas in fact, I didn't start it until August. They are my little 10cm Christmas decorations which can hang on the tree, or be propped on the mantel, or hung on the wall. I have been teaching classes on this as they are so easy to make! They aren't really landscapes, or anything particularly, just four fabrics layered on top of each other and made sparkly. It uses the techniques of stitchscaping rather than actually being one.
I do have some left from last year, but because of the classes, made some more as demonstrations and was then donated lots of new Christmas fabrics which sparked off lots of new ideas.

They are perfect projects for the bus as they are so small. This week has been rather lovely because in the mornings the bus is filled with a golden glow and I can sit in peace and quiet, with my earphones plugged in, sewing for an hour of uninterrupted bliss. Apart from the pot holes that is, which can cause some stress and stabbing of fingers.
I have two more little decorations on the go as well, which I don't normally do. I prefer to finish one and then move on, but I had developed a technique with the snowflakes on the green one that I wanted to pass on to the silver on before I forgot it so transferred myself over.
Hopefully I still have time to make lots of these before the Wealden Times Midwinter Fair in November. They will look really lovely displayed on my white treee as they sparkle when they catch the light.

From inside projects to outside. Ziggy is in absolute seventh heaven with this weather. He hates the autumn and winter when it's cold and drizzly, and moans like mad for months on end (apart from snow, which he really likes). In the mornings he loves to sleep on his dilapidated, falling down chair- which we really should get rid off as it is quite literally disintegrating, but he really enjoys it so we feel we can't just yet.

It is very obviously turning to Autumn now, and my Chinese Lanterns have had a cracking year! I must have had this pot for about four years now, with bulbs bought from a pound shop, and the first year was rubbish- a couple of flowers and one green lantern. I gave them up as a bad job and forgot about them over the winter, assuming they would die off, but Dad looked after them in Spring and they came up again the next year, this time with more flowers and a small gaggle of orange lanterns. The third year they came back again with even more orange lanterns and now look at them! Loads of lanterns! After the leaves all die away, the lanterns stay on the branches, adding a pop of colour well into the season, and the orange sort of dies away as the lanterns become more skeletal which is really pretty. 

The leaves are starting to turn as well. We only have one tree in our garden whose colours change, the rest are evergreens, but this particular one (whose name escapes me today) is always rather spectacular in it's colours.

Some parts of the garden still look vaguely summery. We have hundreds of sunflowers all over the place, some planted by the birds and others by Dad. This year we have had several sunflowers self or bird seed in the hanging baskets which has been interesting. They are in pots, in flowerbeds and in cracks in the paving, and come in all shapes and sizes. We have tiny, miniature sunflowers, multi-headed sunflowers, big giant happy ones, and crazy pom pom ones. We leave the heads up once the petals have died away so either the birds can have the seeds, or they will have a chance to self seed themselves for next year.

We've had a go at growing a few things this year as I was given a psychedelic salad kit with seeds for all sorts of things. The only ones that have really worked were these lemon citrus cucumbers which are actually quite nice! I also tried rainbow radishes which were totally eaten by caterpillars, and various other seeds which didn't even bother sprouting. Dad has grown his own orange chillies which are, thanks to the blistering hot sunshine, super hot! I think I will stick to the cucumbers, they are more to my taste.

I did say we had sunflowers everywhere. These ones are guarding the front gate, standing tall and proud on sentry duty. Further down the path towards the house we have a sunflower that is happily seeding itself but leaning over the path and bonking people on the head when they come by. I've been caught out a couple of times by that one.

These are the beautiful pom pom sunflowers. They aren't really called that as far as I know but it is the only way to describe them. They are crazy things!

Of course, one of my favourite things about the turn to Autumn, is the arrival of these glorious conkers! I am absolutely obsessed with conkers and have an enormous bowl of them in the studio which gets added to each year. There is nothing better than finding that deep, shiny brown within a spiky casing. They are so smooth, and the patterns like polished red oak or teak. It is a shame that they lose this lustre but I love them nonetheless and will often find a load in my coat pocket where I have picked them up on my travels to the studio. Does anyone else have an Autumnal obsession?

