Tuesday, January 22, 2013

Cottage Garden - Stitching Finished

And here's my second big finish!


I put in the last few leaves yesterday. The shadows on the photo are from the sun shining through the tree branches outside, which is not ideal, but this is the best photo I could manage.

I ended up straying from the pattern significantly by the end. I started changing the pattern from necessity, because somehow my stitching had slanted up to the right. So I added the second row of white cyclamen under the rose tree. Then, as I mentioned previously, I separated the rose bush from the purple hollyhocks because I didn't like the way they seemed to grow through each other.

After that I pretty much stopped looking at the pattern! I took out the orange daisies that I had stitched earlier, and put in some local flowers, Black Eyed Susans and marigolds:


The marigolds were made with three strands of floss, two orange and one yellow, and Chinese knots. The stems were fly stitches.

I became somewhat obsessed with creating some variation in the leaves. In the pattern almost everything is detached chain stitches in the dark green you see above. But I know that real gardeners look for different textures in the leaves as well as the flowers, so I tried to do the same. I debated a great deal about the rose bush leaves, which I wanted to be dark and to relate to the heavy bullions. Finally I added a strand of dark red to two strands of the dark green, and stitched detached chains in sprays of five stitches:


The blended thread answered so well that I also used it in the "leaves" of the alyssum along the bottom:


The pattern called for the alyssum to be scattered all along the bottom, but I had to organize it into clumps instead. I learned a lot about myself stitching this!

To further organize the foreground and background, I added some cool blue alyssum in a single strand of floss behind the sunflowers:


And in a similar effort I created some lupins to fill in the space on the far right margin:


So that's it! This will be made into a needlecase. The kit came with a really nice pink gingham for the lining. I am going to redesign it with some pockets inside to hold packages as well as loose needles. Hopefully not too long from now!

12 comments:

  1. It's really lovely, Monica. I love the rose leaves and the design shape. It will make a great needlecase.

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    1. Thanks, Jillian. I am sitting here admiring it still now, lol. Actually, it is going to be pretty big, I think. We'll see!

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    2. Big is good if you want packets too.

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  2. I remember this as an Inspirations project. Yours looks beautiful Monica

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    1. Yes, you are right, Katherine, Inspirations #53. Thanks!

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    2. Oh my gosh! Your work is beautiful! The boullion roses are very impressive and the blending of threads in the leaves is the ideal complement. Congratulations!

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    3. Thanks very much! The roses were my main sticking point, so I am pretty happy with them now.

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  3. how good to see this made, I have looked at it a few times in Inspirations and I like how you have done your own thing on it personalised it instead of just following the instructions,very well done. I can almost smell the scent from the flowers they are so life like. Remember to post a photo of it when made into a needle case

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    1. Thanks very much, Margaret. With your experience, I'm sure you could whip it up in no time!

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  4. Hi there! I happened across your blog by chance and I am inspired to drop a line to say, "Your stitching is so lovely." I've always wanted to learn how to embroider and make tapestries. Thank you for sharing your beautiful work.

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    1. Thanks very much, Annabella. I hope you will stick around!

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  5. Wow. That is just beautiful! I love the rose bush leaves, what a great answer to the problem.

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I'm told Blogger has been bouncing some comments, so if it happens to you I'm sorry! But the settings look right so I can't explain it. In any case, thanks for reading!

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