Merry Christmas

So here we are, Christmas Eve and the sun is shining brightly. The ice and snow of the last few weeks was beautiful to walk on, every step bringing a fresh crunch and crackle underfoot, but as the year comes to an end as did the cold, Jackson and I are once again wading through muddy puddles and walking on sodden ground. It is still quite beautiful despite the challenges thrown at us by the weather.

As I have been walking these last few days my mind has turned to thoughts of the New Year to come and projects to hopefully inspire me. So many ideas to sample and trial that I feel the need to put pen and pencil to paper and begin some sketches. I may make that a resolution for next year! In the meantime all that remains is to wish you a very Merry Christmas and a very creative New Year. Thank you for taking the time to look; I am looking forward to sharing more photography and stitching with you again  in January.

                                        A FEW MORE LEAVES!

Staying with leaves I thought I would try a much larger leaf that would allow for more robust machine embroidery. I used a heavier weight Lutrudur and slightly thicker acrylic paints. It was very sturdy to stitch into so no need for a hoop. The finished leaf is life size and completely different in texture to the finer Lutradur ones I made earlier.  As the new leaves unfurl in the Spring I think it will be fun to make a selection in a range of beautiful luscious greens.

I just couldn’t throw all the small leftover pieces so I spent a few very enjoyable hours crafting some delicious little beads for future projects.

I had in mind some holly leaves to make Christmas cards but as they are so wonderfully textural and shiny I needed to use a completely different medium, laminated dyed Abaca paper which worked brilliantly and stitched easily.

For me personally the constraints of making cards are just two. The first is having a pleasing, size appropriate design for a very small area and secondly the component parts need to be flat to fit inside the envelope.... but I wanted holly berries!! To resolve the dilemma I made berries which I then squashed reasonably flat but they still fairly looked authentic. Arranging the pieces will take several attempts before I am happy but that’s OK.

Lastly, Christmas is just not Christmas without a tree so this year's stitching friends will be receiving another variation to add to their collection. I have more to make so I will be busy for a while longer!