Bluebell ATCs

 

There is such a sense of satisfaction when these completed cards are cut from their hoop and separated into their individual selves. The images suddenly become sharper and clearer, and the subtle differences more obvious. Although the overall design is the same - same number of trees, same order of fabrics, same colours used and techniques used in each section; the shapes aren't cut the same and the patterns in each section are different which leads to slightly different elements or emphasis within the embroidery. 

These Bluebell colours just make my heart sing, don't they you? I have so many happy memories of walking through woodlands crammed full of these delicate purple/blue flowers with their discreet scent that you can only smell whilst in that magical place. I am endlessly trying to capture the true colours of Bluebells in my photos - in real life they are more purple than blue - but the lens cannot capture what the eye can see. Or I'm just not a very good photographer. In these embroidered versions I'm not necessarily going for a true likeness but more a feeling that captures what I feel when in a Bluebell woodland.

You can't really tell but the top fabric layer is actually a print with leaves and little birdies on. Sadly most of the birds ended up disappearing between the trees rather than being visible, although you can just see one peeping out in the above photo. I've used a single strand of green to pop a few straight stitches in the leaves, with a whipped running stitch for any long curving stems.

I love the space dyed fabric underneath though, it has yellow tones and darker green tones which reminded me of the dappled light you get through the trees if you visit during the golden hour. I've tried to keep this idea by using a single strand each of a green and a yellow for the seed stitch, I'm not sure you can tell in this photo though, the colours are fairly subtle. 

I ended up with three different blue fabrics to create my blue haze background, the bottom most one contained some yellow to try and match with the sunshine further up. The top blue fabric which is 'deepest in the wood' is the darkest one to try and imply some shadow and then I've got a nice mid-tone blue between them. 

For the dark blue I've kept things simple and where there's been a shape (it's a batik fabric) I've gone around it with back stitches but these have ended up completely random within each card. The rest of the fabric has just been textured with some simple rows of running stitch and I've edged both this layer and the layer below with french knots to kind of hint at the bobbly texture you get in the woodland with so many flower heads clustered together. 

I decided not to add any stitches to the middle layer - other than the edging- because I wanted my Bluebell bullion knots to go up into it so there would have been too much going on. I probably would have added stitches if this were a bigger piece, you know me, I get a bit carried away, but in a small piece like this it would just have been too heavy. So instead I skipped this layer and went straight into adding my stems on the bottom floral fabric. 

I'm not sure if you can tell now but there are two phases of colour in these Bluebells. For the stems there is a higher 'back' row of straight stitches along the top of this fabric in a darker green and only using two strands so that they appear further away and more in shadow. Beneath these, at the 'front' is a lighter green set of stems using three strands so they seem closer to the viewer. It's really subtle but I like to think that it makes a discreet difference that helps to bring these pieces to life. 

Similarly I have done the same with the Bluebells - the back flowers are in two shades of darker blue and only use two strands, and the front flowers are in two shades of lighter blue with three strands. So in total there are four different shades of blue used here. 

They did look a little lost just as stems and flowers, floating in the foreground so I've gone in again and added a single strand long fly stitch to some of the more floater-y(?) back Bluebells using a variegated green thread which goes from light to dark and again picks out some sunshine feels. The front floating Bluebells have had the same treatment but with a dual combination of a single strand of dark green and metallic gold so that they really glow like they've been caught in a sunbeam. It's amazing how much of an impact a touch of metallic or sparkle can make to these little pieces!

I do like my little trees. They are a fantastic fabric which is already printed with a kind of light woodgrain type stripe so I have gone along each line with stem stitch and then edged the trees by couching on a full six strands of a slightly lighter beige colour using a single strand of the stem stitch thread - apart from on the middle back tree which has been edged all in the same colour to cast some shadow onto that tree. 

The leaves are my favourite trick of using a couple of strands of Stylecraft Special DK acrylic yarn. There are three strands to this yarn and I've taken it down to two on the front trees for ease of pulling the yarn through the fabric layers (it gets a bit tough on the old thumbs trying to pull such a thick thread through tightly woven cotton fabrics). The stitches are just french knots at either a three or two twist but they create a wonderful bobbly texture. 

For my shaded back tree I've used a darker acrylic yarn with only one strand. This can be tricky as once you've started to deconstruct the yarn as a whole you have to remember to re-twist the fibres otherwise they just pull apart like felting roving. These knots are slightly smaller too, either one or two twist. 

To help bring the whole thing together I've added some little french knots in the metallic gold thread just within the lighter leaves on the trees to kind of act like a dappled sun spot lighting up the odd leaf.

I'm really pleased with how these turned out and I hope whoever gets one in the swap gets all of the memories and feels that I had when stitching it!