Wedgewood Blue

What ho chaps! How's it hanging? It's been a little while since I posted on here. Unusually for me I just couldn't muster the energy to think of something to write about and then when I did have a topic I couldn't muster the energy to actually type it! I don't know what it is that's making me feel a bit lacklustre, perhaps the rapidly changing seasons (gosh it's chilly today!), the learning of a new job making me feel tired, a slowing down of Etsy sales or the prospect of another big show looming. It is all kind of hanging over me and in my typical stubbornness, it just makes me want to do nothing at all as a show of rebellion. But today I feel the need to type a little something about the images I took last week of a completed stitchscape.
This is another 'scape that originally came to life as a sampler for a workshop, demonstrating how to layer colours and fabrics. These demonstration pieces tend to not have a particular theme or inspiration behind them other than I liked the way the fabrics worked together. Generally a sort of inspiration comes along half way through and for this one it was the addition of the yellow flowers, popping so brilliantly against the blue medley background.

I'm not sure about a title for this piece either, although have called the blog post 'Wedgewood Blue' as that is what the colour combinations remind me of. Having already opened this out to my fantastic Facebook followers, there have been some suggestions for 'Reeds by the Pond' or 'Cruising on the Canal' both of which are equally lovely suggestions (especially with my penchant for canal travel) but neither of them have clicked for me so currently this piece is mostly nameless. Please pop your own suggestions, if you have any, on a (theoretical) postcard and send them in!

Of course, I don't have to name my stitchscapes at all- the little #inthehoop range 'scapes aren't named- but it makes it much easier if I am making them into cards or prints and selling them on Etsy, or have queries about them online. Rather than being asked about the sunset one with red in it, potential customers can just say 'Sunset Mountains', or whatever the piece is called.

Anyway, this piece is very simple, with happy, individual layers that speak for themselves really. Working from the top down, I have used a polka dot fabric to create a cross hatch base, working one direction in white thread and the other direction in pale blue which is really effective I think!
The next layer really does have a sort of porcelain feel to it with a lovely floral and leaf print creeping in and out. I have gone around the pattern outlines with a single strand of embroidery thread, and then also followed the colour inside the design with overlapping straight stitches to help build up the shading and make it look like I've actually stitched the whole thing myself.

The next layer down is peppered with seed stitch in a single colour, topped off with quite a narrow band of whip stitch over back stitch. I have long conversations with students in my workshops about the endless possibilities of whip stitch. There is often some confusion with the terms 'whipped back stitch' and whipped running stitch' written in magazines, and basically they just gives you the stitches that you have whipped over (either back stitch for a solid line or running stitch for a slightly wiggly line). Personally I will also whip over seed stitch, rows of bullion knots and vertically against rows of horizontal running stitch- they all give incredible textures, especially as the whip stitch itself is a surface stitch so anything you do with it will raise it above the stitching underneath.
Next up I have used the gorgeous spot design already on the fabric and simply copied it with tiny french knots. Two strand, one twist knots if memory serves me correctly. The colours I have tried to keep as true to the pattern in the fabric as possible.
Then finally, the very bottom batik fabric has just had single strand back stitch around the gradients of colour, either where the colour has bled and left a line or where the batik print pattern is. It's such a lovely fabric to work with, I really recommend including one if you are starting out on your own stitchscape project.

The flowers are rows of bullion knots in two different shades of yellow, sitting atop green straight stitch stems. Oh, and I forgot to mention the couched yarns at the top of the batik fabric, which is actually two lengths of a chunky aran weight acrylic yarn with different colours dipped into it, twisted with a shiny bouclé yarn for a bit of additional texture. Why limit yourself to just one yarn when you can have two!?
I am debating whether or not to turn this into a greeting card print as I'm trying to be more selective about what designs I print. What do you think? Would you buy this design in a card to send off? (Or even keep for yourself?)

Studio

I've been saving up my completed stitchscapes for a little while as things have been getting slightly hectic around here. Last week was all about teaching a class at the-stitchery which was fab, and then Uckfield Carnival as I was organising the float again. This year the theme was 'The Brightest Girls Are In Girlguiding' so we went neon, glow in the dark, fluorescent, tie dye, glittery....basically anything that was bright and shiny. We pimped out our float with lights, and had a banner on either side which the girls had painted our theme title onto in fluorescent lettering and glitter (so much glitter!). Everyone looked fantastic and as it got darker, we just got better and brighter! It was a good night.
Then this week I started a new job! It's just three days a week doing admin type things, to tide me over really, but it's been exhausting trying to remember everything and get on top of it as I haven't been able to get much of a hand over from the lady who I am replacing. I am going on holiday this week so hopefully I won't forget everything I've learnt!

It was lovely to be properly back in the studio again yesterday and I pootled around for a while tidying things away and sorting things out before settling down and stretching and mounting my pieces. I tend to take lots of photos for my Instagram account during this process so sorry if my Insta followers were bombarded a little!

