Under the sea 3

I’ve added some real shells and bits of shell on the right-hand side since I last posted about this piece. They catch the light and echo the thread colours, and I’ve put in a few more knots too.

There’s a “slice” of limpet shell under the Yorkshire button sea urchin, and wafts of feather stitch in a lighter, thinner crochet thread.

The more I look, the more little gaps I keep seeing that need a bit more stitching! So there are some fly stitches tucked in behind the sea urchin……

…….. and on the left of the real shells.

I think it’s done! Quick, take it off the frame before I see another gap and overwork it! I’ve really enjoyed working on this piece with its variety of stitches, threads and subtle colours, giving it lots of interesting textures. I couldn’t find a suitable piece of drift wood to suspend it from, but I think this piece of very dry branch works. I now need to decide how and with what to back it, maybe a piece of handmade felt, but it always seems a shame to hide that.

Under the sea 2

I worked steadily on this project week by week at “In the stitch zone” until the end of the term in July. Alex gave us instructions and guidance with different stitches each week, some new and some with different approaches, her intention being to push us all a little, from beginners to more experienced stitchers.

I’d last blogged about it at the end of June when it hadn’t got very far.

I didn’t take many photos, I’d got so engrossed in the stitching, with Padded Satin Stitch, Couching over String Padding (which was left like this until yesterday), Bullion, French and Colonial Knots, Cup Stitch new to most of us (bottom left, certainly one to remember), Needlewoven Bars and Woven Feathered Chain Stitch.

Woven Picots….

….. Buttonhole Rings on the cream “stone”, Stem Stitch Band over beads bottom right…….

….. Woven / Backstitched Wheels and Fans…..

……..Yorkshire Buttons. I wasn’t sure about the variegated thread for this….

…… but once it was in place it looked just right, picking up colours from other areas.

It still needs more stitching in places, mainly more knots, Woven Bars, Drizzle Stitch, but I also want to add some real shells, etc.; I had fun sorting through my shells for ones with holes in, so that I can stitch them down. They’re not stitched down yet, I’m just getting the feel of how it might develop.

Then I finally did the short rows of the Couching over String Padding. I admit I’d not been looking forward to doing this, but as is often the case it was easier than I’d anticipated! I did a few rows of Feather Stitch. Also I found this strange variegated rayon metallic thread, which as you can see is separating all over the space, and I’ve started to couch it down along the bottom. It echoes the lines of the printing and catches the light. It’s moving on, and has been good to work on over the summer while the weather has been so hot, making me think of the sea and beaches even though we’ve not been. It needs a final push before the weather and the colours change.