Sheffield Park

 

I am very much enjoying being on holiday/maternity leave at the moment. Walking is not really my friend at the minute but a slow meander around Sheffield Park to feed the ducks in the sunshine this week was definitely a kind of medicine! 

This National Trust park looks amazing no matter what the weather or time of year, there's always something new to find or look at, although it's probably most renowned for its Autumn outfit which is reflected in the most beautiful way in the different ornamental ponds. Quite often in October you will be tripping over keen artists and photographers as they all try and capture the amazing colours. 

The house is no longer part of the grounds and has been converted into private flats but it must have been absolutely splendid in its day! I would dearly love to have a nose around the building as it currently is - but as the flats sell for several million each, it's unlikely that I'll ever get to have a peek!

 

Our main reason for visiting was specifically to feed the ducks as requested by my nephew. The Mother often takes him out duck feeding and we have a huge tub of special duck/swan pellets which are easy to throw for a nearly-two year old. He's not talking in sentences yet but when he manages to lug this great heavy bucket from one side of the house to the other, dumping it in front of you and quacking....you get the message!! 

We didn't walk very far and stayed mainly around the top pond, visiting the little tea shack for a hot chocolate and then later on the cafe for a cheese scone (delicious!). 

As with many of these beautiful gardens, much of the focus is on viewpoints through the garden. Little vistas that lead you on to other areas, like secret rooms that are hidden from view until you reach that one window that reveals the wonders beyond. The ponds here are staggered down the hill and eventually lead to a huge lake with massive carp fish in it!

If you're in the area and get a chance to visit I would definitely recommend it. This is our closest National Trust property and, as we are all members, we visit often throughout the year. Sometimes it's packed with visitors and other times it's like you have the place to yourself!

At the moment it's stuffed full of Daffodils of all different kinds which are just so beautiful! In a few weeks the Rhododendrons will also all flower - there are many varieties grown here, cultivated by a past owner and it's stunning when they are all in bloom. 

This is very definitely one of my happy places. 

House Sitting

 

We've been house sitting for the past week and a half for my Grandmother. She's off on a cruise around Spain and wherever else they end up (a three part Italian section of the journey was cancelled just before they left as the Italian ports have been closed due to increased COVID-19). Oddly enough, the last time we house sat for her was the two weeks before the initial lockdown in March 2020. She was on a different cruise which ended a day early and then a couple of days after her return we went into immediate lockdown for several months so we're hoping that things don't repeat themselves as she's got a week to go on her trip and COVID cases are sneaking up again now so many restrictions have been lifted. 

I am really enjoying house sitting though, especially because at the moment my partner and I are in the process of buying a house and living with my parents so, with a new baby due in the next two weeks, it's nice to have some time just to ourselves! Now I'm on holiday/maternity leave I've also got more time to sit and enjoy her garden (in the glorious unseasonal sunshine we've had so much of recently) and sit and stitch!

I am working several months ahead of the Stitchscape swap I'm hosting, mainly because I'm concerned I won't have time with a new baby - or I just won't feel like it because I'll be in a baby bubble and exhausted - so I'm trying to future proof myself for any stress. I'm not worried about being the host, I love seeing the cards come in the post (I've had a gorgeous one for the March swap in already!) and it's easy to swap them around and send them out, but actually embroidering them can be quite time consuming and I don't want to do a rubbish job on one. Plus I'm making extra in case there are any issues with the swaps so that I have back ups. 

This afternoon I finished off the June, By or Under the Ocean, cards - other than stitching the backs on. I've gone with more of a by-the-ocean theme with my little beach huts as I have the most perfect striped fabric which screams beach hut! The fabric itself has several sets of colour stripes so all of these huts came from the one piece of fabric, isn't that brilliant? I'll go into more details about how each month's design has been made when they are all cut out and properly photographed, I just love seeing them all in the hoop together like this. 

It's much easier to have several in one hoop at a time. It's less fiddly than holding a small hoop and less wasteful too as I can draw around the cards closer together and not waste so much backing fabric. I admit those middle ATCs can be tricky to stitch though - especially with a huge baby bump at the moment, it keeps getting in the way so I have struggled slightly to reach in places and it's been a bit awkward. 

I keep trying to remind myself not to get too carried away as well - and that they've got to fit in a regular letter with a standard stamp so can't be too bulky. I've spent so much time recently making my stitches and designs come out from the hoop in as many different sticky-out techniques as I can think of, that trying to keep things as flat as possible is almost as much of a challenge now as making things three dimensional! Even the beads I use can't be too bulky, and I'm not sure about the big french knots I've made on the Bluebell cards as they are thick-ish through the use of knitting yarn. 