Poor Apricity Trees has been waiting for weeks to be properly sorted out! These photos are ones that I will edit to be used as prints and greetings cards, although I have been considering not producing prints anymore as they are not a popular product, and completely overhauling my card selection to weed out the poor sellers and try a whole new range. So much to think about!

I have also decided not to frame the pieces as I go any more and won't frame these until I have to as I just don't have the space. I have allocated a little basket on my desk and they are stacking up nicely in there. If anyone wants one of these, however, I am more than happy to frame it up for you! Just send me a message and I can give you the size details and price.

The Seven Sisters Stitchscape

I live in East Sussex in England and I can't imagine living anywhere else (apart from maybe Yorkshire). We are within a few minutes of forest landscapes, open grasses, cliffs, rivers, the seaside, rolling hills.... so much inspiration to soak up. Of course, the more this area keeps being built up as we are also within commuting distance of London, the more of these places we are losing and that makes them all the more precious.
I have hope that one day people will realise how important our countryside actually is, not just for wildlife, but for breathing space, and will pay more attention to where they build and what they knock down. Recently I've been watching a lot of old episodes of Time Team where they dig up green pastures that once housed an entire town underneath the top soil so Mother Nature always wins out in the end I feel- good on her too!!

Anyway, stepping down from my high horse, a place I have visited many times over the years is the Seven Sisters, a section of chalk cliffs forming part of the South Downs. It's a very impressive piece of coastline and when I was little we used to go to a big open sheep farm there called (funnily enough) Seven Sisters Sheep Farm, which has since closed down. I had an idea that I would like to represent both of these things in a stitchscape, wanting to include the blue of the sky and the sparkle of the sea as well as the sheep, scrubby grasses and rocky chalk cliffs.

There is a little more pressure when you are trying to recreate an actual place- so many people have their opinions on it- but I think I have succeeded relatively well here and am very chuffed with the final outcome. The cliffs themselves were put on in several pieces using Bondaweb so that they would keep their shape, the green layers just slightly bigger than the dips and holes created with the white fabric so that they overlap. I did have a disappointing moment when I was finishing up the piece as I held it out away from me and it looked so flat!! Which may seem a funny thing to say but the cliffs didn't stand out from the sky at all. I decided to work a discreet row of darker green back stitch all along the top edge of the cliffs which has really helped, and also worked some dark vertical whip stitch up the face of the cliffs to bring a little bit of shadow and depth to it. Before I just had the white whip stitches which add a lovely texture but don't stand out. The darker thread I used for the second whipped layer is a variegated brown DMC thread so it kind of fades in an out.

The edges of the cliff have been worked with more whip stitch, and the bottom of the cliffs bedded into the sandy fabric print layer with some little sandy coloured french knots. The tide is in, can you tell? With the white horses racing each other to the bottom of the cliffs.

The sheep add such a lot of character! Never mind the fact that half of them are upside down, they look so plump and woolly thanks to the three strand, three twist french knots I've used. I really love this material, and from the comments I've received from my followers, you do too! I have bought a large chunk of it and intend to make a kit using the fabric so you can all have a go at creating sheep but I don't have the time at the minute to put something together and develop it.

 
This piece really comes alive in the sunshine as I have used a single strand of a DMC metallic embroidery thread to highlight some areas. A single strand of variegated blue thread was used to make running stitches, and then whipped running stitch over the top of that, with parts of each line then gone over again with the metallic. Because it is only bits of the line that are sparkly, it really makes it look like waves are rolling in and catching the light. Added to that the white thread is also sparkly so it really shimmers!

Plus, you may have noticed, I have gone completely potty over drizzle stitch!! Even more so than in my Sea Pink Shore piece. The vast majority of the stitches have been made with DMC Coton Perlé thread which is slightly thicker and gives a different texture entirely. I actually only have these coton perlé threads because they were ordered by accident when I go my thread codes muddled up on my order site, but it was a happy mistake and I have been using them for all sorts of things!

Drizzle stitch is made by pulling your thread all of the way through from the back so that it is lying on the surface of the fabric. You then un-thread your needle and stick the point through the fabric just next to where your thread has come up, then taking the thread you 'cast on', making a loop in the thread and pulling the loop over the needle so that it tightens. Keep casting on until you have several loops (I use long needles for this so that I can make my drizzles really stick out from the fabric surface), the more loops you have the longer the stitch. Once you are happy with the loops, re-thread the needle and pull it through to the back of the fabric and through the loops. The stitch automatically twists in different directions, twizzling madly. It has really helped bring a sense of perspective to this stitchscape and I can't help but tangle my fingers in the drizzle stitches and rearrange them to twist off in different directions.