When picking up a stitchalong bag last month at Seata, the autumnal coloured French knots drew my attention, particularly when I read Christine’s brief: please use a similar “autumnal” colour scheme, but feel free to stitch whatever you like in the remaining squares.
I love the autumn colours: orange, rusts and golds, the odd splash of reds, burgundies and yellows. I’m still a big kid at heart and enjoy scrunching through the fallen leaves, and can never resist a conker. When I put my hand in a pocket and find one I picked up weeks ago, it still makes me smile.
I started with feather stitch going diagonally across the square…..
…..in varying weights of perlé, then started changing direction…….
……. building up layers. I’d had fallen leaves in my head as I stitched, but by the time I’d got to this stage I thought it looked like flames. A bonfire? An open fire? Or a wood burner?
I added some rusty coloured rayon over the top, and decided that it did make me think of bonfires, the way the front of you is toasty warm and your back is cold, until you turn round to cool your face, going round and round like a spit roast. Happy times and memories.
I’ve missed a couple of the sessions at “In the stitch zone” this half term, and it’s a project I was really excited about, bringing together my love of embroidery and books. I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about a book to use, as I struggled with the idea of damaging one. I’ve managed to overcome that mindset in two ways, one by the idea it will enhance the cover, and two by not using the original book that was my nanna and grandad’s. Many hours were spent on Saturday afternoons and evenings reading it and looking at the many pictures. It is dated 1973.
The one I’m working on is a 1981 edition that I found in a charity shop, marked down from £1.50 to 50p. It was likely to end up in landfill, so although I’m still struggling with “harming” it, it is a better option.
The first thing to do was to make holes where I was going to stitch, which wasn’t easy as the cover is quite thick and sturdy. However, with a self-healing mat inside the front cover and a pair of scribes I started making holes up the daisy stem, then using one of my “special” variegated threads doing Quaker stitch at Alex’s suggestion.
I’d tried stem stitch which was not working well, much better coverage with the Quaker stitch.
I was now back to making more holes, hard on the fingers so best done in short bursts.
And my go-to reverse chain in a much thicker variegated perlé thread (the one I used on my “How does your garden grow” for the “Monthly Stitchalong” for the heavier stem; working from top to bottom here.
The colours are perfectly toned with the cover.
The stitches are barely visible when looking at the whole cover, but the texture feels lovely with my fingers.
This is the inside of the cover, which may be hidden at the end.
The raised surface is more visible from the side at the moment.
I now need to decide how I’m going to do the daisies, and how to make much smaller holes for the delicate grasses; it needs something fine and very strong. I’ve already broken one needle on the stitching.
“Birds, birds, birds” was the title of the worshop that we had with Jan Dowson a couple of weeks ago at Seata.
I’d met the challenge to myself of finishing the slow stitch landscape before Jan came. The last couple of sections at the top…..
…….. and some more stitches on the stone wall at the bottom, and it’s done (apart from deciding how to hang it, probably from a branch).
Going out of the back door the next morning, I saw this skein of geese flying over. I’d heard geese for several days, but this was the first time that I’d seen any this autumn. Later, when looking at photos on my phone, I wondered what it was, because it looked like a line of stitches, and I couldn’t think what! It was only when I downloaded them on to the computer that I remembered, and it just seemed appropriate with the upcoming 3D bird workshop.
Jan had a pattern to trace and cut out, instructions, calico, legs, beaks and eyes for us all. The pattern included some tiny little gussets to attach to the main body and head. We could hand or machine stitch them together. I hand stitched / tacked the head one in place, then pinned the tummy pieces and decided to machine stitch it all. I did the head gusset and started turning it to the right side before doing the tummy pieces, all very awkward and fiddly, and only as I started to pin the two sides of the whole head and body together did I realise that I’d done the head one way and the tummy pieces the other. I decided rather than unpicking it ……
……I would make a feature of the seams on the head. The whole bird was then firmly stuffed before adding the legs. Jan’s husband Derek had made all the legs, twisting wire for the toes (claws)and legs. Tricky, but it seems he’s had plenty of practice. It was fiddly enough to cut them to the right length and twist them together at the top, once they had been pushed up through the holes in the calico, before more stuffing and ladder stitching the tummy gap. Much to my surprise it stood up and was quite stable.
Next the eyes and beak, which has some fluffy bits of feather stuck in where the beak goes in, before wrapping the legs in florist tape: still standing.
Now to start stitching tiny scraps of fabric to the body. I didn’t know what colour I wanted to make him / her, but no prizes for guessing! Time passed all too quickly, and this is the flock at the end of the day.
I had taken other colours possibly to use, but reverted to my favourite greens. It was lucky that we ran out of time, as I had about used all the scraps I had with me. I heard somebody mutter that mine had attitude and looked inquisitive. I haven’t done any more since, except finding some more green scraps ready to continue.
It was a great workshop – thanks, Jan. And it had pushed me into finishing the slow stitch landscape.
debbidipity 