Luckily I've got a nifty gadget which I use for my orders which tells me whether something can fit as a regular letter or if it has to go as a large letter. If they are too thick I guess I'll just have to re-make them! I have plenty of time after all. Or up the postage on the envelopes that mine get swapped out in.

I'm already thinking up themes I could use potentially if there's interest in a 2023 ATC swap - as we go through the months now there are lots of ideas that we could use - Blossom is one I sort of wish I'd gone for but trying to think of varied themes in dull, dismal February wasn't very inspiring. Now the sun is out and the flowers are all bursting with life I've got lots of ideas for themes! Just looking around the garden gives several ideas - Blossom Trees (as mentioned), Tulips, Morning Chorus (listening to the birds in the garden is something I'm really enjoying - especially now it's warm enough to have the back door open all day), Morning Dew or Morning Frosts....

I was wandering around the garden with my camera a couple of days ago and snapped some quick photos of the variety of floral life in the garden. It was a bit windy though so many of the flowers didn't stand still enough to have their photos taken - there are also Cyclamen, Crocuses, Magnolias, several varieties of Daffodil and even more that I don't know the names of. We've even been harvesting some purple sprouting broccoli from the vegetable patch! 

Do you have lots of flowers bursting forth in your gardens? 

Winter Sun February ATCs

 There has been so much fun had over the last two weeks in my house! Last week obviously wasn't so fantastic as I was stuck in my bedroom with Covid but I had obviously timed it really well with the entries coming in for the Stitchscape swap and I had so much happy post to look through and keep me going! 

(The cards were all quarantined before being sent back out again and I have been testing negative this week so rest assured nothing bad was sent out in the envelopes!)

This first month of swapping has had two cards created because my swap idea pinged into my brain in February so we had to back date it. All following months will only have one design a month so it's pretty reasonable to keep up with. My last blog post was about the back dated January ones and these ones are the February cards which had the theme 'Winter Sun'. 

I have really enjoyed seeing them together as a collection and the overall colour scheme that is coming through. Last month was a lot of blue and white and silver, this month is more orange, yellow and blue with a surprising amount of purple actually! Presumably all inspired by the lovely sunrises we have been having recently which involve a lot of pink and yellow. 

This one also has some lovely takes on the theme, with an abstract sunrise which reminds me of a sunrise over a lake, silhouetted trees, pale suns and bright suns. I like the use of machine and hand embroidery in these too - with maybe some felting techniques coming in? I'm sure one of the cards has motifs that were stitched separately onto a netting and then glued onto a painted card backing with some gorgeously well cut felt at the bottom. (The one with the little houses on.) It's good fun trying to work out how these have been made!

I wonder whether the techniques the other members use will change slightly over the course of the year as they see other participant's cards? Or if they will stay as a particular style so that it becomes recognisable who made what?

I am also working on creating a specific page on my website with a gallery of close up photos for each card sent in. I'll let you all know when it's up and running!

Snow Capped January ATCs

 Aren't these amazing? I'm so chuffed with how many people have joined in with this swap considering it was an idea that popped into my head fairly late one evening. I really hope that as we go through the year more people join in because I get so much pleasure out of seeing everyone's ideas and work. It's really inspiring and so much fun!

These are all of the entries into the 'Snow Capped' theme for January. I love how, although several have similar ideas with the snowy mountains, they are all unique and have individual ideas in them. I would never have thought of a little snow topped bird house - so cute! The snowdrops are also really sweet and did you notice the skiing polar bear?

Little cards are almost more of a challenge than bigger pieces because you have to work to a small composition and find little pieces to fit it which can be quite fiddly. I am hoping to put together a tutorial page for how I make my ATCs but there is no right or wrong way and lots of different techniques have been used here to back the cards - I should have photographed those as well actually, maybe next time. As long as there is a firmness to the cards then the back doesn't really matter. 

I was very lucky to also be tagged in some progress shots on Instagram and Facebook, either using my Instagram handle @power.beth, or #stitchscapeswap2022 as a hashtag, or adding photos to the Dotty Textiles Stitchscape Swap Facebook group which you can join up to. It's fascinating to see the process, as well as being able to see the finished pieces!

I do have a spreadsheet going so that I can keep some kind of record of who has been sent cards by who to try and make sure that I don't keep sending people cards from the same members. It felt great to be swapping them all round, packaging them up and going off to the post box with a huge wodge of gorgeous happy post! Hopefully they'll be plopping onto door mats around the UK shortly!! I don't keep any address details on file but had a look at where everyone was from and there's representatives from Scotland, Essex, Hampshire, Devon, Cornwall, North Yorkshire, West Sussex, East Sussex....amazing! 

I hope everyone loves the ones they've been sent. :)