As I write, I am looking out of very wet windows into a very wet garden. The hydrangeas and busy lizzies are extremely happy but all the other flowers are looking rather battered and bewildered. In between the showers I have been manically dashing outside with my camera or trying hard to find a perfect bloom to bring inside.
I was recently asked how I work when stitching smaller items such as these textured pieces. The question was related to how I select the colours rather than the sewing method. The answer is that I start with quite a lot!
For these textured works I have mostly worked from a photograph or the real thing and quite a large space! For the piece below I began by selecting thread colours that loosely resembled several different salvia and rudbeckia from my garden to which I added some complimentary colours (mostly suggested by some phlox that was growing alongside). Next I added some lighter and darker thread shades along with a selection of beads. This can often be a sprawling affair as I am choosing threads of different weights and thicknesses for hand and machine stitching and more often than not one thread leads to many others.
As I work this is gradually whittled down and the colours I choose are put on a plate so that I can find them easily as and when required. I have taken to laying everything on a piece of white card as I find this easier than on the green of the cutting mat in my workroom. There is absolutely no substitute for daylight so when the light in my room leaves much to be desired I simply carry the card outside.
As I take so much inspiration from my garden or the beautiful countryside surrounding my home I thought that I would embark on a series of embroideries on a floral theme. This was the first which I called Peony Sorbet.
The second piece on my journey is called Delphinium Sunset and I was lucky enough to be able to select my colours before a deluge drowned the beautiful flower spikes.
I have just treated myself to some new and very long overdue sewing machine needles, one pack of which has the largest eye that I could find. All I need to do now is to experiment with thicker threads to see what different kinds of effects I can achieve using the basic utility stitches and which of the thicker threads will survive the stress and speed of free machine stitching. Hopefully this will lead to a greater variety of textures and stitches which I can incorporate into my work.
I am resolved to try and capture with my camera as many individual flowers as I can to keep me going for as long as possible regardless of the weather at the moment. So I will take my leave with a few images of floral delights from the garden.
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